Tweet
I had an unexpected free day today to fish thanks to one of my wife's friends coming to visit. Plan A was ESVA cobia fishing. Wind and wave forecast wasn't looking ideal though, and since the weatherman burned me Friday when I tried cobia fishing - WAY worse then forecast and I had to bail early 
. So I was a little reluctant to get burned again.
I was stuck going back and forth between whether to try the OC Inlet or hit the bayside shallows for specks and stripers. Eventually I settled on the inlet. I got up early and launched a little before first light. The plan was to throw plugs up into the jetty rocks then later try for sheepshead. I fished my way out the inlet as I drifted with the tide; 1 short striper around 22". Once out the inlet I cast to the tip and oceanside of the jetty. Fairly slow and I picked up a couple more shorts around 20". A couple other boats came out and they didn't do much better.
I made a move back into the inlet and anchored up at the tail end of outgoing current to drop some fleas into the rocks. Water was a little dirty and there was a lot of floating grass flushing out the inlet. At this point I didn't have a lot of faith in my decision to use my free day to fish the inlet - I just wasn't really feeling the love there. I kept thinking I should have gone speck fishing. Eventually I got a bite and pulled up a short 15" tog. A little bit later I had small crunch, crunch, so I set the hook and it was very heavy! Unfortunately, the hook didn't stick and it was off after a couple quick seconds. Ouch! 15 more minutes without a bite, grass fouling up my line, and I was done. Cut my losses while I still had plenty of time and go to Plan B - specks!
Arrived bayside in Somerset Co. about an hour later and was on the speck search. It didn't take long. A couple hundred yards from the launch first speck of the day was on the deck at 21". The tide was near low when I started, and with the crystal clear water, you can see the flats and sandbars beautifully. I continued searching around and picked up a bunch of dink stripers and few specks around 14". As soon as the tide started moving though I got into a good slew of specks. I banged out 3 more at 21" almost back to back to back. A few more dink stripers and then a few more specks around 18". It turned out to be a good day and I picked up about a dozen or so specks 14" - 21" I'd guess. No stripers anywhere even close to keeper size though - all dinks.
I've noticed quite a few times this year that if I troll (2 rods out), I'll often pick up a speck 1) when the other rod gets hit (usually a striper) and the second lure falls to the bottom as I fight the first - it gets hit just laying there and it's always a speck that does it. Or 2) the second lure falls to the bottom as I land the fish on the first rod, and the second I start moving again, the lure sitting on the bottom gets pounced on like the fish was sitting there staring at it just waiting for it to move. This pattern has happened often to me this year so far and I don't recall it every really happening in years past. Just an interesting observation I thought I'd share...
Full moon was just the other day too. Crabs shed on full moons. I kept two specks for dinner and both had a big, juicy soft crab in their bellies. Dark colors worked best today. Maybe because the fish were on crabs?
And by the way, the forecast turned out to be better than expected and I probably easily could of cobia fished
. So I was a little reluctant to get burned again. I was stuck going back and forth between whether to try the OC Inlet or hit the bayside shallows for specks and stripers. Eventually I settled on the inlet. I got up early and launched a little before first light. The plan was to throw plugs up into the jetty rocks then later try for sheepshead. I fished my way out the inlet as I drifted with the tide; 1 short striper around 22". Once out the inlet I cast to the tip and oceanside of the jetty. Fairly slow and I picked up a couple more shorts around 20". A couple other boats came out and they didn't do much better.
I made a move back into the inlet and anchored up at the tail end of outgoing current to drop some fleas into the rocks. Water was a little dirty and there was a lot of floating grass flushing out the inlet. At this point I didn't have a lot of faith in my decision to use my free day to fish the inlet - I just wasn't really feeling the love there. I kept thinking I should have gone speck fishing. Eventually I got a bite and pulled up a short 15" tog. A little bit later I had small crunch, crunch, so I set the hook and it was very heavy! Unfortunately, the hook didn't stick and it was off after a couple quick seconds. Ouch! 15 more minutes without a bite, grass fouling up my line, and I was done. Cut my losses while I still had plenty of time and go to Plan B - specks!
Arrived bayside in Somerset Co. about an hour later and was on the speck search. It didn't take long. A couple hundred yards from the launch first speck of the day was on the deck at 21". The tide was near low when I started, and with the crystal clear water, you can see the flats and sandbars beautifully. I continued searching around and picked up a bunch of dink stripers and few specks around 14". As soon as the tide started moving though I got into a good slew of specks. I banged out 3 more at 21" almost back to back to back. A few more dink stripers and then a few more specks around 18". It turned out to be a good day and I picked up about a dozen or so specks 14" - 21" I'd guess. No stripers anywhere even close to keeper size though - all dinks.
I've noticed quite a few times this year that if I troll (2 rods out), I'll often pick up a speck 1) when the other rod gets hit (usually a striper) and the second lure falls to the bottom as I fight the first - it gets hit just laying there and it's always a speck that does it. Or 2) the second lure falls to the bottom as I land the fish on the first rod, and the second I start moving again, the lure sitting on the bottom gets pounced on like the fish was sitting there staring at it just waiting for it to move. This pattern has happened often to me this year so far and I don't recall it every really happening in years past. Just an interesting observation I thought I'd share...
Full moon was just the other day too. Crabs shed on full moons. I kept two specks for dinner and both had a big, juicy soft crab in their bellies. Dark colors worked best today. Maybe because the fish were on crabs?
And by the way, the forecast turned out to be better than expected and I probably easily could of cobia fished
Comment