I am continuing some tests with my newer cameras. This late fall I traded in my older bodies and purchased two new ones. They are both different generation cameras and look, feel, and shoot differently. Its amazing how comfortable you get with a camera, and you only realize it when you get rid of it. I am also doing tests on my lenses before I send them into Canon for a tune up. While out and about I drove down to 8th Avenue and made the above picture of gulls on the end of the groin. While out there I wondered about maybe dragging out my gear soon and trying to pick up one of the resident stripers that may be holding along the shore.
This past December we all waited till the last possible moment to call it a season. For me it was around December 8th, maybe a little later for the guys down near Seaside or the boat anglers. It signaled the last big run of stripers making their way down south off the Carolinas to hold for the winter. As I continue my studies about the striped bass I am learning more about the migration south and over-wintering residencies of smaller striped bass. Some fish spend the winter where they will eventually spawn in rivers such as the Hudson, Delaware, and Chesapeake Bay. Others spend winter in rivers where they won't in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. These smaller bass, known as schoolies, move in tightly packed schools in these rivers and can and are caught by anglers braving the elements.
I hope to get out one more time before the Fly Fishing Show next week. I am working on a few winter fly fishing projects right now and since we have snow on the ground its time to get shooting.