Hookmanski
07-27-2020, 05:23 PM
Hit an NJ inlet today, action was generally pretty slow. I started off bucktailing around for fluke 3 hours before high tide, saw a few tiny ones caught but the bite wasn’t really on. As the tide came in pockets of blitzes were showing up, so I tied on a deadly dick and started casting that around. I ended up catching a bunker (in the mouth, not snagged) which is the first time that ever happened for me, so I can add that to my species list! Unfortunately there was nothing ever on these bait pods, and it seemed like the bunker were actually the ones blowing up on smaller fish. Interesting.
Switched back to the buck tail and got a decent sized sea robin. Shortly after, I hooked into a very large cow nose ray. Had to be around 40-50 pounds at least. I fought him for what felt like 5-10 minutes and he wasn’t really moving much, but then made a crazy run up the inlet. I ran up the rocks after him, trying not to eat it. Luckily there weren’t many people there so I didn’t cause any tangles! I got up him to the surface and saw he was hooked in the mouth, but had someone elses gulp and hook in one of his wings. Well he didn’t like the surface and it wasn’t long til he dove strong to the bottom and ultimately popped the hook. Crazy fight, first time ever hooking one. After that, there were so many rays moving into the inlet you couldn’t fish without snagging one. Hundreds and hundreds of them showed up, love seeing them every year.
Fished for awhile longer but my thermometer said 97 degrees, I wasn’t catching, and neither was anyone else so I decided to call it quits around 2:30.
Crazy day on the water of NJ!
Switched back to the buck tail and got a decent sized sea robin. Shortly after, I hooked into a very large cow nose ray. Had to be around 40-50 pounds at least. I fought him for what felt like 5-10 minutes and he wasn’t really moving much, but then made a crazy run up the inlet. I ran up the rocks after him, trying not to eat it. Luckily there weren’t many people there so I didn’t cause any tangles! I got up him to the surface and saw he was hooked in the mouth, but had someone elses gulp and hook in one of his wings. Well he didn’t like the surface and it wasn’t long til he dove strong to the bottom and ultimately popped the hook. Crazy fight, first time ever hooking one. After that, there were so many rays moving into the inlet you couldn’t fish without snagging one. Hundreds and hundreds of them showed up, love seeing them every year.
Fished for awhile longer but my thermometer said 97 degrees, I wasn’t catching, and neither was anyone else so I decided to call it quits around 2:30.
Crazy day on the water of NJ!