02.19.12 Done with Captains class...and trying to figure out what's happening out front

8th Ave 

    Well if my mind was a sponge it would be dripping after the last weekend of Captain's school. It saturated and can't possibly hold any more information. I test on Wednesday and will cram the next few days trying to remember all the info and how to chart and plot at the same time. I am glad it's over but I'm not looking forward to the test.

Since I have been busy with the Camden assignment and Captain's school, I haven't been in the mix of things out front. They've had some good days as of late, with fish to 20 pounds still being caught. Of course, tonight was slow off the rocks. I met a group of kayakers coming off the water when I got down just after high tide and they said they did real well. Bass crashing around them! I spoke with another angler whose 18 pound fish the other night had an empty belly? I spoke with another angler who said his fish had a 6 inch bunker in it's belly? I also heard that a dragger is hanging off the Inlet today. With that guys are being big blowups a mile or two out, bluefin? Now try and put that all together to make sense.

The water is 44 degrees according to NOAA. We had great sand eels around the last few weeks and anglers were snagging them and finding them in kept fishes bellies. The rock crab hatch has slowed to a halt. There are herring and mackerel around- and I have heard of but haven't actually seen a bunker with my own eye. BUT, I have heard of guys snagging bunker off the rocks. Spin fishers are doing well now with Bombers and larger rubber baits, imitating bait fish and not sand eels. There has also been great bird activity seen by guys scouting off the beaches and rocks.

So, what does it all mean? Who knows. I do know it's almost the last week of February and I'm still catching bass on the fly and it's not showing any sign of slowing. I'll be out tomorrow trying to make some further sense of all that's going on.