Here’s the fishing report update for the weekend of Sunday April 8, 2018.
The early season spots are commonly producing school size bass. More of these and better size linesiders are on the move with classy fish soon to be on their tails.
This past work week our first report came in of a backwater striped bass at a location other than an early season spot. The super calm night before the midweek gale, store staffer Kevin was home at his north end bay front home. He heard activity and gave it a look. The noise turns out to be fish popping, Striped Bass Slurping! Kevin reported, “First cast and I was tight on a Tsunami Split Tail Minnow that was engulfed by a bass.” He mentioned as per his log, this was his earliest experience with bait and bass at his dock. “Years past it was always a week or so later.”
Anyone fish these baits? The Tsunami Split Tail Minnow is one of my favorite softbait when matching the hatch in early spring and early fall. These minnow style split tails resemble a bay anchovy and spearing among many other small forage.
Similar to Fin-s from Lunker City but different, they are pre rigged and weighted. Offering a unique darting action, these lures are deadly on a slow, intermittent and quick retrieve. I’ve done very good using these softbaits for a variety of species from striped bass to weakfish and especially false albacore. If you don’t have a pack you should really think about trying them.
Back to report… You gotta love hearing the promising news and what’s even better is the following days more bass were caught at the bayside haunts. Long story short, the Island’s west side has fish.
Dan, Jacob and Jeff had a fun Saturday night catching bass. They worked some docks and light lines with lures and got into ’em. They reported the go to lures were small Sebile Stick Shadds and Daiwa SP Minnow Lures.
It’s great seeing the schoolies roam the bay and stretch out a bit. Soon more and bigger fish will move in. Any day now black drum, weakfish and more yellow eye gators!!!
Ryan from Surf City stopped in the shop on Satursday to get new line on his Penn Conflict spinning reel. While in he shared his recent outing was a bust. He fished Tuckerton with a local charter boat. Only managed a skate. Today (Sunday) he headed up to the Raritan bay to try his luck there. No word back from Ryan but we did get a report from another anglers. “I’m on a seven day streak! After a snowy winter, the bass can’t resist bloodworms. The fish are slowly getting bigger and recently started eating lures.”
Prime time perch fishing is quickly approaching. Few reports but the ones we have got were good. Thursday evening Chris Smith reported jumbo perch. He tried but no bass.
Here’s a photo from store staffer Nick D. from Barnegat who’s loving life going to college near Tampa Florida. “Lots of fish eager to eat! We are having a blast catching both snook and red fish on light tackle. The Sheild Reel is awesome!” Nick is loving his Tsunami Shield Spinning Reel putting it to work this winter. Let’s hope he is keeping up with class because from all the good fishing photos we’ve seen he must be a time management wizard!
Little Egg Inlet Dredge Project Complete
Little Egg Inlet is one of New Jersey’s widest and most dynamic inlets with shifting shoals. Used by vessels to access Barnegat Bay, Great Bay and the Intracoastal Waterway the Inlet is very important. Due to extreme shoaling in March 2017, the channel marker buoys were pulled by the Coast Guard. This left mariners to navigate at their own risk in unsafe conditions.
After long debate and all sorts of hurdles, the vital Inlet dredge project and the southern LBI beach repair project were coordinated to kill two birds with one stone ($18.4 million). Move the sand from the inlet and place it a few short miles north (where it came from) on the beaches of southern Beach Haven and Holgate. They actually killed three (No Pun Intended! No Birds In Holgate Were Harmed) because of March’s historic run of swell. The Western Atlantic was alive and sent strong ground swell to the beaches of LBI for weeks. The Holgate section of the beach replenishment was an engineering master piece offering surfers a perfectly tapered sand bar point break.
Soon if not already, the U.S. Coast Guard will mark the Inlet channel and business will be back to usual. That is until the sand moves down again from the Island’s souther beaches. Most of which has already eroded, so only time will tell.
