Nice crowd for a Sunday evening, as Jason and I were 2 of the 31 fares aboard last night plying the waters of Raritan Bay.
Pretty much fished the same area the whole trip-a pair of snags mid bay.
Marilyn AKA Ms. Gold AKA The Queen Of Gulp didn't waste anytime as she put a nice #4+ on ice within 5 minutes. She was fishing her variation of the wiggle rig; a 6" GULP grub on the bottom hook with a 4" GULP shrimp fished off a teaser-that's it no bait, just GULP.
Jason opted to drag bait and I went with a bucktail set-up. Jason took the money fish ($3) between us (we have a standing bet that whoever catches the first fish be it a keeper/short sea robin..pretty much anything but a skate wins a $1, if it comes off the teaser it's an extra $2, a keeper and extra $5 and a doubleheader and extra $25). Although conditions seemed ideal for bouncing the 1.5 ounce Spro with a 1/4 ounce Spro teaser, there really wasn't much of a bucktail bite as evident by the 2 pair I caught (a pair of short fluke & a pair of small sea robins). Those in the stern around me who were also bucktailing did pretty much the same, although 1 guy was able to buck up a nice surprise in a 16" blackfish. There were a few keepers bucked up by those on the pulpit.
Action wasn't what I call fast & furious but there was never a period more than 5-10 minutes when there wasn't a rod or 2 bent. Most of the keepers didn't need measuring.
I finally went to dragging bait when the drift picked up, so much in fact that 8 ounces of lead needed. Half way through the trip, Jason went from using bait to pulling a GULP baitstrip. He had a good amount of action with it albeit with shorts. I finally set-up on a fish (bellystrip/spearing with a 4" chartreuse GULP swimming minnow) and was able to bring a nice 21.5" fluke to the net only minutes before 3 toots of the horn were given.
18 keepers were put on ice with the pool winner going #6+ (taken on a rental rod). High hook was 3. Those using GULP seemed to have an advantage.
