7/7 - Jus' Jetties

Had Carl S. and his nephew Noah aboard the JettyWolf. Plan was to just fish live baits at the jetties. No running around...."so I thought!"

So, we headed out in search of the now illusive Pogie school.  "Yep, it's almost mid July so that means a thermocline, and scattered pogies."

I'll take May, any day.

We spent at least an hour and a half in search of a dozen and a half Pogies......and never seen a one! I say a dozen and a half, because that's all I'd really need.

Instead, we found big (too big) Mullet schooled up on the south-side of the south Jetty. I made a banana cast of the net in haste, and still got a dozen of them.

I'm not one to spend this kind of "fishing time", in search of live baits. Because I like lines in the water right away. But we really didn't have much choice. The other alternative is the mini-Croakers that are carpeting the botttom. But nothing says "EAT ME" like a little stinker Pogie, that's for sure.

We or I wanted Redbass. But again, as I anchored up and tossed big live Mullet out and on the bottom some 35' deep. It was all too apparent that Redbass wasn't gonna be the fish we'd hook up. But rather SHARKS.

The buzz has been that there's no Sharks worth a damn behind the Shrimp boats out in the chum-hole area. That's because they are at the end of the jetty rocks on a falling tide!

Immediately, we were hooked up to animals that our Jr. Angler, Noah wasn't gonna be able to stop. But then again, the Sharks were eating the hooks off the line, or just ripping the Mullet off the hooks. But, Noah did get a chance to battle his largest Quarry ever, a 5 foot Nurse shark with a really bad attitude.

Our young angler did very well, with some coaching from his Uncle and myself. He didn't believe he could get it to the boat. But he eventually did. This Nurse wore him slap out and was all he needed. There is no 5 foot Nurse Sharks, that eat whole 12" live Mullet and pull like that in Pennsylvania!

(and there's another thing I'd like to mention. I do not believe that when Shakespeare decided to build a rod and name it the "Catfish" rod, that they had any intentions for it to catch Redbass up to 46 pounds, 100 pound Nurse Sharks, or be bent over with 100 pound Spinner Sharks flying through the air. But, I'll tell ya here, that for a whopping $30 "YOU will never fish a stronger rod!" I cannot believe the paces, I have put these rods through.)

The true evidence is after Noah boated the all muscle Nurse Sharks, that wore him completely out, and after a few more "other shark" hook-ups. It was Uncle Carl's turn on a rod.

I believe this was our REDBASS!!!  Finally, a big Red. Throbbing the rod tip like one should. Running and staying deep. Yes, a truly targeted species, finally.

Only problem I could see is that Carl gave the fish absolutely NO QUARTER!!!!!!!
If there's a big Redbass on, take it easy on it.
But Carl gave the fish hell on the Ugly Stik. And I was almost thinking that it would be a broke in half Ugly Stik!!

Once the fish is out on the open water side of the boat and starting to come to the surface. Fight the fish gently. Because with all these Shark teeth around. If I was a Redbass, I'd be nervous to eat a bait and thrash around too much. So always take it easy. This maybe our only Red, and we want it in whole condition, too!

The fish pulled off the 7/0 circle hook. And as it turned out,  that was probably our only big Redbass bite of the day.

The Croakers were infesting the north jetty. I don't know how many were caught, as we kept out a live mullet or mini-Croaker out behind the boat most of the day.

Yes, the water temp out there has fallen significantly. The highest temp was on the falling tide at 77 degrees and on the flood tide it went down to 74 degrees. With that, I'm sure it brought in two of the weirdest fish the guys caught. Guitar Fish. Half shark, half Stingray.

And Carl even caught a big egg carrying Stone Crab.

I believe, I may go back down river next time around. And take some fiddler crabs and maybe some blue crabs. And see if we can get more of those Black Drum, Yellowmouth Trout, and larger Croakers and maybe another giant Redbass.

From day to day, it's a "stay flexible" kind of thing.