Hit Shell point for an hour tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 last of the outgoing. I got two small schoolies and missed several hits by others on zoom flukes. It was nice just after the rain stopped the wind was light and the sun came out. All in all a good outing and it was just nice to be out fishing again. Another guy fishing with his kids was using a small mackeral swimmer and had a LARGE squid nail the plug which he then landed. I have seen squid locally but this one was big (18" or more). He did release it and was thanked by the squid with a large cloud of ink on its exit. Would have made some good calamari or bait. Other than that he didn't have any luck with schoolies.

jeffsod, you should have been there early am. I hit the last two hours of the tide sat morning and got a bunch. 35-40 mostly between 12-16"... a few bigger and two of the smallest stripers I've ever seen. I also got one nice fish that I thought was close to keeper size. I measured him against my rod and later found he was 26". Nice size early season schoolie.

I was using a bass assassin jerkbait style.

Anyone planning to fish jerkbaits this year, do yourself one huge favor. Get braided line.

Got Stripers told me and told me... get braid. I got a new outfit over the winter, a stradic 4000 with a 7'6" med-heavy BPS inshore extreme rod. I spooled braid and its like night and day. The outfit is light and sensitive, and with the braid I felt every little bump and dink and hooked the majority of the fish. I struggled last year using mono 'cause I just wasn't feeling the strikes quick enough to set on them... plus, the no stretch gives you a good solid hookset.

Anyway, glad to join all of you who broke the ice this weekend. It was fantastic to be out there and I finally was able to get over my crushing defeat at the hands of mr. redfish down south.

Thanks for the report Schoolie Monster. I would have been at Shell point in the morning if I could have but was busy playing Mr Mom. Got to get the fishing in when you can. Glad to hear you did well.

I hear ya. I actually almost headed back for the evening tide and had visions of heading down again on sunday morning, but I had to watch my daughter.

My wife wanted to get in one last foxwoods trip before I started fishing like a lunatic.

That's alright. My daughter has been bugging me to get her over to the pond for some sunnies. In a couple years, she'll probably be my full-time fishing partner. I think I'll have her ready for schoolies off the boat by the end of this year.

Told you Schoolie and I'd recommend braid to anyone fishing plastics. It's one thing if your casting out a swimming shad or cocohoe, where you have a chance of feeling the hit on mono, it's another if your using jerkbaits and more of a finesse approach. Throw in current, a cross wind and a long cast and mono just doesn't cut it. When I jumped on the braid band wagon years ago, I think my hook-up rate double, it made that much of a difference.

I caught a bunch there on my little 4 inch jerkbait during that brief flurry at last years mystery trip. A 26 inch fish is a nice one for early, but with the warm spring I'll bet we see nicer fish earlier. I'm hoping to get into something this weekend. It depends on the weather and it I'll have the outboard fixed.

Bob, its one of those things where I believed you, but still thought in the back of my mind, can it really make that big of a difference? Not big enough to bother mid season. It can and it does.

A bunch of times i just felt that little subtle -tick- and then nothing. With the mono, I'd bet I wouldn't even have known there was a fish there.

The new outfit is sweet and just feels great with the braid. You and I, we gonna tangle... yeah, if you thought I've forgotten some of the drubbings I took last season... eh eh. You've gotta give a rematch out on your court once the fish make it north.

Its those hits when the line is slack that I know you just don't feel with mono and like you said, a bit of wind, maybe fishing in a bit deeper water. Fishing those things weightless, you're right on top so you often see the hit or a swirl. When I started fishing the jerkbaits weighted and down in the water column, that was tough.