As I always say at the top of my "Reports" web page, "I report when we do good and when we don't".
Yesterday morning was one of those really tough days to say the least. Although the photo below shows a fish, that doesn't begin to tell the story of the frustration of putting together a good catch for the Roger Bigger party on this Saturday morning.
First off, had to keep a close eye on the weather throughout the day. Left the marina at 7 am to bay water that was flat calm...no issue here. Ran through enormous pods of bunker all over Sandy Hook Bay, so we stopped at one of them and snagged a dozen, and we were on our way to what I thought was going to be a banner day. Fresh bunker and clams for bait, and a heads up phone call report from one of my fishing "detectives" about a prime location.
Got to that location which had a few boats trolling and anchored up bait fishing and I decided to troll for a short period to locate the fish with the intention of anchoring up and begin bunker chunking and/or clamming for Stripers.
Well, I guess today just wasn't meant to be. Trolled around for quite awhile not being able to find any good marks so I ran over to an area in Raritan Bay that has been one of my prime locations for bait fishing. A few Bluefish is the only thing we were rewarded with. Moved to another location, and another, and another.......well you get the picture. Total frustration starts to set in with me as I knew these fish were here just a few days ago and now nothing. Although I did have readings on the finder, these guys just weren't going to cooperate today.
Now around 10 am a vicious fog bank starts to cover everything in it's path and a really strong, 15-20 kt wind out of the deadly south kicks up and the bay is starting to "white cap". I knew right then and there the morning bite was done but we tried for awhile longer anyway.
What can I say, day's like this happen and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Remember, that's why they call it fishing and not catching. Now I know why my hair is turning gray so fast. One final thing too, we had a "new moon" yesterday which pretty much explains why these Bass may not have been interested in our offerings. Better days ahead!
Tight Lines
Capt. John
