If you live on the Jersey Shore, and have a pulse, and fly fish, I hope you're not reading this until late Saturday afternoon. It's go time, and you should have went. While I am floundering down here in the mud of the Lowcountry you up north are just getting into the swing of the Fall Run. I know the boats have been into them good with some hitting the beach, but unless you go you'll never know, and it's time to know.
While the participation will be heavy right out of the low-tide-at-first-light gate the day and tides look great. As you know those bass can push in at any time and there's some dandy's swimming around out there. What would I do? First light at The Hook and work my way south, no matter what anyone is saying on social media. I would even consider a long walk in the dark to have that first light hit me in the face.
And it's October 31st. Boy do I remember Halloween, or Blitz-O-Ween 2014. You've seen the above picture here and in some of the popular fly fishing books. It was a day to remember. So much that I'd thought I would share my top three best striped bass fishing outings. Above was me, all alone, except for Bob Dooley who snapped the picture, at Pullman Avenue in Long Branch. You can read about that banner day, HERE.
And coming in second was the largest striped bass I ever landed on a fly rod. That happened one April night in 2022. I was out with a few Delaware River rats that night and was pretty much getting in everyone's way with the fly rod, like I always did when I fished with the spin rod guys. They were always kind and I tried my best to stay clear. I had positioned myself on a rock upriver from them when the below beast hit. Thanks to "JoJo" Passerella for the picture, without it it would be hard to remember. And there's no old post to send you to because back then I would have been banished from the river if I posted anything that would spot burn or bring attention to that fishery, so the story was never told.
And coming in third, mostly because they were boat fish, was an outing I had with Joe Pheifer on November 2nd, 2018, a day when all the boats stayed tied up at the docks or in guy's driveways. We took a shot, and it paid off. This was at a time when catching 40's and 50's was unheard of. Well we had a mackerel bite around Flynn's Knoll that I've never seen before, and never will. You can read about that day, HERE.
I do remember bringing my fancy cameras and took great pictures of the bait and bass on the surface as well as us with some very big specimens Joe had landed. Luckily we took a few with the iPhone, like the one Joe snapped above. It was when I got home I realized I never put a memory card in the camera. I just needed one picture to always remember.
I have had some great days, on foot and on the JB Cape Fishermen. More fish days. Just good fun days. Good company days. And while I just like fishing for striped bass it's always nice to have a numbers day, or a big fish day, or even just a Nat Geo day happening in front of you day. And for me, it's always better when you're alone or just with your buds. I hate crowds, but got used to that fly fishing the Jersey Shore.
So if you went, I hope you found life in front of you. If you went and didn't catch it, it will be happening sooner then later. The bunker bite, peanuts or adults, it something to experience before the later sand eels filter in.
Ok, enough about fishing....
Sell yesterday we took a ride over to that used car lot to check in on the pick-up. When I first drove by early in the mornin, to my horror, it wasn't in the same spot as it was yesterday, but luckily it was just moved a few spots away.
Theresa and I talked with the owner and his son and daughter that own the business. Nice people. I trust them. I think it's a good deal. They did the work as promised while we were away which included a new radiator and some new gaskets for some oil leaks. We're having to do a kinda lay-away until next month which they were okay with. Now we just need the financing company to give us the green light.
They insisted we take it for a ride and to "take our time" so I headed to Zips Car Wash to give it a nice bath. It was already clean but I just wanted to, so I did. Before we dropped it back off I pulled over for a quick photo to which Theresa just shook her head and said, "You're such a goof", and she's kinda right.
After I dropped Theresa off I took a ride to check out the flood tide, which had done exactly that. There was water everywhere and no signs of life to be found. With enough of a north wind to make seeing any surface activity difficult I broke out the binoculars, which didn't help at all.
Tonight there's some Halloween type gatherings throughout Sun City, but you had to pre-purchase tickets for them. We were away when they went on sale and aren't really in the know with where, when, and how, you do things around here. If things went my way today, and we had tickets, I wouldn't have dressed up in a costume. I would have went as a happy guy who just brought a new-to-him old pick up truck. And he would have been joined by his loving spouse who is always supportive, well more like an enabler, and could have dressed up as bobblehead doll, just shaking her head with her goofy husband at her side.
