# A few days ...



## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

Sorry guys but I have slipped a bit and gotten lazy so this will be a general report with as many details as I can remember.

24/25th .. Day bite for flatties was great got a nice limit. Croakers were thick and still small on average and spot are ahrder to find but bigger average size to them. Saw dolphins on the flats feeding and shad and snappers playing all day. Fished from 3:30 am to 3pm ... lots of fish ! Bait was gulp and at one point I used some croaker strips but the snappers and croaker made me stop.

25/26th .. Got out about 4am to try for a morning trout bite ... was rewarded with a few small spikes and tb flounder . I continued to try for them until the sun was showing nice and bright and switched up and tried for flatties. I was not dissapointed as they hit anything I threw at them so I decided to try for some keepers and threw a 6" swimbait (gulp herring) .... I got 2 keepers and a keeper trout as well as 2 flounder at 16" on the swimbait . I switched to the 3" pogy and got 2 more keeper flounder . Croakers,blues and shad were all over .. Nice limit plus 1 trout keeper.

26/27th .. Got a call from a friend on his way up from North Carolina so I headed to the pier to meet up. I arrived at about 9pm and he finally showed at about 1030pm . We were fishing by 11:30pm . Started off with fish and lots of them but other than big croakers and tb trout , flounder and stripers ... No keepers ! We kept at it but intil the sun came out we played with the TB's and big croaker (16 to 18 inches) . At sun up we directed out attention to keepr flounder and I cut up some croakers and we went at it.... I got a keeper on the first cast and decided to switch back to arties and let Brian use the bait. We picked at them for about an hour and I got 2 more keppers in the meantime as well as a nice trout and finally after a few missed fish my friend gets one over the mark and soon after we call it a day at about 2pm. Lots of nice croaker and a few nice keepers to boot and 1 trout. 

28/29th .. Ninja called and was gearing up for some fishing action and asked me to join him... We meet up about 8pm and set out to try for some flounder and trout around the pier. First stop lots of shad and blues with some schoolie stripers on top patrolling and many croakers on the bottom doing the same . We got a variety of fish but no boxers. We moved to a dark area and Ninja asks If I normally get flounder in the dark ... I explain and set up the scenario and first cast was a pretty neat site for me and Ninja too. I get hooked up and say I think I need the net and at the time Ninja was getting rigged so as I get the fish to the boat I ask for the net again but too late the fish spit the hook right at the boat and stayed on top for about 15 seconds before diving slowly as we watched .... I had left my baits in the water while watching the fish and guess what It hit again on the way down and I landed the fish .... It was exactly 18" and returned to grow a bit more ... I have caught the same fish twice but never like that ...pretty cool. Shortly after Ninja get a nice fish at about 21 to 22 but thats about it other than some croakers so we move again. We get more of the same and a few spikes then Ninja lands a nice trout at about 16 to 17 inches... We called it a night around 1am. I used all gulp and The ninja a few croaker strips and gulp as well. 

7-31 .. Got the seat fixed so had to give it a test drive... Left the house about 11pm and started fishing about midnight . Seat feels great so I am ready for a night.. High tide had just started going out and the water was pretty clear regardless of the rains ...Clarity about 3 foot . I pretty much slaughtered fish but no keepers. I got a mess of nice croakers from 15 to 18 inches and about a dozen trout from 10 to 14 inches but released all because they were thin. The blues and shad were stacked up pretty thick and thats a good thing as it made it easy for me to avoid them. Had a few stripers bite as well but nothing over 24 inches. At about 4:30 I got my first keeper flounder on a 4" pink fin"S" while trying for trout. Back to croakers until the sun made an appearance and then I picked up 3 more keeper flounder and 1 nice trout at 19.5". I threw every trout type lure I had but it wasnt meant to be. Bait was gulp and I was doing something a bit different ... NO tandems tonight ! 
I threw 1/4 and 3/8 all night and it was an interesting night ... I forgot how much different it actually was. I cant say how much better the tandem are because I did very well but there was a reason for the tandem rigs and thats more bites... I like a single for trout !.









By hengstthomas at 2007-07-31








By hengstthomas at 2007-07-31

8-1 .. Left the house at about midnight and upon arriving decided to walk the pier and have a looksie. I noticed the first light was out but the bait and fish were there ... Snappers , Shad , and schoolie Stripers were feeding in the dark right off the beach... Not much else going on till I got to the end and it was a pile up out there and got worse later but croakers and snappers were whats biting but then again no one really flounder fishing either . Talked with a friend till about 1:30am and was finally fishing at about 2am.... First cast 20" striper second 18' striper and so on and so on till about 4am when I tired of trying to get around them and fun was fun ... It was one after another for 2 hours with a lot of missed strikes as well . Biggest was 26" smallest about 11" ... I had the single 1/4 ounce leadhead still on and didnt bother rerigging so this was a single 1/4 oz with a white 3" pogy ... I used every presentaion I could think of and some on the spot adjustments as well .Tide is halfway out and rolling pretty good so i move in search of a sunrise trout. A few cast in the new spot and wham a 23" flounder and 2 cast later a 15.5" trout ... had another about the same size spit the pogy at my side ... I was making long casts and swimming the bait close to the bottom touching here and there but never stopping .. Started to get all croakers which was fun too but the stripers put a kink in my neck so I move again after the suns up and within 20 minutes everything but the flounder stopped biting ... I got 2 more keepers at 18.5" and 20.5" so I switched to the 3/8 oz and 6" bait swimmer (herring) and second cast pulled a nice fat 24" in and netted promptly ... A few csat later had a nice trout on and go airborn before spitting the hook ... looked to be about 23" ... I snagged a shad and a croaker and missed a few bites and was working inward to call it a day and wham ... Gonna say it was a striper and it would have been my PB but it went straight for the pilings and went in around atleast 2 screaming drag all the way before the sound of the line goes crack and he's gone .... All I saw was the tail but nothing I have hooked this year ... Those huge rays as well nothing pulled as hard and fast as this .. This was about 25 feet from where I taught class to all the stripers earlier. 
Home by 7am...









By hengstthomas at 2007-08-01








By hengstthomas at 2007-08-01

8-2 .. Met up with PA hillbilly (Marty) at about midnight and we start right off with some nice schoolies with Marty having 2 breakoffs ... Thats one bad thing about fishing close to the pilings and BIG fish .. Next time Marty ... All in all we got croakers , stripers , blues , seabass , flounder , and shad throughout the night and until we left at about noon .. Marty got a nice keeper at about 23-24 inches and I got 2 at about 20 and 18.5 . It was great to meet you and fish with you and although you say you needed guidance at this "new" spot I think you could be a "ringer" ... Nice YAK and WTG on the fish ... 

8-3 .. Dave came down and surprised me ... He injured his wrist playing football about 2 weeks ago and wasnt sure but showed up regardless.... I had fished the night before mostly trying for trout and ended up with 2 flounder at 19 and 21 inches while trout fishing ... Back to it .. We finally get out about 11pm and find many large croakers up to 17.5" and keep about 10 for bait and 1 spot dave caught on a 3" pogy. We fished all night with no trout and a few tb flounder and mant stripers and croakers with a few small snappers ... Right before sunrise we beach the canoe and go for some pogy's and mullet ... We come back and the sun is up and starting to loose the orange glow ... We start nailing tb flounder and croakers pretty good with a keeper here and there ... dave used mostly strips and me pogy's ... Total 3 keepers a piece with a 24" to boot ! We stayed still 3pm trying for the 4th but no deal .. Came home and passed out ... 









By hengstthomas at 2007-08-04








By hengstthomas at 2007-08-04


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*Awesome*

Congrats on the catch.


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## bbcroaker (Jan 6, 2005)

WTG guys some good eating there!
You all didn't get hot out there either.
Good:fishing:


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

It has been very hot out there but under the pier in the shade in some spots are about 10 to 15 degrees cooler plus a breeze makes it a great place to cool down


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