A lot of anglers are in the same boat. We know that fishing is hit and miss. You can go down and wet a line and catch or not catch. Sometimes the fish are there and their mouths are just shut, other times they are just not there. The worst times are when you have to convince yourself to go, even though you really don't have much confidence that fishing will be good.
This morning I felt that way. I got down to the rocks at 2 a.m. walked out on the groin, had my new STORMR gloves in my stripping basket, and made a cast to clear my line......
Well my line picked up one of my gloves and put it in the water, and just like that it was gone.
Couple that with 32 degree air temps and west wind at 20-25 with flat calm water and I started questioning myself why I even came out. There was no one else out, except a guy from out of state sleeping in his running car.
I searched for my glove to no avail and headed back home for the comfort of my warm bed. I was done for today, or so I thought.
I thought about the possibility of bass slurping sand eels one hour into the ebb at first light. So at 330 I set my alarm for 515. I didn't want to get up when the alarm went off but I did. After a quick coffee stop I arrived as the light crested the horizon. I saw a few birds working way off, and not a dimple or swirl anywhere along the beach.
I picked a start and stop point and threw a sand eel fly without a bump. Before heading home to get my daughter up for school I re-visted the beach next to the groin where I lost my glove. I was hoping for some good glove love but it wasn't on the sand, or perched on one of the rocks sticking out from the water.
With this wind and flat surf conditions it's drive a lot and fish a little. Yes, the bass and blues are pushing bait in at some point somewhere along the Jersey Shore on any given day, but you know how that goes. You're either in the right place at the right time or part of the psychic friends striper cell phone network or you're out in a boat where the fish have been eating steady out of reach of the beach anglers.