With air temps forecasted to hit the 60's and water temps holding around 45 it seemed like a good idea to go and give it one last shot for 2024. Surly there would be a schoolie or two around coming in and sniffing around for something to eat.
I got down to Bradley Beach in the dark and fog and waited for Leif to arrive. It was just about high tide when we got down to the water and it looked promising until we realized we were just
casting and retrieving flies along the sand which is usually not covered by water. I had my eyes set on the East End Avenue groin as it sits higher off the water and is good at high tide. The only problem is getting there can be dicey. Not dicey like injury or death, but more like wet and
miserable. With a two foot swell and the top of the tide it called for waiting it out a bit. We fished both sides from that groin and another before the tide ebbed. Leif went to another pile of rocks
and I stayed and played Double-Dutch with the waves before getting out and up on them. More importantly I didn't take any water over the bow. I think we were both confident that we might catch a bass between us. Good looking water, lots of it, birds in and about looking and picking, and the weather for late December was comfortable.
I gave both sides and and off the tip a solid effort before coming to the realization that the late winter fish, albeit smaller, just haven't been hanging around like they have done in years past. I can remember when Andy would come out doing the last season and have 30 fish days on his light spin set up with a chicken scratch Bomber. Those days are gone now, not sure why but they are.
When I got home I hit Facebook and this memory came up from 2016. It was a post from eight years ago, you can see that
HERE, where I was lucky to bring eleven fish to hand. That's they way it used to be, a time when if you put your time in you caught, something, or at least the fish were around, even during the colder months.
So after few hours we were done, confident that if there was a fish or two around we would have caught one. It'll be months, like five, before Leif and I fish together again on the beach. A lot can happen in that time and I hope we're lucky enough to spend a another year fishing together. I'd love to do a Martha's Vineyard run again next year. It's early but it's time to start thinking.
