Written by Capt.Allen  Â

Sunday, 11 November 2012 19:41

Saturday 11/10:  Finally back out today for an OB trip w/ Chris, Dave, Scott, Ryan, and Jeremiah after two weeks of inactivity due to Hurricane Sandy and the Noreaster that dumped snow on us earlier this week. There are currently only 5 boats in the water at Clark's, and with no electricity at the end of our docks things were abnormally quiet and dark this early November morning when we left our slip. Lots of trash floating in the river, and still some boats up on the golf course and on people's properties - crazy stuff. Even saw a part of a house in the river near the dog beach - once we got up into the inlet itself seeing the devastation in Manasquan and right on inlet drive in point beach was quite sobering We broke the inlet before sunrise and were greeted to a great one as we started looking for birds and fish around our inlet. Water was dirty, and there was loads of bait on the machine, but nothing concentrated in any way. Whatever the case the guys worked the jigs real hard for the first few hours on good looking marks between Bay Head and Asbury - all we managed on the jigs was a dogfish. Got a call of a few fish on the troll up the line a bit further around the rocks @ 10AM, so we ran that way but had no touches at all on the shad rigs. After 90 mintues of nothing, we worked our way back south, again looking. Tried one pass on some bait off Asbury/Bradley - again nothing. Then at 12:30 we got a call that there was a little bite south of our inlet again on the troll, so we headed that way. We switched the shad rigs over to bunker spoons and stretch plugs, and finally found a few fish to come tight. For the first hour, we had knockdowns every 10 or so minutes, getting 2 nice bass to the boat in the 32-34" range and one 12# bluefish as well as a few fish coming off and a few complete misses. But as the tide changed, the bite petered out so we called it a day just after 2. It was great to be back out, and catching a few fish was a bonus. Some eerie stuff out there though - the devastation along Mantoloking was horrendous... Seeing houses sitting off their foundation's and house's roofs sitting sideways along the beach, as well as seeing homes completely destroyed was something I personally thought I'd never see along our shoreline. Also looking south and seeing the Ferris Wheel WITHOUT the piers was quite saddening, and finally, seeing what's left of the breaches in Bay Head and Mantoloking was another reminder of what Sandy did to our area. Nevertheless, we're Jerseyites, we're determined and resilient, we will rebuild, and we will find our way back to "normalcy" sooner than most of the pundits think. Getting out today, and talking to/seeing a lot of the regulars (Monger, Shore Catch guys, Canyon Runner, the Bluefish Headboats, Richie MA just to name a few) on the water was a big help for all of us. Back at it next weekend - hope these bass start getting organized and we can start catching them on jigs again!