New Jersey Fishing Reports

 Ocean - Bay - River

October 29, 2009 - East and northeast winds do not seem to want to let up this year.  Fishing is bad enough and repeated easterly blows do not make for great fishing.  Light northeast is FINE but 25 plus for two or three days just dampens the overall landscape.  There has been a bunch a smaller bass caught and personally I think the incredibly overly zealous killing of big female striped bass in the spring run is now beginning to show the results of this silly fishing.  It is REALLY hard to re-catch a dead fish!!!  There are too many "bass pros" just weighing fish in for club points and recognition to see their picture posted on a tackle shops photo gallery only to discard this fish with no F - - - ING intentions of eating it!  Will it stop?  Surely!  When there is nothing left to catch.

I have occasion to be in many tackle shops and what silently gives me the biggest laugh is to hear all the fishermen give their opinions-excuses why they are not catching fish that day.  It is ALWAYS the opposite of what is happening that day.  For example:  If the wind is out of the west they will say we need some east wind to stir things up.  When it is out of the east we need some west wind to calm things down. 

Now let me present this little list of the most common phrases I hear all the time:

Fishing

 

Why we are not catching as many???

 

 

Too much bait.

Not enough bait.

Water temperature is not right.

Water is too warm.

Water is too cold.

Too much east wind.

Too much west wind.

Too much wind.

Too calm.

Too rough.

Need some rough water to stir things up.

Too rough, needs to settle/lay down.

Tide was not right.

Water is too high.

Water is too low.

Beach does not have enough cuts and definition to hold fish.

Too many big sandbars no troughs.

Too many troughs and no sandbars for fish to ambush bait.

The moon phase is wrong.

We need a full moon.

We need the new moon.

Cormorants are eating everything ( of course gill netting adds fish to the sea ).

Water is too dirty.

Water is too clean.

Things are early this year.

Things are late this year.

Things are really screwed up this year!

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NO!  The only thing that is screwed up is your fucking mind!

Now here is reality in EIGHT(8) words and the REAL reason you are not catching many fish.

 

IMPROVED EQUIPMENT, ELECTRONICS AND TECHNIQUES EQUAL MASS DESTRUCTION

 

There are less fish alive in the world and that is why you are catching less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

When is the last time you had to pull your car over to the side of the road to allow a massive herd of buffalo to cross the street?  Not in YOUR lifetime.  Know why??  Because they are DEAD!!!!!

 

By the time America’s earliest peoples had established villages about 20,000 years ago, the bison dominated the rolling grasslands and forested hillsides that stretched west from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains. Researchers estimate that prairie bison alone numbered between 30 million and 200 million, while a woodland variant existed in smaller numbers.

 

 By the 1800s, Native Americans had learned to use the speedy steeds to chase bison, dramatically expanding their hunting range and effectiveness. Next, guns made their way into the hands of buffalo hunters, making them increasingly deadly hunters. But it was that arrival of vast waves of white settlers in the 1800s — and their conflict with the Native American residents of the prairies — that spelled the end for the buffalo. Among the earliest waves of settlers were trappers and traders, people who made their living selling meat and hides. By the 1870s, they were shipping hundreds of thousands of buffalo hides eastward each year: more than 1.5 million were packed aboard trains and wagons in the winter of 1872-73 alone.

The commercial killers, however, weren’t the only ones shooting bison. Train companies offered tourists the chance to shoot buffalo from the windows of their coaches, pausing only when they ran out of ammunition or the gun’s barrel became too hot. There were even buffalo killing contests. In one, a Kansan set a record by killing 120 bison in just 40 minutes. “Buffalo” Bill Cody, hired to slaughter the animals, killed more than 4,000 buffalo in just two years.

An estimated 31,000,000 buffalo were killed between the years of 1868 and 1881 with only 500 buffalo left by the year of 1885.

For anyone who thinks there are more bass now then there ever was ( and I have heard this over 1,000 times ), I say YES!!!!!!  And there are more buffalo now then ever also......

NEVER underestimate the power of denial...!!!!...

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      May 1, 2007 - Bluefish have started invading the bays, which is expected this time of year.  Their presence will increase over the next week and as ALWAYS they provide a lot of fun on poppers.  A few weakfish here and there but they have been basically whipped out by commercial drift/gill netters. You will not see them in abundance for perhaps the rest of your life because of commercial pressure. The lack of gross unification amoung  recreational fishermen doing anything about it is the age old problem!

April 2, 2007 - Bunker and herring are moving into the backwaters the past week.  This is about 1 week early and I am sure the bass are not far behind.  They are getting them already on clams and as soon as the back waters get to a steady 48-50 the bite and activity will increase considerably.  Remember the big difference between spring and fall.  Spring - top temperatures warmer - Fall - bottom water warmer!!

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May 3, 2006 - Winds have decreased considerably and  the ocean should start to lay down and clean up.  Winds are from north to northwest depending where you are. Low tide is around 6:15am this morning and should be fishable in the right location for at least a few hours.  Fishing in Barnegnat Bay is improving every day!

May 2, 2006
- Fishing input has been lean do to the east/northeast winds that have been upon us for the past 5 days.  Conditions and fishing should improve over the next few days and winds should be switching to a westerly direction soon.  Island Beach State Park has been closed at high tide because of beach flooding conditons due to rough surf.

May 1, 2006 - BIG tide runner weakfish have showed up right on schedule!  They are being caught around the back of the inlet, sod banks and also at the mouth of the power plant.  Bass are also increasing in size and numbers.  Bluefish have also become more widespread throughout the bay.  In spite of the dry northeaster that was/is upon us, this may actually help because it hampers the commercial netters from wrapping them all up.