If fish are in schools, why don’t they read the books about fishing? With all of the south wind, we have had the ocean temp along the beach has dropped well into the 50’s. So my plan of attack for striped bass was to catch the incoming, colder water when they should be feeding. During Friday’s charter with the Lozitto clan we went looking for bass on the last of incoming.  After reading the books saying bass like colder water, and with the bay close to 80 I looked to incoming to target them.  With water temps down to a chilly 54 degrees pouring over the rocks, you would have thought the bass bite would be on fire.  Wrong. With nothing happening, we switched over to catch the warm out going water in the back and found that the fluke read the book.  We did not box any but had plenty of fish coming over the gunwales. Sunday morning I caught the last off outgoing around the inlet.  Surface water temp was low 70’s and both bluefish and bass (that’s right bass chewing big time in warm water) were getting an early morning meal. Lots of action till about 6:45 when the current went slack. Today, Monday, morning I had Mike Petrazzello and Dianne out.  We hit the inlet first and found the fish chewing again under the same conditions as Sunday. Mike landed a keeper bass and a couple blues to 8 pounds. One thing for sure, there are some books either the bass don’t care about or they need to be re-written.

For two weeks now the fish have been catching around the inlet are loaded with 3-4” sandells.. And on the last two trips I used BKDs for the bass and bluefish because they are great sandell imitations. What I also like about them is that even though they are plastic they hold up pretty good under the demands put on them by bluefish. If you know what I am saying.  I think I landed five blues Sunday morning before I had to put a new one on.  I am not saying they are indestructible, just saying they hold up really well to the razor sharp teeth of bluefish while being an excellent lure in my arsenal. Have some slots open for morning, afternoon or magic hours trips this week so contact me by phone if you want to plan a trip.

Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex 609-548-2511

Author: Lighthouse-Sportfishing

Fishing Barnegat Bay for close to 40 years, Capt. Alex runs Barnegat Bay's premier light tackle and fly fishing service with his custom 203 Dusky Center Console (Debbie M). He knows the back bay, inlet or inshore like no other. 609-548-2511 View all posts by Lighthouse-Sportfishing