Second Skunk at BL Reef by Ed Valitutto

Posted on August 31, 2019 by VHFC

Yesterday for the second week in a row, I was skunked at BL reef! I went out with member Alan Goracy on a lovely day. We started at the Bell buoy, went to the reef and stopped back at the buoy on our return. We fished both the edge of the reef near the Tires and the center and had a tide change during our outing. Both BL party boats and two charters were at times close enough to see they weren’t having much success either. The drift was decent ~.7 kts and we used peanut bunker netted on the way out, Gulp and sea robin strips.

The total take: three sea robins, three shorts and one small bluefish! I almost took a picture of the birds and bluefish on my board being made into bait strips, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Better luck next time!

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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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