Well here we go. I thought that the bite was going to be real sketchy based on Wednesdays outing. I need to retract my asessment of the fish being off the clam and on the bunker only. So much for thinking you have the fish figured out. My sister Gail (now known as the Striper Queen) and I headed up to AH to get some fresh petro (2.65/gal) and take a look see for the bunker. We had no such luck with limited bunker marks and could not snag anything. Did not spend to much time. Wanted to be on the spot to catch the majority of outgoing. A call to a couple of my buddies on their success finding bunker in Perth Amboy came up Zero. GK was holding some but the traffic kept them low and spread out making it difficult at best even for the best of netters!
Striper Queen and I hit our spot without a sole in the vicinity. There were bass marks just south west of my destination so the hook made a quick decent to the bottom. We were hanging meat on 6/0 and 9/0's in no time. I passed the TICA (affectionately known as Tikki) to sis and let her know that it's super sensitive and would give her a good workout. Within the first ten minutes she's calling out that she has a fish sniping around. Like a master, she lets the first bump go by, waiting on the second, then launches a hook set that would make a tooth extraction seem like a walk in the park. Wow, this girl has finesse!
She's pumping Tikki like a piston rod trying like hell to gain on the fish. The outgoing didn't help much. We see finning on topwater and know there's a bass. The drag was still a hair loose from last outings washdown and I didn't want to mess with it with the first fish of the day. Finally getting the fish to the boat, the net is out and a 29" is landed. As it hits the deck, I'm looking at this bubble gum colored thing hanging from it's side. How cool is this? The first fish of the day, a keep and to top it off a USSWF tag to boot (number 520315) w0woof
I'm working the St Croix/Shimano Calcutta that has been my favorite for fluking. Took a little while to get reacquanted but I finally got in stride. We continued to catch a mixed bag over the next hour or so. Only a handful of skates. A half dozen bluefish and bass mixed in between. My contribution, was four shorts just missing legit size smallest 26. Meanwhile SQ is banging away at the stripes with the clam. A steady flow of smashed shells kept their interest. She boats a 31, another 29 and I can't get one to the box
. At 11, the current is beginning to top out and through the corner of my eye I see sis pointing the stick and hauling back again. This time she swears she's snagged on the log she said floated by. "sis, that's no snag, that log is pulling line out and runnig off". She hands Tikki off to me and in due time a nice 33" is brought to the boat and netted. Score... Sis 4 in the box one short, me... 4 shorts, none in the box. We have a dozen clam left with a bonus tag and the bite cooling off. Striper Queen breaks out a great lunch. We polish off a nice salami sandwich and pickles
and get back to work. Half the clams are spread for chum and the new bait is hung. Must have hit one in the head. I finally get to contribute to the coffin. We had a great day out there. Quality time with just the sister who, by the way, can fish with best of them. Back at the barn by 1:15 to clean Z'Obsession and cooler limit & bonus fish! NICE
