2021, another fun year in the surf, a big time learning experience. 51 trips this year, most with a right shoulder in pain, but bearable. Not a lot of long casts this year. I love fishing alone and am not sure anyone saw me catch a fish…. AWESOME. I caught 17 Stripers over 28 inches this year, the largest was around 35 inches. Albie Snax accounted for 20% of my Stripers this year, a lot less than last year as I fished larger artificials more often. Striped Bass were caught on 37 different artificials this year. Mag Darter, 5″ model and the .9 oz. Blond Terror darter each caught 10%, the 9″ Black Sluggo had 15% of my Striped Bass, including my largest. 8% on Mavericks. Like last year ~80% of my time was on the water in the dark (I loved it). I started the year with 4 skunks out of the first 6 trips. Then only two the remaining 45 including no skunks in any of the last 29 trips. A lot of learning and gaining confidence in new lures this year, looking forward to 2022.
December 5, 2021. Last trip of 2021. Picked up 13 Stripers in the dark and last fish of 2021 was one mean Blue. Fun trip, lots of action. Multiple fish on each plug.
November 28, 2021. Fished 12:15 AM- 8:30 AM, ocean side. Picked away at 10 bass in the dark and 4 in the light. Not much wind made for not freezing my ass off. Freestyle picked up 4 bass. All shorts, most 22″-26″. Fun trip.
November 21, 2021. Fished 12:15 AM- 9:15 AM, long walk fishing ocean sand beach. Basically zero action until around 4:45, then throwing the 9″ black Sluggo a hit. For the next hour on long Sluggo casts missed 5 hits, landed two bass and lost a significant bass in the wash. They would not hit anything else, about 100 yards of beach I had the action. Then after sun up, long casts a couple short Bass. Surf Fishing is awesome. Have to enjoy the FISHING, the HUNT!
November 14, 2021, fished 12:30 AM to 8:00 AM, honking cross wind ocean side, then in the face when bay side. 3 hits, 3 shorts, all in the dark. Loaded 5″ and 7″ red fin and first fish on the Savage Gear Freestyle. WIND, CHILLY, FUN OTW
November 7, 2021. So the streak, three trips in a row, one Striper per trip…..A few bumps also this trip.
October 31st, 12:15 AM to 9:15 AM……Extra long trip. Dropped two short bass in the dark and missed a few hits, also in the dark. Finally around 8:15 picked up a Striper on a Russ Anderson Pencil. This plug size and action is, frankly AWESOME.
October 24th Loooong night, one Striper on the Goo Goo Man metal lip. Couple bumps, calm surf…….yuck.
October 17th, Back to Long Island….I love it out there. Fished 12:30 AM to 9:00 AM. All action in the dark. In the light bunker around, ~100+ yards out. Picked up 6 Stripers in the dark, dropped two Bass.
October 10th, Jersey trip. Fished 1:00 to 9:00. Three blues, dropped a larger fish.
October 6th, out front. 1:00 AM – 5:30 AM. Lots of action this trip. 20″ to 26″, 9 bass. Lost a few and lots of hits. Bass were not in real close.
October 6th, out front. 12:30 AM – 5:30 AM. While every trip is an adventure for me, this one had a couple stumbling bumps. Hit the water and just was no water, no movement. Took to 3:30 for the water to look fishy, caught 2 short bass, one on that yellow Maverick. Then lost a Striper on that Maverick, the hook hanger broke, lost the hook. Then climbing over a rock pile I take a big time fall. Noticed after that my line was cut. The tip top ceramic insert was cracked and cut the line. So using my pliers I removed the insert and kept fishing, landing 5 more short Bass. Will need to replace line on this spool.
October 5th, out front. 12:30 AM – 5:30 AM (normal time line for these back to back trips while on vacation. Hit a short 10 minutes in, then just a couple bumps. Left that spot at 3:45 and started up at spot 2 at 4:15. Water stained and turbulent, picked up two Stripers in the “crazy” water. Some of these Stripers are…..eating good.
October 4th, out front. This trip everything was on plugs, rubber got no love. Not a hit from 12:30 AM to around 3:00 AM, then 3 cocktail blues and 4 Stripers between 3:00 and 5:30. Loaded black over god Red Fin caught everything but two of the Bass. Small Blond Terror Darter picked up the others.
October 3rd, Out front. Over a dozen hits, 6 hooked, 3 landed. A couple of fattys. Could not buy a hit on a plug.
September 26th, 3 Stripers out front, two on Snax, the other a Sluggo. I moved out back and missed one big hit in the light.
September 23rd , 3 Fluke out back in the dark. Moved further back in the bay and lost 3 nice size Blue Fish in the light…Urghhh. Whats with all the Fluke?
September 22nd, Out back, very little action. Bait present, could not find fish.
September 20th ,Out front picked up a few different fish. nothing of size,
September 19th, Fall !!!. Picked up 6 Stripers, a white Hogy caught 1 and the White Albi Snax caught the other 5. Missed a couple hits and dropped a Bass, not a ton of action…..but a lot better than I have been doing. Jeesh…..been a grind all year, but I do like grinding it out in the surf!!
September 12th, again nothing doing. 1 dog fish, 1 snapper and 3 Fluke. Nice looking water, a lot of wind, I’m just not connecting…
August 15th, fished, 22nd no fishing, 29th fished, September 4th Fished. Just not a lot to show for it. Missing a lot of fish, could not get anything at all consistent going out there.
August 8th, 12:30 AM – 8:00 AM, fished two spots, bay side 1″ small bait all over. Missed 3 good hits on the trip, around 1:30 picked up one Striper ~ 30 inches on a Max Rap 17 by rock pile ocean side.
August 8th, 12:30 AM – 8:00 AM, Weird trip. Grinded out a Fluke, small Blue and short Striper.
August 1, 12:15 AM – 8:00 AM, Salps!!!, had it and weeds for a lot of his trip. Manged 3 short bass and a Blue all on Albi Snax, and I threw the bag… Some other bumps, but all rock piles west side was weedy or salps.
July 25th, 1:00 AM -8:15 AM, late start, gave someone a jump start in parking lot. Lots of snappers all over the beach in close during the night. Picked up 6, then one short Sriper and a Weakfish. Dropped a couple fish, fun trip in a nice looking surf. Fished through a downpour and some solid wind. Invigorating!!
July 11th a skunk trip, July 18th a short bass and a fluke. Some bumps both trips, but I was certainly not on the fish. Fished from early AM trips, dodged lightening. Covered a lot of beach.
July 4th, 12:30 AM to 8:00 AM. Weird night, nothing out front, worked the back and picked up a short Bass on a Mag Darter around 2:30, another 3:30 on Albi Snax. Then as it started getting light I picked away at Stripers and Blues. The Jumpin Minnow was the hot plug. Ended up with 7 short Bass and 3 Blues. Fun trip.
June 27th, 12:45 AM to 8:00 AM, lots of traffic on the ride…. Went with the lighter Rainshadow rod rated 1/2 – 2 oz. It was fun, rod had very nice bend in it with the action. Ended the trip with 5 Blues, an 18″ Fluke and a short bass. But dropped 4 fish in the wash, dozens of hits and a few dropped fish (some larger). Action on at least a dozen artificials and almost all of it in the dark. Had fun, no waders for first time this year. Back to the Evolution rod next week.
June 13th to the 20th, 6 trips out west. Fished ~12:30 AM – ~5:45 AM each trip, one skunk trip, others were mostly a couple blues or bass each trip, one trip was 9 bass with the largest of the vacation ~35 inches. First 3 trips had a lot of weeds out front, had to move around to get away from them. Fished the 9″ Sluggo a lot these trips. Was a lot fun on the water, great time having the surf to my self, its awesome out there!!!
June 6th, one short Bass around 1:30 AM, then in the light a few blues, mostly top water up to ~26″. Nice weather, fun. Throwing the Afterhours Pencil to the moon.
May 30th, the 2021 grind continues. Picked up 4 Blues, could not find a bass. Great Striper conditions. One on a Flat Glide in the dark, the other 3 on the old Eel Punt Popper. Fun time in the wind and rain!!
May 23rd fished out on LI ocean side and bay side. Just can’t put a solid trip together. One Blue and a couple short bass. Beautiful night out there.
May 17th back out east and ocean side. A few bumps but only a Blue on metal to beat the skunk.
May 12th, Jersey again. Lots of wind. Only managed one Striper on a Black Loki Skinny Minnie. Challenging conditions, I made it through the trip.
So May 2nd and 9th, Skunk City, So the 10th hit up Jersey, managed my first Blue of the year. Atrocious start to the year. So I have been fishing the One Hook Solution, and have missed to many fish. May 11th, with the Correct Hooks on the plugs I picked up 5 Stripers fishing 1:00 AM to 5:30 AM finally had an OK trip (Jersey). 3 on the Lokie Skinny Minnie, the other 2 on Flat Glide and High Hook Needle. Was getting a complex….
My normal slow start to the year. Two more trips, 4/18 an 4/25. One 24″ Striper around 2:30 AM on the 25th. Otherwise nothing. Dead bunker and dying bunker….hope this is not a natural disaster with the dying bunker. I noticed something was wrong late November last year with them dying. Fun trips, great being out on the water.
Started the year with a skunk on April 4th on some water I rarely fish. 4/11/2021. 12:30 AM to 8:00 AM, back to my normal haunts, found fog and bunker everywhere. Fun trip, but only managed one short bass on a Stick Shadd. As normal a slow start to the season.
