11/17 Gambler Jigging Report

[Skolmann]

Myself, Jason were joined by Mike Stiffler and his friend Craig on the Gambler this morning for a day of jigging.

Started off right out in front of the inlet and perhaps alittle to the south. A slow pick developed with mostly bluefish in the #4-5 class with a mix of schoolie bass. Started moving north stopping off Spring Lake, Shark River with each drop producing some fish around the boat. Finally came upon good bird life (and a the fleet) off Long Branch. Had spurts of drop and reel fishing. Fish were moving south and so did we.

The four of us combined probably put 80+ bluefish in the boat and close to 30 bass--however Jason caught the only keeper (32"s) among them (he also lost another sure keeper boatside). Most bass were in the 20-27"s class. Bluefish ranged from #4-12+. Probably around 20 keeper bass for the boat.

Hot jigs were 3 & 5 ounce butterfly, 5 ounce Krocodile spoons and AVA027s when we were tight to the beach. Fish from Shark River south had only sand eels in the belly, while fish north of there had sand eels, peanuts, rainfish and assorted other fishes (small porgies, weakfish)

The high light for me was taking a nice quality fluke on a butterfly jig. Would have made a nice meal if the season was open.

Pool winning bass went #15.5.

[Hotrod]

Wow, That's a lot of Fish, I got tied bring in a half Dozen

Nice Report Skol.

[CapBob]

Skolman


Great report and gd job

[IrishAyes]

Nice day of fishing, good job.   

[Bucktail]

Great day Skolman!  I'll be out on the Gambler Thursday!  I hope the action is just as hot.  (With maybe a few less bluefish).

-Bob

[Luna Sea 5]

nice catch

[Duffman]

Hey Skolmann, good meeting you guys yesterday. Nice pick of fish we had, pretty consistent action.
  Shads worked pretty well for me in the bow, although as the wind came on later in the day it was hard to cast them and get them to sink.
  Your tackle "suitcase" is something to see. Whats it weigh 80-90lbs??!! 

[IrishAyes]

Hey Skolmann,   Your tackle "suitcase" is something to see. Whats it weigh 80-90lbs??!! 

Pics!!!!!!   

[Skolmann]

Great day Skolman!  I'll be out on the Gambler Thursday!  I hope the action is just as hot.  (With maybe a few less bluefish).

-Bob

Make sure you have a few 5 & 7 ounce Krocodile spoons. They seemed to be to jig of choice yesterday especially north of Manasquan where the fish were keyed in on peanuts.

Might even be worth having a pencil popper as I know a number of guys did well with them yesterday as well.

[Skolmann]

Hey Skolmann, good meeting you guys yesterday. Nice pick of fish we had, pretty consistent action.
  Shads worked pretty well for me in the bow, although as the wind came on later in the day it was hard to cast them and get them to sink.
  Your tackle "suitcase" is something to see. Whats it weigh 80-90lbs??!! 

Haven't put it on a scale yet but #80 sounds about right. You haven't seen anything until you see my entire fluke aresenal (although I seldom bring all my fluke tackle).

My son & I threw shad to no avail yesterday--funny that you were getting action on it and we weren't. We were throwing a 6" white.

Jason caught all his fish on either a tubeless AVA047 or a 5 ounce Krocodile. I did real well early (especially with bass) on a 3.5 ounce blue/white ProFish butterfly jig. I also took fish on a tubeless AVA027 (switched to this when I saw they were spitting up small sand eels) and a 5 ounce Kroc spoon. The 20" fluke took the butterfly jig.

[Duffman]

How did you work the butterflies?  Bouncing off the bottom, retrieved slowly??  This is something I need to try.

  Those were the 5" versions right?  Thanks.

[Fishonw/Ron]

Nice report  one for the papers

[ped579]

Great report,  Better than I did this weekend.  But it is over and on to some serious fishing

[fishin4life]

hey guys, comin home on tuesday lookin to get out on wednesday , whats the butterfly rig you keep talkin about?

[ped579]

A very simple rig with two hooks added to the eye if a jig.

[Pops Soul]

Thanks for that report Skolman. 

[IrishAyes]

Hi Drew, me and a couple of other guys are going to jump on a party boat Friday.  See if you and your dad want to go.  I'll have to give him a call.

[Skolmann]

How did you work the butterflies?  Bouncing off the bottom, retrieved slowly??  This is something I need to try.

  Those were the 5" versions right?  Thanks.

Few bounces off the bottom, then 5 cranks of the reel jigging as you reel. Hold that depth for a few moments then another 5 cranks all the way back to the boat. It is very important that you lower the rod tip as the jig falls back as you are jigging as most if not all of your hits come on the fall. It is also very important that you pay attention to your line--alot of the hits I got yesterday as well as the week before I never felt the hit but noticed my line was slack when it should have been tight--all I did was reel like mad until the line came tight and the fish was there. My theory on this is that since the fish are coming up behind/under the jig their momentum carries them & the jig up in the water column thus creating the slack. If you get a hit and miss keep working it right there 90% of the time the fish will come back. This was only my second time using a butterfly jig, it does take alittle bit of a learning curve but once you get the feel for it it isn't that difficult.

Not exactly sure of the length of ProFish butterfly jig I was using but it was the 3.5 ounce model. Guy I was fishing with was using a 5 ounce model and did better once the drift picked up because the 3.5 ounce was staying down deep enough.

I like the ProFish buttefly jig because it comes with both a split ring and a solid ring. You need both rings. Other companies who make these jigs don't include them and you have to buy them seperately. You attach a pair of assit hooks (you have to buy these seperate). to the solid ring. I like 3/0-5/0. Gamakatsu model 510. Your main line also gets attached to the solid ring.

[fishin4life]

Hi Drew, me and a couple of other guys are going to jump on a party boat Friday.  See if you and your dad want to go.  I'll have to give him a call.

Sounds good Joe you know im always game for a day on the water.