So I'll start with this. I was standing on the beach just before sunrise. I was watching as the bait was getting pulled off the beach and across the bar and the birds starting to pick and the occasional swirl and blow-up happened on the other side.
All of a sudden I see out of the corner of my eye a small buck enter the water and start swimming out, and out, and out, until I lost him at least a mile out. Thought maybe it just tired and drown. About a half and hour later I see a boat high tailing it up the coast and then stop and circle around. Just ahead of it was the deer, it had somehow had the strength to make it back in.
I called by deer-expert-brother who told me that this is the high part of the rut. The two to three weeks where the bucks must reproduce. They lose their minds in the pursuit of does, and it looks like this one did. I hope he scored later in the day, he gets an A for effort.
As I was parking in the dark I could hear no surf. I figured it was flat so I tied on a black Gurgler and made my way down. A few hours into the ebb tide and all that was showing was rain bait flipping in the wash. I walked up and down the beach looking and never saw a splash so I thought it was over.
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| Leif Petersen photo |
Funny thing about that mid-moon tide, it doesn't move much as the tidal range is smaller (in height) than on a new or full moon. West winds produce a blow-out super low tide. So what that means is you either get lucky when the bait is inside the bar, and there's enough water for the fish to be there, or you walk out on the bar and follow the bait as it exits and the predator fish patrol the outer bar.