New York Metro &
New Jersey

June 25th, 2004

Burning It On Both Ends

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Yea… I’m just about as exhausted and sleep deprived as any human being can get… I’ve been fishing for several days straight… That alarm goes off each morning at 4:00AM and immediately I begin the caffeine loading. I pick up a few bagels and another grande coffee at the 24-hour Beach Bagel in Long Beach while the summering college kids stumble around the place with party glazed eyes. The boat gets fueled and loaded, hands are shook, and I’m screaming across a slick surface at 5:00AM as the sun rises behind me. I’m usually off the water by 11:00AM, or later if the fish cooperate. I wash the boat down and hump it into the city via the Long Island Rail Road while struggling to catch up on work while riding the train (thank god for laptops)… I reload on the caffeine and read grant requests until 7:00 or 8:00PM, sometimes later depending on the workload, and then I get back on the train and on my way home to the chores associated with everyday life. I crack open a beer somewhere around 9:30PM, shove some food down, and then fall asleep on the couch while trying to read the newspaper, subsequently drooling on myself while the cat attacks the draw string on my pajamas… Then my wife wakes me sometime around 11:00PM and tells me I need to drag my sorry butt upstairs or I won’t get up the next morning… In what seems like 5-minutes since I lay my head on the pillow, the alarm clock starts screaming again at 4:00AM, and back to the water I go…

Yea… It’s hardcore… Am I complaining? No way man… For most of the week, especially during mid-April until early July, then again from September to December this is my life. Is it easy… No… Is it rewarding… Absolutely, positively… I’m out on the water a lot and see a lot of cool things. What’s so amazing about it is every day is different. While some are similar, no two are the same. You really never know what to expect when you get on the boat that morning. Sometimes it can be disappointing and it is frustrating running around sometimes 40 or 50-miles just to find dead water. It’s frustrating when the fish just leave a certain area for no apparent reason. But, like an un-forecasted fall swell, out of the blue (all pun intended) a body of hungry fish show up out of no-where. These are the days where you thank whatever power you believe in that you’re alive and in a position to witness these sometimes awesome phenomena. Blitzes of biblical proportions sometimes unfold right before your eyes, a whale surfaces right beside your boat, a 300-pound bluefin tuna comes completely out of the water so close to you, you could touch it with a push-pole, a mako shark rips your bluefish from your line. It’s all really cool stuff to me and worth the lack of a normal life during these months. Any hey, I kind of like the feeling of being completely and utterly exhausted. Sleep deprivation give me a nice buzz. In fact, I’m feel a little loopy right now... Or maybe it’s just what my wife likes to call “fish happy.” It’s that feeling you get after a good day on the water – exhaustion, satisfaction and the feeling like you did something good and lived your life like it’s supposed to be lived. That’s really what this life all about… At least I think so… But hey, I haven’t slept much lately so take it with a grain of salt.

Well… I was pretty fish happy this week. So let’s get on to the reports so you can find out why.

The folks in lower New Jersey continue to see aggressive bass on the flats behind Atlantic and Ocean City. Farther north, huge bodies of bunker are attracting some humongous stripers. The guys flyfishing them before the sun comes up have been scoring with some real hogs. And the live-liners? Forgetaboutit… Northern New Jersey saw these menhaden schools this week as well and experienced the same kind of action. The New York Bight had an influx of all kinds of bait and the fishing was sick!!! There were bass blitzes this week that were comparable to the ones that happen every September in Montauk… Butterfish, large squid, spearing, sandeels and what looked like large gulf shrimp were abound. Speaking of those shrimp, if anyone was able to identify them, I’d love to know what they were. Judging by the amount of boats out there, I suspect the action in this area won’t last long. The sand flats around the Bight were fishing well also, but again, boat traffic was a problem. The South Shore of Western Long Island saw some good flats fishing this week and the North Shore has been producing an obscene amount of schoolies in skinny water with the stray fish over 30-inches mixed in. Out East the sight fishing has been excellent and the South Side continues to produce fish in deeper water in the 40-inch range.

Believe it or not, more good weather this weekend! Get out there and fish!

And don’t forget to email me your own reports. Tight lines all.

Tight Lines!

John McMurray

New Jersey

Captain Bryan DiLeo from Iowa Fortune Guide Service checks in with a report of great shallow water action in the Atlantic City/Ocean City area.  Check it out:

Capt. Bryan DiLeo/ Iowa Fortune
Ocean City Report/Atlantic City
6/14 - 6/21
Through out the week we still had big water temperature ranges between 73 and 59 and that dictated where the Bass were. Pleased with the Bass action of weeks prior this week set the bar even higher offering the best fishing of the season to date.  Each of my trips last week had good Bass action with nice size groups of fish tracking predictably as they balled bait up in the skinny water making it easy for us to put our selves in front of them. As each day passed the fishing gradually got better and the Bass bigger as we came off the new moon. Depth was once again not even remotely a concern for the bass this week as we had good shots at 7 to 10lb (28"-32") fish that could not resist a well placed plug or fly, plucking them out of as little at 10"of water. Not only were all fish this week were taken on top water, they were attacking so aggressively that they would launch themselves completely out of the water on the take, as was the case on Fridays trip were we had 2 ½ hrs of these Bass antics which I just so happened to capture on video and will have some of the photos from it posted this week on my web site. With the constant storm predictions forecasted for most of the week it kept the boats off the water allowing us to have the place to our selves. It looks like the stage is set for good action upcoming especially if the water temperatures continue to remain on the cool side as they did last season, which ended being one of the best I can remember in quite some. As is always the case all Bass this week were photographed on released in great shape. www.iowafortune.com

Central and Northern New Jersey had lots and lots of bunker and as previously mentioned, if you can get on them early enough and twitch a fly beneath them, the reward can be great. 

Captain Gene Quigley from Shore Catch Guide Service checks in this week from Martha’s Vineyard:

Been on the Vineyard all week and the boat fishing is very very good in the rips - we have fish all day today and yesterday from 10 to 20 + pounds on Bob's Bangers - Orange ones!!??1. Imagine throwing orange poppers in New York / New Jersey waters -- can you say bluefish?
 
Anyway - weather is awesome and the fishing is great! Be back next week.

Jamaica Bay is pretty much dead… A read tide has caused zero visibility and the bugs are horrendous. Head outside because that’s where the action is. The amount of bait this year is truly amazing.

Captain Frank Crescitelli from Fin Chaser Charters joins us this week with a report of some spectacular action in his neck of the woods:

Hey John, It's been a while, but I'll be posting every week again. It's good to be back in the swing. This season so far has been the best ever in my life! I know that seems like a large statement but it's true. The fishing has been great the fish are eating flies and all are happy on this end in NY Harbor. If I could mention that the real big gals have only been eating the live bait, as last weeks trip was a testament. 6 fish over 30 pounds in 2 hours. And even David Fallon put down his fly rod to catch a 40 pounder last week. I know this is a fly site but fishing like that is worth a mention, go to the dark side! Oh well, Tomas Frias and company did great with Bass to 29 inches under birds on the East side eating very small Clousers, which after many rejections finally fit the bill. The one and only one Bluefish we did catch on Friday spit up a Squid, a Sand Eel, a Butterfish and a Spearing in one shot. That just goes to show the kind of bait that is around! The water has warmed but there are still big schools of Bunker and all the previous mentioned bait so this kind of fishing will hopefully continue. We will also be breaking in the brand new Contender 31 this weekend running offshore looking for Tuna and Sharks, we will be doing so all summer leaving from Long Beach Island New Jersey as well as the 29 Angler running the inshore spots for Dolphin, Albie and the like, so give a call if you really want to bend (or break) a couple or rods! I'll keep everyone tuned in on the offshore action. Until then... Capt. Frank.

Western Long Island

From the South Shore Captain Barry Kanavy from Natural Anglers reports good flats fishing.  Check it out:

It's summertime and the fishing is easy. This past week have seen the flats come alive. I've had had a good mix of bass and blues cruising the shallows for shrimp, sand eels and tiny bunker. All of this weeks fish have been very aggressive and will eat almost anything you throw at them. In fact after dropping some clients off on Fathers Day I decided to play on the flats for a while myself. Problem was by the time I got myself in position I realized I had "to go". So while I'm
sitting on my porta-potty with my pants around my ankles I spot a huge striper coming towards the boat. The rod is on the bow all ready to go. I look at the rod than I look at the fish getting closer, ah what the heck. I stand up, "carefully" shuffle up to the bow, make the cast, don't you think he eats it. ZZZZZZZZ off he goes reel singing rod bent. I'm now standing on the bow having a hell of a time when I look down, whoops! I landed the fish. (Photo not included)

Thank God we didn’t get that photo… 

From the North Shore Captain Robin Calitri checks in with this report:

If you want to catch a bass on a fly or light tackle, get out in the Huntington area.  There are tons of schoolies with some keepers available and they are in the skinniest water.  For me, the areas with grass has been best at high tide and the rocks at low tide.  Clousers work best and 'it ain't no use if it ain't chartreuse".  Areas such as Northport bay are hot and if you are into sight fishing, I have poled my skiff over numerous bass.  You also never know when a school blues will pop up.  Emory Butts and Gene Haines reported them at the power plant.

Eastern Long Island

From the South Side Capt. Jim Hull from Light Tackle Challenge continues to put folks on big fish. Check it out:

Hi John, We have had one extraordinary season so far. The entire region has good fish from Maine to New Jersey. Our conservation efforts are apparently having a trickle down effect to the general fishing community with more meat fishermen learning the importance of releasing large breeder fish. This week saw Chris and Derik have a great day with lots of action and Derik with a personal best bass.Ryan did real good with deceivers and poppers with top three going 36,36 and 40 inches. Alex and Mike had a blast with play on two giant fish. Allen and Mr.G had a two day marathon slugfest with over 60 fish to 20lbs.landed. Sandeel patterns and foam poppers worked best. Pump up and reel down. Jim

I got out with Captain David Blinken from North Flats Guiding this week and while we didn’t see a whole lot of bass on the flats there were a fair number… I did get to see Richard Reagan stick a 32-inch fish in some really shallow crystal clear water. What a wonderful take. It’s really cool when a nice fish turns on a fly exposing its silvery flank.

Also checking in from out east is Reel-Timer James Wu:

John,

Fishing is hot around East Hampton. Wading a flat around an inlet, I came face to face with several large bass, spooking them. Then, wading into the current I noticed a shimmering shadow and slapped a surf candy toward it, and the fish took instantly and I knew it was a large bass as it boiled, jolted my shoulder and rocketed. After pushing a thankfully beefy 9 wt rod to its limit I released a big melon-headed striper in the large-as-your-leg class.

There are so many fish out here right now, it seems you can wade any shallow beach ringing Gardiner's Bay and see or take bass and blues. Credit goes to Alan Caolo, whose book is opening up sight fishing for stripers to the non-boat angler.

Salty Flyrodder Joel Filner reports from the beach as well:

The wind that stifled the golfers did a good job on the fishermen as well. Saturday morning it all turned off by 7AM and only revived at the end of the day going into dusk at the Shinnecock inlet. Tough casting with the wind out of the northwest, but the stripers were there at the end of the jetty if you could get out to them. Not me but several of the locals managed fish, up to 35 inches. A few fish in the pocket but not of any size but the bait was sparse. Sunday was a howling wind, the only casting possible was on the ocean side and the fish were spread out with the bait off shore beyond my casts. It seems the fish were waiting for the golf tournament to end so that they could come back to play. Water was still cool, 51 degree ocean but the Peconic warmed to a nice 60 in mid afternoon with more bait around than fish.

Joel

That’s all for this week… Wishing you all a lot of “fish happy” days… See you on the water…