Schoolies fussy on sand eels

Mike Monte found himself in an unusual situation this morning as he was fishing the Spring Lake surf. School stripers in the 22-25-inch class were feeding on sand eels, but he was losing more than he was catching as many seemed to just be grabbing the tail end of the reliable Tsunami Sand Eel and not getting hooked.

Vinny D’Anton and his crew moved to northern Ocean County where they found stripers feeding on peanut bunkers, but refusing most lures. Vinny had the solution to that problem with the circle hook snagging rig he’s devised. Stripers have been pretty consistent on that rig when peanuts are thick enough to snag with that legal circle hook rig.

Vinny D’Anton and his crew ended up in northern Ocean County where bass on peanut bunkers also largely refused lures. However, Vinny has devised a legal circle hook snagging rig which put them into action with those bass.

Though there were lots of boats off the Jersey Shore this morning, Capt. Ron Santee Jr. of the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands reported the bite wasn’t up to the recent par anywhere he went.