Saltwater Jam, NJ Shore (Island Beach State Park), 21-22 Oct

[PhilC]

I'm still hoping to make this event...should know by this evening

I don't have the spin gear for the salt...hopefully that's not an issue tomorrow?

 

[trowpa]

leaving after work today.....

 

[Fredrick]

Where is that report at guys ?

 

[Fishidiot]

Okay, here's the re-cap. Hopefully some of the attendees will chime in with some more pics. Anyway, the short version is that the weather was great and the fishing poor.

FRIDAY: Fished by myself in Seaside Heights. Water was brown - no luck. After dinner, I tried spin fishing with plugs after dark and that produced nothing either. Not an auspicious start.

SATURDAY: Was joined by Jay 348 at 0630 and we hit the surf at Seaside Heights at dawn. Water was much better and still no wind. Looked like a great morning (see pics) but we didn't have a strike. After breakfast, Jay and I were joined by Trowpa (and wife) GRP, and PhilC. We hit the bathing beach section and caught several fluke. After this, we all made the long trek down to the North Jetty. There was a very large number of fishermen on the park - not surprising for a beautiful October day. We chatted with countless bait fishermen and nobody was catching anything. The jetty produced a couple more fluke but no bass or blues were anywhere to be seen.

SUNDAY: I was out at before dawn. CLSSports was too but we didn't get a bump. I watched through my binoculars and I could see dozens of fishermen up and down the beach and I didn't see a single fish caught that morning. With blistered hands, I called it a day at about 1100.
We couldn't have asked for better weather. I think it was the calmest I've ever seen at the shore. I was able to throw 90' casts almost out to the sandbar but there just weren't any baitfish or game fish around. That's surf fishing.
Thanks for joining me. As always, it's great to fish with and meet the folks from our PAFF community.
Dave W

 

[CLSports]

My weekend was much the same. No fish. I met up with Dave on Sunday morning briefly, but I was not able to hook up with the rest of the crew since I got there later on Saturday. I had a few friends with me that were spin/bait fishing and the best we could come up with is one skate from Saturday afternoon/evening and then again on Sunday morning.

Like Dave said, there were no bait fish around and no bass or blues either. Weather was perfect and the winds were calm. We had a great time though except for the boardwalk food we ate in Seaside Heights.

Thanks for organizing this Dave. Hopefully next time we will have more success. Maybe in the Spring we can do a kayak trip in the bay.


Rob

 

[GRP]

Had a fun time at my first jam even though the first didn't cooperate. Met up with the crew for breakfast at Betty and Nick's which was excellent. Then Jay348 and I headed to the beach to see what we could do on our own before the everybody else joined us. We had a quick double on two small flounder (fluke) and that was it. I ended up catching another sub-legal flounder at the spot later in the morning. After a long walk to the jetty, I missed a larger flounder off the rocks. Got a picture of PhilC with his flounder off the rocks that I need to post. That was it for the fish. Beautiful weather, great company, just no fish.

 

[jay348]

Dave, nice pics and thanks for organizing! The fluke helped us beat the skunk! And if the bass/blues were there, I'm sure we would have nailed em. Next time!

It was an awesome day in a great place to fish...it almost made me forget about a certain mtv show that takes place just up the road.

My first jam was a blast and it was great meeting everyone. I should have taken more pics, but here are the few that came out ok.

 

[afishinado]

Sounds like you guys had a great time. Fishing the salt, especially surf fishing is almost always hit or miss, and it's really tough to schedule a trip in advance like most of us must do. When the fish (and bait) are in, ya gotta be there, but things do change in a moments notice.

From most of NJ shore reports I've been getting, things haven't really started yet. Some of the boat guys have been running into some fish (bass & blues), but by and large surf fishing has been a lot more miss than hit.

Maybe Captain Dave or another board member can assemble the troops for another assault later in the fall when the fish are in, or maybe in the spring.

 

[mkoloch]

Looks like a nice day was had by everyone. I'm heading to DE this weekend for some fishing & bring back my gear. Really looking forward to the Sandy Hook gathering.

 

[Fredrick]

Rotten Luck guys it looks like you guys had a good time otherwise. Not much happening anywhere right now it should blow up any day now. Oh I will be sending open invites for anyone that wants to join me fishing so look out for them.

 

[jdaddy]

Fishidiot wrote:

were joined by Trowpa (and wife)

zomg.

 

[wgmiller]

Wow... Had to hit the Urban Dictionary to figure that one out!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=zomg

 

[beeber2]

wgmiller, yeah I did that too.

 

[sandfly]

got to get out further on jetty for any fish. there is a pole half way out (used to tie ourselves to them when waves are crashing) that marks the good area start. fished that jetty 1,000's of times.
Muddy water pushed bait and fish out. takes a few days before they return. looks like winter flounder not fluke which should be able to keep now.mmmmm good to eat stuffed with crab meat..

 

[Fishidiot]

Sandfly,
I agree that further out on the jetty can often be more productive. However, there were a lot of fishermen out there (only the tog guys were catching anything) and they were not getting bit either. I'll brave the waves/spray if I think there's fish but I've reached the age where this sort of thing doesn't appeal to me as much. If it's rough enough, I won't venture out regardless of fish. Every year the Coast Guard has to recover some knucklehead who got stranded out there. I've pulled a few guys from the drink myself and tend to be mighty cautious. The pocket right at the beach has often produced well for me and if there aren't already a bunch of guys on the beach casting there, I like to fish that spot with a fly.

The fish in the pics are summer flounder (fluke). I thought we might see some winter flounder but not this time. I usually get them later in the fall.

 

[gfen]

If it wasn't for a late development on an opportunity I couldn't pass up, I was gonna make this drive for a day of fishing.

Sorry it didn't work out to plan, but it'd still have been nice to just see some fellow fly fishermen out there rathern than me making an lonesome fool of myself.

At least weather cooperated.

 

[PhilC]

I finally got my pics uploaded for this trip...

I met at up at 10 on Saturday. We did some fishing at the Swimming beach to start. GRP hooked a fluke (or flounder) right away. We flailed around a bit and eventually headed to the North Jetti. It was my first time walking to the Jetti and it wasn't that bad really. We fished the Jetti, then back end of the inlet (the "weakie spot"). The group then disbanded and did their own thing...I misunderstood the fact that most were making their way back and didn't get a chance to say farewell (see yall next time!)
I took a power nap on the beach/a rock and joined FI back on the Jetti. Managed another fluke on the Jetti, this was my 2nd of the day and it was cool since I've never caught these before.
Walked back...flailed at a few more beach spots and I was on my way back to Bethlehem...
Thanks Dave for putting on the event it was a great time!

It was about 2 hrs exactly from my house to the park gates...I could be at the Jetti in under 3 hrs...gonna try to get back again this year...