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 New Jersey, Saltwater Fly Fishing: Weakfish, Stronger Than You Might Think
Posted by flyfish4tuna on June 21, 2007
(2454 reads)
Last year my friends and fellow fly fishermen, Matt and Mark Reilly, set out to fish the Northern and Central New Jersey coastline. We hammered striped bass and bluefish but our real target, the weakfish, proved to be all too elusive. On our last day we found an enticing shore spot where the water formed an impressive ripline all in casting range. Armed with ten weights and pink jiggies, we dredged the rip hoping to feel the line go tight. Our morale was falling lower and lower as the sun set against the watery horizon. Just when we were about to call it quits, my line was ripped out of my hands. A tell tale orange tale thrashed the surface in the distance. I was on with a weakfish. I worked the fish in and landed the 21" fish. Hoping to capitalize on an improving bite, we cast back out. On the next cast my buddy hooked up. Real screaming, his fish made a powerful run and used the current as leverage. His rod was stressed and we looked at each other wondering when our undermatched tippet would succomb to the weakfish's impressive teeth. Unfortunately, our suspicions were confirmed and the fish popped off. We packed it in and made the trek back to the car all smiles. We weren't so much happy because of our catch but rather because of the future prospects that this tremendous shore spot offered.
Last week, twelve months later from our first experience, we headed back to down to the now famed shore spot. My friends and I had talked about nailing these weakfish all year long. Done with college and anxious to harass fish, we sped down to the spot. My fly box was full of 6-9" long pink deceivers. Pink is a crucial color for
weakfish. At times it seems all they will take is a pink offering. I tied on a 7" fly and this time wisely used a 40lb shock tippet. We all started to cast. Our hearts pumping, we used two handed retrieves to imitate a disoriented baitfish caught in the rip. After a half hour, the weakfish proved non existent. Our spirits were hardly deterred. My buddy asked to try my new rod, so I handed him my 10 weight and reached into my bag for a water. Thirty seconds later I hear the welcoming sound of a screaming reel. I turn and my friend has a sly grin on his face. "I've got a big one, Mark" he non chalantly says. Well that's not the first time I've heard that, so unimpressed, I went back over to help him. My unenthusiam quickly faded when his reel ceased to stop. Whatever he had was now taking line for a solid minute and showed no signs of stopping. Finally, a fished surfaced almost out of sight. We still couldn't tell what we were dealing with. He worked the fish in slowly. After ten minutes and a brutal fight we were back to the clear head of our Outbound line. We then got a look at this fish. "HOLY (*^(*#&@" we all screamed. It was a weakfish, it was a huge weakfish. Half giddy, half pissed that this thing was on my rod and my fly, I moved in for the land. I wasn't gonna lose this thing so I took my arms around it and flung it on to the bank. We quickly moved for a scale and measuring tape. The fish was 38" long and came in at 19lbs. I speculated that this might be a record, but it wasn't until later that we realized we shattered the previous 11.5lb fly rod world record. We even came within ounces of the all tackle record. Ecstatic, we all fished into the night hooking many more weakfish. We ended up breaking the fly rod record several times over as we landed two 33"s and several 30's. Our 2007 weakfish assault was complete and an unimaginable success. These are really an incredible and beautiful fish. Their name is quite deceiving as they will put a striper of comprable size to shame in terms of fighting ability. Fortunately, these rare fish are making a comeback. Reports of giant weakfish are becoming more and more prevalent. We can only hope for a continued resurgence. One thing is for sure, I will be able to give you a report next year!
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Re: New Jersey: Weakfish, Stronger Than You Might Think
by jeremy on June 21, 2007 http://www.fliesandfins.com | sweet! .. those are big weekfish .. of course, just when you hand the rod to your buddy .. fish on! .. kinda like, just when you say .. "hey, i am taking the next ferry back to the main land.. " and i say .. "yah, i think i am gonna wait it out .. " .. you round the corner and the bonito blow up .. fish on! ... seriously though, nice work .. i have caught weakfish on conventional tackle when i was a kid off block island in boats ... but never on the fly and never from foot .. that is something i would love to do .. especially weakfish of that size ... i got a question ... weakfish are also known as sea trout right? are they the same sea trout that are in florida? they look the same .. i think they are, but not sure?? ..
ps.. bonito shoudl be showing up soon .. i wanna chase those things around with you guys for a day or two this season .. i know you had a nice little gig going on out at ********* light .. I want in this year .. let me know when they show and if there is room ... looking forward to another year of chasing the hard tales together .. |
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Re: New Jersey: Weakfish, Stronger Than You Might Think
by waterwhippa on June 22, 2007 http://salmonriverspecialists.com | | Congrats on those monsters! Very cool looking fish. I have caught specs before but nothing nearly as large as that. Awesome! |
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Re: New Jersey: Weakfish, Stronger Than You Might Think
by Marcel_Karssies on June 22, 2007 http://www.marcelkarssies.com | That is an interesting read.
Having fished on a Florida pier I noticed that most of the jigs used where pink.
They seem to be favoured by Ladyfish, Pompano and other fish so I guess it would make sense to have your flybox filled with flies in that color. |
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Re: New Jersey: Weakfish, Stronger Than You Might Think
by Shaq on June 22, 2007 http://www.theanglersnet.com | | wow, I got a 12 lb sea trout once and that was just amazing. Those are HUGE! sweet trip of a lifetime! |
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Re: New Jersey: Weakfish, Stronger Than You Might Think
by patm on July 05, 2007 http://www.yankeeford.com | | aren't weakfish a member of the trout family? |
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