By Capt. Robby Barradale
Hello, fellow fisherpeople!
For those who know, the local rough bottom and wrecks blackfishing has been very good lately. The problem is that we are only allowed one fish per person until Nov. 15 when the limit goes up to five fish. Anglers realize before boarding the boat that they will most likely be releasing some quality blacks but they will go anyway to experience a hot bite. Crabs (greenies, fiddlers, and whiteleggers) are the bait of choice and there are many opinions on the best methods to present them to the fish. A basic bottom rig with a single hook works well while some folks prefer a two-hook setup with both hooks embedded in the crab. A variation of this is the “snafu” rig featuring a sliding hook on the leader above the primary hook. Then we have the jigging crowd that, when conditions allow it, attach a crab to a light (1/2-3 ounce) jighead and crawl it between the rocks and holes in a wreck. I have to admit I have not done much jigging for blacks – it seems to be a specialized finesse thing – but I know some guys who are very good at it.
Team Noreast’r traveled to Norwalk, Connecticut, over the weekend to participate in a tog (blackfish) tourney and found very good action. Team members were John Adubato, Gary Carr (Charterfox), Capt. Dustin Strehl (Sea Beast), and not so secret weapon Marilou Geverola. Everyone in this group can really fish (Dustin is even a world record holder for blackfish) so it was not a question of catching a number of blacks but lucking out and finding a contest-winning monster. So did they win? Nope, although the gang did bring a bunch of respectable fish to the scales and represented New Jersey well in this one with Marilou (of course) nailing the largest among the crew. Congrats, Team Noreast’r!
Porgies seem to be moving out after the crummy weather fronts went through and are being replaced with better numbers of sea bass. Almost every rockpile and rough structure is holding a lot of sea bass, but you have to do some searching to get away from the small sub-legal ones in order to put together a catch of keepers. A simple hi-lo rig baited with clams or squid brings plenty of action but working a metal jig like an Ava 27 up and down in 3-foot sweeps above the bottom will draw hits from larger specimens. Some false albacore remains on patrol from the beaches out to a few miles and can be taken by trolling small lures or casting to the speeding schools. Look for sea birds to find the fish and here’s a tip: If you come across screeching gulls above a school of fish they are most likely blues or stripers. If, on the other hand, the birds are all smaller terns you have found the albies. The seagulls are too slow to keep up with these mini-tuna but the swifter terns can stay with them.
Smaller striped bass can be found along the beaches and in the river systems and are falling to smaller plugs and rubber shad bodied lures. The big girls are not here yet! They are coming and we have gotten reports that the fish are starting to depart Montauk and move along the south shore of Long Island toward us with the advance guard showing off of Fire Island. When will they arrive? It could be two weeks, one week, or possibly tomorrow. We have plenty of baitfish to entice them with massive schools of bunker in the bay and ocean, so once the stripers get here they should remain for a little while before continuing their migration south. Some fish do not go to warmer climates and will winter up the Hudson River and we will enjoy catching them well into December, but most make the journey to the Chesapeake as they leave our area.
On Friday Capt. Dan and I had a two-man charter with Jared and Roy who were here for a few days from Michigan. While the day began semi-dry, once the rain came it came heavy. Dan and I had our slicks on and the guys had brought ponchos but neglected to put them on until they were already drenched so they skipped it but it did not dilute their enthusiasm at all. We made the run to N.Y. Harbor and dropped live eels at Robbins Reef where Roy got us started with a nice striper. I can’t say it was good but by jumping around from spot to spot (Statue of Liberty, Battery Park and others) we managed to find some decent fish for the boys. Upon our return, the guys headed for the marina restrooms to put on dry clothes while Dan and I filleted fish and quickly scrubbed the boat and then we delivered the bags of meat to Jared and Roy at Up The Creek. We enjoyed a great lunch and the cool discussion comparing Great Lakes techniques and species to what they had just done in NJ was a lot of fun. Thanks guys!
Capt. Dan had a wedding to attend Sunday so I lined up a mate to work the trip with me. I certainly was surprised when our group arrived, consisting of two dads (Alex and Alex) and four children. I was expecting adults. Oliver (9), Danny (7), Mabel (6), and Lucas (4) were super excited to be going fishing and I think the doughnuts they were devouring gave them a sugar high to keep their glucose elevated. Is this beginning to sound like a trip from hell for me? Let me add here that our mate never showed up, no phone call/text, nothing, so now my options were to cancel or wing it on my own. Yup, we went. I wish I could report that we hammered the fish but in truth, we only caught a few, and it did not matter. The kids were fascinated by the city sights like the Freedom Tower and Ellis Island and had more fun playing with our eel baits than actually fishing. Knowing the wind would be increasing, we timed our run back across the bay but still got caught in some choppy seas. Instead of becoming a problem and getting scared by the waves the kids loved the bumpy ride. What I had imagined would be a horrible day turned out to be OK and I know they all fell asleep on their car ride home from the boat, tired but happy.
We are hoping that for next week we can report that the schools of large stripers have invaded our waters, so watch for it. Till then, Hook E’m Up!
The article originally appeared in the October 22 – 28, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
