09.03.23 Christmas in September and on the board for fall 2023...

     My change counting and gift card plan worked perfectly and yesterday was the payoff. Came home to find two packages from Orvis. One had the Christmas Island Booties and the other the PRO bootfoot zip waders. I tried them on again and thank God Theresa put me at the Plymouth Meeting Mall last weekend where I tried on the L11 which was spot on. 

     If you get these waders don't cheap out and forget to buy the Posigrip studs. These are the best I have had hands down. The waders come with a beefy but not too heavy, like the old Muck boots,  Michelin

made soles.  Orvis even went ahead and made location "holes" in the sole for proper placement. The Posigrips come with a tool that works with your screw gun. Just a word of caution. The studs don't seat hard into the socket and it's easy to lose grip on them when you are pushing them into the rubber sole. If you are going to install them don't be like me and do it outside, on a brick patio, next to plant bed, 

which is made of black mulch and has the usual weeds and leaves and stuff. Mine must have hit the bricks and bounced perfectly into the brush. They're kinda black and green so it took me to get on 

my knees with my cheaters on to find not just one, but three. If you're in the market for a pair of waders that you can beat the piss out of with confidence, and replace as needed, or treat them like a baby and have them for life. They are built really solid and after abusing, by use, the stocking foot PRO ZIPS

this spring in the Delaware these will meet and exceed my expectations. I want to explore the wader sock market a bit and see what's out there. Orvis offers, and I purchased, the Midweight OTC (over the calf) Wader Sock. For $37.95 I expected to feel some sort of difference while and after using them. They just felt like a old pair of high rise socks. They are made of merino wool and can double as a pair of wet wading socks which I'm not on board with because I feel these things stretch out enough just after normal washing and drying and not a daily wet grind of wet feet in flats boots. 

     And just like a kid getting a new bike I wanted to ride it. Luckily I had a needed early night run back east so why not stop and fish. One nothing's for sure that gas gauge doesn't move right to left in a Jeep Cherokee as it does in a Silverado. That eases the ride of shame home for sure. 

     I arrived just before high slack and waited and watched for something to make me get into it. A splash here and a splash there as little bluefish slashed through pods of bait moving with the tide. That bait is surely making it's way out front so I wouldn't be surprised if someone gets into fish on this bait. That could include blues, bass, bonito, albies or Spanish. 

    I didn't pull as long a shift as I did on the moon the other night but it was close. As the water ebbed I found some bass set up in feeding lanes willing and ready to eat a fly. While the bass were nice the annoying blues were well annoying. Biting off tiny flies and keeping me retying. I didn't want to go wire leader as it would just kill the presentation of tiny white bait. If I was looking to eat (yes I known they're delicious...I'm good) or needed to harvest them for shark or tuna bait I would have. But the bass don't like wire ahead of a snack. 

     Good to be on the board for Fall 2023. I hope it's not a few fish September and then that long wait until November like it has been in recent years. We're about 2 weeks from when the mullet usually run and those mornings can be magical with a mix of beautiful sunrises and upper water column wakes that run the beach followed by blow-ups from striped bass.