The last week has been great for fly fishing along the Jersey Shore. When I pulled up to the beach the temps have been fall like in the 60's, the wind has been kicking, and the sound of the surf can be heard for blocks away. Yesterday afternoon things changed a bit. This morning the air was still except for a mild SW wind, the low tide surf was flat, and first light gave way to high, bright sun.
With the extra Saturday anglers on the beach I went to a different tactic. I went to a floating line coupled with a popper and made my way out to the end of the groin. There's nothing like watching you popper pop across the surface as the sun illuminates the top of the water. With each strip I waited for a striped bass to rise and blow up on my offering. I fished both the north and south sides without a bump. I switched over to a Clouser and worked my way to the beach before joining another fly angler who landed a small bass as he worked best rip on the incoming tide.
With the low and slow water the floating line and Clouser slowly stripped in produced two smaller fluke that both took the barbless hook deep but were easily freed and released. With conditions changing this morning and looking the same for the next few days tomorrows fishing will take me to another location where condition there should better match up with what Mother Nature is serving up.
