I was set on fishing early Friday no matter what. Mother Nature and Poseidon had other ideas. It was pouring, blowing, and honking. Started on the end of the incoming and worked alongside the rocks in Avon. It wasn't fun, nor effective. I grabbed a coffee and went up to 8th Ave and sat in Bertha for a bit and when the rain stopped and the tide started to move I hit Deal as the light came up. The water was up and I was only able to safely get out onto Phillips about 30 feet. I was using a black sand eel pattern and picked up a fat schoolie along the rocks. As time went on it got better. I moved down to Brighton where the water was cleaner and a few birds were in the water and occasionally scouting the water. I started at the beach where I picked up a sand dab in the wash before moving out onto the rocks. I fished with Rich who quickly hooked up on a fat short on metal. I hooked a nice fish but poor line management had me trying to figure out a line nest in my stripping basket. The line went slack and the bass spit the barbless chartreuse and white Deciever I had tied on.
Another angler was on the same rocks and between us all 5 fish landed and a few dropped. Between hearing from guys and following most boat reports it seems the short to keeper ratio is about 5:1, maybe even higher. As the schoolies start to dominate it appears the fall run is winding down. With waters temps out front still just at 50 degrees and with plenty of bait and bass around it looks like they'll be staying for Christmas if not longer.
