Unbelievable Day on the Water by Ed Valitutto

Posted on November 26, 2024 by VHFC

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Bayside Dave Etelman, and John Stuebing joined me for a day of fishing. The weather was perfect and the Stripers were biting! From the inlet to the bathing beaches, we managed three slots, two bonus tag fish and several arm-tiring ‘overs’. Twice, we even had two fish on at once!

We also enjoyed a nature show. In addition to busting bass and diving birds, we saw a school of dolphin feeding almost under my boat, a seal and a nearby whale. Dogfish, at times were so bad we were forced to move. We even got into a school of bunker thinking they were being attacked by bass only to realize it was a horde of dogs. After the Striper fest, we anchored using my trolling motor off Andy’s and managed three keeper Tog. What a day – great weather and fishing!

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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.