Point Pleasant Canal Fishing Reports

[ped579]

 

[ed v]

Hi Garry, I have changed over to single hooks on most of my plugs and have had better hook up ratios I guess by changing over it gives the lure a better profile in the water as well.

Paul

Paul,
Do you find that it changes the action at all? Have you done this to Bombers ? I tried it today on a deep diving plug but I haven't used it yet. I used 3/0 VMC Siwash hooks.

[wink_man]

Lost9340 and I decided to hit the canal this afternoon. Going over the Mantaloking bridge, I was pleased to see the wind coming from the north. Arrived at about 4:30PM. Tides are really messed up with this weather, water should have been to fast, and wasn't, and should have been fishable till about 8:30, but was ripping so fast by 7:30PM, I called it quits. Water was more turbid than it has been, weed horrendus on the incoming, and boat traffic higher than normal, but liveable.

Started working the rapala along the wall as I worked up to my spot, and Lost9340 went to his favorite hole. Worked almost all the way up to my spot and finally got a hit, a striper, about 22 inches, right against the wall on the rapala.


At about the same time, Lost9340 went up by the bridge near the eddy and connected with one about 18 inches, also on the rapala:


And that was it for the evening. Lost9340 met an older gentleman up by the bridge, who had been fishing bait for 8 years or something in the canal, and never caught a fish. So he told him what lures to use, and the guy caught 2 blues on a bomber. He is going to look at the site tonight. Saw my friend Scott, and fished with him for a while, but neither of us did anything. However, we did see a big striper roll on the surface, so they're in there. We need a change in weather, and wind. He is going to look at the site also. Overall, still a good day, good company, a good fishing spot, and a few bass caught.

Garry

[IrishAyes]

Nice report Wink. You are the King of the Canal. 

[ped579]

Good report as usual Garry.   

EdV, I have changed many over but I don't really use Bombers to much so I can't comment on them, but If the action is a little different it usually means that there is not enough drag on the tail.  I would tie on some bucktail hair to the hook to give the lure a little more drag and that should make it wobble better.

Good luck.

Paul

[wink_man]

Hit the Point Pleasant canal this morning about 6AM. Water was turbid, weed low in the outgoing, boat traffic light. Worked the wall and all my favorite holes with the rapala, Fin-S, storm big mac, storm 6 inch  rubber shad, and couldn't draw a fish. One Hit from a blue, he slashed the Fin-S. Blues were actually so absent, that I used the 6 inch rubber storm shad a greater majority of the time, and still have it in one piece, LOL. Conditions were ideal too, tides running more like normal, cloudy and overcast, and even a mild rain for about half an hour. Left about 8:15, I started fishing the incoming, hoping the opposite water flow would change things, but it didn't, and weed and cabbage was so bad on the incoming, it's not worth fishing once the water starts flowing, even mildly. Maybe tonight.

Garry

[ped579]

Good try Garry.  I am hoping to get out tonight if the rain holds up.  It can be miserable at IBSP in the rain. 

Paul

[Ren]

 
I did not fish the canal yesterday 7/5/08 but did head out on the boat for some striper fishing.  Plenty of bunker snagged outside mouth of the inlet on both sides but did not seem like anything was underneath them.  We trolled for a while as well with no luck(Maybe next time).  Also, I stopped by the canal today about 10:00AM and tried out the FIN-S with no luck. Getting a little frustrated today but looking to give the canal another shot later in the day. Garry have you fished the canal yest. or today? If so any luck?

Ren

[wink_man]

Hit the canal at 1:30PM today, as I had a favorable tide.

I attempted to fish it yesterday evening, and got there at 5PM, worked my way up to my spot, working the rapala against the wall as I went with no results, and when I got to my spot the skies opened up, headed for the truck, totally drenched, and that was the end of that.

Tide this afternoon was incoming to outgoing. Wind out of the northeast, and light, water turbid on the incoming and clear on the outgoing. Weed minimal on both tides for a change, it's been real bad on the incoming for the past couple of days. All the boats you could possibly want traveling through there. A lot of people fishing at the mouth of the canal, by the river, no one appeared to be doing much of anything.

Worked the wall up to my spot with the rapala, I had one hit, and didn't hook it, prolly a small striper, as it was right against the wall.
 
Worked my favorite hole from incoming, through slack to outgoing with the Rapala, Fin-S, Storm Big Mac, and 6 inch rubber storm shad, not a hit to be had, not even a bluefish. Fished till 4:15PM and left, as the water was ripping.

May head back tonight as I have some good fishable water from about 6:30PM to 10:30PM.

Garry

[wink_man]

Hit the canal about 6:10PM this evening. Same wind conditions, water clarity, etc, as early afternoon. Boat traffic down quite a bit though, and obviously, opposite tides.

Worked the wall of the canal with the rapala from Pine Bluff Ave, all the way up to the 88 bridge, and couldn't draw a strike.

Worked my favorite hole with all the same lures worked this afternoon, not a hit, not even a bluefish. Friend Scott caught one blue, about 4 pounds. Worked my way out casing the fin-s into all the holes, and not a strike. On my second to last cast, the Fin-S was slahed by a small bluefish, that was it. I left at 9:15. Still had fishable water till 10:30, but it was so dead, it wasn't worth staying. Hopefully things will start getting back to normal now that the south wind has seemed to stop.

Garry

[ped579]

Good try Garry,

I have a few things I have to do during the day tomorrow and if the weather holds up I am going to try and get out tomorrow evening now that the crowds have calmed down.

I don't know about the winds it seems that they have been out of the south for a while and the NWS is saying that that trend will continue for most of the week.  Oh well.

Happy Catching

Paul

[wink_man]

Good try Garry,

I have a few things I have to do during the day tomorrow and if the weather holds up I am going to try and get out tomorrow evening now that the crowds have calmed down.

I don't know about the winds it seems that they have been out of the south for a while and the NWS is saying that that trend will continue for most of the week.  Oh well.

Happy Catching

Paul

Paul, good luck, I hope you do something.

I didn't look at a weather report, I looked at the sky, and then the flag going over the Mantaloking bridge. No matter what NWS is saying, I saw the wind coming out of the northeast, this afternoon, and this evening. I hope the south wind is done, but it's prolly not.

[ped579]

I have the same feeling.

Yeah, I think it is just as good (NWS) as consulting the weather rock.  The only thing the rock is never wrong...

[Bucktail]

I was out on Barnegat Bay today and the forecast was for southerly winds, but it was blowing ENE for much of the day today.

[ped579]

Hey here is an idea if we all can chip in we could set up our own weather stations along the coast and just log into them for real time info.  I do this with a number of sites now but most are not real time data.

The closest thing is the Weather Underground.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=08753

But I noticed that the re are a number of sites that come and go online and offline.


"NJ Saltwater Fisherman, real time weather for reel time fishing"...

Paul

[wink_man]

Hit the Point Pleasant Canal about 6:30PM this evening, had a good tide and good water till about 10:30PM. South/southwest wind, water clarity very clear on outgoing, boat traffic minimal, weed and cabbage minimal.

Fished the south end tonight, by the condos, figuring maybe the bass were more active down there, since I haven't been able to do anything at the north end lately.

Not a thing, not even a bluefish. I did have 2 Fin-S fish chopped off by bluefish, but that was it. Fish are there, I saw stripers rolling at dusk. Also saw several schools of smaller fish in the surface at dark, not sure if they were small blues, or hickory shad, but wouldn't take a lure, and hickory shad readily hit a 3/4 ounce hopkins shorty, so do blues(which I threw right at them), no interest.

Left at 9:15PM, didn't even wait for the tide to change, it was that dead.

Garry

[Bucktail]

Not a thing, not even a bluefish. I did have 2 Fin-S fish chopped off by bluefish, but that was it. Fish are there, I saw stripers rolling at dusk.

Garry

Garry,

I've run into that problem when I used to fish the bridges on LBI a lot.  One night the stripers were really feeding heavily on something, but I couldn't figure out what it was.  They were rolling on the surface, just like you said.  I was throwing everything I could at them, Fin S, swim shads, bombers, metal, etc.  Then it dawned on me to try these tiny 2 1/2" Fin S that I had with me.  I rigged one on the smallest jighead I could find (which was like 1/8 oz.) and tossed it in.

Bang!  Just like that I was hooking up like crazy!  One after the other!  The only problem I had was that these jigheads were the freshwater style, so I lost a lot of fish when they straightened the hooks out.  But I still managed to land a bunch that night in the 15 to 20 lb. range! 

Maybe next time that happens you should try to downsize and see what happens.  It couldn't hurt!

Good luck!
-Bob

[wink_man]

Bob, thanks for the tip, will give it a try next time. I do have small saltwater jigheads, down to 1/8 ounce, just need to pick up the small Fin-S. What color Fin-S did you get them on?

Garry

[Bucktail]

I think they were black with gold flake.  I used to use them as teasers in front of the main lure, but they wouldn't take them that way. 

Like you said about the Fin S I picked up for you, I don't think the color matters a whole lot.  In this case, I'm sure it was the size of the bait and rate of fall that made the difference.  I think they were probably keying in on the shrimp that gather under the lights.

-Bob

[wink_man]

Hit the Point Pleasant Canal late this afternoon. I haven't been going, because the fishing is SO off with this south wind, but I had a good tide this afternoon, so thought I'd give it a go.

Walked down Pine Bluff Ave to the canal, and started working the wall up towards my spot with the Rapala. Surprisingly, I caught a blue, right against the wall, thats unusual(or so I thought,LMAO). Worked all the way up to my spot, 2 more blues, no stripers.

When I got to my spot, I picked up a striper, right against the wall, small is the best way to desribe him, but nevertheless, at least it was a striper:


Worked the holes with the Rapala, Fin-S, and Storm Big Mac, could not draw a strike from a striper. Bluefish were annoying, to say the least, I caught at least a dozen of those 2 to 4 pounders, they even hit the Storm Big Mac.

So I was reeling in a 2 pound blue, when right at my feet, a much larger fish came out of the depths and grabbed it. I couldn't tell what it was, but I snapped the bail open and let him run with it. When I set the hook, nothing, so I reeled up, and it must have been a big alligator blue, because here is what I had left, LOL:

Water was clear, boat traffic minimal, weed and cabbage minimal, wind out of the southwest. Still slow and very off in my opinion, I think if the wind changes, things will get back to normal, but I must say, the bluefish were very aggressive today.

Garry