Fourteen on the Troll and Four Casting Paddletails by Ed Valitutto

Posted on December 5, 2021 by VHFC

With perfect weather and low wave heights forecast for Sunday December 5th, Dave Spendiff and I decided to go striper fishing once again. Since we fished off the Red Tower on Saturday, we headed north out of Barnegat inlet and traveled along IBSP. Unfortunately, the bird play was minimal, so we decided to troll instead.
Dave opted for his mini umbrella rig that was hot the prior day and I chose my 9er shad body rig. Within minutes my pole went down and I had a real battle on my hands. It turned out to be three stripers: one tag fish and 2 shorts. We had a blast and by 9:00, we had boated 10 stripers. The action finally slowed but the tally was 14 fish on the troll with two bonus tag fish and two at 32 – 33 inches. We then threw paddle tails close to shore and caught 4 more 22-24″ fish.
Bill Figley called me later in the afternoon for his report. Bill went south out of the inlet past Harvey Cedars lump. Bill and two friends had 21 stripers including 6 in the box. The fish are definitely still in our area!

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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.

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