Didn't wet a line this morning but did do a quick drive along the beat. The anglers that didn't drive to IBSP came out and gave it a shot around here at sunup and just before high tide. Talked with several guys locally who said there were shorts here and there and one keeper just about every spot. When I got to Allenhurst a happy angler was coming off with a nice 34" inch fish he got at first light on a articulated Bomber.
Down south they continue the onslaught on bass on and just off the beaches in Island Beach State Park and Long Beach Island. As I write this Joe Cermele a fishing editor from Field and Stream just posted on his Facebook page a picture of his friend Eric with a 25 pound striper they on his boat the Tunalicious caught within a golf ball drives from the beach.
I took a look at some tackle shop's websites from down that way. Betty and Nicks and Grumps had over 180 fish weighed in yesterday. Put those numbers in addition to the private and commercial fishing boats out there. Add those harvest numbers to the fish taken from the biomass from the start of this fall run in Cape Cod and you wonder how many fish will be left by the time they get down to North Carolina to winter over.
They are all saying that IBSP and points south is having an epic fall, best they have seen in decades.
Please fish responsibly and be careful when you release your fish. Maybe even think of going barbless or replacing those treble hooks with a single hook- do you need nine points to catch a fish?
