Scott'sBait & Tackle
   Weekly Bulletin for
Thursday, August 19, 1999

There are nineteen days left of the 1999 Summer vacation. Memorial day felt like it was only a few weeks ago and Labor Day is right around the corner. This means that everyone is going to try to cram in those extra few vacation days. You are likely to have guests or be guests this weekend at the Jersey Shore and there is no doubt you are going to bring the kids. When they look out at the lagoon, they are going to want to fish and crab or do anything that will give them time on the dock. Several items will help make the dock fishing experience fun. A minnow trap is a very important item. All kinds of things can end up in a minnow trap in a very short period of time which will be necessary, because they will be pulling the trap up every two minutes. Minnows and spearing are going to be the most common fish trapped, but an eel now and then will bring quite a bit of excitement. Use the minnows and spearing on a #12 fish hook supported 18” below the surface by a plastic float in hopes to catch 5 to 7 inch snapper bluefish. They are plentiful in the lagoons now and are best caught first thing in the morning or after dinner in the evening. During the very bright sunshine of the day, the fishing activity in the lagoons is poor. Fish the bottom with hopes of catching any other species of fish that may be wandering the lagoons. There have been reports of sea bass, weakfish and even the occasional fluke caught in the lagoons during the past few weeks. A drop net, which is a 2 foot square net held open by a wire frame is just as much fun to use as a minnow trap and it will catch more spearing and even a keeper crab now and then. Keep the crab traps baited too. It gives the kids one more thing to keep them interested and possibly catch enough crabs to have a side dish with dinner.

When the lagoon gets calm after the wind of the day stops blowing and the sun starts to set, the schools of bunker can be seen circling the lagoons on the surface. Bunker do not eat bait and will not bite on a hook and can be very frustrating if you think that they are snapper blues that will not bite on your hook. The best method of catching the bunker is to use a cast net. It takes a while to learn the throwing technique, but it is fun trying to get the throw just right and catch a few bunker. Fresh or live baby bunkers are good bait for weakfish, bluefish and fluke. When fishing in the bay, put a live bunker on a 1/0 hook suspended 3 to 4 feet below a plastic float. Fish the mouths of the creeks entering into the bay when the surroundings are quiet and the tide has started to flow out. In the past few weeks, anglers have been catching some decent weakfish in the mouths of Oyster Creek, Motts Creek, Landing Creek and a little to the left going out of Big Creek. The action has been sporadic, with some days being excellent, and others without a bite. If you don’t have the ambition to catch bunker, the shedder crabs are still great bait but have been very tough to find. Bloodworms are the next best bait and can be fished the same way as little bunker, but use a shad dart lure suspended under the float rather then the 1/0 hook setup.

The best fishing action of the week was by anglers who worked the ocean in front of Brigantine. They caught weakfish and croakers as close to the beach as eight feet of water and as far off the beach as forty feet of water. If croakers are your target fish, use clams for bait on a smaller hook pompano style rig. Croakers also love bloodworms and can be caught on squid too. There is no size limit or quantity limit on croakers, but the fourteen inch, fourteen fish bag limit that is set for weakfish is a good rule of thumb to follow for croakers. Croakers are a very tasty fish if they are kept on ice. Like weakfish, they spoil fast in the heat. Keeping any fish chilled on ice rather then in a live well preserves the flavor of the meat and stiffens the meat of the fish up which makes for an easier task of filleting. If weakfish are the type fish you are most interested in catching, then a top and bottom rig baited with long, thin squid strips is the right bait and rig combo for catching ocean weakfish.

A few anglers had their best catch of fluke in front of the Coast Guard Station this week. Others, continue to catch fluke between the South end of Long Beach Island and Little and Big Sheepshead Creek. Don’t expect a box full though, the catchin’ has been tough.

Several anglers ran all around the ocean this week, but found the best fluke fishing area to be within sight of the WR2 marker buoy. It’s pretty much the same old story of top and bottom rigs and squid and minnows. Some anglers prefer spearing for a top hook bait while others are still using salted mackerel fillets as a tougher substitute for squid. It seems that all the bait choices are working equally well.