Great morning in Cape May

Slappy made it all the way down to join in the Cape May fun. It was nice to finally put a face to a screen name.

We went Toggin and each managed fish to 18". The tide became a challenge, but I think we have the bigger ones dialed in for tomorrow now. Between us, we caught Tautog, spike Weakies, Stripers, Sea Bass, Blufish, and Brigalls. We had a blast! Pics to follow.

Awesome mixed bag Chris, sounds like a great day. I'll be watching the KW site for pics of those chunky tog! I tried for the baitstealers yesterday, but nothing over 13". Good luck tomorrow. Keep a few smaller hooks on hand to, I heard that triggers are on the jettys all over nj

We went Friday as well. Slappy and I didn't set any size records, but we were into all kinds of fish all morning long.

I think that Slappy managed a slam on both; Thurs & Fri.

I'm D/L'ing the software for my new camera today to post pics and videos. Got a cool shot of an underwater Tautog release. It's a weird feeling sticking a camera under the water for the first time. It just feels wrong. LOL

Thanks Chris!

Had a great week down there. As Chris said, lots of small fish. Not that many kayak wars fish, the tog were mostly 14.5" fish, it took me 9 fish before I got one that broke 15"! Good variety and plenty of action.

Here is my report:

Took the annual family vacation down to the Jersey Shore this past week and found some good fishing with the help of one of our local friends SJ FishWhisperer.

I went out early in the week and found stripers and flounder. The flounder were happy to hit the 4" mini-hogys. I love those little baits because they look just like so many of the small baitfish around. Pink and bally smoke were very popular with the fish...

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I met up with SJ FishWhisperer later in the week and we went on a tour of some spots. I haven't fished tog before and he promised we'd get some. Usually when someone promises that, you search for hours before catching. After ten minutes we both boated a couple fish and we were on a pretty steady bite of fish, mostly between 14 and 15" but we also picked up 18" fish too.

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After togging we moved inshore where we found a school of small weaks--10" to 13" fish that loved the mini hogys. For a bunch of casts the lure never hit the bottom without getting bit. The fish were small but it was good to see weakies again. Very pretty fish...

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After the weaks we found breaking blues. Caught a few, but they were small and didn't hold our interest so we moved on. Dolphins came rolling right by us as we were on the blues.

We went back up inside and found a few flounder before leaving. Most of the flounder were small, but there were some around the legal size for NJ (18").

The next moring I met up with Chris again. I got there in the dark and had fun with stripers before Chris arrived. the bite was good but hte fish were asmall in the 21-27" range. They were willing to hit the big plastic, 10" got more hits, but wit the size of the fish, I landed more on the 7". When the current slacked we did some toggin' and got a few more. Chris got a nice 18" fish..

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After that it was more flounder on the squid tipped plastics. at one poinnt I brought up a funny looking ball

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It was a fun trip with some pretty good fishing and also my first successful tog fishing.

WTF, Chris???? Thanks for leading Slappy to more KW points . . . . . . we really needed that -as if this friggin guy didn't have enough points or catch enough fish . . . . . and you brought him to a spot that had WEAKFISH????? I thought we discussed leading him to a spot where there were only blowfish, skates, and sea robins? But to get this guy into more fish . . . . he is making guys like you, me and Larry look like rank amatuers - a man among boys! Just kidding. It is great that you guys got together. I was going to suggest that you meet up when slappy was down by you. . . . .

This is what being in kayak clubs is all about - meeting and fishing with people from different regions who share a passion for kayak fishing. . . . . slappy helped me in my trip to Gloucester last month, and really helped make it a memorable trip for my wife and I. . . . . he also vouched for me with some of his NEKF brethren, which also helped me very much. Wayne Bradby from TKAA fishes with me on my trips to VA beach, and I always learn something from fishing with someone new.

Slappy - what did you think about the fight on that 18" tog? You should see how they fight in the fall when the water cools - it is insane. It looks like you were using a convential rig - next time, consider using tog jigs and hold on!

I'm really, really happy to see that you guys got into some weakfish. For the last four years, I target weaks from the beginning of August until the end of September almost exclusively. Last year, despite repeated attempts, not one weakfish after catching well over 100 total the previous 3 years. Our summer run of weakfish are mostly that size, with schoolie sized fish from 17" - 25" mixed in, especially in September. I'm hoping that we get this run too, although I doubt we are out of the cycle yet. Catching weakfish in the Great South Bay is one of my highlights for the season - reminds me of speckled trout fishing down in Florida. Weakfish are my favorite saltwater fish. My two biggest were 37" (had it skin mounted) and 32", but I've caught a ton from 18" - 27".

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37" - 15lbs

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32" - 12lbs

Typical GSB weakfish from 2008:

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I miss these fish so much. It really takes away from the season without them.

BTW - from now on, when anyone posts up over 300 points of fish in one swoop for KW, we can say he "went slappy" on the fish. . . . . . everytime we get close to first, this guy just kicks us right down!

Glad you had a great trip with your "exotics", Slappy. You were in very good hands with Chris.

BTW - those little plastics you were using look like just what the doctor ordered in my area - I have to ask you a couple questions about it sometime.

Pat, I have to tell ya that I thought long and hard about pulling a Nancy Karigan on Slappy. LMAO!!! We had a blast. I was dragging him all over looking for trigger fish and even though we didn't find any on Thurs, we found all kinds of fun stuff to hold our attention. Friday we found Triggers, but I gave up on fishing for them and didn't bring the smaller hooks.

Tog fishing is so much fun from a kayak. I tell people to prepare for a religious experience when we get to the spot and they ask why. I always just say "you'll see". Give in 5 minutes and you hear the first God %&($#@, or Jesus %&*$#.

We have tons and tons of those spike weakies all around us. I miss them too and I hope to see some bigger ones this fall behind the mullet run. Those are some great fish you posted!

As far as fishing with Hogy's goes, I've always been a fan of them, but Slappy is a Hogy Master! He offered me a couple of his secret Hogy combos for Fluke fishing and I said that I was good with my magic Gulp! that the fish have been hitting here lately. Slappy out fluked me 10 to 1. When we got back to the ramp he asked me again if I would like to try them. I bowed my head and just said, "yes, please". LOL

That is the stuff that legends are made out of - LOL! I'm a gulp guy myself, but that pattern looks sick, but not sure it can get it to the bottom where the fluke are here in 30' - 40'.

LMAO - Nancy Kerrigan would have helped my cause - get em right in the knee so he can peddle no more, but I don't know even if he did get injured that I or anyone else could catch him for first place at this point! If we continue this pace, Rick Underbrink and Kayak Wars is going to have to give us and the Virginia guys a handicap for next year. I propose that there is a rule that if slappy participates, he can't use hogy's.

Chris - did you get those spike weakfish last year too? We didn't even get that and I'm wondering if this is local or coast-wide?

I second the Hogy handicap for Slappy LMAO!

No weakies at all for me last year. Not even our fall specs???

I'm lobbying for a tube and worm ban myself. Those things should be illegal!

That was the first time I've caught weakies in a couple years in the yak the last time was at Jbay. I didn't appreciate how scarce they were because they were getting friendly with my plastics and I caught some big ones the first few years I went there.

Those mini-hogys are the bomb! They are thick enough to last on a jighead for a few fish, but keep the spearing shape to them, I did the slam using them, stripers, blues, weaks and flounder.

Ironically the easiest kayak wars fish for me there was the striper--I picked up about 15 my first day, but only half were big enough. The thing is that I had already caught my 50 on my home waters before I left, but I did leave a few slots open so I could get a slam. The bass were small fish between 12" and 27"--I used the 10" hogy for a while, but got so many short hits that I downsized. the 10" was scoring KW fish, the 7" was getting a mix of fish.

Don't worry Pat, we only fished spots that I had fished in years past. But Chris did get me going on the tog. There are some around Boston, but no one fishes them because they are not common, beyond the south side of the cape, few target togs. I may give it a try in a few harbor spots, especially when the crabs are ruining my flounder fishing. Lookout crabs!