offset

noun |ˈôfˌset; ˈäf-|
1 the amount or distance by which something is out of line

Fished twice this week back in California. Caught a bunch of Sand and Spotted Bass. Got four halibut but no keepers. Largest was 21 inches. Got a nice 20 inch Orange Mouth Corvina today. Took some macro photos of the scales, had this iridescent pattern to them. 

I almost grabbed this fish like a bass in the lip to remove the hook but I quickly realized it has some serious fangs. My "True Blood" hunter of the big bay. Click on the stitched image below to see it at full scale.

the night dock hunter

Lewes, Delaware Canal {low @ 12:38 and high @7:09pm}

This last week I have been walking out onto my dads dock behind his house and fishing for a few hours after dark. He lives on a narrow canal and right after sunset the striped bass have been cornering bait fish up against the dock pilings and the side of the canal banks. You can hear the bass slapping all up and down the canal. You just wait until you hear a loud slap and look for the bass that broke water and cast into the splash. The bass are stunning the bait fish with their tails and then they  circle back and engulf the prey. If you time it right and get your lure onto the splash right after the slap they think your lure is the bait fish and nail it.

Night fishing is tough but rewarding. It is pitch black and all your senses are heightened so when your lure gets slammed in the dead of the night its sends a jolt of energy straight up the rod into your hand. Most nights I have been getting only 3 or 4 fish but I noticed the other night up towards the bridge some huge bass swirling and splashing. I went onto my neighbors dock tonight and had the best 3 hours of bass fishing of my life. It all started at the "Magic Hour", right when the sunsets and the reflection of the sun turns the water into a beautiful oil slick color.  Striped bass feed heavily at night and have an advantage over the bait fish. The cones and rods in the striped bass eyes can adjust faster then the bait fish eyes as the light drains out of the sky. From sunset to 11pm it was nonstop action. They were all nice fish. My dad got caught and released a nice 24inch striper and I got a nice 26inch.

Lures: Rat-L-Trap { 2 1/2" Mini-Trap-1/4oz. in either Chrome/Blue Back or Chrome/Black Back with a black teaser fly}

Caught 9 Striped Bass Total | All Catch | Photo | Release accept one for dinner

(5 of them were keepers, in the canal from July 1st to August 31st you are allowed 2 slotted  fish between 20 & 26inch)

Slot Limit: You are required to keep bass of a certain size, but must release both smaller and larger fish.

the Atlantic | Handplane

Super low tide early in the morning which made the waves suck up on the sand bar. Conditions were good with a slight west wind and sheet glass water. Me and Dan Black took the hand plane and water camera out. Thanks Dan for taking photos.
http://www.handplanegoodness.com/
http://www.enjoyhandplanes.com/

Be Here Now

TIDE  |  Moon : : -0.4 low @ 1:34am and a 4.5 high at 7:29am

"Living for that exact instance in the continuum of time. Its about being where you are in that instance, not where your gonna be in the future or past but where you are now as each instance unfolds" —Timothy Leary 1967

Welcome to the Jersey Shore. Woke up early and checked the beach in front of my house. West wind cleaned up the ocean, sheet glass conditions. Bunker were just off the beach out of casting range popping everywhere. They looked nervous and the bass were spraying and blowing up on them. 

4 Striped Bass all over 30lbs | Kept one that measured in at 46" and 41 pounds

Kristian caught 11 Stripers all over 30 pounds and kept just this one beast. Weighed over 45 pounds.

Last Days In California

TIDE  |  Moon : : -0.4 low @ 7:21am and a 4.1 high at 2:12pm
(First Quarter : : Wednesday June 8th)

Going back east to fish for Striped Bass. Ran the boat today to burn up the last tank of Gas.  Super nice day out. The whole month of May and the last week of June has been killer weather. Got out a little too early today because the tide bottomed out at 7:20 . I had to wait a few hours for the tide to switch and the water to start moving good again. Fished some piling structure and got an few sand bass and spotted bass. Around 9:30 the tide filled in enough and I moved up to the front of the bay. Got two halibut on one of my drifts. Then the wind picked up and screwed up my drift direction. Fished the middle bay and caught a nice Orange-Mouth Corvina. It hit the 5inch MC Swimbait Slug with Chartreuse 1/2oz. War head.

2 Spotted Bass | 4 Sand Bass | 3 Calico Bass | 2 Halibut (one was just shy of legal  21")

Catch | Photo >>> Release

Striped Bass Shirts

I just finished printing up some Striped Bass Shirts. Shipped out the first batch of them. Should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Two shirt colors, White with Navy ink and Black shirts with metallic Silver Ink. My illustration had a lot of detail so I burned it on a 225 mesh, I was really surprised the metallic ink pulled through. They printed killer. I also printed some "Mayfly" t-shirts. Black shirts with Gold ink. The Mayfly is predominately used for fly fishing for trout. 

I used Triple A shirts because they were on sale. T-shirt prices like everything else have gone up for some reason. American Apparel prices got way too expensive, even wholesale. The Triple A shirts are like Dickies Pants, super stiff to start out but after a handful of washes they get good. Collar is large but it will shrink up.

Structure

TIDE  |  Moon : : -0.9 low @ 5:13am and a 3.8 high at 11:46am
(New Moon : : Was on Wednesday June 1st)

There was good water movement this morning so I tried a few drifts for halibut with this new Bouncing Ball Rig I set up. Got no takers so I switched over to plastics and fished for bass. I got a few Calico and Sand Bass at my first spot. I tried a bunch of different colors but all they wanted today was the Chartreuse color; hit the 3inch grubs and swim baits.

Moved to towards the back bay. The wind still had not shown its ugly head yet so I was able to get up tight in on these concrete pilings. I pitched my swim bait right next to one of the pilings and let it swim down to the bottom. As soon as I put the reel in gear my rod got slammed. I had a hard time getting the bass out of the structure, it fought like a little pit bull. I got it to the surface and I tried to grab its lip and it went nuts. Nearly ripped my thumb off.

2 Spotted Bass | 5 Calico Bass |  2 Sand Bass (1 keeper at 17.5" - 5lbs.)

when your fishing structure 

the bigger bass are very territorial 

and guard their area like pit bulls. 

when they come out they hit hard 

and move back fast into the 

structure. had a hard time moving 

this one out.

Red Calico Hunter

TIDE  |  Moon : : -0.7 low @ 3:59am and a 3.8 high at 10:25am
(New Moon : : Sun RISE 5:42 and SET 7:52)

There was too much tidal flow this morning. It was hard to feel the bottom and control the swim baits with a 3/8oz. lead head. Current was ripping. There was a bunch of Navy boat traffic also and the patrol boats kept making me move so I went to the out side and fished the kelp. The wind picked up real heavy around 10:30 so I pulled the engine up and drifted through the kelp and fished the stringers. 

Got a few calico bass. Came in early, didn't feel like battling the wind. I usually let all my bass go but my 80 year old next door neighbor loves Calico Bass so I gave him two. He was real appreciative and I know he will enjoy them.

2 Spotted Bass | 4 Calico Bass