reeltor
06-21-2010, 09:11 PM
Dropped into OC late Friday afternoon with my friend Travis hell bent on fishing till we dropped. Hit Oyster Bay for fresh bunker, mullet and some squid then the beer store and the cooler was full of essentials. Surf fishing was typically bad with skate as the only takers. I did catch one that might have been 4' from wingtip to wingtip. Not sure if it was a skate or a ray but it was the largest winged critter I've ever caught. I lifted it by the blowholes and had trouble getting it back into the surf. Had to drag it back into the breakers before it swam away. Probably would have cut it off but there was a large group of kids around that really wanted to see what had the rod bent in half.
After surf fishing we went to the Rt 50 bridge looking for rock. We arrived for the last hr of the outgoing:thumbup: and caught several shorts and blues before the current went slack. We were both using a tandem 3/4 oz jighead set up with 5" Strike King Zulu's in white and pink. Once the incoming current picked up I lost a keeper rock, only one I saw hooked, and then had some fun with the blues and shad on Gotcha's and spec rigs before calling it a night around 1am. I don't like being on the roads when the bars are closing up.
Next day we went out on the Tortuga as we couldn't find anyone with a private boat to fish with. I thought the price was great for 3 hrs of Flounder fishing. Started out North of the bridge, then moved behind Assateague finding the fish but no takers. Highlight of the trip was my buddy, who was drinking some Bud Tall Boys, falling backwards into the 5 gallon bait bucket of thawing shiners. He called today to tell me of a circle bruise around his rear end. Funny as hell and he had a great sense of humor about it. I'd take the Tortuga out again. Eager to please captain and very good mate...think it was 26.00 with a coupon.
Went back to the surf after the guards left at 5pm finding more skate, then back to the bridge around 9:30 till 1am or so. Same pattern, mostly shorts on the tandem jigheads then blues and shad hitting Gotcha's and spec rigs. The blues were spitting up shiners once we got them up and the spec rig was perfectly matching the hatch. Best lesson of this trip was bottom bouncing the spec rig as the current slowed up to catch rock. Didn't hook any skate, which is typical when the current slows, but the blues and rock went after it with abandon. Easy fishing for my buddy who had never fished from the bridge before. Jigging the spec was probably the most productive fishing technique I used this weekend. Most guys stop fishing when the current slows in fear of hooking skate. Maybe I was lucky but there seemed to be a pattern to it. I'm normally using much bigger baits hoping the big bait/big fish theory works out.
Next day we fished the north jetty in the am without much success, small sea bass and blues before calling it and heading back to my condo to clean up and get back home. Did see a guy at the South end of the North jetty catch a NICE keeper Flounder. Last year this same week we had some big rock and blues being caught off the bridge and I was really hoping to get back to some of that action, but wasn't to be. Nothing very exciting but I thought I'd share.
One last thing, if you are a local with a boat and don't mind a contributing HO drop me a PM.
After surf fishing we went to the Rt 50 bridge looking for rock. We arrived for the last hr of the outgoing:thumbup: and caught several shorts and blues before the current went slack. We were both using a tandem 3/4 oz jighead set up with 5" Strike King Zulu's in white and pink. Once the incoming current picked up I lost a keeper rock, only one I saw hooked, and then had some fun with the blues and shad on Gotcha's and spec rigs before calling it a night around 1am. I don't like being on the roads when the bars are closing up.
Next day we went out on the Tortuga as we couldn't find anyone with a private boat to fish with. I thought the price was great for 3 hrs of Flounder fishing. Started out North of the bridge, then moved behind Assateague finding the fish but no takers. Highlight of the trip was my buddy, who was drinking some Bud Tall Boys, falling backwards into the 5 gallon bait bucket of thawing shiners. He called today to tell me of a circle bruise around his rear end. Funny as hell and he had a great sense of humor about it. I'd take the Tortuga out again. Eager to please captain and very good mate...think it was 26.00 with a coupon.
Went back to the surf after the guards left at 5pm finding more skate, then back to the bridge around 9:30 till 1am or so. Same pattern, mostly shorts on the tandem jigheads then blues and shad hitting Gotcha's and spec rigs. The blues were spitting up shiners once we got them up and the spec rig was perfectly matching the hatch. Best lesson of this trip was bottom bouncing the spec rig as the current slowed up to catch rock. Didn't hook any skate, which is typical when the current slows, but the blues and rock went after it with abandon. Easy fishing for my buddy who had never fished from the bridge before. Jigging the spec was probably the most productive fishing technique I used this weekend. Most guys stop fishing when the current slows in fear of hooking skate. Maybe I was lucky but there seemed to be a pattern to it. I'm normally using much bigger baits hoping the big bait/big fish theory works out.
Next day we fished the north jetty in the am without much success, small sea bass and blues before calling it and heading back to my condo to clean up and get back home. Did see a guy at the South end of the North jetty catch a NICE keeper Flounder. Last year this same week we had some big rock and blues being caught off the bridge and I was really hoping to get back to some of that action, but wasn't to be. Nothing very exciting but I thought I'd share.
One last thing, if you are a local with a boat and don't mind a contributing HO drop me a PM.