Average Water Depth / Gear Req?

[sHArK]

I'm very curious about water depth to be expected.. I understand that things change with tides, storms and of course location, but I am comming from an area where the water is very shallow and getting into 12'+ of water requires a YAK to drop the baits, or you setting on a Jetty. I cant allow myself to carry over any habits from the South that don't apply here.
For instance I used to to throwing Penn 113HLW's (30# Mono) and or 114HLW's (40# Mono) along with some Squidders and similar sized offbrands. Often times having to wade out to the second sand bar, hoping to hit 10' of water but usually just yakking out baits and dropping them..

Am I going to find there to be less need for 150-200 yds of bait deployment here in the north?
I would also hope to avoid having to try and catch fish like Strippers with Lures on a reel that has no levelwind..lol.. Im good, but that gets old after a while. Guess thats where the Egg Beaters come into play.. no offense meant, just needed more strength in drag than they were prepared to deliver in trips past.

As for the Yak reels, I will stick with my Garcia
5000's and 6400C always treated me right with a spool of 20# mono.. I like water ski 

[ped579]

The water depths out front ocean side vary as there are bars that build up and between the bars and the beach you get some nice troughs or as they are called sloughs.  These can be reached by just about any angler and the 150 to 200 yard toss is not needed.  Just look for the rips and cuts in the bars and target the inside of the bar on incoming tides and the outside of the bars on the out going pretty simple.

Learning to read the water is not hard but a good low tide helps to see this in real time.

But what is really cool is watching the blues and the stripers chase the bait fish right up onto the beach in a feeding blitz.  You can use fly rods at this time and have a ball.  That is one reason I like to fish with teasers on most of the time. 

As far as reels I have both.  As a conventional I use the Penn 525Mag this is without the levelwind and casts a mile.  For all other fishing I run the gammut in size of spinning reels.  My rods vary in length as well I have everything from 6' for out back in the bay and up to an 11' Tica for out front.

Different rods for different tactics.

For chunking bunker heads I like the big stick with the conventional but for tossing plugs I have an 8' Tica that is a dream to cast.

[IrishAyes]

You do need to be cautious on the Jersey shore. At low tide you can wade out quite a distance at times on some of the beaches. At high tide the water may be over your head just a few feet from the water's edge.

Some beaches in the southern part of the state have a very slow drop in depth and you can wade out a distance. The northern part of the state is drops off a bit quicker.

After a few times on the beach you will learn what areas are safe to wade out a 'little' further. In most instances you will not need a far cast. At times, the fish will be swimming at your feet.

[ped579]

Yeah pretty much that is what happens.  Some times you can wade out to the outer bar but you do not want to get caught out there as the walk back in will turn into a swim as the trough will probably be close to 15' if not more in some places.

[sHArK]

lol...my last swim between bars started off as an "oh wow check out all those Spanish Macs at my feet" into an "Im gona miss you rod-n-reel, but I need this hand free to see tomarrow"

Got caught in a rip on the second bar, that was being sucked out from under my feet..hit the release on the spool and swam with the line in my hand...lol..thank god for knots.

Sounds like the water depth will be better than down south.. love those mags..love those mags more with a Yellowfin blowin up the spool 

I like the 11' footer rods.. med action and a 4 wide sounds perfect.. nice 60# top shot and a fat spool of 30 should do the trick.

Dont get me wrong Iwill have a rod for every day of the month, but have to buy in order of need as i will have to rebuild here.

Thanks for the info guys

[sHArK]

  Just look for the rips and cuts in the bars and target the inside of the bar on incoming tides and the outside of the bars on the out going pretty simple.

We call these Washouts in the South

But what is really cool is watching the blues and the stripers chase the bait fish right up onto the beach in a feeding blitz.  You can use fly rods at this time and have a ball.  That is one reason I like to fish with teasers on most of the time. 

These teasers are inline with your lure? As in your lure trails?

I use plastics like this at times..so as to replicate bait chaseing bait.

[Hotrod]

 

[ped579]

Yeah the way I usually rig them is to start out with a 36" leader usually 40# mono or floro whichever I grab first tie on a Brewakaway Fast Link to make changing lures a dream and at the other end I tie on a swivel.  Roughly 18 to 24" above the fast link I put a dropper loop in the leader and make it just large enough to tie on the teaser which is tied to its own leader.  It sounds more complicated than it is.

Okay here is a graphic it shows 2 ideas one is the teaser tied to the leader in the way I use them plus it shows how I get the teasers to different levels in the water column.

I hope this helps.

Happy Catching

Paul

[sHArK]

Picture is worth a thousand words.. thanks that is a great help. Do you have problems here getting bitten off at the swivels when the swivels are silver or gold?

I like the shinny ones in a rig like this as it adds to the frenzy, but down south the Spanish Macs or "Smacks" as we like to call them will bite your swivel every darn time. This is true for any kind of rig, be it shark, drum, or trout.
You always use the black barrels.

Thanks for the help...

[ped579]

At least for myself I have always used black.

[IrishAyes]

Most guys will use black to prevent blue fish bite offs.

[sHArK]

So black it is...Bluefish huh..
Well I will look forward to getting hooked up on some of these while floating around offshore in my soon to be new Yak.