I love being out on the end of the rocks at sunrise. The sky radiates color while the rest of the world appears in black and white. This angler saw the beauty while no doubt feeling the sting of the cold air this morning. 30 degree air temps with a SW wind with gusts to 25. That will redden the cheeks and dry out the hands.
I was thinking of not going fishing today. As the morning went on it seemed the SW kicked into another gear, affirming my apprehension, but it was getting warmer, which made me wonder. High tide was at 106 PM, and I already got a call from Joe that he scored a couple of fish with the fly rod is brown- off color water. So after juggling my three kids, three of their friends that slept over, and one more friend that came over after breakfast, I was good for a few hours. I got down right before high tide and within a half hour we were into fish. The SW wind was honking ad made fishing the north side of the groin ( picture below) dicey. We stayed mostly on the south side and I stayed with the orange/white beat up Clouser. I landed three to 21" and lost one, Joe landed three for the day and we called it quits by 230. On out way out we noticed a NJ DEP Conservation Officer sitting in his truck watching the anglers that were out on the rocks. I told him I caught a nice, fat 25" striper and asked if he'd like to see it.
The "law" has been out as of late with the increased number of anglers that have been out. Just a warning - they're not only checking the size of the stripers that you keep, but also how you handle what you catch and release. "Wanton waste" means to intentionally waste something negligently or inappropriately. That means they are are watching in how you handle the sea robins, and skates that love to eat clams soaked near the bottom. "Feeding the gulls" won't get you off the hook, nor will drop kicking them back into the sea, or throwing them against the rocks or up onto the beach. You will get a ticket.
