I got out this morning around 430 am and gave it a go before the dead low tide and the crowds arrived. Didn't move a fish, well except for the stargazer that I caught, that buried himself deep in the sand before I could get a hand on it and throw it out into deeper water. Low tide was at 630 and it was about that time that I started to fish and walk my way back to my truck.
I scouted out familiar water and decided to walk out onto the sand bar and fish past the breakers. If you look at the picture of the area below you can see the cut in the center with the waves breaking on either side. I walked out on the right sand bar and made some casts but picked up grass with every cast.
I decided to call it quits and took a step towards the beach and went down into the cut, losing my balance, but luckily regaining my footing. It is during those moves that you realize how we're just one step away from being in a bad spot. Last fall several angler-on-angler rescues were made in IBSP as guys tried to get out "just a bit further" and stepped off the sand bar. Also last fall a guy I fish alongside in Avon found the body of a fisherman on the north side of the Shark River Inlet, and two cousins died on the Manasquan Inlet jetty last August while fishing. This spring I had a client out on Deal and the body of a surfer washed up on the rocks one groin away from where we were fishing.
On my way out I saw Judy and we touched base about how things have been the last few days. She told me how last night she saw the emergency response along Ocean Avenue to a missing swimmer in Long Branch. A 17 year old and his friends and sister went in at Pier Village around 530 pm and he didn't come up. It was low tide, and not very rough. After some more fish talk I made my way up to Long Branch to find the authorities resuming their search for the young man. Every news crew in the area was camped out waiting to report the story. It's the Memorial Day weekend tragedy that everyone jumped on. I made some images and gave The New York Times picture desk a call figuring they would want some pictures if they decided to run the story. The story itself is bad enough, only compounded by the fact that the body is still missing. Hopefully they recover it soon.
To me its a reminder of how dangerous the place we to choose to play in can be.
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And on this Memorial Day weekend we must remember all those men and women who gave their live while serving in the United States Armed Forces. They gave so that we can be free. Thank You
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| Photo by Colin Archer/Agency New Jersey |
A Marine pays his respects following the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Jon Hicks who was killed in Iraq in September 2007. Hicks was 20 when he died and was from Atco, New Jersey.