Stellar Seabass Fishing on the Red Herring by Ed Valitutto

Posted on May 18, 2021 by kelli

When Bill Figley called and asked if I would like to go fish for seabass, I couldn’t say yes quickly enough. I joined Bill, his son Nathan and Dave Spendiff yesterday (5/17) for an early morning departure. With the AC Casinos clearly in the distance, we quickly starting catching very decent seabass. Most throwbacks were legal fish because we were keeping the better ones.

By 9:00 AM, we were 9 fish shy of our 40 fish limit. Now we became real picky since the day was beautiful and we didn’t want it to end too quickly! Dave, Bill and Nate used clam and squid while I used an Ava 17 with a white tail with a hook 18″ above with a white soft bait. It was drop and reel with that combo and the fish were definitely larger. Dave and Bill each caught a nice tog that was quickly returned and no one had to deal with any dogs. It was truly a day to remember!

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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.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.