Gritty Jersey Striper Fishing

The drive to from Hartford CT to New Jersey isn't the most pleasant drive you could ever do. it takes you through the armpit of America, the most developed and industrialized area in the country, through a jumbled road system, and often with some of the worst drivers you'll ever see. But in a way it's kind of beautiful. Sometimes it can only be described as disgustingly beautiful. Alec, Alex and I were riding through the urban jungle under a spectacular sunset that was so spectacular because of air pollution. Driving through this to a place where bait, bass, and birds all still converge despite a completely developed beachfront and a mess of human obstacles was surreal.

When we got to Point Pleasant we immediately went to the closest bait and tackle shop to our hotel. Local knowledge is key, and the owner of Gates Bait and Tackle was the perfect guy to talk to. He didn't sugarcoat things, which some tackle shop owners do to get you to buy more. The surf fishing had been terrible, the worst he'd ever seen, mostly due to beach reclamation burying structure and  crustaceans. there wasn't much of a reason for fish to hold to the beaches and the bigger ones weren't sticking around long. There'd been a push of fish the week before and another push could come any day. Jersey isn't holding water, these fish are moving. The bait is moving, the bass are moving, all on the huge migration back south. None of this was news to me. We weren't in Jersey to not fish though, so we spent a little time on the beach that evening between dinner and straight up passing out in the motel room. The super moon lit the beach up and made for a beautiful scene to skunk in.

We were up before the sun Sunday morning, out of the motel, and at the marina to meet Captain David Goldman of Shore Catch Guide Service (shorecatch.com) at 6:30. We were on the  the 33 Contender Fish Around quickly and  headed off along a long straight, nearly featureless stretch of shoreline. I would really not have the slightest idea how to approach boat fishing this area minus looking for birds and boat groupings. There are  lot of boats looking for stripers along the Jersey shore, and especially when the bunker are around there are often fleets of boats on the schools, which can get hectic. There ended up being a lot of boats out on this day but it wasn't an uncomfortable crowd. If I had been there, in my own boat, without anyone who knew that waters well, I wouldn't have known whether to go north or south, how far out I should go, or how far in either direction. I would be completely inept at finding fish if they weren't all over or feeding visibly. But after a long run Captain Goldman eased us carefully into a n are where Terns were working, and it wasn't long before we were marking bait balls and stripers on the electronics. It was a Jersey blitz soon, not a big one, but stripers were popping, boiling and rolling and birds were dipping diving. I couldn't have been more relieved to see this action, I really wasn't sure I'd get to do much fly fishing on this trip. Oh, and on the way to striper town we spotted a humpback. It has been a long time since I last saw a whale.

I fished a full sink line with big Hollow Fleyes. It was a  bit alien to me, fishing for stripers in 27-40 feet of water about mile from shore. It was really cool to see how the bait and bass behaved way out in open water. These weren't big stripers but they were a blast on the 8wt and in a scenario completely different from what I'm used to. In that deep water it was hard not to feel like I could have locked into a big bass at any moment. We did, eventually, but it was on the troll later in the day and came off after charging the boat. That was a bit of a heart breaker, but I'd personally rather catch a bunch of smaller fish casting than one big one trolling. Unless, that is, the trolling fish were 50 pounds or bigger.

Photo Courtesy David Goldman

We fished, shot the breeze, and had a good time. David was a great guy, he put us on some fish during a pretty tough bite and was just a fun guy. Guides can be extremely knowledgeable and still not give you a fun day, but David was not that kind of guys. He even took us to a bar afterword for some really great wings. We had a good time. It was absolutely worth going even though the fishing was not particularly great. I added a knocked New Jersey off the "states to fish" list, caught some stripers on the fly, got some great photos, and made new friends. That's really all you can ask for.