Striper Fishing in Crappy Conditions 6/12
 

Took my friend Dave-O's buddy, Bob, out of Shark River aboard my "Shakedown" to look for bass. We left a bit late in the morning as I knew I couldn't handle an early am departure with a bunch of family obligations I need to attend to when I returned home. However, I planned to run us out from 06:00 til around lunchtime.

I was hoping we could take advantage of the expected light calm winds that were predicted, and I was wishing we would be rewarded with easily-visible bait & bass on the surface for miles around us. Well, as they say: "if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride." :rolleyes:

We spent some time collecting baits from schools of bunker that were spread out & extremely boat shy. We ended up snagging about a dozen pieces before we went on the hunt for some bass.

We fished a few loose schools of bunker that we were able to spot splashing in the rising sun early, but by 08:00, there wasn't a bunker in sight. In fact, the ability to even see a bunker splash was being severely hampered by the fact that we were fishing in whitecaps.

The predicted 5-10 knot winds were freaking howling, and they howled all morning and right into the afternoon. It made it kind of like fishing in a washing machine as the waters were simultaneously being frothed by a Southern long period swell, a heavy wind chop, and a screaming outgoing tide. it was like the swell, chop and current were playing a triangular game tug-of-war to see who could whip up the biggest whitecapped waves.

Eventually, after not marking any fish, I decided to simply drift some productive pieces I have fished in the past. We tried some spots tight to the beach, and we tried some where it was almost 70 feet deep.

Our first fish was in 45 feet of water; it took a livelined bunker. Once I demonstrated the effectiveness of the 10/0 circle hook technique to Bob, he was attached to a striper that made it immediately apparent that she was not to eager to meet him.

Eventually, Bob gained control of the fish, and he started to bring her toward the boat. As the fish rolled and wallowed in the heavy waves, swells, and rollers, you could see that she was big. As it got closer, the first thing you noticed was its massive white belly as it turned a few times in the waves to peel off more drag. The second thing we noticed was the huge white, gaping mouth. It's looked like a bucket as it was fighting to shake the hook.

After a nice fight, Bob brought the fish to the boatside, and I lip-gripped her into the boat. As I hoisted her over the side, I thought for sure, we would be 50 lbs. as she was long, thick, fat with a huge head, gut and tail. I was especially happy to show Bob how the circle hook was planted in the corner of the fish's mouth in "nothing but net" fashion ... just like you want it to be.

Unfortunately, I did not have my digital scale on board, and this thing bottomed out my boga grip. Based on my "educated-guess" estimate, I settled on it being another 48 and change fish like the one we had last week as we didn't want to crown it with 50 -pound status without absolute certainty. I snapped a few quick pics before Bob slipped her back over the side with a "Thank you/Come Again" wish. (Based on comparisons with some of the other fish we recently caught, I am confident this fish was every bit of 48 lbs.) I was glad to know that she was released to fight again.

We didn't catch any more bass, but we sure "gave it the old college try." We hit a bunch of different spots, and we had few other opportunities. Sadly, none of our other bites resulted in hooked fish. We had a few baits get chased and not eaten. We had a few baits ripped from our hooks without hook-ups.

Most embarrassingly, I lost one that I hooked-up late in the morning, and it somehow managed to free itself from a circle hook. Talk about a kick in the sack ... I had just got done extolling on the virtues of the near 100% catch rate(once with fish is hooked) with a circle hook to Bob after the first fish went so smoothly. :confused:

On a few drifts when we were in decent areas with minimal bass action, I encouraged Bob to do a little bucktailing for fluke. Within minutes of rigging his fluke rod and dropping to the bottom, he had a short fluke. In only about an hour of fluking, he probably caught & released 3 shorts and a skate.

However, the highlight of the day beside the big bass was when Bob had to take a leak. This meant that he had to put down his fluking rod, so I bet him that I could catch a fluke before he could finish peeing. He told me, he didn't even think I could hit bottom before he was done peeing. Well, based on the bottom I knew we were fishing, I figured I would take the bet. Let's just say that I didn't even hear his bilge pump start running when I brought a fluke to the boat. :eek: it was a classic; what made it even better was that I had snagged the fish with his bucktail when it tried to eat the gulp teaser. I'd rather be lucky than good!

All-in-all it wasn't a gangbusters day, but it was still a fun day. The conditions were crappy, but it was still an opportunity to spend some quality time on the water. Getting to catch and release another big bass was a bonus for us both.

Looking forward to my next trip(s). Here are the pics.

- Gr8ful

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...psc0730341.jpg http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...ps4ce8d756.jpg http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...psda995164.jpg http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...ps71449658.jpg

Re: Striper Fishing in Crappy Conditions 6/12
 

BABO!!!!

Nice fish!