Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Ernie · Jul-22-25 11:52PM

I went up to Joisey to fish with my cousin Juani again.

The goal of the trip was to explore the shallow water fishery up there, if it exists. Let it be known that fishing salty shallow water is my favorite style of fishing. Fly and conventional. Whether it be red fish, snook, stripers, white perch...that's what I love to do the most!

Over 90% of the folks you see fishing up there are fluke fishing. The rest might be after blue fish. Of course, the striper fishery up there is insane in the spring and late fall as they migrate in the ocean.

There are a ton of little islands in the Bay (42 miles long) and lots of cuts and sod banks. Very reminiscent of the water that Capt. Brady takes me too on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay.

I've also heard there are white perch in the system although most people get them deep dropping in deeper holes. I could not find one story of someone fishing for WP in the shallows like we do.

I arrived at noon on Monday and it was off to a fish dinner for lunch as we would be fishing from 4-9p. Don't know why I didn't take a pic of my calamari and tuna and Juani's blackened mahi. Oh well.

This is his set up. The boat is from Freedom Boat Club and for this expedition, he got a sweet Scout 24'er.

Looking up the canal...

We fished near the light house.

While we each had a few bites and bite offs, Juani scored a nice blue fish.

But there were no white perch or stripers to be found.

We found bait, clean water (cooled as it comes in from the ocean), current, points...you name it. Very fishy lace but we didn't figure it out quite yet.

Some nice scenery as we got near the end of the night.

The next day was an early one. On the boat at 5a!

And on to the target areas as the sun came up!

You can see the layout of what we were targeting in those pics!

But it was frustrating. We tried to play low light and the tide but we got notin'!

While Juani was retying, I stared to thew the WP rod and all of the sudden, I see this big wake moving away from us! It was in less than 2' of water right by the shore. It was a big striper that came in to eat and saw the big boat so he high tailed it out of there. This is what we wanted to see more of but sadly, that was it.

Later we jigged some spoons near the shoreline and we both caught slightly undersized flukes. Keepers are 18" and ours were a couple of inches short. We let them off boat side thus no pics.

We fished some more but that shallow game is much harder than in our area. Still, Juani was satisfied that he's getting closer to solving the puzzle.

Around 11a, we started talking about lunch. But I looked back and saw some ominous clouds. I decided to check My Radar and sure enough, they were headed our way so we took off for home. Minutes after we unloaded the boat, the skies opened up but we were inside discussing lunch...

...which was amazing!

I didn't get a pic of the octopus, chorizo and potato appetizer. Unique and delicious!

It was a great couple of days. Lots of exploring. Not too much catching but the quest to figure out a fishery continues!

Oh...the greenflies (greenies). They destroyed my ankles on Monday night. They would bite through the pants and come up off the ground and inside my pant legs. My ankles are swollen from those basteges!

drxfish · Jul-23-25 8:20AM

What awesome pictures! Sounds like a great trip. Except the #$%! flies!

backtofuturetoyota · Jul-23-25 11:38AM

Epic trip ernie! It's always about the adventure and catching is the icing on the cake. Those meals though.....dang....got my mouth watering here at 7:30 am and I already ate breakfast!

Ernie · Jul-23-25 11:46AM

drxfish wrote:
Except the #$%! flies!

Ankles are still searing!

backtofuturetoyota wrote:
Those meals though.....dang....got my mouth watering here at 7:30 am and I already ate breakfast!

When I dropped Juani off after lunch yesterday, he said, "damn, we eat good on our fishing trips".

Ernie · Jul-23-25 11:50AM

Hera's is Juani's recap:

Great Ap!!! I'm locked in on it.

Recap of last two days....

Fish count isn't the measure in this game. The measure is how many secrets did you discover because it's the cumulative knowledge that will break things open.

Highlights...

> when a north wind combines with an incoming tide, you can get a 20 degree difference in water temp from mid-bay to just inside the inlet because of up welling of the ocean. It's all about that tide.

> The bait ball shows how much bait there is in that bay and how thick the bait can get at "collection points" such as where snake ditch emptied into the large flat.

> We found the flow of the incoming tide and drifted the entire length of the back of the sedge island until it spit us out nearly at Tices Shoals (party area). That drift was where I caught a nice sized bluefish and you had two strikes. That drift is a conveyor belt of food to be revisited.

> The hole at the Sedge island by the Osprey nest where we caught the two fluke is another dependable spot. That is where I caught the two rays and several bluefish on paddle tails. That hole holds a lot if fish.

> The corner where we saw the wake (and you saw another fish) is also potential hot spot. Good depth in front of the cut, a good edge on the other side where the wake was running, the corner of grass, etc. We even saw a guy wading there.

> For the last session tonight after you left, I went back to the big flat where i'd not seen any life. Spent a few hours really getting an understanding of the flat. What appears like a flat of undifferentiated water actually has a lot of diversity. Holes, channels, humps, underwater points and grass lines are all there. I really saw it in a different light because of everything we'd learned above. I'm going to be focusing there for awhile. I need to learn it just as I've leaned the sedges.

It was really a tremendous two days. A lot of secrets were given up.

As always, it was great fishing with you.

Bryan · Jul-23-25 12:56PM

Great report. That Cuban looks delicious, and the fries look perfect.

You're gonna have to head down to the Northern Neck/Middle peninsula region of the Chesapeake some time. The shallow water fishing is a blast.

Ernie · Jul-23-25 1:18PM

Bryan wrote:
That Cuban looks delicious, and the fries look perfect.

It was excellent, their own twist and huge! I took 1/2 it home and had it for dinner. Same as Juani, he dad Cuban for lunch and dinner.

Bryan wrote:
You're gonna have to head down to the Northern Neck/Middle peninsula region of the Chesapeake some time. The shallow water fishing is a blast.

I used to fish down that way quite often with Capts. Tony Harding and Chris Newsome. But it's been as while. I need to get back down there. Let me know if you ever need company.

hookup · Jul-23-25 3:47PM

Schweet

Luv light houses. That's a high light for me

Glad you got out but sorry to hear you got munched by the green flies. They were bad in Quebec, they are bad down here, so not surprised to hear they were bad in Joisey

I'm hungry now.

Bryan · Jul-23-25 7:16PM

Ernie wrote:
Bryan wrote:
That Cuban looks delicious, and the fries look perfect.
It was excellent, their own twist and huge! I took 1/2 it home and had it for dinner. Same as Juani, he dad Cuban for lunch and dinner.

Bryan wrote:
You're gonna have to head down to the Northern Neck/Middle peninsula region of the Chesapeake some time. The shallow water fishing is a blast.
I used to fish down that way quite often with Capts. Tony Harding and Chris Newsome. But it's been as while. I need to get back down there. Let me know if you ever need company.

Any time. But as a warning, this time of year I launch at 5:30am and get off at 5-6pm. It's a long drive for me so I like to make the most of the trip

Ernie · Jul-23-25 9:07PM

Bryan wrote:
Any time. But as a warning, this time of year I launch at 5:30am and get off at 5-6pm. It's a long drive for me so I like to make the most of the trip

I might surprise you. I love fishing down that way.

backtofuturetoyota · Jul-24-25 1:48PM

Ernie wrote:
Bryan wrote:
Any time. But as a warning, this time of year I launch at 5:30am and get off at 5-6pm. It's a long drive for me so I like to make the most of the trip
I might surprise you. I love fishing down that way.

I'm coming with you ernie! lol

Pacemaker Fishing Forum

#1 Jul-22-25 11:52PM

7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

#2 Jul-23-25 8:20AM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

#3 Jul-23-25 11:38AM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

#4 Jul-23-25 11:46AM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

drxfish wrote:

backtofuturetoyota wrote:

#5 Jul-23-25 11:50AM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

#6 Jul-23-25 12:56PM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

#7 Jul-23-25 1:18PM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

Bryan wrote:

Bryan wrote:

#8 Jul-23-25 3:47PM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

#9 Jul-23-25 7:16PM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

Ernie wrote:

Bryan wrote:

Bryan wrote:

#10 Jul-23-25 9:07PM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

Bryan wrote:

#11 Jul-24-25 1:48PM

Re: 7-21 & 22-25, Barnegat Bay, NJ

Ernie wrote:

Bryan wrote:

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