AndyS
07-17-2024, 05:23 PM
Wow where to start ! I can't thank American Warrior Outdoors - Official enough. I stumbled upon this Facebook page by accident and I'm sure glad I did. A very kind retired gentleman and his friend offer to take out veterans free of charge for a full day of fishing and ask for nothing in return. AWO also runs charter trips and hosts all kinds of outdoor events.
Wasn't sure what to expect with this being a strangely odd year with bone chilling water temps up and down the coast due to all the South winds and upwelling. First stop after launching was the B&T shop on the water by the inlet. Here the captain purchased live "spot" I'm like wow, people buying and using live bait in N.J., how cool is this ! It was so reminiscent of the time I fished an outer island trip from Long Beach California where the boat would pull up and load up on live anchovy, herring and even live baby squid. I remember guys hauling off nice sized herring using their Newell reels and putting those herring right into the kelp for big kelp and sand bass !
So off we went towards the inlet. The type of fishing we did was pretty insane as we would cast live spot into the submerged rocks !! The captain had to stay on the sticks while the rest of us fished off the back. There was all kinds of white water along with standing 6 footers at times. We started hooking up right away in ice cold water, many fish dropped and few short striped bass landed. Between the rocks, waves, and other boats jockeying for position it was pretty crazy. We had 2 guys working live spot and I worked around them throwing a pearl Long A right into the rocks, that's were I got crushed and landed a nice fish. This craziness went on for a bit but the outgoing tide took over and warmed the water and fish seemed to shut off. We went up into the bay and drifted for fluke but it was all shorts and tons of eel grass. Later we went off and anchored and fished for live spot, it seemed the bay is loaded with spot.
Not sure how this fishing for striped bass will hold up once the ocean finally decides to warm up.
Side note: We did fish along some sod banks and the boat cabin was full of greenheads, so don't tell me there aren't any, and that was on a stiff South wind.
First trip out since open heart surgery so I guess I am lucky in so many ways.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/awoofficial
https://americanwarrioroutdoors.org/
Wasn't sure what to expect with this being a strangely odd year with bone chilling water temps up and down the coast due to all the South winds and upwelling. First stop after launching was the B&T shop on the water by the inlet. Here the captain purchased live "spot" I'm like wow, people buying and using live bait in N.J., how cool is this ! It was so reminiscent of the time I fished an outer island trip from Long Beach California where the boat would pull up and load up on live anchovy, herring and even live baby squid. I remember guys hauling off nice sized herring using their Newell reels and putting those herring right into the kelp for big kelp and sand bass !
So off we went towards the inlet. The type of fishing we did was pretty insane as we would cast live spot into the submerged rocks !! The captain had to stay on the sticks while the rest of us fished off the back. There was all kinds of white water along with standing 6 footers at times. We started hooking up right away in ice cold water, many fish dropped and few short striped bass landed. Between the rocks, waves, and other boats jockeying for position it was pretty crazy. We had 2 guys working live spot and I worked around them throwing a pearl Long A right into the rocks, that's were I got crushed and landed a nice fish. This craziness went on for a bit but the outgoing tide took over and warmed the water and fish seemed to shut off. We went up into the bay and drifted for fluke but it was all shorts and tons of eel grass. Later we went off and anchored and fished for live spot, it seemed the bay is loaded with spot.
Not sure how this fishing for striped bass will hold up once the ocean finally decides to warm up.
Side note: We did fish along some sod banks and the boat cabin was full of greenheads, so don't tell me there aren't any, and that was on a stiff South wind.
First trip out since open heart surgery so I guess I am lucky in so many ways.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/awoofficial
https://americanwarrioroutdoors.org/