Striper Frenzy at Barnegat Inlet

Back in January in what the natives call Winter (ice, snow, cold, ugh!) some of my friends at my home community in Skillman and I were passing the time drinking Manhattans (at our Manhattan Club meeting) when we decided to organize a foursome striper charter.  I texted Greg Carr of LBI Charters to see if he was booking dates and based on my experience we settled on May 29 as it was near the full moon.  As Friday the 29^th approached I checked around to see how the boat fishing for stripers was going, and the reports were not good.  The beaches were doing great, but the boaters were having a tough time.  I figured what will be will be, but I did not tell the other guys things were looking poorly.  Greg wanted to try to catch the last couple of hours of the incoming tide, so we departed the dock at 6 am and headed to the north Jetty of the Barnegat Inlet, just 5 minutes away. Greg had brought along James as his mate, so we were six of us in total on the Kevin n Ash.  Greg had picked up 30 spot from a secret source, and that was the trick, because it was non-stop mayhem for 2 hours.  Greg skillfully and repeatedly maneuvered the stern just off the rocks, and we let fly.  The rigs were simple: a three way with a sinker and a 3’ piece of mono with a circle hook tied on.  On the first cast two of us had fish on, and at one point all four of us were fighting fish at the same time. I ended up catching 6 fish, 5 of which we kept, the last being caught after we had reached our limit.  Nearly all the fish were slot fish or bonus tag sized, and we easily had our boat limit of 12 fish in short order.  After a few more casts of catch and release, we decided to call it a day. We were back at the dock by 8:30. A memorable morning for sure.