Fishing Journal April 11, 2015

After what seemed to be a never ending winter spring is finally here in mid April. Typically New Jersey has experienced a few warmer weeks by now. This was the first weekend to actually get out and shake it off by doing what we love the most.

It begun Saturday afternoon on the bay-shore of Cliffwood Beach. Myself I have never stepped foot on dry land there. An invite from Sean ‘Rednedk’ a friend of mine and also joining were my friend Dan and a good acquaintance Pat. Fer me this was to be an experience due to the last time fishing from a beach i was in my young teens fishing with my father. We weren’t really ever fond of the style of surf fishing. My father had a boat so we were always fishing from it. It was great to learn that nothing has changed. It still consists of a minimum 11′ rod and a 6000 series spinning reel. Sean and Pat are experienced surf fisherman Dan however was new to it. It was great to teach him the basics of how to tie on a rig shuck a clam and hurl and loft the bait as far from the beach as possible.

It turned out to be a sunny but cold windy afternoon with a sustained 25 mph wind gusting  to 35 mph. My first cast crossed both Sean and pats lines as the wind grabbed my pop fly cast and took it to the right. After reeling back in and walking back past their lines I was able to throw a much more decent cast.  A few hours went by more shooting the breeze with fishing stories of the past and it was time to pack up and go get some Chinese style all you can eat Buffet. For the future I’m never doing buffet before fishing in the AM again.

Although we were completely skunked it was great hanging out fishing again!

Plans for fishing in RB are going to be rough for this weekend.

The wind forecasts are showing a demanding paddle and rough conditions. The stripers tend to like rough water though. Planning on Friday evening it shouldn’t be quite as bad. Then again going out early Saturday morning or just fishing right through. The forecast could change and typically will.

Hope to get some cool photos of the new Cuda and the Big Rig along with some nice fish!

For the local anglers if anyone cares to join up on Friday evening I will be on VHF channel 71. My handle is Yak Chum. Fishing location will be Raritan Bay between Staten Island NY and Keyport NJ region. Hoping to fish the Raritan reach channel. Not sure if I will get out that far though.

Good luck to anyone else fishing this weekend. BE safe and always wear your PFD.

A first for me in the fall season a surf launch into 50 degree waters. As I don’t typically surf a lunch anyway due to the local Raritan Bay being such a productive and vast fishing location this was a bit out of the ordinary. Every fall the Striped Bass migrates south like many other species. The migration can last a month or a few days.

I have fished the mouth of the bay near the tip of Sandy Hook in the fall and been successful there. Unfortunately while the fish were migrating through that area the weather did not hold and or I was at work. So unfortunately I missed the northern Jersey Bass migration but last chance headed out with “The Coordinator”  Matt Williams on Sunday.  After an hour and a half of driving and stopping at two bait and tackle shops for bait/lures we arrived at the beach. An area we have never fished before. After loading up and dressing up in dry gear onto the sand we wheeled our yaks to the breakers.  When you drop in the same way all the time and go to a surf style launch you need to do things different. This includes stowing gear. What to take with and what not to take. 

The entry is the easy part its all about timing. The waves were small at this point in time and entry was very easy. Once i was off the beach I unpacked my rods and placed them in my rod holders tubes behind me realizing I had forgot my rod leashes. I figured i would be stowing them in the rod stagers and have never dropped a rod overboard so it would be fine. I didn’t have to paddle far to the birds maybe a 1/4 mile. There were thousands of birds and hundreds of boats. Dead calm too even though there were so many boats you could only breath in diesel exhaust and burnt 2 cycle oil. It sounded like a constant oil tanker was going by. Incredible. Fish swirling everywhere. My fish finder was marking big fish on the bottom so i started jigging. About 20 minutes of jigging i went to set up my other rod with a live eel.  Low and behold it was gone. I didnt tighten down my rod holder and it work its way horizontal and my rod slid out. First time in the salt and no leashes. Nice.. If you love it leash it.  So that was a big dilemma. I had planned to fish two rods one drifting live eels and the other casting plugs and jigging. Now i was typing every lure on since i couldn’t find anything that would work although i somehow snagged a window pain (sun dial) with the 3.5 oz Spro buck tail jig! So I at least wasn’t completely skunked.   Finally 2 hours later switching to live eels and drifting around where birds were working. Not even a shake down on the eel. Another hour went by and this is around the time o took the photos. It got cloudy again and then a dense fog rolled in. I couldn’t see 30 feet in front of me. 10 minutes went by and i noticed a ground swell starting.

groundswell [ˈgraʊndˌswɛl]

Upppp and Dowwwnnnn. Still calm and no wind at this time but chances of surf landing successfully was quickly diminishing.

Now to find the beach. This was one of these gearing up decisions that I made. Bring the GPS or Not to bring the GPS. Well im glad i brought it. I was paddling as i thought towards the beach i look at my GPS and I was moving parallel.  I changed course and a few minutes later i could see the tops of the breakers but that was it couldn’t see the beach. I could see the waves were now huge. So i stowed my rod tackle and gear. I tried to time it out but the waves were much faster than  anticipated. Cleared the first two now about 20 feet from the beach the third one caught me odd turned the boat then rolled me. Into the water i plunged boat flipping . As I came to the surface due to my PFD floating me I flipped my boat over seeing that i had forgot to buckle my center hatch. So a few lures brand new sinkers went streight to the bottom. I righted my boat gathered some of the floating stuff and swam to shore holding the rope i attached to the front handle of the yak. Matt helped me with the boat as i went back in the surf to gather my fish finder which i had detached and stowed which was floating in the water (surprised) a water bottle 2 bags of storm shads and a pair of gloves. Loss was the new spoon i bought that day & 3 sinkers along with a Spro hard swim-bait and a Spro buck tail. All i had to do was latch the webbing straps that keep the center hatch latched closed.

I was happy that I wasn’t injured in the surf. Anything could happen including getting tangled up in the boat rigging to the boat hitting you in the body or the head as its being carried by a wave.

Lessons learned. Everything lost could and should have been avoided. Rods should always be leashed. Stow gear and tackle before landing and don’t forget to secure the hatch their stowed in. Two piece dry gear will not keep you dry at all. It just gives you time to get out of the water. The gear also wasn’t completely tucked together right as i had to open it to relieve myself out on the water. It wouldn’t hurt to bring spare clothes and a towel with you to keep in your vehicle Especially if its cold out.

The ocean is a dangerous place. Plan what you will be bringing what you need for safety. Always wear your PFD.