Well, here ya go. I was due for some torture and I took it like a man. First I had to check with the boss to kinda get a feeling how receptive she would be with me leaving at 1230 am. She's been great with the 330-5 am fishing outing and 530 am work departures. This would be a tad earlier. You see, I get up, then the dogs get up, and then she gets up. I can understand the frustration, let's see if I'm safe....
So I was out the door at 1242 still tired from a long day and a few hours of sleep. I left without making so much as a peep. All I needed was some WaWa coffee and I'd be good to go. I hit the same store each time I fish, Exit 16 off 195. This morning when I got there I couldn't believe the amount of
people there, all ordering food, especially the new WaWa pizzas. Soon I overheard all the talk of the disappointing Fright Fest over at Six Flags where entry tickets are $106 a piece and parking is $45. Those are Disney numbers, well at least they were at one time.
I made a stop "out back" and was shocked to find pretty much no water. I pulled up the tide chart to see if I had read it wrong and I was spot on. Now, last night was the First Quarter Moon, halfway to the October Hunter's Moon, which is the next full, coupled with a hard west wind yesterday with a WNW then. It was the start of the outgoing so I knew we'd have a blowout tide, even on the 1st Quarter.
My plans didn't change. I had four spots in mind and I went to the first. I was praying for a sand eel bite and I double checked my box to make sure nothing else jumped out me before I rigged up. I went
with the fly I tied the night before hanging behind a black Deceiver. When I rolled up to the waters edge the birds were up and really looking and dipping. Now this is one of those stretches where the homeowners have the spot lights shined out onto the beach. It lights it up pretty well and I think the bait
and birds are attracted to the light which may attract the bass. My sand eel fly was led by a J.M. Pulse Disc and I will tell you this. If you have an outgoing tide, with a west wind, and want to add action and vibration to your fly, especially in low light, a Pulse Disc is the only way to go. Even on this weak
moon tide and lack of real current I could feel the pulsation of the fly on each retrieve. I couldn't believe that for over 2 hours I didn't get bit. Frustrated, and by about 430 am I started to dream of a baker in Neptune putting my bagel in the oven, I made a move to my next planned spot. This time of year you have to move, either on foot, by truck, or by boat. So I went out to the groin tip because there wasn't
water on the beach, even halfway through the ebb tide. Again, I was just waiting to feel the take, on either fly, bigger one up front and the vibrating pulsating one in the back. I fished hard and continued to do so through the night. I was waiting for something to change. About an hour and a half later I had
waded myself out into the water with my toes dangling over the edge of the first sand bar. I figured maybe they were out a bit and it was worth getting wet as every 10th wave came in hot. I climbed onto
a notched groin to work the northeast corner. There was a decent south to north sweep so I thought what better a place for a bass to lay in wait for some breakfast to pass overhead. Yeah, forget it. I got excited
when about a dozen birds started to fly back and forth in front of me after the sun came up. Finally, ninth inning action.....yeah, no. By then participation had increased with anglers spaced out on the beach and at each groin tip. Nothing really going on and really the only move if on foot would be to walk out to the sand bar as there wasn't anything inside, if you could even find a cut for the fish to use as an exit.
So now what? It was about a little after 7 am. I took a swig of the backwash from my 6 hour old coffee and it was all cold grinds....yuk. My bagel was calling me. I was wet, a little cold. Uninspired.
But I thought this. Theresa was heading to NYC at 930. It was say 730. Why go home? If I was in the doghouse what could I do in a half an hour to make it better. If I was good then why miss an opportunity to see a few spots and see what's going on. So I circled back to where my night started
a full ebb tide ago. I reluctantly got out of my Jeep and took the walk and to my surprise it was going off out a bit. So I went back and got my stuff which this time included the two-hander and the popper and large bunker fly trailer. There were two kids there fishing and that was it. It was pretty cool to
be out there. Would I have a shot? Well, to be honest I was spent and my two-hander skills, well suck, so while was casting further than a one hander I wasn't in the zone, in fact neither were the spin anglers most of the time. But, what if they pushed in, rather than the bunker just stay in that 600 foot straight
line running parallel to the beach. Besides the possibility of having a chance to catch a big bass the blow-ups were great. Bluefin, dolphins, birds, bass, and I'm sure some blues kept the interest going. At one point I watched an approaching center console making it's way south and I thought, "I wonder if he'll see this?", as there was a little lull in the action. Just as they approached there was some top water
action going on and they made a hard right. They came right into it and I think they may have caught one fish. As the action continued I waited for the cell phone network to kick in but the only anglers that joined in, it appeared, were those just walking the beaches and looking. And as far as the beach guys
there was one 38" fish caught by a guy snagging and dropping. You can't snag and drop from the shore, well you can't do it from a boat either, as it is an illegal way to target striped bass. How are you going to cast out a 12 inch bunker after transferring it to a circle hook while on the beach? I haven't seen too many boats reeling in bunker, you know how they skim right across the surface, and then put them on a circle hook rigged rod and then tossing them out. I have seen the kerplunks of livies taken out of the livewells and tossed. One thing I've seen from anglers and Captains, in both social media and even in print media, is their outrage on snag and drop fishing, holding fish incorrectly, and their position on
not killing striped bass- only to see more of the real truths in their pictures and comments in their own and responses to other posts. Not that I'm the hold-you-to-it-police but it's out there. No doubt there is a lot of snag and dropping going on this fall....period. And not all bass can properly mouth and lip hook a 12 inch bunker and a 10/0 snag and drop hook. But, anyway, I'm sick of that discussion.
Before I called it a day I stopped down south a bit to find more of the same of what I had "found" earlier in the morning which made me feel a bit less special. In fact, before the wind really kicked up, there was a line of bunker with some bass on them from Sandy Hook to IBSP. After pulling up at a nice
viewing spot my fishing buddy and his wife rolled in. They come from Pa. so I felt their driving pain. There are a fishy couple so I guess it was like a date. Some of the other guys from the out-west crew found some fish early down in Ocean County and one of them broke a rod on a monster fish I hope? I don't have the total story yet but I'm sure I'll hear about it.
And then it was go time. I haven't been this excited about a bagel in awhile. Now this isn't my first rodeo at Bagel Talk as I used to live not too far over in Wanamassa about 15 years ago. But in these days of my life, at this moment, these bagels are making me very, very happy. I waited a little longer than usual due to the Sunday crown and when they called order #239 I swallowed that bagel like a 50 pounder inhales one of those bunkers and
washed it down with an ice cold milk. On my way home after checking the Belmar beaches I saw the below house. More of the same, the buying of once beautiful shore homes, only to knock them down and build anew. That house was built like a brick shithouse, I could see inside, but I am sure the new owners wanted "an open floor plan" or something to make making their investment worth it.
So in the end- 8 hours of fishing, working the 2 am - 10 am shift. Not a touch with the sand eel or anything else. No real shot at the bigger bass chasing bunker as they didn't push them on the beach. One nice thing was there was hardly any boats out there. They are just a distraction. The walk and waders all played nice and their wasn't alot of them. Fall is here. It'll start getting cold. I'm looking forward to fishing the Delaware River in the spring already.
And then there's....
