cpn_aaron
06-01-2006, 02:47 PM
Boy for as poorly as my first day went (only 10-15 whiting) Monday was a slammer. I was set up at the lot 12/13 border by 5:45 AM ready for the 9 AM tide. I caught a large ladyfish within 1 minute of casting out my bluefish chunkbait rig and had fresh oily bait that lasted most of the day. I quickly caught a 6-7" whiting and yaked it out on my deep water rod about ~200-250 yds from shore just off the sandbar. Winds and waves were so bad that it took me a long time to get even that far out and drop a bait in line with my rod that I gave up trying to go the full 300 yds. I then preceeding to nail whiting until I heard my favorite sound ~6:30 AM. My conventional reel's ratchet screaming away. I set the hook and brought in a small but none the less spirited jumping little male spinner. He measured 29 3/4" from the fork and was spunky as all get up. He was smaller than last weeks blacktips, but he fought twice a hard. he was quickly tagged and released with no real duress.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/aaronanddelania/fish/psspinner5.jpg
Feeling good to have caught more whiting than I could count and a shark within 1 hr I added some spoons to my repitoir and almost literally nailed a bluefish from 10-20" on ever cast. They were loving the trough right next to the beach chasing mullet and juvenile pompano. Some were kept to stock up my freezer for shark baits and one was cut up and promptly yaked out for another customer.
As the sun rose higher and it neared high tide my father-in-law and I hit some runs of pompano on sand fleas and clams alike. In the end we pulled out 3 undersized ones (I caught 1) and 4 real nice keepers (2 a piece) with the smallest being 12.5" at the fork. All of these fish were very thick and we got pretty nice fillets for pompano. Around 8:00 AM I heard my large rod's reel go screaming away again and I fought in a slightly larger spinner who faught a little harder. This male was 32" at the fork but came in dog tired with no resistance. I tagged and spent 10 min in the 1st trough reviving and walking him. I almost lost hope and prepared to coupe de grace him on the shore when he read my mind. He fired off like a shot leaving my arms slightly scaped like rug burn from his skin sliding off mine so fast.
As the morning gave way to noon we caught 3 bull whiting all over 13" and many smaller ones (some used for shark baits). In the end the shark bites were mostly exploratory killing more baits than landing sharks and clouds were looking ominous so we heading in. Our group decided to call the day a success and head home to try and grill our catch weather permitting. In the end we landed 2 sharks, 3 bull whitng, 4 keeper pomps, and more bluefish and whiting than we could count.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/aaronanddelania/fish/pscatchofday5.jpg
The pompano and whitng was great as we grilled it an asian style with sesame oil and pineapples with other asian spices. Turned out to be a real good way to spend lunch eating what had been in teh shore no more than 4 hrs previously. I've said it before and I'll say it again...weekends like these make all the trips getting skunked worth it. Secondly, seems the sharks are thick right now right off the sandbar. My advice, if you have a kayak and enough line drop a few fish off the last sandbar around Playlinda, do it.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/aaronanddelania/fish/psspinner5.jpg
Feeling good to have caught more whiting than I could count and a shark within 1 hr I added some spoons to my repitoir and almost literally nailed a bluefish from 10-20" on ever cast. They were loving the trough right next to the beach chasing mullet and juvenile pompano. Some were kept to stock up my freezer for shark baits and one was cut up and promptly yaked out for another customer.
As the sun rose higher and it neared high tide my father-in-law and I hit some runs of pompano on sand fleas and clams alike. In the end we pulled out 3 undersized ones (I caught 1) and 4 real nice keepers (2 a piece) with the smallest being 12.5" at the fork. All of these fish were very thick and we got pretty nice fillets for pompano. Around 8:00 AM I heard my large rod's reel go screaming away again and I fought in a slightly larger spinner who faught a little harder. This male was 32" at the fork but came in dog tired with no resistance. I tagged and spent 10 min in the 1st trough reviving and walking him. I almost lost hope and prepared to coupe de grace him on the shore when he read my mind. He fired off like a shot leaving my arms slightly scaped like rug burn from his skin sliding off mine so fast.
As the morning gave way to noon we caught 3 bull whiting all over 13" and many smaller ones (some used for shark baits). In the end the shark bites were mostly exploratory killing more baits than landing sharks and clouds were looking ominous so we heading in. Our group decided to call the day a success and head home to try and grill our catch weather permitting. In the end we landed 2 sharks, 3 bull whitng, 4 keeper pomps, and more bluefish and whiting than we could count.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/aaronanddelania/fish/pscatchofday5.jpg
The pompano and whitng was great as we grilled it an asian style with sesame oil and pineapples with other asian spices. Turned out to be a real good way to spend lunch eating what had been in teh shore no more than 4 hrs previously. I've said it before and I'll say it again...weekends like these make all the trips getting skunked worth it. Secondly, seems the sharks are thick right now right off the sandbar. My advice, if you have a kayak and enough line drop a few fish off the last sandbar around Playlinda, do it.