That Fat Lady Sung & Recap of 2016

Well that's a wrap, another year at an end. It was a great year for our fishery. To start; NJ saw an invasion of gator bluefish early in April that lasted throughout the month. Giving explosive action to get the season started. May, we waited for the bass to show but it never really happened but, we still had plenty of bluefish around to keep us busy. Large bass where hard to pinpoint in June along our coast. But, when you found them they were Big! The end of June we had 35lb to 50lb bass blitzing on bunker for 2 weeks at a certain area. We landed a 50+lber and multiple 40 lbers on large bunker patterns. Throughout those months we had schoolie bass at the usual structure haunts. The down months of July and August we moved our focus to trout on the west branch of the DE. We had great success drifting the upper sections with outstanding hatches and rising brown trout. I have to give a shout out to the West Branch Angler for the great accommodations and food.Then September came, I would have to say 2016 was the year of the ALBIE!!! We started in Stonington CT at the end of September and had albies at every cove, point, or incut from Watch Hill to the Connecticut River. Then October it was on big time over in Montauk. Albies all day long with double and triple hookups. But the bass fishing never got started. Sad to see the famed bass migration at Montauk Point out of wack. But, we were still in Albie mode. And they showed up big time back in our home waters of NJ. Jersey has been know to get a showing of Albies. Nothing special like up north except this year we had them for 2 weeks in the Raritan Bay big time. For the first time we had our fill of Albies. 5 weeks of casting like maniacs, stripping like maniacs, frustration, sore arms, and tying with epoxy. We we were ready for bass. They first showed in November at Breezy Point and from there moved into the Raritan Bay. The peanut bunker were something else this year and kept the bass around into December. The Chesapeake class migration usually stopped at Island Beach State Park from December till Christmas if it stayed mild. But this year was a different story. The bass migrated south offshore and you cannot target them outside the 3 mile line. A couple days we found them off the beach or at the 3 mile line through mid December. But not the famous blitzes of years past. Well...three months and we will be back at it.