It's official! The first Striped Bass was weighed in our store at
7:00am on Monday March 10 1997. The 11 pound 12 ounce 31" Striper
was caught by Alan Young of Medford Lakes, New Jersey at 4:00 in the
afternoon on March 9th. He is a frequent visitor of Graveling Point.
The Striper was caught on a pompano style rig baited with bloodworms
shortly after low tide. Alan stated that his $100.00 gift certificate
prize for catching the first keeper striper off Graveling Point will
go to future purchases of bloodworms. Congratulations Alan!
What do I need if I want to fish Graveling Point? A fishing rod, 9 or 10 foot is the preferred length. Yep, a reel, nothing special but able to hold fishing line from 12 to 20 pound test. This allows a good cast but is still strong enough to bring in the fish. A sand spike(rod holder) is a good item to have because it allows your hands to be kept free for when you tell fish stories and say that it was this big. A surf rig with one or two bait holder hooks. Our favorite rig is a Pompano Style rig with two 3/0 bronze colored bait holder hooks. Sinkers, 3 and 4 ounce hatteras or storm type as well as pyramid or triangle type sinkers are the most common. Many currents will roll smaller weights or round type bank sinkers into other anglers lines causing a nasty stare. I've seen it, its not a pretty site. Bait! Bloodworms work the best. Clams are a good back up bait. When the water is still cold, the Stripers are not likely to take bait like eels yet. I have read some research that suggests that slow moving fish from cold water tend to eat foods that are the easiest to digest. More on bloodworms... The angler who regularly puts fresh bloodworms on his rig consistently catches more fish. It is recommended that one large worm be put on a hook. If the worms are smaller, two or three worms may be necessary.
Check your bait about every fifteen minutes. Crabs, perch, flounder or small bait fish may pick the worms off your hook without you detecting a bite. If there is still plenty of worm left on the hook add a small worm to sweeten the batch. This technique may be expensive, but watch the guys that are doing it and see who is catching the fish. Waders are a nice thing to have. There is a small creek (at low tide) that separates Graveling Point from Mystic Beach. At low tide it can be easily jumped over in sneakers. However, the water can easily reach three foot of depth at high tide (not so small creek).
Currently, the best fishing time has been the last few hours of the outgoing tide, because warmer water temperatures occur at this time. A regular pair of knee boots will give an angler a 2 to 3 hour window to cross the creek. If you try this, beware that the tide seems to come in a whole lot faster than you would seem to suspect. Light sticks or battery operated lights are a nifty extra when fishing at night. I'll never fish at night without one. I used to try to line up the tip of my rod with some semi bright star and squint at the rod tip for hours in anticipation of a bite. With a light stick, the fishing rod grabs your eyesight very easily as the rod tip dips to the water. Gloves can be very nice item as the wind whips across the bay. It doesn't take to much to get wet hands cold.