Today was the best day for me to hit Monmouth County. I set my alarm for 4 am last night and after a tossing an durning sleep I overslept and awake at 545. It really was okay because low tide was around 4 am. The fog was in full effect due to the high air temperatures and the high dew point which condenses into fog over the ocean. By the time I left at 9 am it was just starting to burn off.
Yesterday when I decided that I was going I ran upstairs and sat down to a very disorganized fly ting table. It was that way because when I left for the Vineyard I ramshackle through my stuff and since haven't been able to withstand the torturous temperatures in that room to tidy it up. I found what I
needed and banged out a couple of "AMC's" (Archer's Mole Crab). Mole crabs are summertime staple for striped bass, fluke, and other rooting type of predators. At some point on social media I saw a
photo of the stomach contents of a bass that was kept for the table. You can see how much of a trough stalker this fish was. Mole crabs, sand fleas, sand bugs, whatever you want to call them they must be a
good source of nourishment during the summer. I can picture the bass, with a reddened bottom jaw, just patrolling the trough with mouth open almost raft feeding on all the mole crabs displaced by the wave action on the beach scarp. Today when I tied up my offerings I went high-low trying to mimic a small crowd os sand fleas. As a bonus I bought along a bottle of anise to add a little scent that might attract
a bass from outside of the beach zone. I had high hopes because I had just tied up these flies and after getting wet I could feel the ocean temps had come up since the last time I was here. Couple that with an incoming tide with heavy fog cover and I thought I was in for at least one of some kind of fish.
I fished hard, like technical hard. I had put on my Cortland Ghost Tip floating line thinking the water was low and I wouldn't want to be dragging the line through the target zone. The only problem, just for a bit, was the AMC's are tied using foam bodies, which float, and the barbell eyes inside were just enough to keep them below the surface. So I had to high stick my offerings around the trough rather than strip them in slowly, or they would have just been pulled across the top of the water and waves.
After reminiscing yesterday about 'The Hump" I made sure I made my way down there and worked both sides of the rocks sticking out of the man made beach. It looked good and I anticipated a pick up
after every cast. Almost three hours in and I started to lose hope. The sun was starting to burn off and I could feel the heat of the sun coming through the clouds. I don't think it was the flies I offered that
didn't get it done it was just a no fish kinda day. After a good morning I picked up my son Sean and we hit Bagel Talk for the usual before swinging by to see my daughter Juliet who was down the Shore for the holiday weekend. It was some time during the morning I looked over and saw the water on the mat
of the passenger side. Looking further the rug was soaked, like bathing in water. I first thought heater coil but at home and on You Tube learned that Jeep's commonly have leak in and around the air conditioning drain. Hopefully I can get it fixed without having to forego using the A/C.