Sea Bass Parking lot?

[High Risk II]

Leaving tonight for the make up sea bass trip. Fishing reports off the charts, good weather, and fisherman who are hungry. Every booked headboat, charter, open charter, private boats, skiffs and garveys will be out looking for those great eating fish. Hundreds of boats fishing a few dozen spots, should be interesting. I keep telling myself stay calm and remember to have fun. It is the time on the water not the amount of fish one catches, yea right.

[Perch6]

Your gonna slam em, I fished on a party boat out of barnegat light on 1/9. Everyone was limited out in a couple of hours. I did not see another boat all day and it was flat as a lake. Good luck catch em up!

[Andreas Toy]

Wrecks are 70 plus miles away going to keep most boats away, plus some of these wrecks are huge and can support more than 1 boat.The biomass is one of the healthiest I have seen in years, will be good till the season closes.

[privateer]

Risky, Deep breath, there's plenty of fish around. Enjoy your trip and fill that cooler!

[Jay]

I was out this past Saturday, not one boat seen for miles around us. The boat limited out by 12:00pm. Was back at that dock two hours ahead of schedule which was a plus. Catch em up while you can!

[Harpoon]

I think you will change your mind on this once you see what the fishing grounds looks like. My trip last week we didn't see one boat till we got close to land on the way home. Left early and left them biting. Just go have a good time!!

[Sea Bear]

Guys, of course you are not likely to see other boats for miles around. These are isolated offshore wrecks each one miles away from the next. That doesn't mean anything. Unless you are fishing the rock pile you really wouldn't expect to see anyone else. The good thing for now is that the migration is still in progress so these wrecks will rejuvenate with following waves of fish. As time progresses the northern wrecks will regenerate less and less as the fish keep heading south. In another month everyone will be pounding the same spots further south, with less and less rejuvenation taking place. That's when the fishing reaches a crawl.

Don't forget that while we waited to Jan 1 the commercial guys and even rec guys with permits were wiping out the cream of the offshore sea bass crop on the same spots we are hitting now before we ever had the chance...

[High Risk II]

Interesting replies, 2 year ago, fishing on a well known party boat with a very good captain he set up on a small rock pile and a NY charter buzzed around him twice and set up behind him. Everyone caught fish on both boats. Saw that myself. The next week while we were setting anchor at the rock pile the same charter dropped his line right next to ours and ran behind the party boat that was setting his anchor. bth the mate on the charter gave me the finger. This stunt stopped the party boat right in his tracks, anchor on the bow and a line right behind his props. Had to pull anchor and GUN, I mean GUN, to the next closest spot, which was a sticky steel wreck. With any luck he knocked the jackass charter off his anchor. With that event I was just wondering what tomorrow will be like.

[Harpoon]

Just out of curiosity were you guys fishing the mid range rocks/wrecks (20-40 miles) or offshore (60+ miles)?

[High Risk II]

We were fishing sea bass in December, 60 Miles out. My guess, and only a guess, was the rockpiles around the compas rose, then headed to the triple wrecks. Lost a lot of gear, but caught fish. Main problem was the bluefish and porgies. I personally caught 24 bluefish, 50+ porgies and 20 sea bass, missing my limit by 5. The captain was fishing right next to me and caught only sea bass. He could tell the difference between a porgy, bluefish and a sea bass bite. He tried to teach me, but I strike at everything. I give him credit, fishing with his own rod, he would say, thats a bluefish, let him get off, thats a porgy, wait until a sea bass hits the bait. Face it when you are good your are good. Fishing 2 sea bass trips per year, doubt I will ever get that good.