Fishing with a whale by Dave Spendiff

Posted on November 15, 2015 by VHFC

On Monday 11/9/15, Bill Dabney and I left my dock at 4:30am and cleared the Barnegat Inlet at 5:35 heading north to the IBSP bathing beach area. We stopped on a pod of bunker, put a few in the live well and finally started fishing with a small fleet of about 20 boats and a very hungry and active whale. This whale swam, up close, among the boats without fear – absolutely AWESOME! Bill live lined a bunker and I snagged and dropped. In fairly quick order, I was able to hook, fight, land and release 2 nice bass – 39 & 42″. The bite stopped as quickly as it started and we heard radio chatter that bass were now being picked up on the troll. We moved out to 55-60′ and trolled bunker spoons for nearly 2 hrs. and finally called it a day with no additional takers. Water was in the hi 50’s and calm. What a great day to be on the water!

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

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