Great Morning on the BL Docks by Ed Valitutto

The weather on Tuesday 10/22 was near perfect with low wind and waves. Unfortunately, schedules allowed John Stuebing and I to only fish the morning hours. I suggested we get down to the BL docks to toss lures for bass or blues and then switch to tog. Slack tide was 8:48 so at 8:15 we switched to tog fishing.

We immediately caught fish and went through many green crabs without a keeper. With time and crabs running out, John made a move to a different spot on the bulkhead. I handed him two small whole crabs (minus their legs and claws) and commented that my last three keepers off the docks were on whole crabs. John put one on his line and immediately had a pickup that he thought was a dogfish! Instead, it was a 19″ tog that weighted in at 4.22 lbs at SCB&T. He then put the second whole crab on and brought in the other 16 1/2″ keeper!

As we started to load the car, I noticed that I had a whole crab on my rod that I had neglected to use since I was busy netting John’s fish. I tossed it out and within a minute had a 15 1/2″ keeper that went back. Coincidence or just three lucky times in a row?

Posted in Member Reports
Membership Form

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.

Read More

January 25th 2025 Event in Atlantic City, NJ