As Good As It Gets

Here is a 30 inch keeper that I landed on a
Cocahoe fished off a float yesterday.  While
schoolies make up the majority of stripers
around, there have also been good numbers
of small keepers and occasional bluefish.

Wow, the fishing right now is really good.  This has been a great week so far.  While the weather has been all over the place, the fishing has been rock solid. I fished two days ago in torrential rain, wild wind and a real heavy surf.  The fish were on the rampage.  I fished yesterday in the clearing weather with very strong winds out of the west and southwest that kicked up a heavy surf that had some sand in it.  Didn't matter, the fish were still on the rampage.  And, finally, I was out today in some beautiful, tranquil weather that had the surf as flat as a pancake.  Still, it didn't matter as the fish were around again in big numbers.
Besides the fishing being so consistent, the bait has also been consistent.  Huge schools of peanut bunker have been moving along the south shore, and the stripers have them in their sights. Occasional bluefish are also around.  My son Jon got two today; I had a couple two days ago. Most of the stripers are hefty schoolies that are averaging 20 to 25 inches.  These fish are as fat as footballs. There are also good numbers of small keepers around.  In the last three days we have landed 5 fish that went 28 to 30 inches.  Most of the keepers I have seen have been running that size.
Jigs continue to be the hot ticket. They are working alone or off a float.  Today the fish were a bit fussy in the calm  water and small 4 inch swimmers were outscoring the jigs.  My son Jon had real good luck on a Rapala X-Rap fished close to shore.
I've mentioned many times that November has become the new best month of fall.  It is really playing out this way as the fishing in the first week of November has been excellent.