It's October. Starting to feel like fall. Day off from work. And the ocean isn't as angry as it has been. Might as well take the drive down and give it a go. Conditions were near perfect on the mid to the end of the incoming tide. Little swell, zero wind, beautiful morning.
When I got there it was calm and the waves built with the flood tide. No signs of bait, or birds, or life, for that matter. Making cast after cast with little expectation I couldn't help but think of my buddy Bob, fighting for his life in a hospital five miles away. It made me sad. He's had such an impact on my fishing life, and as a mentor on what it means to be a good man. Hard working, kind, humble. There's a myriad of other adjectives other people, who see him on a daily basis, could use to describe him.
It wouldn't be far to think that I don't think of him each time I tie flies or fish. When someone has totally influenced every part of something you love those gifts come whether you are aware of them or not. In fly tying it's the technique. While fly fishing it starts with the fly selection and then how to fish it reading the cues of bait movement and reading the water. He has influenced all of that. This morning as I left I bumped into an old friend from the beach, Bob Dooley, who I haven't seen in years. He made me
think of Bob when he gave me a, "Remember when..." story. It was a throwback to Blitz-O-Ween 2013 and he took a photo of me that made it into Bob's book, something I am honored to have been a part of.
Things on the beach are looking better than the last time I was down. The near three weeks of NE winds and storms have cut up the beaches and pulled the shoaled up sand out and up along the beach. So much so that the ACOE are dredging the False Hook once again, which has become an annual event. "The Tip" will be shut down again until December. The groin was the place to be this morning even on the flood tide.
There is now enough water on each side making getting up on and staying possible. While it was great to have that vantage point it didn't change the catch results which were zero. I heard yesterday it was a Fluke-A-Thon on the lower tide, too bad the season closed September 25th.
I was joined on the rocks by Leif who gave it a good go as I did without results. But, like he said, it was good to get out. It was a good opener to the fall even if there wasn't anything going on. Fly fishing for striped bass, outside of looking for the blitzes, is one of time spent. You have to almost fish it or at least drop down to the beach everyday to stay connected. October is usually that slow month between the early migration of mullet and the arrival of striped bass and bluefish, which are a mix of resident and migratory fish. But as we wait for the November action to heat up, while it cools down, there are those surprise days where the fishing is good, with good and big fish caught, rewarding the angler putting in the time.
I started with a blackish fly before going over to a chartreuse and white one. The water was just about green and was clean with very good visibility. If they were there we would have caught at least one. We stayed until the water started to act like it was washing machine, which can be good, but we had given it
a good go and had lost some faith since neither of us had a bite. We made our way off the rocks and caught up on life and a little about our predictions for this fall's fishing. It's funny how those fishing relationships wax and wane over the year depending on the season. I'm tight with some guys out here who fish the Delaware and then some who spend most of their time in the salt. The first outing of the seasons is like a reunion, and one that I very much look forward to.
When I was done I stopped by Bagel Talk in Neptune for something to eat and then hit WaWa for something to drink. As I walked to my truck I looked to my left and saw The Hope Tower which is part of Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore Medical Center. I thought of Bob once again. As a Nurse Practitioner I can visualize what's going on with Bob even without the updates. His road is still rocky and long towards recovery.
