I got a few surprises today, one I found on the river, and the other came in the mail. I'm not sure which one is more exciting. Today I saw my first double-crested cormorant. I saw one and only one. It must be the first one back from their winter vacation. The New Jersey birds spend their winters down in the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Greater Antilles. They return to New Jersey to breed from April to August. While they are a great bait and fish finder, in large numbers, and they can congregate in very large numbers, they can decimate the number of fishes that they dive down to catch. For me, it's a signal that spring is here, and the herring can't be too far down river.
When I got home from fishing the end of the flood and start of the ebb tide a package was waiting for me. It was from Ru Harvey who sent over some "Beast Cheat Cones" for me to try out. I said a week or so a go that these could be a game changer for those that struggle with tying Beast Fleyes on mono-extensions. They look like they will work great for me who has a big problem with those thread dams
in front of the bucktail. Jersey guy Joe Nicosia posted the below fly he tried with them and he gave the cones solid reviews after a little learning curve sand losing a few to the rug below his tying table. He said he had a little difficulty tying them on 60 lb. mono and that 30 or 40 worked better. He used "normal" Bucktail fibers for the road test not wanting to experiment with his primo tails. I'm going to give them a try over the next coming weekend. Looks like the rain we're having will stick around so it'll give me something to do.
Joe Nicosia