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.                    

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.

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.
     

Sandy Hook, NJ

I fished at the tip of Sandy Hook, NJ yesterday from 10:30 am to 9:00 pm except 2 hours lunch break.
This was my first outing of the season there since two years ago.
I expected some shoreline changes caused by super storm Sandy, but it looked almost the same as before.

High tide came at 2:45 pm.
There was not much action until 4 o'clock.
When fishermen started catching fish one by one at the corner of the tip,
fishermen fishing in somewhere else immediately rushed to the tip.
As more fish came, the tip became more crowded.  Fishermen of all kinds, from the fully equipped surf casters to young guys with 30 bucks Sport Authority's tackle sets, women, the young and the old were there.  Such a festive atmosphere!
Everybody was busy catching fish.
Most were blue fish.
Some even caught fish in almost every cast.
I fished at a spot a little bit away from the crowd because my long rod and line might endanger other fishermen.
Though I wasn't at the best spot, I caught many blues.

The blue fish seemed to be eating peanut bunkers.  
I picked one up from the water to confirm.
My bunker pattern flies worked well, but I lost many of them due to these toothy fish.

Although there were no obvious signs of fish presence yesterday, such as the blitz and many birds activities, blue fish from small to medium crowded along the shore at the tip of the Hook. Everybody enjoyed a day of fishing.

In my Sandy Hook fishing experience, yesterday was one of the most fantastic days.