SAND EEL IMITATIONS

From now through December, one of the predominant baits along the Jersey Coast will be the diminutive sand eel. I’ve got continuous visions of striped bass gorging themselves upon the pods so greedily that they puke them up on deck. As with any baitfish, you’re going to want to “match the hatch” with lure presentations […]

From now through December, one of the predominant baits along the Jersey Coast will be the diminutive sand eel.I’ve got continuous visions of striped bass gorging themselves upon the pods so greedily that they puke them up on deck. As with any baitfish, you’re going to want to “match the hatch” with lure presentations and for sure there is no shortage of offerings to utilize. Let’s start with trolling for stripers.Probably the most widely used gadget for mimicking sand eels is the tried and true umbrella tube rig, equipped with black, green or red rubber tubes that emulate a sand eel school moving through the water. 9Ers lures make excellent umbrella rigs. Drag the rigs at 2.5 to 3 knots about 5 to 10 feet off the sea floor for the best results. If you’re marking plenty of eels on the fishfinder screen or get visuals of big black bait clouds on the ocean’s surface, then go to the jig.Jigging from the boat, a wide array of metal lures are available. Drop down or cast out #4 Deadly Dicks, Williamson Gomoku jigs, Stingo jigs and Shimano Butterfly jigs and either reel them up at a moderate pace or rip them through the water near the surface.In the surf, the old go-to lure is the Ava jig ranging in sizes 007, A17 and A27, and you can choose an assortment of tube tails in green, black, orange or yellow. Cast the ava jig out and drag it across the sandy sea floor in the surf, especially during dawn hours when sand eels dislodge themselves out of the sand and exit to feed. During the day and evening hours, a Tsunami rubber sand eel hands down accounted for the bulk of my December surf stripers last year. Cast that out with a small 3-inch Felmlee eel teaser tied 16 inches in front of the Tsunami. Come evening and into the night time, you can’t beat an old Boone Needlefish reeled in slowly on the surf’s surface.Sand eels are already here in full force as the false albacore schools, bass and tuna have been inhaling them with reckless abandon. Use the right imitations and you’ll be duly rewarded.[vc_row][vc_column][vc_media_grid element_width='6' grid_id='vc_gid:1485876128429-956a0435a2a0f25f6c84919907eacd12-3' include='5773,5772'][/vc_column]" target="_blank">

PACKING THE SURF BAG

Autumn surfwaters in Jersey are reaching that magical 58 degree mark which will spark the striper migration en masse into our area. The key to success in hooking up with surfstyle bass is to dial in the proper artificial lures to perfectly mimic the predominant baitfish profiles bass feed upon in November and December. Fall […]

Autumn surfwaters in Jersey are reaching that magical 58 degree mark which will spark the striper migration en masse into our area.The key to success in hooking up with surfstyle bass is to dial in the proper artificial lures to perfectly mimic the predominant baitfish profiles bass feed upon in November and December.Fall run baitfish consists of a variety of species including sand eels, spearing, rainfish, herring, adult and peanut bunker, and mullet, so a wide array of profiles are needed, but you need not go overboard with packing your surf bag. I use a 6 tube Canyon surf bag and packed in the tubes and a small Plano box are these tried and true offerings:An array of ¼ to ¾ ounce leadheads and Magictail bucktails, with a variety of 4 to 5-3/4 Fins Fish in Arkansas shiner white, Bubble gum and Rainbow trout colors to mix and match on the leadheads. Plugs to dopplegang herring, mullet and bunker include Bomber A Salts in black, chickenscratch, Wonderbread and Blurple, Daiwa S Minnows, 4-inch Mambo minnows, a 4-inch Stillwater popper and YoZuri Crystal Minnows. Metals to best mimic sand eels and spearing are 1-ounce Crippled herrings, #4 Deadly Dick, and Ava 007 to A17 jigs naked or with green, orange or black tails. Peanut bunker imitations include 3 to 4-inch Storm or Tsunami Shads.And last November, by far the one soft bait that outproduced all the others was the Tsunami Sand eels. That’s really all the basic lures you need to target stripers along the Jersey Coast as most of the fish we have been tangling with in the past few years are generally in the 20 to 28-inch range, with a few stragglers in the 30 to 35-inch class, but any rod and reel set up over 7-1/2 foot should be able to handle a larger linesider if you so happen to hook one. Grab these lures for your surf hit list and you’ll be best prepared to tussle with surf stripers in the upcoming weeks.[vc_row][vc_column][vc_media_grid element_width='6' grid_id='vc_gid:1485876128429-956a0435a2a0f25f6c84919907eacd12-3' include='5764,5765'][/vc_column]" target="_blank">

FALL BRIDGE BASSIN

As I write this, I just got off the water from a night excursion casting from 8 to 10 PM idling against the Highlands Bridge during a ripping outgoing 3 knot tide in 25 knot south winds. Doesn’t sound like optimal conditions for sure. But focusing in on an eddy hanging behind a bridge stanchion, […]

As I write this, I just got off the water from a night excursion casting from 8 to 10 PM idling against the Highlands Bridge during a ripping outgoing 3 knot tide in 25 knot south winds.Doesn’t sound like optimal conditions for sure. But focusing in on an eddy hanging behind a bridge stanchion, TJ Egan, Frank Bender and myself casted and connected to 26 striped bass up to 28 inches. And that was in a 2 hour window time frame.Stripers are hanging around the bridge pilings from Sandy Hook to Cape May as they get amped to feed on the cooling nights before they make their push out front. Bridge bass will be eager to pounce on light offerings right now.Gear up with a Shimano 7 foot Teramar rod, matched with a Quantam Iron 30 reel spooled with 30-pound Power Pro, and uni to uni knot a section of 25-pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon leader to which a light lure is tied directly. Best shots are using a ½ to ¾ ounce leadhead matched with a Kettle Creek paddletail, 5-3/4inch Fin-S fish in Rainbow Trout or white or Arkansas Shiner pattern or a 3 to 4-inch white Tsunami Shad or Storm Shad. That’s all you will need to dial in bass of 18 to 30 inches.Whether from a boat or the pier, cast upcurrent and let the lure sink to a 4 to 6 foot depth, then engage the reel and come taut with the line and simply reel in at a slowly pace. Bass want to see a slow presentation moving through the water around shadowlines and along the bridge stanchions. Drag the bait past their liar and you will get them to come out and pop on the lure.Many times you will get short bit, but once you feel the hit, drop it back again for a split second then reel again, and most times the fish will come right back on the lure. Bridges provide the structure needed for resident fall stripers to mill about and when nobody else is catching, you can be the hero to put some fish on Instagram.[vc_row][vc_column][vc_media_grid element_width='6' grid_id='vc_gid:1485876128429-956a0435a2a0f25f6c84919907eacd12-3' include='5753,5752'][/vc_column]" target="_blank">