the pack i picked up are 4". They have the weight and hook buult into it. It looks great in the water and they cast a mile. The tail has so mucn action compared to a crank bait, buck tail or fins that it looks igger than these lures in the water. The kind i bought has a half circle tail not the h tail which is simmilar to the fins. It looks similar to the storm shads which come in the larger sizes but cost less than the storm shads. Did not catch anything with it by bulls island saturday but i was fishing with my kids ad they wanted to go swimming so that was that. I cant imagine theim not producing considering the success i had with the storm shads. They do however get destroyed by blues but not a concern in the del.
Haven't seen many reports on here but talking to a few friends seem like things went on a lull last couple days and with these rain (first good ones of spring) it will almost be promised tht bass will be on spawn as the currents pick up. Last day of work no more 6 day weeks and doubles I will be on the water Tomm all day so I'll have something then. Looks like perfect big bass weather to me air presure an river flow are looking really good. Moon stage ah well I'm not totally done messin with tht and til I find a true pattern its up in te air as to if it matters on the river like it does in bays and beaches. I have noticed tht the first major movement of bass irreguardless of water temps didn't happen til a few days before the 4th full moon of calendar year. Now weather the actual act of spawn is triggered by a new moon or next full I still have work to do but what I've found so far is even with the higher than average water temps bass didn't move in nunbers until 5-10 days before the actual full and at this time each of the past 6 years temps actually stabalized throughout the river( to be continued)
Thanks Bud... This is an amazing piece of info... Your truly the most deticated fisherman I have ever met!! Many thanks for sharing! I have been out quite a bit and it helps.... Those days I am out there and I know they should be there and nothing, or lots of little Stripers hitting and a few 24-28 inchers caught, but no monsters. Keep it up!
Saturday was deffinately the worst day yet, water temp 61+ degrees and clear skys. i tried all depth ranges with three diiferent baits. May try one more weekend but if the water temp holds over 60 i will be heading north to small mouth country.
Saturday wasnt a good day for me either. 2 stripers both 23" at palmyra cove, plenty of cats to keep me busy though. I seem to have a problem hooking up with the stripers. Im getting tons of hits but not tons of fish im using a 3/O gamakatsu any ideas?
sole of gold i do not think i would move to a smaller hook. You may want to try a larger live bait, although that may not do you any good. I fish north of you in the rapids and when i come across a school of smaller sized xtripers i will stick with it for 15 minutes or so to see if i can pull out a larger bass. If not i move to the next current break. Typically i will catcn a larger bass in the break a d smaller ones will move in to the vacated hole. So my suggestion to you would be to reposition and see if you ca locate the larger game you are pursuing. Choice two bring a kid along they will have blast with tne smaller fish. If you keep catching small fish try chicken liver in stockings its like candy and you wont find a bass that will steal this from your hook, plus much cheaper than alot of baits.
Monday fishing report: got out late around 1:30 fished til 8pm. Had a blast in the ruff stuff and it actually wasn't to bad out. Within first hour had 4 fish between 29"-35" then had a lul of nothing bit cats for 2 hours some really nice ones too one was 37" prob 12-15 pounds. Once the tide began to ebb this got hot and hot fast. Had one fish on several times and other rods would start going off. Had several double headers only I'm fishing alone so I went 2 for 5 on double headers. Only moved 3 times and the third move actually was back to first spot. Finished the day with somewhere between 13-15 bass lost count. Not a bass under 28". All bass were hung in 27-35 ft water bunker chunks did well live chubs did the best and clams took cats while only giving up 2 bass. Salt herring caught 2 bass as well. Bunker chunks on high low rig cleaned up this day. And eel chunk caught one. Drifting eel after dark didn't produce this day. Also ha caught 2 eels tht were prob 8-10 pounds truly huge eels one screamed off the bait runner and took a bunker chunk. Then he got chunked lol. Marked alot of fish suspended if it wasnt so ruff I woulda trolled or threw lures at them. All in all great day still going strong.
Montauk had it right I personally only use 8/0 offset circles on the river maybe 7/0 but nothing smaller than tht. Big bass had bigger mouth and tougher jaw bones need tht bigger hook or good chance of missing hook ups.
Monday report: went out for 3 hours thus morning looking for some slots fish. Threw buck tails and koppers live blueback herring. Didn't manage any slots but bunker chunked 3 bass 33"-35" and several cats. Pop got the biggest one this day 37" right around 30lbs. On salt herring again! 27 ft water was the depth today tried 15-23ft early but nothing. Trolled stretch 25's for 30minutes but nothing. Allfish caught in last 2 days have all spawned out an all have had beet up looking fish must been alot of ruff sex going on this past week lol
I've told y'all in this thread there r bass tht will only come in the river spawn and then leave right after spawn there r bass tht get in the river and winter here and stay til late spring then there r bass tht move up river to spawn find an abundant amount of food available and conferrable water temps and will remain in the river til either one or both of those elements become unfavorable. Competition is another factor with bass too much comp for food will push them back out also. Also all bass do not spawn at same time and sparkly occurs up to 65 degrees our river is running at a consistent 60 degree temp currently. Herring are all over the place shad r still up river there is no reason for me to believe this r begging to wind down.
But the captains fishing the bay are not reporting decent catches of bass which tells me one thing.... The bass are still up river and water temps dictate tht this should be the case any how. I still personally have not noticed a drop off in mature bass. Have noticed a drop in the number of slot fish but I am chalking this up to the numbers of bigger fish around still.
But to each his own if u ready to call it quits cause all the bass have left lol go right ahead less presure on the fish. But rest assured they r here and there r plenty bass still spawning.
I hear ya. Since this year is really the first year I am paying attention to Stripers I like to catalog (at least in my mind) what people are saying about the fish.
I mean, to me it really doesn't make sense because I do know Stripers will run and have been caught way up north on the delaware, so how could they come in poke around burlington and then leave.
Thanks for confirming my thoughts.
Am I done? Well that would be a no- but I may not have all my efforts isolated to the river- I am hitting the bays as well- mostly because I like ot fish with others and that is where the destination seems to be. The Big D, particularly Palmyra is 20 min from my house, so I will still hit that spot- if for nothing else the big cattys.
Good stuff. Me I'm more inclined to fish close to home love the river but I love the surf and bays more but I only fish the big d in spring and I try focus all my attention there til it runs dry then I won't c her again til march next spring. Then all trips will be bay for some time then at night the beaches then come fall it's mostly beaches and ocean no bays. I been doing the same routine for years.
So I should size up my circles and make sure they're offset?
Any recommendations for rod and reel I was planning on upgrading to a Penn battle 7000 and a 10' st. croix.
Yea taking my kid out is always a great time he prefers catties because they're more abundant.
Btw I am land locked at the moment. Any recommendations on bait for surf fishing them?
All my bait and tackle in the spring comes from Brinkmans bait and tackle shop at linden and state road in nephilly. Best shop in the city! The penn battle is a good reel and rod u got is good too. I'd check out the forum on surf fishing on here but send me a pm and I'll give u some tips I have plenty old thread on here about surf fishing it is my first love my wife is second lol yes go up to the size I recommend for hooks.
All my bait and tackle in the spring comes from Brinkmans bait and tackle shop at linden and state road in nephilly. Best shop in the city! The penn battle is a good reel and rod u got is good too. I'd check out the forum on surf fishing on here but send me a pm and I'll give u some tips I have plenty old thread on here about surf fishing it is my first love my wife is second lol yes go up to the size I recommend for hooks u will still be able to catch schools too.
mu fish i agree. I do not think its over. But i am fine with people calling it quits. As far as fisn movinb north i have not found em yet but it is still early. We do still have alot of shad, but i have not seen herring yet.
Here is the bottom line: inline circles u almost always have to let the fish run and put the breaks on him by reeling in not lifting the rod tip. Thts the designed intented use. Offset circles while still preform as above but they give a Lil leeway with hooks sets u can lay into a hookset and the hook will grab instead of being pulled out of fish mouth like a circle would had u tried to slam the hook into the fish. It may work once in a while but consistent hooks up only come from letting the fish take off and reeling down crossing the bass eyes. I think I would use circles regardless if they was part of regs or not.
aaaaggghhh when does it end with regulations? Circle hooks, no herring, only two nooks allosec wnen jigging for herrin. Every time you turn around it is somthing new. Can you use a j hook when pursuing cats? Also lets jump to waterfowl, has anyone else stooped pursuing waterfowl because of the crippling of birds due to how light steel shot is. All iam saying is you have to read regulations before you go out evertime or you may not be in compliance. Why is it i nave to throw back a 17" fluke but i can buy a 14" fluke at giant?
Bro u need to understand history and species management. Herring are in trouble right now because regs weren't in place sooner. It's alot easier to gut hook a spawning striper with j-hook opposite a circle hook. Flounder have become overly abundant and now regs come back down to 17" may 10th. Flounder fishing has made giant leap and it did us well. If regs weren't in place ud have nothing left for future generations. Regs r of utmost importance proper management is the only key to the survival and sustainability of certain species bottom line we needs these regs in place hands down there shouldn't even be an argument. Back to fishing reports:::::
yes i understand the purpose of the regulation, but it should be across the board commercial and rec. If you have to throw back a short so should the commercial fisherman. I guess my point is you start feeling paranoid with the regulations and the sport is becoming less enjoyable. I now have 2 boating license fresh water fish lic salt water fish lic. Which you have to give your ssn on line to obtain, i just wonder when it ends. Okay back to fishing. My method with the circle hook is to just not set the hook rod bends i strat reeling, and in the case of a gut hook i just cut the leader as close to hook as i can and than release fisn with fingers crossed. Since i started with the circle i find that i forget to set it with the j hook while pursuing other fish. Surprisingly this has not resulted in lost fish. It is important to keep the hook razor sharp, i like to drag it across my thumb nail if the hook slides across its to dull, if it digs in than bait it. Also if you do not plan on keeping what you catch you should consider bending your barb flat. Good luck
what do you do when yoi miss a hook set? Do you let it sit and hope it gets picked back up or do you reel in to check bait and recast? I let it sit a minute for stripes, than reel i and check bait.
Clams r usually locked up and yes sometimes they will locked themselves on the hook but this is not the norm for me as I said in the past to each his own. If it works for u keep at it. Most times if it's locked up and the bass r mouthing baits I will not get hooked up til I get rod in hand. Now if they r jus feeding in a school yes the chances of them jus grabbing it and running and hooking themselves increases. But I have had fish doubled over when forgetting to flip the switch wen using liveliners. It really comes down to wht works best for any one individual. But here is the designed intention of circle hooks.
Circle Hooks
For years the tuna industry used a form of circle hooks on their catch boats. The tuna hooked themselves running away from the boat and were lifted aboard. Circle hooks are named for the unusual circle like bend in the gap of the hook. The point of the hook actually curves into the hook shank. If the bait is swallowed, the hook will come right back up the throat without hooking the fish. As the fish turns away and runs, the hook is pulled toward the mouth of the fish. When the line pulls the shank of the hook out of the mouth, the hook naturally turns back toward the angler, and the fish is hooked right in the corner of the mouth.
Today these hooks are becoming more popular and are used in catch and release situations. Where size limits mean releasing undersized fish, circle hooks offer a very high survival rate on released fish. A major change has to be made by the angler who uses circle hooks. The rule is – don’t set the hook. It is so hard for anglers to remember that rule. Setting the hook means pulling the hook and bait right out of the mouth of the fish. Let the fish turn and run and simply start reeling. The hook sets itself!
Now keeping in mind ur method and the above method for tuna. This method of the fish hooking itself doubling ur rod over. The fish has to be moving at a fast speed upon inhaling the bait I would think an as such is why te tuna hook themselves this way. But good stuff te more information we can collectively bring to the table the better geared we will be to stepping on any body of water and having it our way.
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