Blackfish Off the Rocks

The blackfish are still inshore. I headed over to the canal and there was no action so I figured I would try the jetties at Manasquan Inlet. Had several shorts and keepers in a couple of hours. Kept one at 18.5" and 3lb. 7oz.

So far all the blackfish I have caught this fall are on clams. I have had no action in the canal or on the jetties with green crab.

I'm glad I went by my own thoughts on the weather and not the weather man's...3PM and only a drizzle, the whole time I was down south there was barely a breeze and no rain. The fog was something to be reckoned with. A few times you could not see across the inlet.

Only three more days till the bag limit goes up!

Second Striper Trip of the Fall a Bust

We headed out late due to other committments...Broke the inlet about 11:30 and arrived at the Casino Pier a bit before noon. As we were slowing down and getting ready to setup the troll we passed over a couple of enormous bait clouds, repositioned the boat and trolled over the edge of them, nothing. We continued to troll out to deeper water (50-55') and continued to mark huge clouds of bait but no marks under or around them. We trolled south down to IBSP where there were a few birds circling and one diving here and there, same thing no good marks and no knockdowns at all. At about 4 PM we picked up and headed back North. We thought the sight of dozens of birds working just outside the inlet would save the day but once we got there there were no marks not even bait on the scope and no one out of the 10 boats or so with bent rods. We jigged for 10 minutes to be sure there was nothing there and headed in. It was a gorgeous day on the water and I felt bad for those guys out in center consoles freezing their asses off while we were inside the cabin, warm and dry.

More Canal Caught Blackfish!

Well I hit the canal again this afternoon and had more fish. I fished with my cousin and between the two of us we again had probably over 25-30 fish not including the pesky cunners. It was once again a clam preference, with them also going for clam and mussel Gulp! baits. I would try fresh mussels next time as they seem to hit the Gulp! mussel bait pretty hard. And once again the action did not heat up or even start for that matter until the current started moving pretty good. Tonight's keeper was 15.5" at 2lb 5oz. If I don't get out striper fishing on Sunday you bet you will find me along the banks of the canal. And yes another limit catch! That makes it two in a row.

Blackfish in the Canal

Well I could not get a crew together with a last minute notice to take advantage of a small striper blitz I was told about. So I decided to give some of the inshore blackfishing grounds a shot. I picked up some clams and green grabs to have a variety of baits and headed over to the Point Pleasant Canal. I got there about 3 PM and at first the action was non-existent with the crabs. I switched over to clam and had some short blackfish and bergals. The bergals became a pain but the blackfish did not seem interested in green crabs so I had to deal with it. Once the current picked up to near max velocity for the incoming the blackfish turned on. I had over 30 fish most being shorts and kept one 15" fish. All in all it was a great first blackfish trip of the fall and a limit catch!