Sandy Hook, NJ

I fished at the tip of Sandy Hook, NJ in Memorial Day weekend.
In the evening a seal appeared in the water. It wasn't afraid of fishermen and was swimming back and forth right in front of us, playing with the rolling water in the wash.
We, fishermen enjoyed this unexpected visitor, even though it bothered our fishing.
After entertaining us for awhile, the seal finally landed on the beach for a rest.

Although the seal gave me joy, I was disappointed at the day's fishing for I didn't catch any while many spin fishermen around me caught the bluefish.
Last year I visited Sandy Hook also around this time and caught many bluefishes.

I tried to figure out the reason of no catch.
I've been using the fast sinking poly leader recently because it makes my casting better.
I suspected the color of this leader, which is black, might cause alarm to the bluefish.
Some time ago I read an article about the bluefish being more sensitive than the striped bass.

I will change to use a clear long leader and see if my catch improving.                    

Monmouth Beach, NJ

I fished in Monmouth Beach from 6 to 10 this morning.

According to Surfline forecast, surf height at 7 am today would be 1-2 feet in Sandy Hook, 2-3 feet in Monmouth Beach, 3-4 feet in Island Beach State Park. Surf height of 2-3 feet might create nice white water and still be manageable to handle the fly line in the surf. I really wanted to go back to IBSP for such a beautiful place, but 3-4 feet surf height seemed a little too much for me, especially with the incoming tide. 
So I decided to go to Monmouth Beach.

I fished for a couple of hours, but nothing happened.
Then I moved onto the jetty and caught a small one right away. I got one more hooking, but failed to land it.

As the striper season is ending, I am running out of chance to catch a keeper size.

Rough Surf in Sandy Hook, NJ

I hit the Sandy Hook surf again (nobody there) yesterday morning from 7 till 11.
The surf was very rough and stained. I couldn't make a descent line retrieval as incoming wave kept pushing the line right away.
Gradually when the outgoing tide got going, the retrieval became more manageable.
Birds were busily flying back and forth beyond the first break and above the big wave, but I couldn't figure out if they were looking for food or what.
Anyway I didn't even get a bump.

Many Schoolies in Sandy Hook, NJ

In the web some fishing reports about Sandy Hook state that many schoolies are in the surf now.
So I fished there again this morning from 6 till 9, and I caught three shoolies with the sand eel flies. They were small but very fat. I also got many bites.
The spin fishermen around me probably caught many more fish than I did.

As a note:  During the low tide in the early morning, a lot of white water was created by the wave.  I caught the three schoolies and experienced many bites in this white water.
But as the incoming tide advanced, the wave didn't make much white water anymore, and the action gradually died down.  

                                           I am happy with the catch today.  The striper season hasn't end for me yet.

The Point at Sandy Hook Was Closed.

Yesterday was warmer than the past several days, so I went to Sandy Hook, NJ, and hoped to fish the last school of migrating stripers.
As the sign on the left showed:  the Point was fenced off for maintenance dredging.  The east corner of the Point was where I mostly wanted to fish. This trip ended up as a casting practice.

I am still waiting for more good fishing reports from NJ shore.

Island Beach State Park, NJ - The surf fishing season almost ends.

On the web I saw good fishing reports of Island Beach State Park, NJ last week.  So I decided to go there in the early Saturday morning before the arrival of the really cold weather.

I caught a shad, but I didn't catch any striper, neither did fishermen around me.
I guessed either most of the fish had already gone or they didn't come to the beach last Saturday.
I got another chance - a strong strike, but I missed the fish only a moment later.
The sand eel fly went with the fish when the blood knot of the tippet had come loose.  I probably did not tie the knot securely enough in the early morning as my fingers were numbed by the cold wind.  

Later I thought about the miss.  After casting, I wasn't able to start stripping the line right away because I had to free the end of the running line which became tangled on the butt grip of my two-handed rod.  Because of the delay in stripping, the fly sank deeper.  When I started stripping the line, the strike came.  It makes me realize that in some cases, even in surf fishing, I should do a countdown for the fly to reach a certain depth of the water, rather than starting to strip immediately after casting, even though delayed stripping can cause real trouble:  the incoming wave can push the line toward the shore and create an irretrievable slack line. It is difficult to control the sinking depth of the fly in the surf by countdown, but it is worth trying.
    
I have surf fished in the ocean side of the beach several times since the stripper run started.
Although I caught only one schoolie, I become used to fish in the ocean side and learn something about it.
I hope to do better next season.

Little Neck Bay, NY and New Jersey Shore

     

I fished the Little Neck Bay on Saturday and the New Jersey Shore on Sunday.

In Little Neck Bay, I caught one schoolie to end my skunked streak.



  

In the early Sunday morning, I fished in Monmouth Beach. The surf was quite flat - Nada!
Later I went to the Sandy Hook Point.
Only some shads welcomed me.

The striper season will end soon.
I wish I could finally have a memory of a good catch for the long off season.