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I launched my Scout center console from Sandy Pt about 8:00 am this morning. The seas were calmer than I had anticipated (always a pleasant factor). I fished various spots on the western side from the bay bridge to just north of the South River. I caught numerous rockfish and bluefish on structure and in open water, and in depths ranging from 7 to 50 ft. I found loads of working birds, including the largest flock I have seen chasing bait this year. The noise they made was remarkable.
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In one of the deeper spots, I found small pods of bluefish to 15" covering a huge area. The wind and current was mild enough that I did not need to move the boat very often to stay with them. I cast primarily jigheads with different styles and colors of soft plastics. I keep one tackle tray on the boat that has "expendable plastics". When I get into a batch of blues, I use up many of these excess baits. I did throw metal lures from time to time, but the bluefish paid little attention to them.
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The blues are ferocious biters -- they bit off dozens of plastics, leaving just colored nubs on the hook shank. I saved all the nubs and took the following picture (it is more appealing to my eye than some art works I have seen in modern art galleries).
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As I drifted over my shallow water spot, I found lots of rockfish to 16" lying on the bottom.
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I cast out and worked a large twister tail back to boat with frequent hookups. Ironically, the twister tail that performed well in that spot was one from the batch I attempted to sell this week on the Buy, Sell, Trade board. I may have to reconsider that sales offer (or raise the price).
I fished for about 4 hours and caught about 50 bluefish (kept two for dinner), and about 20 rockfish. I caught most of the fish by casting light lures, but also caught some by trolling the same lures, or by jigging BKDs. The places I fished today are reachable by the more energetic pedal-power yakkers, and certainly by the electric motor guys.
003a.jpg
In one of the deeper spots, I found small pods of bluefish to 15" covering a huge area. The wind and current was mild enough that I did not need to move the boat very often to stay with them. I cast primarily jigheads with different styles and colors of soft plastics. I keep one tackle tray on the boat that has "expendable plastics". When I get into a batch of blues, I use up many of these excess baits. I did throw metal lures from time to time, but the bluefish paid little attention to them.
001.jpg
The blues are ferocious biters -- they bit off dozens of plastics, leaving just colored nubs on the hook shank. I saved all the nubs and took the following picture (it is more appealing to my eye than some art works I have seen in modern art galleries).
006.jpg
As I drifted over my shallow water spot, I found lots of rockfish to 16" lying on the bottom.
005.jpg
I cast out and worked a large twister tail back to boat with frequent hookups. Ironically, the twister tail that performed well in that spot was one from the batch I attempted to sell this week on the Buy, Sell, Trade board. I may have to reconsider that sales offer (or raise the price).
I fished for about 4 hours and caught about 50 bluefish (kept two for dinner), and about 20 rockfish. I caught most of the fish by casting light lures, but also caught some by trolling the same lures, or by jigging BKDs. The places I fished today are reachable by the more energetic pedal-power yakkers, and certainly by the electric motor guys.
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