08.11.16 Got a few new things to play with....

      About a year ago we got fed up with the monthly bleeding that Verizon had been inflicting of us for years. Between the cell phones and internet and cable, along with the bundled house phone we never used, it seemed we were paying about $500 a month, and we had enough. So we went to AT&T to show Verizon, but in the end we still needed Verizon for home internet service. 

     With that we went with Roku and with that and 1,000 options of shows to watch, mostly from the 80's, 90's and 2000's. Local news was there, but it was old news, or so we found. even with Roku we would still need streaming subscriptions to watch anything current, and forget the NFL during the season, which I enjoy watching. Each week, and game to game, each streaming 

service covered a different game, and the only thing that was free, or so it seemed, was the NFL reply, which wasn't in real time. Frustrating it was to say the least. Many suggested You Tube TV, which runs $89 a month, but I wasn't paying that, even if I missed my favorite stuff. 

     Down in Cape May Infinity has a hold, or a monopoly, on internet and cable service here, and that runs well just about $100 a month. Forget it, and we went without it for the last few years. But now that we're going to be here we need, and would like, to have some serviced watch some TV. So I looked into Starling, a satellite based service run by Space X, one of Elon Musks companies. If he can send people up in space I think he'll be able to get us more reruns of Law and Order. 

     So I ordered Starling and set it up yesterday. I'm horrible with technology but found it user friendly, after it took me an hour to figure out how to download the App. It cost me $55 with no hardware costs that has speed of 100 Mbps which mean nothing to me but from what I've read is fast enough. They also offer a Starling ROAM, which you can take on the road. So my thought is the fixed one will be stay and play at our new home in Sun City and the mobile unit for The Boat House and Cape May. 

      With the Roam option I'll need to buy the mini-kit starter set for $199 and then pay $55 a month. There's an option to put it on hold but I'm not all up on what that service offers or requires. But to sit in The Boat House and watch a game or be able to surf the internet, watch TV, and write this blog while in Cape May seems like a good option. We'll see. For some reason I just like the idea of not having to pay the big Internet and cable providers another dollar of my money, but in the end just giving to Elon.

     And then just for fun I went and ordered a starter drone set up from Amazon. These can get pricey so I saw one, did a little research, and pulled the trigger. This one seems to provide what I

need which is the ability to control it from my iPhone, take some pictures, have it follow me, and then return to my location. I'm sure it's not all that durable, and definitely doesn't swim, so I'll try and take it easy. No doubt it'll find it's way it to some drink somewhere but it's a good drone to wet (no pun intended) my feet with. 

     The imagery and videos from the drones over schooling redfish in the Lowcountry is impressive. By the time I get back south and into any kind of fishing mode the waters will start to cool and it will go from a flood to low tide fishery. They say in the cooler months the reds school up in the estuaries seeking warmer water temps and can be found at the creek mouths. Even if I'm not on the water any time soon it'll be a great tool to learn the water and scout locations. 

     Hunting for fish and especially sight fishing for them is my favorite way to fly fish. I'm not a fan of blind casting, as you know, and a days fishing, well hunting, for many hours with few casts is still a good day to me. 

08.10.26 The numbers are there but we slipped in the rankings...

     For a while there I was keeping track of how this blog did against other fly fishing blogs around the world. We hit a high coming in at #23 back in 2024 but a recent check shows we've slipped 

down to #53. What's funny is is took 15 years to get to 1,000,000 viewers and in the last two it's grown to over 2,100,000.

     In the end it all doesn't matter because this blog generates zero monetarily. This blog always was in the shadows of Jeff Currier's blog and he's now at #46, where he used to come in around #20. I wonder if the algorithms have changed which has altered the rankings or people just don't want to read about teaching nursing school or downsizing and moving to South Carolina. 

     What's cool with Blogspot is I can check out several stats in real time each day. I can see how many views per day, what hours are the busiest, and even what parts of the world the people who

view it come from. who would have thought that people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and South Africa come here to check out how the striped bass bite has been in the Delaware River or what Piece of Cake moving did with our stuff. 

     For some viewers this blog is almost like a daily, or bi-weekly, newspaper. They click on it to see what's up or to read about whatever I might be ranting about on any given day. Hopefully soon it'll be more about fly fishing the Lowcountry with some spring Jersey striped bass fishing mixed in. As we find our new-life normal, which will include annual stop and plops in South Carolina and New Jersey, we're looking now at where we might be next year. I can definitely see 

us coming back up in May which will mean I'll be able to fish the Delaware Bay and River during the spring run. And of course there's no way I'm missing that annual trip up to the Vineyard. How cool would it be to have the skiff up there, but I don't think it would be worth trailering it up that far for a week, but you never know. 

     I wish someone would buy this blog, or hire me to write theirs. people say I could load this blog up with ads and be able to get paid for all the work it takes to pen this several times, if not everyday, a week. People have also suggested a subscription, say $10 a year, which would be great if you times that by the number of actual readers versus page views. 5,000 people x $10 would come out to $50,000, which would be great. Throw in some guiding money when I get dialed in down there and I could see this actually kinda being like a job I'd like to do. I just have to figure out if my readers in Saudi Arabia and Russia (look at the breakdown above) have Venmo or PayPal to pay for the ability to click on this subscription only blog.  

08.09.26 I'll be ready for next year...

     Well that's a wrap for the 2026 Lowcountry Tarpon Open. Next year I'll have to plan to be down in South Carolina the first week of August to throw my hat in the tournament and give it a shot. Above are the winners following the two-day tournament but I haven't seen how those in the fly division made out. Southern Drawl Outfitters, who hosted the event, posted that they had tough weather on day two. 

     We're about two weeks away from heading south and beginning the move in process after the contractors have been busy doing some work while the house is empty. Things are going, but slow, here in Cape May, as we set up home here split between decorating, donating, and continuing the purging process. There's always a yard sale, a Happy Hour, or a nap to hit in between the work. 

     Finding our new normal will take some time to get used to but so far so good. 

08.08.26 Just checking out the leader board....

     So it looks like after day one of the Lowcountry Tarpon Open six tarpon were caught. One thing I've come to learn about fly fishing in some tournaments for some kinds of fish is that leader releases count as a caught fish. As long as the guide or the angler has their hand on the leader and can control the fish that counts. I believe that's done for billfish as well.

     Years ago it was all kill tournaments, for species like tarpon, bonefish, permit and striped bass. I was never a fan of tournaments especially for species that were not doing well, like where that overfishing and overfished designation from the ASMFC comes in. I got skewered online when I questioned if a tournament on the Delaware River made sense when the numbers of bass were in the tank and regulations were changed to protect the spawning bass, which is what those tournaments would be targeting. 

     I checked out the rules for the Lowcountry Tarpon Open online. There is a separate category for fly only with specific rules. So the way I get it there's an overall division, which both bait and fly anglers can win, and then a fly only division. 

     There are some big name tarpon tournaments that are held down Florida through the Keys and then up to Sarasota and into Louisiana. While the push, through organizations like the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, is to have all tournaments go catch and release there are still kill tournaments out there, like Louisiana's International Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo.   

     Above is angler Guy Cenac with a 208 pound tarpon taken during the 2018 Rodeo. A 200 pound tarpon is about 30 years old and is basically inedible. I mean you could eat it if you were stranded on a desert island with the other choice sawing off your own foot and grilling it, but for most they don't eat them. It's sad these kill tournaments remove fish from the biomass for prizes and chest thumping. It's not illegal, but it's just not good. 

   

     One of the most prestigious fly fishing only tournaments is the Gold Cup held each year down in Islamorada, Florida. I'm not much in the know of tarpon and tournaments but have listened about both on the Mill House Podcast I spoke about yesterday. The field in this tournament is limited to 25 anglers. This years winner was Captain Rob Fordyce and angler Julian Robertson who crushed the competition with an all-time weight fish of 176.5 pounds. If you've never listened you can check out Fordyce with Andy HERE. 

 

08.07.26 I'm gonna give the locals a chance this year...

     I'm totally kidding on the title. I don't know the water, yet. I don't know how to feed tarpon flies, yet. And I don't even know what they look like in the water, yet. In fact the only tarpon I ever caught was down in Puerto Rico with the late and great Captain Omar Orraca. So even if I was down in South Carolina and entered the tournament I would be a zero threat to the other Captain's and fish. But there's always next year. 

     The South Carolina state record tarpon is 154 pounds 10 ounces and was caught in 1987. That fish was caught in Hilton Head. Another tarpon, which was reportedly larger but released, 

above, was caught in the Port Royal Sound. The record was caught on an August 1st, the other August 27th. So I do know that you can catch large tarpon down in South Carolina in August. I'll start my knowledge base there and build on it over the next year. If I had any doubt if there's good tarpon down here check out the below post I found on Facebook.

     Both of these fish were caught on bait and I looked to see what the state record for a fly caught tarpon is but they don't separate the two. It's not the IGFA. Southern Drawl, a mixed gear and fly shop located in Hilton head, runs the Low Country Tarpon Open and last year they recorded 23 releases but I couldn't find out how they did on the fly. It's $500 per boat and an extra $250 to enter the fly division. 

     I've never been a tarpon guy and most of the talk I've heard about it is listening to Andy Mill (above) over at the Mill House podcast. I know things used to be different as far as handling fish, with lots of kill tournaments, and you'd never see Andy with a fish out of the water these days.) The Mill House is a show done by Andy and his son Nicky. You can check it out HERE. What brought me there were his interviews with guys and girls I'm familiar with, like Popovics, Clouser, Finn, Gardner, Ciccone, and Dixon. But most of the show is about tarpon, bonefish, and permit and the guys that pole skiffs for them. Each show is about 1-/12 hours long and they used to keep me company on my commute home from Newark, now they'll help pass the time heading down to South Carolina.

     So last night was the Captain's meeting heading into this weekends Open. As I pen this post they already have lines in the water and are hopefully on fish. As I said most tarpon are caught on bait, and outside of the fall mullet run, Atlantic menhaden, or bunker, or pogies as they call them here, are a forage fish down here just like they are for so many species back home. So, as I have said before, my new fishery down here just won't be around crab and buggy flies, but larger baitfish imitations which I'm used to tying and fishing. Bull reds, cobia, jacks, and sharks, along with the tarpon, all look to those larger snacks to make up their diet. 

We've been busy trying to set up home down in Cape May these past few days. yesterday we hit Habitat for Humanity's Restore just to look, and came home with a sideboard, a kitchen table and chairs, and a desk for the office. But that's okay, we got rid of stuff to add stuff, so we haven't added anything, yet, heading into a big yard sale weekend down here around the Cape.

08.06.26 Here's some "...great news!"...

     I saw this letter sent out from Mayor Tim Somers to the residents of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey. (I have to specify that now as the readership is extending down to South Carolina). He was happy to announce that the latest round of beach replenishment is slated to begin in the late fall 2026, right when the striped bass fall run gets into full swing. Just when you thought things were looking good beachside, they're about to get destroyed yet again. And forget about the fishing, what about the ecosystem and the place that so many living things call home? 

     Frank Pallone surely has maintained his life-long tenure, well since 1988, as a U.S. Congressman representing the 6th District which is Monmouth County and the top of the Jersey Shore, from the votes of people who have beach front properties. While Sandy did a number on the benches, groins, and jetties, in my opinion, Pallone has allowed far more damage to occur in his district. And this latest round of replenishment will kill parts of Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach, and Long Branch, which have been solid fishy spots the last couple of years, as the "sand", and damage, from previous "nourishments" return to the sea.

     I first covered the beach replenishment along Monmouth Beach in 2013. Below you can see how it held up just a few months after it was completed. "Donor" sand from the oceans bottom isn't like beach sand. It has a different composition, needs to be filtered through, and lacks compactability. So it only takes a storm or two or solid moon tides to pull the sand back into the water, create sand bars just off the beach, and then eventually return it all to the sea. Well, really it doesn't go straight out, the littoral current coupled with prevailing winds carries it to the north in the summer, and to the south in the winter. That's why your once favorite groin gets shoaled up on either side depending on the time of year. In addition, that's why the False Hook and Sandy Hook Channel needs to be dredged every couple of years. 

     Above is "Little Monmouth" after the 2013 failed replenishment. And below are a few pics of what it looked like before. The north side of Little Monmouth used to be a great place to fish when the bait used to get trapped in the pocket. And years before that you used to be able to fish off the rocks in front of the condos leading up to Big Monmouth. 

     And then there was Big Monmouth and the groin that kind of went to the southeast from the rock wall that protected Ocean Avenue from the ocean. There used to be a small beach that went from there up to the old Coast Guard Station. When the tide was low you could walk the old stairs down onto the sand and on big tides and whether you could fish off the rock wall. One of the first times I met Charlie Shapiro was when he was fishing the pocket at Big Monmouth, below.

     Pallone secured 37-million dollars in federal funding which will be matched by local state monies for the project. Also this week the Army Corp of Engineers announced a $19.5 million dollar project will be underway for the beaches of Ocean City, New Jersey. More sand down the proverbial toilet. "Insanity- doing the same thing and expecting different results.

     What is missing, as always, is some kind of plan to curb the erosion. Now we know Mother Nature always wins, but why don't they have a solid dune construction and planting plan in place? Why don't they bury trees or telephone poles, or like they used to do old cars, to beef up 

Misquamicut Beach, Westerly, Rhode Island

the underlying sandy structure further off the beach? I'm all for letting it go back to nature but some work other than pumping it over again and again might help. But it all comes down to money, and politics, and votes. 

     They say Pallone is a friend to the environment, and fish, and fishermen, and surfers, but that, to me, is a joke. How much money and sand has Pallone toyed with over his almost 40 years in office? We know crabs, forage fishes, and predator fish don't like it but the ocean front residents of Sea Bright, MB, Long Branch, Deal, Allenhurst, and Asbury Park, just to name a few, surely do. 

I'm lucky to have caught some great years along "Jetty Country" when the rocks and the sand were great places to fish from, and there were fish to catch, and not just during the spring and fall runs. Resident fish spent the summers inshore and early mornings would always give up a bass or two before the beach invaders came. But those days are gone, as are a lot of the sharpies who called these town beaches home. It'll never be the same, never again. 

08.05.26 This poor dog doesn't know which way is up...

     It still isn't over, not by a long shot. Yesterday we returned to Titusville to pick-up the last remaining "stuff" we had in one neighbors garage and the other's basement. As soon as I opened the door to the truck Luke bolted to the back door of the old ranch and wouldn't budge. That dog is a good dog and I know is confused as hell because everyday he wakes up he's coming or going to a new place. In a few weeks he'll be taking his first 11-hour drive to South Carolina, and he hates car rides. 

     We met up the new owners, who moved in last Saturday, a day when it was about 200 degrees and then monsooned until the water came through the ceiling in the breakfast room and poured into the basement. They told us, "We wanted to cry", well, welcome to the world of living in a 100-year old house. But they are happy and have already done good work there like updating both electrical panels in the house and having the outlets and switches redone. It's still weird walking around there and we truly felt like we were trespassing on someone's else's property. 

     We took both vehicles up to Mercer County and filled them to the roof. It's a mix of tools and last minute boxes which are a mish-mash of everything from underwear to utensils to remotes to silverware.  It'll have to go through one more hard edit before it either hits the Cape May thrift stores, the dumpster, or takes the trip south. 

     In other move related news it was a day to surrender. It was time to surrender our license plates to the NJMVC drop-off box. In my old life I would have tucked these away in the corner, for years, before either cutting them up or dropping them off. Luckily I had these in my Suburban when I saw the Motor Vehicle place down in Cape May. 

     And then there's Piece of Cake moving. They did a great job with the initial load, and then so-so with the transfers and ride down. Somehow they lost my 24-foot extension ladder and lost or 

broke a large ceramic planter. When they located the ladder they asked if they could drop it off at Sun City, which would have meant it would be leaned against the house, which would be a huge HOA violation. So luckily I have The Boat House in Ridgeland where they were able to leave it. 

      While we were up north we were able to connect with our ex-neighbor Lynn. We both decided to sell our homes at the same time using the same realtor but we went and blew up that plan by selling it on our own by chance. Her house is spectacular and is officially now on the market, HERE. After we loaded up the cars I had a couple of Guinness before we hit It's Nutts for some lunch and then her couch for a much needed nap. 

    We pulled into Cape May around six and just left everything where it was. Today will be the day to head over to the storage units and devise a plan for the first run down to Bluffton, with both cars carrying the load. We'll be back up in the fall and the balance of what's left will make the trek then. Luckily I don't think we need to rent a U-Haul trailer to get the stuff down, which I think the Suburban is grateful for. 

      My advice to all of my friends and readers here....start the process now! Get rid of it all. I think in the end we could have edited down even more when we had the chance up in Titusville but just didn't or couldn't at that time. In some way I think all the stuff and bins and boxes are somehow like a security blanket, we just feel good with our stuff, and not so good stripped away standing there naked. But in reality all that is more like a weighted blanket, which is heavy, like an anchor, which keeps you stuck in one place. And not just physically but emotionally and mentally as well.  

08.04.26 Nice switch with Orvis rod repair...

 

     As I was going through my stuff in Cape May I came across that rod box I got from Bay Street Outfitters in Beaufort. As I've done many times before with Orvis Rod Repair I planned on sending back my Helios 3D 10 and 12 weights. When I went online and registered both rods to see if they were eligible I was pleasantly surprised that Orvis now offers a section replacement program. 

     Rather then send the entire rod back you just fill out the form and they send you a replacement section. For me that's a mid-butt section for the 12 weight where the snake guide came unglued and for the 10 weight a new tip section after I ran it over at Red Beach while up on the Vineyard with the boys in June. 

     And why did I run it over? Well it was because I was all flustered and pissed off that my Orvis PRO zip bootfoot waders were leaking somewhere above the knees which filled up both boots. It was Abe Pieciak who caught the moment I released the water onto the pavement. Notice the Jersey plates, well no more.

     So I started that repair process and that's a tad more involved. Before you do it make sure you have them ready outside and your iPhone camera in hand. They want pics of every angle and part of the wader. My fear is, in the end, they'll just credit me something towards a new pair, but, that wouldn't be cool. I love the boot foot waders, especially for the beach, but it looks like Orvis has stopped offering them, like they did with their indestructible stripping baskets. 

     I have been in a Large 11 and see they only have 10's left, that'll due, as my feet were swimming, no pun intended, a bit in the larger size. My problem is my waders are down in South Carolina and I won't be back down south until the third week of August. I might have to call them and see if they can work something out for me, yeah right. 

     The Orvis rod repair and their new section replacement option will run you $60 bucks but they pick up the shipping. Soon I should have two sections delivered to Cape May so I can be ready to fish when I get back the last week in August. I plan on hitting the water inn search for some tarpon just as the mullet run begins. 

08.03.26 Not a bad fish to have to learn...

 

Capt Brian Vaughn, Off The Hook Fishing Charters, with a recent tarpon catch

     It looks like I'll be missing out at shots for tarpon for 2026, but there's always next year. Just like learning striped bass starting almost 20 years ago it'll take me a bit to get caught up on these fish which invade the Lowcountry during the summer months. 

     What I've come to learn is this, thanks to several on-line resources. There's two species, the Atlantic Tarpon and the Indo-Pacific Tarpon. And the Atlantic Tarpon migration can be broken down into the West (Gulf of America) and East Coast (Atlantic Ocean). It kinda sounds like the East and West Coast rivalry that happened in the rap world in the 1990's between Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.

     And while I'll never be able to learn there about tarpon around the world I guess I can take a shot at tarpon and their migration up around the Lowcountry. One of the hotspots is the waters in and around the Port Royal Sound which sits between Hilton Head Island and Beaufort. 

     The Boat House sits roughly 20 minutes from the Broad River Bridge boat ramp which you can see in the upper left of the map above. If I'm thinking of fishing out front there's closer ramps to put in at.

     I'm learning tarpon and 75 degree water temperatures go hand in hand. The fish, at least the ones they see in South Carolina, winter over in Florida and then make their way up into the Lowcountry around the beginning of July and then split when the first cold spell hits. 

     In addition to the temps the available baits also come into play. Mullet begin their southerly migration and just like we see, or once saw, with striped bass and that second week of September mullet bite, tarpon, redfish, and sharks feast on those perfect meal sized baits. One thing I know is that Popovic's Siliclone, which I could never get right, or Hollow Fleye's will work perfectly when I'm not trying to trick the predator fish with crab and small minnow patterned flies.