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Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
Everyone is getting prepared for Hurricane Irene, which isn't expected to have a direct impact in N.J. until about sunset Saturday. The party and charter boat fleets are either hauled out or getting secured in their berths, as there's been plenty of warning time. Ironically, today was beautiful, with light winds on an ocean that is getting steadily rougher....
Everyone is getting prepared for Hurricane Irene, which isn't expected to have a direct impact in N.J. until about sunset Saturday. The party and charter boat fleets are either hauled out or getting secured in their berths, as there's been plenty of warning time.
Ironically, today was beautiful, with light winds on an ocean that is getting steadily rougher. I got in a last dawn patrol on the surf at Sea Girt which was barely fishable with light tackle. Surprisingly, my first cast with Gulp produced a small sand dab, the first I've caught in the surf this summer. A small fluke followed a couple of casts after, but then I cast for some time in order to catch two more fluke while steering clear of the surfers. I was surprised there were any fish in the big waves and strong surge, but I ended up catching an aggressive stargazer that hit a 3-inch Gulp glow Swimming Mullet on a small jig head as I started retrieving at the end of a cast. Normally with stargazers, the hook-up feels like getting snagged in the bottom.
Bruce Vitale of Piscataway may have made the last party boat trip for awhile when he fished aboard Norma K III from Point Pleasant this afternoon. They drifted east of the inlet, but hardly did anything as the swell is probably affecting the bottom already even though it wasn't rough. The mate told Vitale there were only nine shorts and one keeper caught, but Vitale was also surprised to catch a fish he'd never seen before -- a spotted hake. It's a member of the cod family like the ling (red hake), but frequents shallow ocean waters and is amazingly scarce considering that it belongs to such a prolific family. I've only caught a few over the years while fluking, and once many years ago in the surf. They're very small ling-like fish that usually aren't much more than a foot long. Vitale said his was about 14 inches -- relatively large, though he released it. The mate said five keeper fluke plus more shorts were caught during the morning trip when there was no drift.
Island Beach State Park was closed at 8 a.m, and many communities along the Shore are being evacuated. As noted last night, the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 Tournament cancelled its last day due to evacuations of Cape May plus Ocean City, Maryland. That was just fine with those leading for big money prizes. The tent in which the awards were supposed to be presented tonight during a big dinner party had to be taken down. I'll post official results as soon as they become available.
The WICC-Port Jeff Ferry Greatest Bluefish Tournament on Earth, scheduled for this weekend in Long Island Sound, has been postponed to Sept. 10-11. For info visit WICC600.com, or call 203 366-BLUE.
I'll try blogging over the weekend, but will be surprised if we don't lose power.
This Fishing Report was submitted on 8/26/2011 9:47:56 PM by Seamus and last updated on 8/26/2011 9:47:56 PM.
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