Pouring salt in my wounds....

[Mr Mayor]

Hey gang,
So every year, mid-August, we hit our "Crabfest".... the whole familia heads on down to Bayville (The lagoons off Veeder Ln) to visit and socialize and enjoy the NJ shore and eat way too many crabs n spaghetti n gravy (F.U. it ain't sauce :p )... and ever year, I bring my fishing poles (Yes Freshwater, but the crappy ones) down there hoping to catch SOMETHING (off their dock on Topsail) ..ANYTHING to shut 'em all up (so to speak)... but every year of the past 20 (save 1) has been fruitless.. HELP??

Recommendations on lures? Hard lures? Soft plastics? I've tried it all....

Have I been wasting my time not buying bait (I prefer not to, but if I HAVE to...)

I know it's a ways off yet, but just in case I need to use my BP/Cabela GC's, now would b the time...

Mark
And don't turn this into a gravy vs sauce debate either, lol! ;)

[bulletbob]

I'm Italian, so yeah, its gravy...

I lived down there for 9 years[Forked River] and am pretty familiar with the area. Thats a crabbing area really.. If you are fishing from shore later on in August into Sept, you might get some small snapper blues or , a small weakfish or a stray eel if you fish at night... Shore fishing?.. Personally, i wouldn't even take the rods...
If you are in a boat and get close to the channels you might get a few blowfish or Spot, perhaps a Kingfish.. However, you might have to chum to draw them in.. There are fluke there, but that part of the bay is shallow, featureless, sand bottom and the fluke fishing is not that good.. If you can get further north near the Toms River/Seaside bridge, or further south closer to the inlet, you will have much better fishing especially near the channels.. Maybe someone has had great luck fishing that part of the bay, but I never saw it... In those sand/mud flats, its mostly crabs, killies, spearing,clams, and a an eel here and there.. When we lived there I went north or south and fished Raritan Bay and a few times a year would change it up and launch in Great Bay.. The bayville area has crabs... Things may have changed, so I will defer to others, but when I was there , I fished elsewhere. Nothing to catch off the shore in that area..bob

[Mr Mayor]

Hiya Bob, and thanks for the reply....

I literally fish off the family dock on Topsail, and yes, mid to late August... so I can't really wander away from the family much and finally, obviously we are there for amazing crabs (and gravy :D ), lol!

MM

[shrimpman steve]

I'm American so it's sauce. Gravy goes on meat:D

[bigal427]

At the end of August you should start getting small snapper blues. I like a small hook size 8 to 10 tied right to your line with a bobber about 18" up. For bait I think small live killies work the best but you can use pieces of spearing. Sorry but bait works the best for me. You can try a small snapper zapper casting and retrieving. Have to say it's always sauce

[NJ Dave]

Gravy goes on turkey ,
Tomatoe
Sauce goes on pasta.
Kingfish or snapper blues.
I usually bring a rod and reel to catch the traps when the kids over throw em and toss the lines in with the traps.

[Rightaway III]

Hey gang,
So every year, mid-August, we hit our "Crabfest".... the whole familia heads on down to Bayville (The lagoons off Veeder Ln) to visit and socialize and enjoy the NJ shore and eat way too many crabs n spaghetti n gravy (F.U. it ain't sauce :p )... and ever year, I bring my fishing poles (Yes Freshwater, but the crappy ones) down there hoping to catch SOMETHING (off their dock on Topsail) ..ANYTHING to shut 'em all up (so to speak)... but every year of the past 20 (save 1) has been fruitless.. HELP??

Recommendations on lures? Hard lures? Soft plastics? I've tried it all....

Have I been wasting my time not buying bait (I prefer not to, but if I HAVE to...)

I know it's a ways off yet, but just in case I need to use my BP/Cabela GC's, now would b the time...

Mark
And don't turn this into a gravy vs sauce debate either, lol! ;)

Sauce LOL!

[ALS Mako]

small kastmaster should get some snapper blues. if peanut bunker are around could go with a rattle trap to match the hatch. seen schoolie stripers caught in very shallow water in the bay. when in doubt spearing are hard to beat for bait. good luck