# 58071: Subject: SeaGirt Reef, New Jersey

Submitted by Bill K (ip 98.221.76.185)

• Fished on 9/13/2009
• Report received: 9/13/2009

Water Temperature: 70
Water Clarity: Clean with suspended sand
Seas: 2'
Weather: North Wind 5-10, Clear to partly cloudy skies, warm
Fishing_for: SeaBass
Boat: FinFun
captain: Doug

Report:
We finally got back on the water today after dealing with boat repairs, weather, vacations etc. that kept us on dry land for over a month. I wasn't sure after all of the NE winds this week and the big blow at the end of the week if we would get away from the dock. The ocean actually laid out seemingly overnight but there was still "stuff" in the water including a lot of bay grass. The forecast must have kept many boats at the dock today because we had the reef almost to ourselves compared to average summer Sundays.

With no one around, we stopped on our favorite snag and set up. After two adjustments to the anchor, we were positioned correctly and dropped the rigs down. Almost immediately we had fish coming over the side. The first flurry was mostly porgies.....rather big porgies. Then, the seabass decided to start chewing. They did not bite the Lucanus jigs today probably because of the suspended sand but they loved the clam strips. I just couldn't believe the amount of 11-12 inch fish we caught. They were fun to catch and the fishery looks healthy for the future. Despite the numbers of fish we released, we still wound up with two dozen that measured 13-15 inches along with a dozen scup with many more released. As I said, there was no pressure from other boats.

All in all it was a good day. The fish turned off for awhile and then just like someone turned a switch, they started biting again. Go figure. We stopped on some "marks" on the way out in the morning and dropped some diamond jigs over to find that the bait we were reading was sandeels because my wife actually snagged one on the single hook on the jig. There were no signs of any bluefish or albacore but perhaps they will show up when the sand settles.

Not too many guys were offshore but a few who were, found some bluefins out about 50 miles. They reported that there were still some substantial wave action out there.

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