Sometimes you just have to go where the fish are. I took a 6am ride down to Island Beach State Park to give the outgoing tide a go. While driving down the air temperature on Route 37 was 60 degrees. I paid at the gate and headed back to A18. There were sparse anglers up and down the beach but they were in little groups around the bowls or starting to attempt to walk out just a little further on the bars. It was raining when I got there with a S wind and both picked up during the morning. I made my way to the north side of a point and threw a sand eel pattern fly I got from Brad Buzzi at the Fly Symposium at Somerset. There were two guys out on the bar throwing east so I worked the cut and bowl as best as I could from that position. I stayed there about a half an hour and landed the above fish and dropped another. The birds were everywhere today, and annoyingly swimming in the troughs and bowls fishing the same waters in search of sand eels.
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| Brad Buzzi sand eel |
Around 930 I headed out of the Park and grabbed breakfast at The 3C's in Seaside Park. The 3C's is owned and operated by the grand daughter of the legendary NJ saltwater fly fisherman Cap Colvin. It was a good breakfast and I recommend it to anyone traveling down, it's a block past Betty and Nick's Tackle Shop.
I took a ride back in and headed to A21 to fish the dead low tide. I wanted to get out on the edge of the bars and give it a shot. I caught sand eels just about every 3-5 th cast, and set my hook on a few of them. The rain had stopped but the waves increased in size and I just didn't get my fly where I wanted to. I pulled out and made my way down to A5 for a quick stop and a few casts and more sand eels. Saw a steady pick of bass that were just over under the limit with a keeper here and there. All of the fish that I saw caught were caught way out front.
On my way home I stopped in Allenhurst and took a look up and down the coast, not an angler in sight, and neither a bird. There were lot's of surfers and the wide had turned around to a steadier NW.
Tomorrow doesn't look too good, the wind is supposed to blow 25-30 with gusts to 45.