Point Pleasant Canal Fishing Reports

[kezsr]

Good report as usual,to bad you couldn't hook up with whatever chomped your blue in half,had to be a good sized fish,a striper would take that I think.

[IrishAyes]

Nice report Garry, them blues will tear up anything in sight, including their own. 

[wink_man]

Good report as usual,to bad you couldn't hook up with whatever chomped your blue in half,had to be a good sized fish,a striper would take that I think.

I agree, I think a striper would have no problem inhaling a 2 pound blue. However, it was obviously an alligator blue that grabbed it, stripers don't have the teeth to do that kind of damage. Hmmm, maybe I'll start livelining bluefish in the canal, LOL.

Garry

[ed v]

Fished the west side today by River Ave. at about 4pm. Started throwing a small rapala magnum for a while but no takers. I wanted to see how a Bomber would swim with the water flow so I put on a chicken scratch long-a and gave it a try. I didn't think the bomber would get deep enough to reach the fish but after a few casts Bam! big fish on. Drag starts screaming and I had to tighten it up to land the fish. Was hoping for a striper but when I finally got it up I see a big blue at least 12 lbs. What a fight, this fish really kicked my butt. Now its time to land him and guess what, no net. This time I was prepared though, I brought a glove with me and wrapped my hand around the fireline a few times. Worked like a charm, no pain and the line held up fine. After that I got a smaller blue on the same lure and that was it . Left at about 5:30. Well no stripers but catching blues is still alot of fun.

Ed

[Hotrod]

Great Report Ed..

[wink_man]

Ed, great report, and great fish, there are some big alligators hanging in the canal, and while they lay on the bottom, they have no problem coming up for a bait. Like the one that cut my small 2 pound blue in half yesterday, he literally grabbed the fish right at my feet, I saw him grab it. And any large fish in there is a blast, when they use that fast moving water to their advantage.

I too attempted to fish the canal at 4PM today, water should have been good till 8PM or so. Got there at around 4PM, and before I started fishing, got a phone call, and wound up getting distracted by a very lovely brunette, I figuered the fishing has been way off anyways, so what the heck. I must have just missed you.

Managed to get back to the canal at 8:15PM, but the water was already running pretty hard. I worked the wall from Pine Bluff Ave to the 88 bridge with the rapala, and not even a strike. SO I tried some of my favorite holes with the Fin-S, but the water was ripping to fast to hold bottom effectively.

A lot of boat traffic for that hour, surprised me, water was clear on the outgoing, and a lot of weed and cabbage in the water.

Garry

[ed v]

Ed, great report, and great fish, there are some big alligators hanging in the canal, and while they lay on the bottom, they have no problem coming up for a bait. Like the one that cut my small 2 pound blue in half yesterday, he literally grabbed the fish right at my feet, I saw him grab it. And any large fish in there is a blast, when they use that fast moving water to their advantage.

Garry,
Do you walk through all those brush and weeds and go all the way to the bridge ? If so did you ever have any problem with ticks or chiggers ? Maybe a few of us who fish there could meet up  with weedwackers and do a little cleanup. I checked out under the bridge on the west side but the fence is higher there and plugging would be a little difficult.

I too attempted to fish the canal at 4PM today, water should have been good till 8PM or so. Got there at around 4PM, and before I started fishing, got a phone call, and wound up getting distracted by a very lovely brunette, I figuered the fishing has been way off anyways, so what the heck. I must have just missed you.

Managed to get back to the canal at 8:15PM, but the water was already running pretty hard. I worked the wall from Pine Bluff Ave to the 88 bridge with the rapala, and not even a strike. SO I tried some of my favorite holes with the Fin-S, but the water was ripping to fast to hold bottom effectively.

A lot of boat traffic for that hour, surprised me, water was clear on the outgoing, and a lot of weed and cabbage in the water.

Garry

[wink_man]

Do you walk through all those brush and weeds and go all the way to the bridge ? If so did you ever have any problem with ticks or chiggers ? Maybe a few of us who fish there could meet up  with weedwackers and do a little cleanup. I checked out under the bridge on the west side but the fence is higher there and plugging would be a little difficult.

Ed,
    Yup, I walk through all that brush. There doesn't appear to be enough dead wood on the ground for chiggers, and I've never had a tick on me there, although I do know a few who have gotten one or two.

Whereever the fence is to high, I simply climb over it.

I personally prefer the weeds and brush there, as it disappoints a lot of people from walking up into that area and fishing.

Garry

[ed v]

Do you walk through all those brush and weeds and go all the way to the bridge ? If so did you ever have any problem with ticks or chiggers ? Maybe a few of us who fish there could meet up  with weedwackers and do a little cleanup. I checked out under the bridge on the west side but the fence is higher there and plugging would be a little difficult.

Ed,
    Yup, I walk through all that brush. There doesn't appear to be enough dead wood on the ground for chiggers, and I've never had a tick on me there, although I do know a few who have gotten one or two.

Whereever the fence is to high, I simply climb over it.

I personally prefer the weeds and brush there, as it disappoints a lot of people from walking up into that area and fishing.

Garry

Yes you have a good point there Garry. Less people is better.

[wink_man]

Hit the canal at about 4:15PM today. Water was moving to fast, and I knew that but had time to kill waiting for it to slow down. Water was turbid on the incoming, and a LOT of cabbage and weed. Boat traffic was heavy, to say the least. Worked my way up from Pine Bluff Ave. to the 88 bridge, working the rapala against the wall. Caught 2 bluefish, about 3-4 pounds each, no stripers. The striped ones always seem to feed on the outgoing, so I wasn't concerned, and it's been slow with the south wind anyways.

Worked the holes when the water slowed down with the Fin-s and plugs, couldn't draw a strike, except for a few bluefish chopping my Fin-S fish off.

Met up with friend Scott just before slack tide, he had been fishing at the inlet, caught 10 fluke in 2 hours, all shorts. Tide switched, and Scott caught a striper, on a rubber shad was about 20-22 inches.

Then I catch a small blue, about a pound and a half. Decided to liveline him. Started working him into the current, and thought I saw a bigger fish roll on him. Then Scott saw it, and said the fish that went after it was at least 30 inches, but in any event, he missed grabbing it. Worked him further down the wall in the current, and something grabbed it. Didn't run far, and when I reeled in, I had half a bluefish, chopped cleanly in half, just like the one yesterday. So the front half was still wiggling a bit, and I lobbed it back out. Took 10 steps with the current and something grabbed it and ran, he stopped, I counted to 5, and set the hook. The fish took off like I didn't have any drag, and I have the drag set at 7 pounds on a scale. Went about 40 feet, and the line went slack, the fish was obviously an alligator blue, and chopped right through my 50# mono leader.

Worked my way down towards Pine Bluff to head for home casting a Bomber, and caught one more blue, about 3 pounds. Left about 9:15PM.

Garry

[kezsr]

Garry you seem to have awesome action in the canal,I'm struggling to maintain the expense of this boat I sort of inherited from my son to fish open water,well not so open pretty much stay in the bay.been fighting this motor on the boat since last year,last time out not running good,had ordered carb kits on line,broke down and took carbs off tonite,kits came in today,going to clean and rebuild tomorrow,if it don't workout going to try to repower for next year,then I'll go your way try your type of fishing for the rest of this year,neighbor John who goes with me has great action off the jetties at long branch,he actually had more action then we had when we we went out Thursday.love my fishing but this boat expense is killing me,If it don't workout, will try it your way.your report was great as always  t^always enjoy reading them    Kez

[wink_man]

Kez,
     Yup, I know about the expense killing ya. With college tuition for 2 kids, my boats are sitting in the yard. Typical economics, to run my Parker from my house to the river, fish for the day, and run back, I'll burn about 14-15 gallons of gas, and thats just fishing the river. To get in the truck, and drive to the canal, fish and drive back takes 1 gallon of gas. a trip a day, 7 days a week, adds up quickly, LMAO.

     Fortuantely, the Canal is one of the few places you can fish more effectively from land, than a boat, and also has large fish in it. While they don't come easy, they are there, and I like the challenge. Real trick in the canal is to liveline live bait, herring, eels, bunker, bergalls, etc., I just prefer to fool them on artificials.

     If you decide to fish the canal, let me know, I'll meet you there one day and show you around, and how I fish it.

Garry

[Ren]

I headed down to the canal last night and did'nt even get hit! But I did go to the inlet early that same day and caught a 5 fluke at the start of incoming tide(no keepers). It seems to me that the best time to fish at the inlet is right in the beginning of incoming tide. I have not been doing very well in the canal for the past week or so.  There was alot of traffic in the canal this morning. I headed to Pine Bluff at about 3:30 AM and had a few strikes but nothing on. So I decided to go to the condos and try my luck there. There was a man next to me fly fishing and scoring alot of small blues but no Stripers in sight. I was surprised to see the blues hitting on metal b/c thats a first for me this year(I'm usually getting my rubber demolished). No Alligator blues either. I headed back to pine bluff at around 6:30 AM and fished until 9:30 AM and still no sign of anything except smaller blues. When all was said and done I landed 11 blues but not one striper. I had fun but a little dissapointed.

Ren

[kezsr]

Garry,I'm not ready to give up yet,thanks for your offer,if things don't work out I'll give you a shout.  Kez

[bigmills]

Hey Wink man that guy Scott I think is my brother(back Dodge PU and lives in Point) We grew up just behind the Ocean Road School and fished the canal since the we were old enough to ride our bikes more than 2 blocks from the house 1975 or so. I fish with Scott at the inlet a lot my daughter doesn't seem to like fishing at the canal much. The canal has always been a great shore fishing spot from fluke, snappers, black fish and the many bass I have taken out of there. I have even done good in Dec. for stripers and blues. Yesterday there were what I thought were shad all over the new 70 bridge breaking the surface. I was down there for the shark weigh in yesterday. Only 1 small thresher. Mabe I'll run in to you. Later Chris

[wink_man]

Hey Wink man that guy Scott I think is my brother(back Dodge PU and lives in Point) We grew up just behind the Ocean Road School and fished the canal since the we were old enough to ride our bikes more than 2 blocks from the house 1975 or so. I fish with Scott at the inlet a lot my daughter doesn't seem to like fishing at the canal much. The canal has always been a great shore fishing spot from fluke, snappers, black fish and the many bass I have taken out of there. I have even done good in Dec. for stripers and blues. Yesterday there were what I thought were shad all over the new 70 bridge breaking the surface. I was down there for the shark weigh in yesterday. Only 1 small thresher. Mabe I'll run in to you. Later Chris

Chris,
     Yup, thats the exact same Scott we are talking about, LOL. Tell him to join the site, I told him, and he hasn't done it yet, I need more fishing reports besides mine on here, and we're just moving along now. Also have Ed V and Ren giving us some real good reports. So if we could get some from you and your brother, would be good. This sticky is taking off, a lot of reads and a lot of guests viewing it. Cmon guests, lets join up and put in some reports here. Scotts reports(and yours), would be highly appreciated. Hope to run into you down there.

Garry

[wink_man]

Garry,I'm not ready to give up yet,thanks for your offer,if things don't work out I'll give you a shout.  Kez

No problem Kez, I'm always around.

Garry

[wink_man]

I headed down to the canal last night and did'nt even get hit! But I did go to the inlet early that same day and caught a 5 fluke at the start of incoming tide(no keepers). It seems to me that the best time to fish at the inlet is right in the beginning of incoming tide. I have not been doing very well in the canal for the past week or so.  There was alot of traffic in the canal this morning. I headed to Pine Bluff at about 3:30 AM and had a few strikes but nothing on. So I decided to go to the condos and try my luck there. There was a man next to me fly fishing and scoring alot of small blues but no Stripers in sight. I was surprised to see the blues hitting on metal b/c thats a first for me this year(I'm usually getting my rubber demolished). No Alligator blues either. I headed back to pine bluff at around 6:30 AM and fished until 9:30 AM and still no sign of anything except smaller blues. When all was said and done I landed 11 blues but not one striper. I had fun but a little dissapointed.

Ren

Ren,
     Good report, and good try. The striper fishing has been slow there lately, but they are there. I think I've only caught one, in the past week. Boat traffic was horrendus on Friday, so I skipped the weekend. Will hit it next week and see whats happening.

Garry

[dapbmw]

garry,

i'll be leaving toronto for south jersey tomorrow, hopefully i'll get a chance to go fishing with you. can you pm me or email me: dapbmw at rogers dot com

cheers,
dave

[wink_man]

Hit the canal about 4PM today, couldn't understand why the water was running so hard. SOOOOO I went home, and discovered I read the tide chart wrong. Got something to eat and headed back around 6:30PM. Water was turbid on the incoming, and weed very bad during the hard running water. Boat traffic minimal.

Water was a little clearer at 6:30, and the weed was down also. About a dozen guys fishing from Pinebluff north to the canal entrance, didn't look like anyone was doing anything. Worked the wall from Pine Bluff up to my spot with the rapala and picked up 3 stripers along the way in about 45 minutes, all shorts, smallest about 18 inches, largest about 22. Lost a fourth. Didn't take any pics because the camera was in my pack, on my back.

When I got up close to my spot, I caught a 2 pound blue on the rapala, and this time was prepared, LMAO. Unhooked him, took the rapala off, put on a wire leader with 2 hooks I made up, and livelined him. Had him out in the slight current(was almost slack water), fighting the rod on the surface, and it took all of about 5 minutes of his struggling for something to find him and grab him. I let it run, counted to 5 when it stopped and set the hook. GOOOOOD fish, I could feel it right away. Landed him where I stood,and it was a big alligator blue, 36 inches, 13 pounds 7 ounces:
 

Worked the wall up at my spot with the rapala and did nothing, then used the Fin-S and picked up another small striper against the wall.


Action then kind of died on the slack, and didn't pick back up on the outgoing, which surprised me, cause usually I do good on the outgoing tide, but either way, I'm certainly not complaining. Hopefully this south wind is done, and things will start getting back to normal.
Left at about 10PM, even though the water was still fishable, just nothing happenning.

Garry