08.19.15 Starting to feel like fall....

      Beautiful morning out along the Jersey Shore today. The weather has been stellar and the conditions are starting to look really good. Last week we spent our family vacation down in Wildwood and it great all the way around. Wildwood Crest beaches have to be the nicest in the state.

     Even though I am jammed with so much going on I made it a point to get out this morning. I have to admit I went a little half-cocked.  Didn't check my gear, nor the tide, I just went. Having done so I would made sure that I had the right rod/reel combo, a few Bangers, and would have the timed the tide a bit differently.

                    

      Dead low was at 430 and I was on the beach before 5. I would have liked to get there are 3 to catch more of the ebb. I started with a small black eel fly and stayed with it until light when I switched over to a chartruese and white Deceiver. I saw some bait in the water but no sign of predator fish. There was one other angler out and I could barely make him out in the low light. When I got down he was hooked up, and landed another just shy or keeper sized bass before he left with the arrival of the light. He was spinning and throwing topwater baits.

     Made my way south and met up with Rich who was trying for some fluke. He had five bass yesterday all on topwater, so the fish are starting to move in as the bait is starting to move out. The water temps are hovering around 70 and things should get better as the water cools down and the bait starts to move. It's starting to feel a little like fall, outside of the 85-90 degree days we've been having.

08.03.15 Nice to be back down on the rocks......

      It has definitely been a different year all the way around for me compared to last year. I could go on, and on, but I'll just stick to the fishing aspect of my life.

      By this time last year I had finished up guiding on the Upper Delaware in the spring and caught the nice bite of big bass at the start of the summer. Last summer it was early morning first light trips popping up bass and trying for fluke in the suds.

What a difference a year makes. 

     I changed things up a bit and have traded, for only part of a year, my fly rods for nursing textbooks. I am back in pursuit of my Nurse Practitioner license. It's going to take some time but I believe it will be worth it both professionally and financially, well at least after I pay off all the student loans. So this year there was no Delaware or early summer bass or summer first light trips. I had the boat out a few times and will have it ready for the fall run along the Jersey Shore. I won't be in Montauk as I am expecting to be back in a staff nursing position. 

     This morning I hit the rocks before first light. Funny how my knees were a little wobbly getting back up on and jumping the rocks. It was nice, a nice west wind and the start of the incoming tide made lots of white water. I popped, and popped without a swirl or a bite but it nice to be back out. I was sure switching over to a Clouser would get me a flatfish but they didn't budge for me either. 

     Of course I couldn't resist to drive up to Jetty Country, or what is left of it. Pulling into Marine and Clem Cover made me sick to my stomach. It's just all gone. They have dismantled Marine Place and covered everything else. It will take decades for it to return, if it ever does. There were so many good spots, and so many hours that I spent around the clock there alone, with friends, and clients. You could go a little north, or a little south, and see the things a year or two out from beach "nourishment" but those are changed also. 

     I am sure I am just one of a thousand people who are sickened to what happened to such fabled fishing grounds. So many good memories created there but hard to remember the good times when you stand and overlook what is happening there. 

Roseld above currently and below during the good times.