The bay's summer ghost. Lighter everything, slower everything.
CYNOSCION REGALIS
VERIFY NJ LIMIT
THE CRAWL
Cast up-current along the sedge edge. Let it find bottom. Then: lift the tip 1 ft, let it pendulum down, crawl 2 reel turns. Repeat. The take is a mushy TICK — nothing like a bass. SWEEP, don't slam. 'Weakfish' = weak MOUTH — tissue tears. Fight on the drag, rod high, no pumping. Prime lie: the first drop-off where sedge meets channel.
THE TWO-KNOT DOWNSHIFT
This rig is the bridge system's little brother. Carry both leaders pre-tied (S1): when the tap-tap-nothing bites say weakfish are in the swing instead of bass, drop from 40 lb / 1/2 oz to 18 lb / 1/4 oz in two knots. A legal weakfish is a genuinely special LBI catch now — one photo IN the water unless it's the deliberate keeper.
RIG FIELD GUIDE v3.0 · SALT · WEAKFISH22 / 38
Weakfish Finesse — How-To
SALT / R1
SPEC
LEADER
15-20 lb fluoro, 18-24"
JIG
1/4-3/8 oz, light-wire hook
PLASTIC
Pink Gulp shrimp / small paddle
WHERE
Cedar Bonnet sedges · bulkhead
WHEN
Night ebbs, first 2 hours
BYCATCH
Schoolie bass · fluke
RIGGING SEQUENCE
1FG braid to the light leader.
2NSL to the jighead (p7).
3Thread the plastic arrow-straight (p11). That's the whole rig — finesse means nothing else in the water.
FISHING IT
1Work the sedge-bank drop-offs on the ebb.
2The crawl (facing page): lift, glide, two turns.
3Mushy tick = sweep. Then let the drag do everything.
KEYS
Weakfish move in waves — a dead hour then twenty hot minutes. Stay past the first blank stretch. If bluefish crash the swing, stop immediately (they'll take every jig you own) and convert to the metal system (p20).