We'll see if "AC is Bangin'" this year. That's a catch phrase from One Stop Bait & tackle which calls that jetty home. The latest beach replenishment project in New Jersey just finished after 1,278,000 cubic yards of sand were pumped onto Absecon Island with some of it near the Absecon Inlet. That at just a cost of $38,000,000. The picture above is standing on the jetty looking towards the Ocean Casino Resort, originally aka Revel.
That jetty is a crowd favorite for those from "Monopoly City" and is known as a great eel soaking place. On one side you have, well had, a great pocket on higher water, and on the other
the opening to the inlet with Brigantine Beach just across the drink. It's a great place for post-spawn stripers to stop over for a night of revelry and a good meal on their way up north. Below is a updated picture after the project was just about completed.
If you look up a bit you can see the nub of a groin there which is known as the Vermont Avenue Jetty. It was there in 1978 when Al McReynolds landed what was the once World Record striped bass which weight 78 pounds 8 ounces.
You know the problem with "nourishment". Any troughs and pockets get destroyed which holds crustaceans, shellfish, and baitfish, which attracts predators. What you wind up with are gently sloped beaches that extend forever, until the ebb and flow of tides pulled the sand off the beach forming sand bars. And that sand south of the jetty and inlet will migrate north with the littoral current and shoal up. Below you can see how the beach and the groins and jetty looked before the pumping began.
The beach sits in front of the Ocean Casino Resort and is a big draw for guests and locals alike. So I am sure the money and politics of it all came into play. Tourists means money. Money means politics and this time Frank Pallone isn't involved, that's Congressman Chris Smith's territory.
Ocean County will get the pleasure of their beaches being replenished as work is about to begin from this week into the summer. Below is a tentative schedule,
- Seaside Heights and Park (Jan & Feb)
- Ortley Beach (Feb and March)
- Lavalette (March)
- Bay Head into the Manasquasn Inlet (During the spring)
- Mantoloking (During the spring)
- Brick Beaches (Early summer)
- Toms River - Northern beaches (early summer)
This go around will cost just $73 million dollars. The last Ocean County project, completed in 2019, had a price tag of $130 million attached to it. According to the Asbury Park Press $2.6 billion has been spent replenishing beaches since 1922 and $500 million of that since 2012 when Sandy hit.
Just in time for the fall. "New Jersey and You", and striped bass, perfect together.