A Whale of a Striper trip! by Dave Spendiff

Posted on May 22, 2014 by VHFC

The forecast for Tuesday, May 20th was winds were to be light and out of the West all day – a perfect chance for me to go ocean Striper fishing. I cleared BI around 6:30 and headed North. About 1 mile up IBSP I spotted some surface commotion, slowed down and got about 20yds from a large area of surface foam were I could see bunker splashing on the surface. Then, in an instant, the water EXPLODED as a huge whale breached with about 4-5′ of its head above the water, mouth open and bunker in the air and everywhere. WHAT A SIGHT!!!. Can’t imagine how many bunker that whale took in that explosion.

Of course, I reach for my camera only to get a picture of a “thar she blows”. There were two whales but they didn’t breach again.

I fished until about noon, jigging with BKD’s and trolling a #4, white TM spoon without any luck. The water temp was 58 and the bait seemed sparsely bunched and only had a few marks that I thought were big fish. I didn’t see any fish being caught, although I fished in water 40′ and shallower. Later, on the Barnegat Fishing Hole site, I read where some fish were caught in 60′ of water.

Once back in the bay I trolled small spoons for the large Bluefish reported to be there. No Bluefish, but how about a 18″ fluke on a 3 MPH trolled spoon! Thank goodness they don’t get as large as whales – nothing would be safe!

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.