5/27 Fluke Sandy Hook Bay area

[wildwilly]

Fished the bay area and outside as well (no bites outside) from 6AM-2PM yesterday. Got about 15 shorts all on gulp, with a few large blues caught (released) and of course some blues lost. Gets expensive with double spro rigs being lost to each break-off.  Got one 19.5 keeper near the end of the trip. Most of the boats I saw had all shorts and slow action at best. Had allot of finicky bites, what I call hanger-ons. No bite just weight on a slow lift and then on the second lift if the weight was still felt I sent it home and it mostly worked, but who cares they were all throwbacks. The one keeper fish hammered the gulp.

Trying again tomorrow (Friday). I am considering trying out some sunrise wire line spoon trolling.  I have never trolled spoons before. Any Advice? I know I have to find the right speed and get the pumping action going on the new Maja rods and spoons. Is it too early to troll outside for Bass. I was figuring one rod out at 200' and the other at 300' and maybe a shad umbrella closer to the top. I am a rookie in this type of fishing so all advice appreciated.

[Hunter 2]

I use 15' of 50lb Mono leader in front of spoon and attach to spoon with a Large snap swivel. Small snap swivels can spin themselves through the spoons large split ring and come unbuttoned. I think the spoons work best at 90 pumps of the rod per minute. "About 22 pumps in 15 seconds" adjust speed accordingly, 
Any Shad umbrella rigs will get torn up by bluefish. A Stretch 25 might be a better option.
 

[wildwilly]

Hunter,

Thanks for the advice. I wound up forgetting to ask for a launch the night before (I am in the rack) and so I did not get out until 8AM. Fluked the remainder of the outgoing by the Navy pier and few other spots and got a few shorts and a bluefish. During the slack I finally went outside and trolled the spoons for the first time. I got bluefish after bluefish, some huge, but no bass. I know I was deep enough because I came up with a clam on one of the lower trolled spoons.  The pumping action is awesome and I assume the fact that I snagged a few of the blues near the mouth supports the fact that the spoons were dancing wildly. It was a great experience.

When you hook up do you keep the boat in gear at a slower speed or do you just stop?   

Thanks,
Bill (wildWilly)