by The northeast gale probably shut down boat fishing, but Maren Toleno still gave the Brick surf a try this afternoon. Jerry Lasko, who’s grounded after a medical procedure for two weeks, watched her catch eight stripers in almost impossible surf conditions by casting a 2 1/2-ounce Skippy metal. He noted that the bass were “cookie-cutter” 20-22-inchers that were much lighter in color than those we’ve been catching.
Jerry reported that another angler took advantage of the gale. Casting for stripers is normally poor in Point Pleasant Canal on a Saturday due to all the boat traffic, but that wasn’t a problem today as Will Fredrick caught a 28-inch striper.
The forecast is for more gale warnings through Sunday afternoon. It will ne northeast at 20-25 knots with gusts to 35 tomorrow plus a chance of afternoon rain.
The surf was looking up just before the gale. Blog reader Chip Harter hit the right place at the right time by casting around 1 p.m. as bass were chasing peanut bunkers at Sea Girt. He caught five 26-inchers and lost others.
Jerry Lasko said peanuts were in the Brick surf that evening, but even those snagging bunkers couldn’t get hits.
Vinny D’Anton found some school bass at Belmar that hit his Chug Bug popper.
John Mazzeo took a Friday morning shot at Sandy Hook and quickly caught a 22-inch bass on a swim shad before ending up with six, including a doubleheader. He noted that all anglers on the beach caught at least one bass feeding in peanut bunkers.
Capt. Chris De Stefano fished aboard Frank Criscola’s Crisdel from Brielle Yacht Club on Thursday as they trolled from the Spring Lake Hotel to Asbury Park to catch 20-25-pound stripers plus one over 43 inches. After spotting bass in bunker schools they snagged baits that brought lots of spiny dogfish to the surface in a flurry that also had them nipping at the bass. On the way in there were clouds of birds over small stripers off Manasquan Inlet.
There were mixed results on Friday when I joined Mark Roy on his Release Me from Raritan Marina, but we had to work hard for every short and slot striper we caught from the mouth of the bay and in the ocean. The back of the bay which had been loaded with bass last weekend was devoid of life.
Joe Blaze fished a charter with Capt. Fletcher Chayes on Two River Charters from Highlands. They did well casting to shorts and slots offshore of Shrewsbury Rocks, but the big story was the juvenile thresher shark that Tom Fote released after it hit a small teaser and never cut him off. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported over 100 bass on Friday that included slots and keepers with a pool bass in the 30’s.
Tight Lines 
went out blackfishing for a while. Before it got just too rough after the change of the tide. Caught some nice fish up to 8 pounds. Then we saw a hole load of bass on the way in have around the Coast Guard Station virtual working on them in Sandy Hook Bay between my brother and I we must have totaled close to 30 or 40 bass which we return to the water couple of Keepers but we’ve had enough Blackfish so we really didn’t need the stripers. We don’t know how long they’re going to be in the bay doing this but as long as the water temperature holds fairly steady now there should be other eruptions are bass out there. And some big fish still to come.
LikeLike
Sorry I missed this. Assume you were out before the northeast kicked in. You sure hit it right — as usual!
LikeLike