The first shot has been fired
Caught my first surf Bass of '09 last night at Island Beach State Park. There haven't been any reports of anyone fishing so we figured we'd look for ourselves. They are there. This 23 inch beauty was tagged and released after being caught on clams.
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Shad Attack!
The Shad are here in New Hope in full force. Me, Nick, and my son Mikey absolutely cleaned up last night going 14 for 25 on Atlantic Shad. This is all in 2 hours. We never went more than a few minutes without a fish on the line. We had a blast as guests of Captain Dieter Scheel, the undisputed Shad Master in the Delaware Valley. There is some great video of Mikey manhandling a a fish here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHko4t3dFQ
For plenty of this action, you should charter a trip with Capt. Dieter, visit him at http://www.bigdriverguide.com
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On the verge of greatness
Awesome old school cape cod picture I found on my hard drive. I'd call that a successful day's haul.
I don't know if I've ever been more excited for spring in my life. I've been out fishing on the new boat just about 5 days a week and action has been spotty, but improving. This week I plan on getting after my first Shad of the year. There are Stripers being taken in the southern part of our river and also in the back bays. Nick had a Striper trip last week that yielded over 40 Bass in the back bays up North. The Walleye bite has been really good for many in the Delaware and just so-so for others (like me). I've got Bass on the brain right now though and I'm just counting down the days at this point.
There is a network of people that I count on for reliable intel when it comes to fishing my home waters. I speak with these people every day trying to get any little bit of info that might help me get into fish. Even our forum over at Ning is helpful for reports and techniques. I wanted to post a list of websites that I frequent for accurate reports. Almost all of these are specific to the waters that I fish, but you might find them useful anyway:
Chris Gatley's "Catch the Bite" website. Chris is my good friend and the best fishing guide in the area. I've learned more about fishing from Chris than anyone else I know. His reports are accurate and he reveals all of his techniques to his readers, which is rare.
http://www.catchthebite.com/index.php
The Delaware River Fisherman's Association Forum. The name says it all, sign up today and get their newsletter.
http://www.drfishermen.com/Forum/toast/toast.asp?sub=show&action=topics&fid=6
The Shad Hotline. I admit it, I love catching Shad every April. The first fish are being taken in the river as we speak.
http://www.geocities.com/shadhotline/
Grumpy's Bait and Tackle reports. Grumpy's is my tackle shop when I fish Island Beach State Park. I hate it when Grumpy is there because he lives up to his name, but there's no better website for IBSP fishing reports. Updated daily, sometimes more.
http://www.grumpystackle.com/fishingreports/
Jay Mann's blog. Jay Mann is the editor of the Sandpaper, Long Beach Island's newspaper, where I own a trailer. These are my home fishing grounds and Jay reports almost exclusively on the South End of the Island--again where I fish, Holgate.
http://jaymanntoday.ning.com/
A new website on Stripers in our home waters.
http://www.stripedbassobsession.com/forum.htm
Barnegat Fishing Hole. Again, a forum just for my home stretch of beach and bay turf.
http://bhweb.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm
North Atlantic Weather Map. The weatherman is full of shit more than half the time. This is the first place I visit before I fish in the ocean because it tells no lies.
https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/ww3_cgi/cgi-bin/ww3_loop.cgi?color=b&area=natl&prod=sig_wav_ht
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CP3
This is me and Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets....NBA All-Star, Gold Medal Olympian, and all around bad-ass, not too much taller than me either. He had a double-double tonight and the Hornets whooped on my Sixers. We'll give him a free pass for one night though because he's a nice dude and one of the best point guards in the league. More on this later.........
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New Boat
My new boat arrived yesterday. I was going to run it today but the weatherman was wrong, as usual. The forecast called for a high of 52 degrees today and I woke up to mixed rain and sleet; it never got higher than the mid 40's. Maybe tomorrow. This is my new 17 foot Tracker, with a Mercury 40 HP Jet. It is just perfect for the Delaware River and getting into really shallow water. I don't have to tell you how psyched I am.
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