Weakfish

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More fish ….

I am going to keep this short and sweet. Salt Life shades winner AND new issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal are coming up. Magazine is done, we are just putting it together.

Few more thoughts on spring fishing.

I waited for my son to get up so I can ask him AGAIN if he wanted to go fishing for an hour. First time I asked him he told me he has to study for AP all day . But after he woke up and saw the excitement on my face, he said yes. So around 2  we headed out into the inlet.

Long story short, windy as hell, we were freezing our asses off. To make matter worse, NO FISH. Figures, I said to myself. Once I think I got something figured out, it changes on me. We casted bucktails for an hour until he said he was too cold. Ok, I sad, few more casts then. Bam, he nails a fish. Thank You Lord, I said to myself. Only after he brings the fish closer, I staring at it and rubbing my eyes. Weakfish? Are you fing kidding me!!

Yup, kid nails a weakfish on his first trip of the spring and that is the only fish we had. Let’s just say I was more pumped then he was. After we ate dinner I took a quick ride to the inlet where I found Silver Fox banging at bluefish. I took a short rod because I am petrified to cast anything over 9 feet and nailed few myself until bite died quickly at sunset.

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Today, I was going to sneak out after dinner alone because my son does not like to be disturbed after school until he is done with his homework and studying, which sometimes means 10 o’clock. I was floored when he texted me from school on his lunch break and asked me if we can go again after school because he did not have a lot of homework. Do you have to ask ??

So we went out again today and although the winds were lighter, the fish were still not cooperating. I missed one fish on the bucktail because I am having hard time setting hook with this damned elbow. Then I had another hit and then it got quiet. Just as I was going to mention to him that maybe we should split I nailed a small blue. Then another except this one fought differently and alleluia, it had fangs! Another nicer tiderunner on a bucktail and then my son nailed one which he dropped at his feet.

I cannot tell you how happy I was to see weakfish again after all these years. About eight years ago I landed about 300 weakfish during the summer months. Mostly smaller from 3 to 6 pounds but I bought a bag of a thousand Mann’s strawberry jelly worms, dozens of jig heads and light rods. I was obsessed with weakfish. I spent more time in the State Channel, on the flats of OBI and Captree than at home. I ate , slept and dreamed of weakfish. And then the bottom dropped out..I have not caught a weakfish in at least two years or longer. Maybe four, I am not sure. I asked my son if he wanted to keep his for dinner and he said “Dad, why would we kill the fish that we barely ever catch anymore?”

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20 comments on “Weakfish”

  6. Mimo

    Great weakfish. Used to catch them under the lights at night in the spring all the time, then they up and disappeared. On another note, for your elbow, have you tried the Flexbar from Theraban? I have had alternating golfers elbow/tennis elbow since I was about 20, tried about everything, and so last year I figured to give the flexbar a try. After a few weeks with the flexbar, no more pain. It was gone. Seems to work well for my friends who have also had the same problems. Try it, its cheap and might solve the issue. Nothing else I tried worked.

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  8. mikebfishn

    awesome job for the father son duo. also had the opportunity over the weekend to spend time with my boys on the water and caught some piggy large mouth bass. as of last year i have seen more and more of the lovely weakfish i hope this is not a short lived trend and the numbers are on the rise.

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  12. marlinman630

    I got a couple weakies last night. Unfortunately had to keep one. I normally always practice catch and release but this one was hooked really bad in the throat and part of the gill and was bleeding everywhere. Sometimes you just have to make the call if you know the fish won’t make it. I’d rather it not go to waste. Still feel bad about it being a catch and release guy

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  13. Doug

    As a kid in the early 1960s, I heard many a tail of the mythical Weakfish … Then about ’68 or ’69 a few strange fish started to show up in the creeks on Peconic Bay with the late August Snappers blues. Within two years we were seeing loads of 1-4 # Weakfish. only then did we recognize what we had been seing as Weakfish.

    Then we started to get the big “Tide Runners” to show. I spent many a happy late spring and early summer day in my 14′ aluminum skiff with a 10 hp Johnson “Sea Horse” on the back chasing the “Weakies” around Peconic Bay with a light spinning rod and a pocket full of Bagley “Salty Dog” jigs in Root beer, or lime green.

    Thanks for a trip back down memory lane !

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  14. Captn Bob

    Weakies have been showing up down here in South Jersey for a couple of weeks. Great for the mixed bag. Nice to see your son catching the fever! Cherish it.

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  16. Zeno Post author

    no need to feel bad for keeping a legal fish for table. We never been about that…I am looking forward to my first spring bass..

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  18. Charlie DeNatale

    Great report! Im also a junior in high school and know about all the homework you get. I wish my dad loved fishing as much as you. Good job releasing the fish, and helping the species!

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