Callin' it Quits?

[surf2live]

I saw snow yesterday- very depressing...and the sun sets early too...S.A.D. is setting in!
Looks like the opportunity for my last dive has passed, unless there's something I don't know yet.
I will be visiting the ocean to surf until April....by then my boogie board float will be ready and my new Riffe 75cm Euro will leaning against the wall.
I'll be making somw floatlines if anyone wants to trade for some good DIY flashers or other things....

[njspearo]

dont call it quits yet man!

[surf2live]

dont call it quits yet man!

That's good to hear!!
Tell me why, I'm new at this.

I was under the impression tha when the water hits 53 or so, and its almost there, or will be with these heavy offshore winds, all the fish migrate either offshore or South.

So, is this true? Or is there something I should know?? I surf in the winter, so the cold doesn't bother me....

Help me out here!

[njspearo]

well.....i still think theres some time left for bass.
and the tog are still in the inlets mildy thick...maybe not big ones but 14-16 inchers.
My buddy just got his 5mm and is going to be diving through december.

[surf2live]

well.....i still think theres some time left for bass.
and the tog are still in the inlets mildy thick...maybe not big ones but 14-16 inchers.
My buddy just got his 5mm and is going to be diving through december.
Nice!
I have a 5.5mm open cell Mares suit w 5mm socks and 3.5mm gloves.....hopefully I'm good for a little longer.

When u supppose its over here in S NJ???
When the temps hit a certain number, or is it when the fish go (when is that)??

[njspearo]

when the fish go, and i dont know when that is, some one more educated needs to chime in, but i think we still got a little bit of hunting time left.

[WMELWAY7]

As long as it is near 50 you should be able to find Tog. Once it starts getting near 45, even they hole up and disappear. We were able to get tog all last year, but I think it is going to be a much colder winter this year. Best of luck!

[coenbrian]

i'm glad to hear you guys are still considering getting wet. i haven't given up hope yet.
in my opinion, i think when we do call it quits, its going to be due to the cold, not due to the lack of fish. my best day of bass fishing (h&l) ever was last jan 10th. the fish were not huge but plenty of them and the water was in the mid 40's. this is my first year of diving this late into the fall so i don't know how the cold will effect our ability to dive. as of last week (the last time i dove) the cold really wasn't a big deal. 5 mil suit, w/ 5 mil boots and no gloves... pretty comfortable.
surf- i think surfing is way different than diving when it comes to cold. sure- we surf when the water drops into the mid 30's but i sure as hell dont want to submerge my face in that water for any extended period of time. now that i've babbled for 10 min- i think that 48 or 50 degrees is going to be quitting time.
btw- did anyone get any of that mysto swell tonight before dark? best session in a while.

[fishizzle77]

This weekend is looking pretty decent for a dive-minus the air temps. Light winds out of the west for sunday, don't give up yet.
I'll definately take one of those float lines-just don't know what to trade?

[surf2live]

This weekend is looking pretty decent for a dive-minus the air temps. Light winds out of the west for sunday, don't give up yet.
I'll definately take one of those float lines-just don't know what to trade?

Your positive vibes are gettin me stoked.....I will definitely dive Sunday!!!!
Any S NJ spearos interested??????????????

[njspearo]

ill be divin on sunday if its nice enough, but im not South jersey....

[TriggerNJ]

Fair warning……I’m sitting here listening to a technology lecture right now that’s boring me to death so I might ramble on.:sleep:

My advice is get on it sooner than later here’s why:
It’s not too late right now but very soon it becomes an is it worth it situation. From my experience 50 degrees is a magic number. Tog start to disappear from the shallows at this temp in fall and show up in the shallows at this temp in spring. I've noticed that the inlets seem to be the first places to clear out. After the inlets clear I’ve found them hanging around on ocean rocks in about 26 or so feet but they disappear from there soon after too. Maybe you could find them holed up and hanging around even later but I don’t have the patience to peek in every hole for Tog once they become that scarce. There migration is just shallow to deep and back so they stay here all winter. It’s just a matter of how deep you can go and how willing you are to try it in the freezing cold water. The further under 50 the water goes the more holed up and deeper they will be. Here’s a little that scientists have observed. Keep in mind that this is majorities they are talking about but some studies show they head for water 60 to 150ft deep and begin this offshore journey at about 50 degrees. Read some stuff about them. There are some good life history papers floating around online about that don’t require any journal site membership. Interesting fish in a lot of respects.

There are three main populations of stripers in play. The Chesapeake Bay system (largest population) the Hudson River (next largest pop), and Delaware River. The Chesapeake fish migrate most and head north and back with many overwintering off of North Carolina. Some go as far as Canada and back. The Hudson River fish migrate less extensively and tend to stay north of us in their migrations. I have no idea how far Delaware River fish migrate but I’ve heard they tend to head north a bit. Check out the migration patterns and you’ll never wonder why Montauk is so great for bass again. As a whole females migrate more than males. Females grow larger and taste better (okay I made that last one up). Females mature 5-8years while males mature earlier. From my experience 50 degrees is again a magic number. I’ll tell you why I feel this way. It comes down to what size you’re looking for. Plenty of fish are still around under 50 degrees but most of them that are in depths I’m willing to do are small fish. You can still get keepers here and there but they become increasingly fewer and further apart as the temp drops.(I’m talking H&L from the surf hence shallow) Most have migrated away, other stragglers are staying deeper, still others may be staging deeper for winter or overwintering in bays and rivers. An example of this was that a lot of good fish were continuing to be caught end of December last year in 50-60ft of water by H&L guys. The small fish seem to stay around for quite awhile in the surf. So what I’m saying is get on it before the temp drops below 50 for your best shot or chances are you’ll see almost nothing. One thing I found interesting though was big stripers overwintering in areas of rivers shallow enough to dive in Connecticut. Even if you found this happening in NJ somewhere stripers in our bays and rivers go out of season as of December 31 until March 1. There’s a ton of info on stripers worth checking out too. Books, articles, papers, and websites . You can dork out over differing egg buoyancy in separate populations or whatever fascinates you. Check this out it tracks stripers in the Great Bay (north of you) http://stripertracker.org/ Look in the larger striper’s profile history of buoy hits and notice how fish often disappear in fall then reappear in spring (migration) or how some hang around only in certain months each year (this could be a fish stopping in along it’s migration). Cool stuff that lets you get a glimpse firsthand. A lot of what’s driving this is water temps.

The latest I’ve ever dove in fall was the end of Nov. at the 50 mark and the earliest was March at around 48- 50. It is not like surfing winter at all. I’ve surfed when ice sheets were floating out of the Raritan and down the Hook in the crappy shoulder zip days and I swear it felt warmer then when I dove in 50 degree water with the zipper less 6. (Side note… there’s an old surfer I know that remembers wearing the ancient beaver tail surf suits when he was a kid and he’s still getting out regularly. Amazing! Gives me hope now that all I seem to do lately is miss it. Like last night.) I always think I’ll be able to dive pretty decent right away each spring since I surf all winter but it never works out for me. I personally can’t dive to save my life in the cold. I think a free dive suit is definitely the only way to go if you’re thinking full on winter. I don’t mean to discourage you. Go for it. There’s really only one way to find out for sure what’s out there once the temp tanks. Dive it and keep us posted. I’m interested to see if you can find some colder water species shallow. (Cod, Pollock, Ling, Hake etc.) Might take some serious looking but would be really cool if you did. If you find big Pollock like the one Jriggs shot or any cold water fish you can shoot (has to taste good too aka no shad, mackerel or herring for me) I’ll be all over it and begging you to take me with you so I can give it a try……. granted it’s not some crazy depth or even a little deep. I’d feel lucky if I could stay at 25ft for a few seconds in that kind of cold. I’ll watch with a fishing rod in my hand if you’re getting them though.:D Lecture over PEACE!

[surf2live]

I'll be diving for muff all weekend...but seriously, as long as there are fish and my face can handle the cold- I'm in.
My 5mm Yazbeck socks and gloves just came in.

[TriggerNJ]

Search the NE forum for facemask. There's someone in there that dives freshwater in Canada and has a facemask that fits around your mask and snorkel to cover up exposed skin. Might be worth investigating for when it gets into the 40's

[Travis Jones]

We dive in the 40s here in Northern Cali a good part of the year. Most of us just use 5mm freediving suits, but some go to 7mm. You really don't need to worry about the little tiny strips of exposed facial skin. You'll be alright.

[njspearo]

thanks for the info njtrigger you no alot of good info man!
the diver you are talkin about is renepotivin, go to his site www.renepotvin.com some crazy stuff man. but yeah thy use dessault 5.5mm suits and facemasks, and he says it is very warm.

does any one on the board get out with tanks once it gets cold and tog go deeper, shit if any one wants to do some tanks drops andwhere between 40' and 140'+ let me know look for some lobsters and tog.

[dave p]

You got a boat?

[TriggerNJ]

Just got back from H&L fishing the jetty's by me and the the water was clear. Actually looked pretty good you could even tell it was clear before the sun rose. Sand eels everywhere with some small bass on them and at least an acre of small blues moving up and down the beach at first light.

[surf2live]

Hmmmmmm...maybe I'll hop in this weekend! Waddya think???
I would love to....

[njspearo]

DO IT!
im getting in at barnegat inlet on sunday
WOOT!

[surf2live]

I wanna go to Avalon and try the 9th street on Sunday....anyone want in?

[FLETCHOSAURUS]

Pat, Lets do it tomorrow. Just call me when you like 20 mins away. Bring a extra gun if you can. I left all my shit in NE

[surf2live]

Surfed yesterday and today...was wasit to chest high groundswell pretty groomed by offshore winds...got a few barrels too!
Water was around 46-47...I took the hoodie off cause my 5/4/3 was brunin me up, but after 2 duck dives my head would ice up.
Done diving for tha year.
I wanna take one of those freediving courses in FLA this winter.

[Travis Jones]

Sheri Day will be doing the 2nd Blue Wild in February down in Florida. I'm planning on flying out for it. My dive buds went last year and said it was great. Not only do you learn alot, but you get to hang out with alot of the best divers in the world.

[captgfb]

Elgringopelon, your profile pic is awesome.

[kill em all]

Lobsters are in shallower water now. Flip rocks in 25-30 feet and you will be able to grab a few of them. Got one last week on the Shrewsbury Rocks. All the bottom fish are in the deeper spots from 40-55 feet but there is still a ton of life on the inshore spots. Crazy piles of sand eels, bay anchovies, blueback herring, alewives, and silversides being attacked by small bass, blues, and really big hickory shad. You may not find anything to kill but you will get good practice and see some new shit which makes it worth going.

[spear kook]

Lobsters are in shallower water now. Flip rocks in 25-30 feet and you will be able to grab a few of them. Got one last week on the Shrewsbury Rocks. All the bottom fish are in the deeper spots from 40-55 feet but there is still a ton of life on the inshore spots. Crazy piles of sand eels, bay anchovies, blueback herring, alewives, and silversides being attacked by small bass, blues, and really big hickory shad. You may not find anything to kill but you will get good practice and see some new shit which makes it worth going.


This is awesome info. I would like to see some "freediving for lobster" videos from our local area.
I have no clue on how to find them really.

[TriggerNJ]

I may regret this but seek and ye shall find!

[TriggerNJ]

One more.

[spear kook]

Nice Pics !

[njspearo]

nice lobs triggernj!

[kill em all]

Sweet. You get those is your usual spots?

[TriggerNJ]

Yup, those are from my last two lobster outings in the usual spots.

This is awesome info. I would like to see some "freediving for lobster" videos from our local area.
I have no clue on how to find them really.

SpearKook you have an amazing untouched lobster spot by you. The only time I ever limited out was down by you two years ago. I even got crazy lucky and got two keepers on one drop down there. I was downright giddy. Most of the time it takes some serious patience and searching but when I dove for lobsters near you I got my limit and my friend got 3 in about two hours. Your area rules! I'm sure you could find even better spots since you know the area. You could probably make yourself disgusted with lobster meat pretty quick if you put your mind to it down there.
P.S when you find some hot spots please invite me down:D

[spear kook]

Yup, those are from my last two lobster outings in the usual spots.



SpearKook you have an amazing untouched lobster spot by you. The only time I ever limited out was down by you two years ago. I even got crazy lucky and got two keepers on one drop down there. I was downright giddy. Most of the time it takes some serious patience and searching but when I dove for lobsters near you I got my limit and my friend got 3 in about two hours. Your area rules! I'm sure you could find even better spots since you know the area. You could probably make yourself disgusted with lobster meat pretty quick if you put your mind to it down there.
P.S when you find some hot spots please invite me down:D


Thanks brother, I never really looked for them. When I go you will be the first to know.

[FLETCHOSAURUS]

You think my 5mm closed cell Viper will keep me warm?
All I plan to do is dive during winter break.

[captgfb]

Yummmm....:beer:Nice.....

[kill em all]

Im tempted to not bring my gun on any future dives and just focus on lobsters. lots of west winds = lobsters inshore

[QUOTE=TriggerNJ;835045]Yup, those are from my last two lobster outings in the usual spots.

[TriggerNJ]

Yeah, no guns the way to go. I can’t force myself to search with a gun in my hand plus it just complicates grabbing them when you have to drop the gun out of the way.

[TriggerNJ]

Hey forget the lobsters get us some video of the bluefins cruising past the shrews:D

[njspearo]

bluefins cruising past the shrews?! thats cool.

[kill em all]

The bluefin were there for two days. I was there for one of those days and choked. Looked hard all day to spot some but was at the wrong spot at the right time. My buddies that got into them rod and reel all got spooled. Hooked with light gear jigging bass.

Every year they make a quick stop at the rocks. One day Im gonna get my shot.

[FLETCHOSAURUS]

You mean bluefin Tuna??? That be wild spearing a fish like that....I dount that even the Rabi would even phase a Bluefin...I will go to the shrews all day every day of the summer with a gun in each hand and another strapped to my back. Problem is rigging a float system for these fish inshore would be a pain

[kill em all]

All you need is 50 feet and a torpedo float. once you hit one they are gonna want to dive down and hit the bottom. Haha. It would be like stealing candy from a baby shooting a bluefin tuna in less than 50 feet of water.