Weakfish in the Bay

[blindalfred]

Kayaked from Guardian Park off the officers housing on the Hook. A ton of small weakfish (up to 15") on Gulp shrimp. A good sign for the future. Lots of bait, but no big blues yet.

[BigRock44]

would be great to have a good run of decent sized weakies again.

[JusGlase]

How do you fish the shrimp? What depth? thx!

[LIGHTACKLE]

rumors of bigger weaks by Princess Bay..

[bulletbob]

If there are small ones biting during the day with all that boat traffic, as well as that intense sun we have been having the past week, i would bet a good buck that there are a lot more big ones out there than anyone thinks.. If I weren't 225 miles away, I would drift the channel edges and bottom dips on the flats between the ammo pier and the point of the hook in the dark with whole sandworms on a 3x3 rig, and see what happens.. Might not be any 12 lb tiderunners, but i bet there are more 3-5 pounders there than most people realize.. One of the main reasons no one catches weaks these days, is that they try and catch them during the day in hot weather.. It won't happen.
Even when there were a ton of weaks, it was mainly a low light bite, at the crack of dawn, or during night tides.. Many good fishermen seem to forget that weaks are mainly nocturnal;.. Yes we all remember years when the bottom was covered with them that they would bite good mid day.. Thats an anomaly.
I hope someone here gives it a serious try, starting at 3 am till about 7 am or so, or say 8 PM till midnight... I used to catch a lot of weaks years ago, and it was always best before the sun came up or after it went down, and thats also when the bigger ones would bite as well. Can't tell you how many times over the years where I was in the middle of a hot weakfish bite, that shut down as soon as the sun came up and a few boats started roaring past.. Just as though someone flipped a switch.. bob

[pcheesesteak]

Thanks for the reports. Been wondering.

[blindalfred]

How do you fish the shrimp? What depth? thx!

Octopus hook matched to size of shrimp c. 18" behind a long 12" in. dropper loop for the sinker. A basic drift rig with a longer dropper to keep the bait up off the bottom a bit. An assortment of gulp shrimp 2-3", no particular color stood out. Bounced it constantly, no dead stickin'.

[FASTEDDIE29]

If there are small ones biting during the day with all that boat traffic, as well as that intense sun we have been having the past week, i would bet a good buck that there are a lot more big ones out there than anyone thinks.. If I weren't 225 miles away, I would drift the channel edges and bottom dips on the flats between the ammo pier and the point of the hook in the dark with whole sandworms on a 3x3 rig, and see what happens.. Might not be any 12 lb tiderunners, but i bet there are more 3-5 pounders there than most people realize.. One of the main reasons no one catches weaks these days, is that they try and catch them during the day in hot weather.. It won't happen.
Even when there were a ton of weaks, it was mainly a low light bite, at the crack of dawn, or during night tides.. Many good fishermen seem to forget that weaks are mainly nocturnal;.. Yes we all remember years when the bottom was covered with them that they would bite good mid day.. Thats an anomaly.
I hope someone here gives it a serious try, starting at 3 am till about 7 am or so, or say 8 PM till midnight... I used to catch a lot of weaks years ago, and it was always best before the sun came up or after it went down, and thats also when the bigger ones would bite as well. Can't tell you how many times over the years where I was in the middle of a hot weakfish bite, that shut down as soon as the sun came up and a few boats started roaring past.. Just as though someone flipped a switch.. bob

Exactly!!! I've missed these fish! And now there back and I need to make time somehow!!!!!! Don't forget outgoing tides near the deep inlets. I've got quite a few this way in the past!

[bulletbob]

Exactly!!! I've missed these fish! And now there back and I need to make time somehow!!!!!! Don't forget outgoing tides near the deep inlets. I've got quite a few this way in the past!

Boy, I miss them too... I used to catch them from rental boats in the 70's, big ones right at the end of the Ammo Pier.. In those days, you could fish out there by yourself for awhile early mornings, and weaks would blast a drifted sandworm a few feet off the bottom, away from the sea robins. Once a few boats were on the scene, they stopped biting..

Later on, when I had my own boats, and could move around more, jigging was good very early in the morning, until the boats showed up..
Best fishing of all however, was off the hook, in the area we used to call "between the channels", after sunset, just drop a Tiger Tail down, and put the rod in the holder.. Non stop, lights out fishing, for the biggest of the big tiderunners.. It saddens me as I look back on those days and remember, guys staying out all night, and catching giant 55 gallon garbage cans full of those big weaks, and then selling them for pennies a pound to help pay for their gas.. Such a tremendous waste. bob

[Gerry Zagorski]

One of my most memorable trips was catching weakies at the end of the naval weapons peer...My Uncle Al was the one who got me into fishing at an early age... Every time he'd come and visit he'd take me out....

Fast forward several years later and I finally had a boat and got a chance to take him out... This one particular time with his Grandson Tim...Uncle Al had lost a few steps by this time and could not stand to fish. He just sat back and beamed with tears of joy as he watched me, his apprentice, pass on the love of our great sport to his Grandson. ...

It was a special moment for sure and I day I still remember like it was yesterday.

[Detour66]

Big Weakies love live peanuts....just sayin!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Never fished with Peanuts..... Rubber worms tipped with a Sand Worm was our bait of Choice...

[Duffman]

Never fished with Peanuts..... Rubber worms tipped with a Sand Worm was our bait of Choice...

Yup Yup Yup!!!!!! Drifting with Whitey on the MTII.....crushed it and learned alot from that man

[bunker dunker]

you got that right Duff.an ava 27 with a yellow teaser 20" above it.those were the days.

[Canyonfish]

A week ago was out for Stripers / Blues so only had clam and bunker .. trolling also...... after some cocktail blues went over by bug light area and switched to small pieces of clam on smaller hook size and caught some porgies as well as 3 weakfish all around 14 inches.... I was shocked as I hadn't caught them in many years ....:D

[Detour66]

They have been catching big weakies in Jamaica Bay since the spring. They are around just have to put some time in. But it is good to hear that small ones are being caught on clam. Maybe the cycle is finally turning around.

[Skolmann]

Rubber worms tipped with a Sand Worm was our bait of Choice...

8 inch Mann's purple worm with a fire tail tipped with a sand worm on a 3X3 rig was money in the bank.

[Gerry Zagorski]

8 inch Mann's purple worm with a fire tail tipped with a sand worm on a 3X3 rig was money in the bank.

Yes - The Firetail was the worm of choice!!

[Irish Jigger]

For some reason gold hooks always outfished nickel or black. Have always used gold after getting outfished 10 to 1.

[bunker dunker]

3/4 oz fin-s head w/ a 5-3/4 in black ice body and that is all ya needed.

[jmurr711]

see the spikes every year by the ton nothing to catch 100 in the surf while targeting kingfish in south nj but once they get to about 15inches they vanish, no one wants to hear it but the bass population exploding has adversely affected the weakfish #s

[bulletbob]

see the spikes every year by the ton nothing to catch 100 in the surf while targeting kingfish in south nj but once they get to about 15inches they vanish, no one wants to hear it but the bass population exploding has adversely affected the weakfish #s

I can buy that .. to an extent..
Back when the bays were loaded with weaks, there were almost no stripers at all.. A few on the ocean side, caught at night by a just a few guys that knew when and how, and that went on for many years.. The stripers came back strong in the late 90's, and the weaks were simply gone not too long after..

Only thing that makes me pause is the fact that during those years the bass were gone, there were blues everywhere, all day every day from April into Dec.. Big and small, but still the weaks were there, often right in with the blues, underneath them... But yes, even though the blues are down from where they were, the weaks are still scarce, and the stripers have rebounded.. Too many bass certainly might be a factor.. or not.. Its a plausible theory.... bob

[blindalfred]

Never fished with Peanuts..... Rubber worms tipped with a Sand Worm was our bait of Choice...

You got that right. The mate on the Atlantic Star was giving out "Fire tail plastic worms" and you added just a piece of sandworm for flavor and you were good to go. Thanks for the memories.

[Solemate]

Caught a few

[Capt. Debbie]

It (that theory) still holds water. No pun intended. Well maybe a little

Typically weakies and stripers are bottom huggers. While blues infest everywhere top, middle and bottom. Yes blues are more savage, and the hordes rip up everything in sight.

But an imbalance of too many munching bottom dwelling stripers and the lack of decent sized weakfish in the same area explains a lot. The opposite hold true to in the Barnegat

Barnie has always had weakfish, but striper fishing there is a waste of time.

Perhaps the nail has been struck right on the head with this Striper v weakfish theory for Raritan Bay?

\I can buy that .. to an extent..
Back when the bays were loaded with weaks, there were almost no stripers at all.. A few on the ocean side, caught at night by a just a few guys that knew when and how, and that went on for many years.. The stripers came back strong in the late 90's, and the weaks were simply gone not too long after..

Only thing that makes me pause is the fact that during those years the bass were gone, there were blues everywhere, all day every day from April into Dec.. Big and small, but still the weaks were there, often right in with the blues, underneath them... But yes, even though the blues are down from where they were, the weaks are still scarce, and the stripers have rebounded.. Too many bass certainly might be a factor.. or not.. Its a plausible theory.... bob

[bulletbob]

It (that theory) still holds water. No pun intended. Well maybe a little

Typically weakies and stripers are bottom huggers. While blues infest everywhere top, middle and bottom. Yes blues are more savage, and the hordes rip up everything in sight.

But an imbalance of too many munching bottom dwelling stripers and the lack of decent sized weakfish in the same area explains a lot. The opposite hold true to in the Barnegat

Barnie has always had weakfish, but striper fishing there is a waste of time.

Perhaps the nail has been struck right on the head with this Striper v weakfish theory for Raritan Bay?

\
Yes, could be.. All I do know for sure is that when the stripers were missing, the weaks were everywhere.. Once the Stripers returned, weaks were MIA...
Only thing is that they really both eat the same things... Yes 10 pound stripers will eat a 10 inch weakfish, but a 10 pound weakfish will eat a 10 inch striper as well... I wonder how intense the commercial fishing for weaks[Grey Trout south of NJ] is further south, or are they protected down there these days??/.. bob