# Fishing at Somers Point



## BillHoo (Feb 5, 2013)

Got in late last night and ate at the Somers Point Diner across from the Rt.52 Bridge and fishing pier.

To tired, so went to bed.

Walked over to Hot Bagels and More for a porkroll egg and cheese on roll for breakfast. Yum!

Walked to the pier in the pouring rain to check it out.

a gentleman was fishing with a bobber rig and cut mackerel strips for bait.

he said he caught 10 cocktail blues about 6 inches each yesterday and was going for more.

the route 52 bridge has a pier with a landing underneath the bridge to shield it from the rain.

I'm planning to head back there later and park the car to the left of the bridge and fish there later whether it rains or not .


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## BillHoo (Feb 5, 2013)

The afternoon was a bust as my wife and I were tired out from walking all over the Ocean City Block Party. So we only spent about an hour in the rain at the Somers Point Pier at the base of the Route 52 Bridge. No one was catching anything. It's a nice pier. If you don't like the rain, you can go to the part of the pier under the bridge and fish there, but there was no action there.

Later we had dinner at The Crab Trap - fantastic food and worth the wait. When we got there, we were told there was a 2 hour and 15 minute wait for a table. We could put our name on a list and return in 30 minutes to get a pager, then wait for a buzz.

The total wait turned out to be an hour and a half as many people never came back for a pager. Seemed pricey, but we got a lot of food. I had the Admiral's Saute which had a dozen huge, fresh scallops and as many large shrimp and big lumps of crab meat. Had to pack it up and finish it for breakfast the next day. I didn't know pasta could taste that good!

Later that evening, we drove to the Longport side of the 52 Bridge and watched the fireworks from the fishing pier, but did not fish. Went back to the motel to relax.

Sunday morning, we checked out and went straight to the Somers Point pier again. The sun was finally out and it was a terrific day! There were a lot of people there. My wife and I were working unsuccessfully with snapper poppers. Hundreds of tiny, pinky-sized fish hanging around the pier, but not much eating them. I went over to a few people at the end and they told me they were fishing for snappers and using snappers for bait. They gave us a few pieces to try.

The guy who gave us the snapper chcunks was the only one catching them. He had about 6. He was using a light rod with a couple airline shot vodka bottles as bobbers.

After two hours and having the bait slowly being eaten by the tiny fish, we gave up and went for lunch in AC. Most of the crowd had also left except for a few grizzled old timers with long beards and leathery wun-worn faces. I guess they are there every day.

Stopped at Whitehouse subs and got a Whitehouse special, an Italian Hoagie and a meatball to go. When we got back to the car, there was a $56 parking ticket!

Drove to the end of AC by Absecon Inlet and had to walk down to the little park to gain entry to a jetty. Parking is free along the street. Much of the old boardwalk is still damaged by hurrycane Sandy and very unsafe. It looks like someone made a makeshift ladder to climb down to the beach, under the remains of the boardwalk to access the three jetties closest to the ocean-side. I was not going to have my wife climbing 10 feet down on a rickety home made ladder to reach that beach.

We fished the jetty by the park and saw a police officer hanging around there talking with the fishermen and watching them. He didn't ask for any saltwater registry papers, nor was he checking out catch limits. I think he was just wishing he was off-duty so he could fish. The guys at the base of the jetty had half a dozen snappers ranging 6-8 inches. They were keeping them in a crag in the rocks that was filled with seawater as they had no bucket or cooler.

A hispanic family came in moments after us and one woman cast out a chunk of clam and got a keeper sized Tog on the first cast! A bunch of guys fishing the end of the jetty were just leaving empty-handed when they saw her catch. And decided to stay.

I used the snapper poppers and caught 2 six inch snappers within an hour within 5 to 10 yards of the jetty and beach.

Of the guys who stayed, I saw one of them hook onto something big which he fought for 5 minutes before his rod snapped in half! Shouts of disgust and expletives as he was using a rod he borrowed from a friend! We never saw what he had hooked as it was running deep at the end of the jetty.

After recovering the pieces of his rod, he immediately left, but came back 30 minutes later with another rod.

The cop stayed with us watching things for nearly two hours and was there when we finally got tired and left for the day.

We needed to use facilities and I wanted to do a bit of gaming, so we stopped at Resorts Casino. Parking was $15 if you don't have a Resorts Star Card. If you have a Star Card, parking is only $5 for the day (beats a $56 ticket!) I paid the fee and went inside to get a free Star card for the next time we are in the area

I played video roulette with $30 for about and hour. At times I was up by $10. At other times, I was down to my last $3. I hit break even about 3 times during that hour. My wife finally made me quit when I was at break even.

Afterward we walked on the beach and saw people just standing and staring at the water. They didn't move for 30 minutes! I realized that the people I'd been watching on Earthcam were not likely fishing at all, but just people standing at the waters edge staring at the foam!

Left aroun 6 PM and made it home in time to watch the Walking Dead.


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## BillHoo (Feb 5, 2013)

Here are my snappers! Basically two good sized sardines!










Would I have had better luck using a bigger lure?

The snapper popper is basically a sliver of a metal lure about the size of a quarter - silver and blue. The lure has a small treble hook trailing a foam float (the popper) by about 1 yard.


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## BillHoo (Feb 5, 2013)

So, my advice to avoid getting a parking ticket, or paying $15 or more for parking in the resort lots - Get a casino rewards card. They are free if you don't mind the junk mail (I used an email that I do not use that often) or phone calls about special casino offers (I use my work phone and screen the caller ID). 

You show your rewards card to the parking attendant and parking goes from $15 a day down to $5 a day.

You can either circle around the block and send your spouse in to register for a free promotions card and meet you back in the street before parking.

Or go online and print out a temporary card.

Here are the registration sites for Caesars Resort/Casino
https://www.totalrewards.com/mytotalrewards/#sign-in

And Resorts Atlantic City
https://resortsac.com/members


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## phillyguy (Aug 9, 2010)

Things are picking up in CMC.


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