05.11.22 "They're all too big...."

     First time in three years I broke out the fly rod down in Cape May. I am glad I did. Talked to some guys. Asked how's the fishing, "Not too good, they're all too big". Mmmm, doesn't seem like a problem, but these guys are looking for something for the table. Seems like last Thursday before the blow things got good, fish mostly all over 40 inches on bunker. I gave it a go two times, blanked both times. Wish I had the time to stay and get a little dialed in. The winds down there, well, were 

just as sporty as up here. ENE blowing from 25 to 40 mph. Water was off color, but I was told the Delaware Bay gets like that and the fish hit plugs in it. I think with the fly you'd have to drag it across their nose to get a bite. Had the top of the tide both times and the coolest thing was watching 

the dolphins patrolling and working the bunker pods out at the front of the jetties. It's a cool place to fish, and I will be hopefully learning more each time I go. Besides striped bass the weakfish bite is pretty good I am told. I felt I was in Martha's Vineyard, especially when the Cape May- Lewe's Ferry came by.

      As we neared home I looked over at the river, and it looked like it was back to normal. It was the dropping tide so I it was time to break out the waders and hop some rocks. It was a 60 foot cast 

to reach behind the abutment and it was a few strips in before a quick retrieve to avoid getting snagged. I donated two flies with the 350 gr line, but thats's the game you play. All three fish, along with a few other hits, came just as the fly hit the water and it was stripped down to submerge it. Again, it was about a 5 second window before the next cast was needed. My fish below was a male, and he let his sperm go as I released him. I think there is still some late spawning going on. There's a 

local guide up here, Bass Chasers Charters, who is about as dialed in as you cane be. Years of experience and he is always on the river. He had a 30 + fish day, and he found some of the big girls I was talking about. Below is one of his happy clients from today. Still some fun to be had. 

05.09.22 Can we get back to some normalcy...

     So it looks like we are past this latest spring storm. There is a rain gauge down the street from my house and it states we got 1.09 inches of rain. Funny, doesn't seem right as it rained for three days and we got some water in the basement. But look what it did to the Delaware. Went from 12,000 to over 30,000 cfs, and dropped the water temps from 62 to almost 52 degrees. Cool weather is great, but the swings aren't good. 

     As far as the striped bass, it seems the consensus is that the spawn is over, and the fish are high tailing it back to the salt headed to Martha's Vineyard or Block for the summer. But they can still be some opportunity to catch some of these drop back fish and ones that stay around for the summer. It will be fun to drop some rod sizes down and stop chucking that 450 gr line. And then we are all waiting to see what happens this month on the beaches. Could this year be like the 2012-13 late springs?

05.08.22 Happy Mother's Day...

      Another year, another shout out to the Mom's in my life. I have a bunch. First my Mother, Linda, I have known her for 54 years, she's been with me through thick and thin, good and bad, highs and lows. We have shared so many good times together. Don't know if I have missed a Mother's Day with her, maybe when I was working for the Newark Fire Department. But today she is a resident in sunny Florida with her granddaughter Lauren and loving it. Love you Mom. 

     Then my other Mother. I hate the word "step", for both parents and children, it just sounds degrading, always did. I have known Patty for, say, 42 years.... That's a long time. That's through a lot of shit. It's funny I am a second Father, call it Step if you want, to Theresa's three children, but I came in in the bottom of the ninth inning, a lot easier, although there are always challenges with divorce, but I can't imagine doing that when the kids are young. Patty has been there since I was 12, brother 7, and sister 2. No Thank You.....check please. And for dealing with Dad...lol...I can't repay you enough for that. 

     And my wife, Theresa. Great with all of the children. From Patrick, Tara, Juliet, Sean, Lauren and Erin, and with the late Ryan, they are always on her mind and she is always ready to do whatever she can for them. She treats them all equally pretty much across the board, well except for that one favorite. Thanks Bud, love you. 

     And to my children's other Mother's, Michelle and Cindy. Thank You for all of the work that you have but into the children to make them the best they can be. Not always easy, but your love and support has and will pay dividends back. Enjoy the day.

     These are my siblings. Where we are today by the hard work and dedication of our parents, but today we'll make it all about the Mom's. This picture is a tad dated, about 15 years old when we came together to celebrate my Mom's 60th up near Poukipssee, where Jessica was attending the C.I.A. 

     As a fireman I exclusively worked with men. EMS mostly men. Nursing almost exclusively with women when I started, now it is just mostly woman. Now, as a nursing instructor, I am again the only male in the department. So far I am blessed to work with these great Mom's. I don't know there kids but if they are in any way at home like they are nurturing nursing students at work then I'd say they have done a pretty good job. 

05.07.22 No chewin' in the rain....

     Left work in Belleville at 11 pm and wondered all the way home what yesterdays rain had done to the river. If it looked good, and with Theresa and the beasts down in Cape May, it might be the night to pull an almost all nighter. You, know, fish chew good before the storm. And the storm started Friday, Nor'easter, strong winds, 30-50. mph, and a steady soaking rain. But the fish are already wet, so let's go!

     By 2 am I was on the river, just minutes after dead low. Steady cold rain but it was worth the hour or so soaking inching my way out, way out, to catch a seam or channel that might hold fish. Meanwhile I was in contact with fellow-striped-bass-mental disorder-friend Joe who was just finishing up the 1-1/2 hour trip to Brigantine, "Because that's where the big fish are", and you know, big fish bite in the slop, or so they say. For some strange reason I had some good confidence going 

last night, no doubt foolish confidence. With every good cast in and between and around the wind I expected a bite. But I figured I needed some water to get the fish moving up and into their feeding lanes. Luckily there's a WaWa right near there so I was able to get a coffee and a snack before taking an hours nap waiting for the water. When I woke Joe was doing the same in his truck behind me, 

and luckily we weren't in the same vehicle because if the police came and checked on us we would look like we were either cracked out or in a relationship. When I woke and checked the river was up and the clarity was perfect, not gin clear, but not stained. But that point I was matured to the bone and my skeleton was cold. But we did an hours grind both without a tap. I've never been so happy 

as when I got into bed at 530 am and got some warmth going and some much needed sleep. But I woke in a panic, 715, just on the start of the outgoing, perfect. So I hit a different spot which hasn't produced a bass for me all year. The water was just starting to get off color, in the bigger current, but again I thought I could catch a seam or something behind a rock, looking to chew in the slob. The winds had kicked up overnight and the rain began to fall. I worked it for about 45 minutes before throwing in the towel. The big question ow is, will this get the migrating fish to turn tail and 

 head to the salt. My thinking is the major spawn is over, the weather gives them a reason to split, so now its time to start thinking a rod a little lighter than the 12 weight and working the pockets and top water for the males and residents that stick around after what was a fantastic spring 2022. Hopefully we will have good recruitment numbers from the 2022 years class. 

05.06.22 Chew, screw, or gone?

     That was the question I have been asking myself. Boat guys still seeming to find them, a post or two from the spin guys tell the story of good fish still around. There has definitely been a lull in the bite. Did they pause to spawn? Did they spawn and are heading out to the saltwater. Are they still on the spawn? And most importantly what will the next few days of a Nor'easter and deluge of rain due to the bite? Conditions are just about perfect, although the river is running a tad skinny right now and the water is gin clear, which, to me, really shuts down any daytime bite. Below is how we are looking, before the weather event we are about to get tomorrow. 

     Two days fishing the midnight shifts or first light. Right tides. Right spots, or so I thought. One tap tonight which felt more like a walleye than a bass. It should have been better. I really pushed the envelope getting out to rocks on the dropping tide trying to find a good fish. Had a good fly, casts were pretty spot on, but again just one walleye tap I think. I traveled a bit to fish and that didn't pan 

out to feel either. After work yesterday I made a north spot stop and had the perfect tide. Outgoing. Cloud cover. Good looking water and cormorants on the prowl. I'm not sure if that place is a tide 

thing or a tide and time thing. One nice guy said its all about first light there, but I was there early afternoon. This morning before work it was a quick north trip, the water was up and moving, just a tad too much for the fly rod, and I am not sure if the fish have set up in these parts just yet. It was 

then a bounce south and fishing a spot that produces, and with a low tide I thought I might be able to actually fish it right. When the water is up the fly hits the water and heads south. Unless the bass are finning I don't have a shot. 

     And before tonights bust of a trip I hit the salt, my first time this spring. Leif joined me and the first thing we noticed was the shitty south wind. It was a few hours into the incoming and if anything I think a little more water may have gave us better results. It was nice to stand on Ryan's Rock and say hello and make a few casts. At some point I would like to mount a plaque on his rock. It would take some serious drilling and screw mounting but I think it can be done. For those that didn't follow about his rock, after he passed in 2017 I spread some of his ashes from that rock, located on the groin at Phillips Avenue. I think the beach bite may be good coming soon, as the Atlantic City and Brigantine areas seem to be giving up good Chesapeake fish which are on the move north. And there has been a bait bite in the IBSP and LBI areas so its just a matter of time, and if the bunker get pushed in by the migrating bass. But for now, I will still concentrate on home. I wish I had Jim's boat seaworthy to have been able to get in on that Navesink and Raritan Bay bite over the last month. Maybe by the fall or next year she'll be ready.

 

5.04.22 That's just gross...

      Saw this picture Upper Delaware River guide Ray Ottulich posted from a recent night trip he made in his drift boat on the Hudson River. Nice 34 inch male striped bass. How do I know it's a male? Because the fishes sperm is running down Ray's hand. That's just nasty. 

05.02.22 Now there's a little lull in the action....

     Been talking to my boys lately trying to figure out the striped bass' next move. I think we've hit a little lull in the various hot bites that we had come to rely on and enjoy. The bays and rivers, were, well, on fire. Solo anglers and charter captains were fishing in spots they normally don't looking for that early season bite. But it has slowed. Has the water temperatures hit that magical 65 degrees, or close to it, and they have went from staging and eating, to searching for love and getting their spawn on? 

     I don't know, anything, even though I think I do when I discover something new with these fish. They keep changing the game. Have they paused, moved, shut down? The ocean bite is getting better, lots of smaller fish around, with some better and just plain big ones mixed in. The Hook and down in South Jersey have been producing. Today opens fluke season for 2022, it's two at 17-17.99" inches and one over 18". That will work for me as last year my best fluke were 17-3/4" long. 

     Now these guys aren't doing anything wrong, just keeping legal fish. But I can't say enough how I think this 28-38" slot is bad for the striped bass. Yes the big girls aren't being harvested, but are we cutting off our noses to spite our faces? All these year class fish are being harvested as fast as they are being caught, it won't bode well for numbers in 5-7 years. 

     And with the slow down and me content with my recent catches this weekend we opened up our Cape May place. There's aways anticipation that something may had been damaged or the animals moved in for the winter, but luckily we escaped unharmed. It has been our third year down there and I have yet to break out the fly rods. This year I hope to, as I know there is a good population of summering ass there and weakfish are slowly making their comeback. 

 

05.01.22 It only took three years.....

     Thankful. Blessed. Lucky. Skilled angler? Maybe a little of all of the above. So the bite is over and now it is safe to make a post. Good last week, really good. Came back from Florida. Made the drive to Monmouth County a bunch of times. Swamped the S.S. Archer in the pursuit of big fish. And then hit landed several big fish, and the above beauty the F.O.A.L. ( Fish Of A Lifetime). 

     When I swamped my boat I lost my fly wallet and about a dozen of my best ties from the winter. That included some dark ones I had planned on using for the third shift fishing. I made a few and I called the above the "McNasty", and I had it tied in about 20 minutes. Lets just say this fly has been worth its weight in gold. I have tied a few back-ups and they have done just as well. 

     So about the fish at the top of the page? What can I say. 12 weight rod. 450 gr line. 30 pound flouro leader, and the McNasty. Bigger water. Incoming tide. Big fish chasing herring. Sketchy footing and as long as I cast I could make due to the limited backcast. There were other nice fish, like the one below that came to hand before the big girl struck. For her, it was hit and hook set I'll 

never forget. Big fish in big current with a big goof trying to figure out what to do. First challenge was trying to get off the rock I was on and not break my neck, all the while trying to maintain pressure. It was just locked on me and against her, trying to hold my ground as she held hers, with all her effort trying to just turn a little more into the current or just behind that night rock, where she would surely break off. 

    I thought the 12 weight would snap. I thought my know would give. Days after this I lost two big fish when my Partridge Predator 4/0 hooks straightened out, something I didn't think would happen at the time. But I gained inches on her, from way down current, and from the backing, to the running line, to the sinking line she came in. Luckily I wasn't alone that night. My buddy Joe was all into it, and excited, as he has watched me come up blank more nights than not when he and the boys were into them good. 

     The fish was over 40 pounds, even hard for me cradle, so I dropped down into the water for a picture. Thanks to Joe for help landing her and for getting a great picture, which for me, is the picture of a beautiful fish, and one of my time three of all time. The others were 2014, 2018, and this one 2022, so I guess I have another four years to wait to do it again. By then this fish should have worn off. 

     And after that it was nightly changing conditions. Honking wind for days. Cold, that gets into yours bones. Receding water and changing tides all pushed forward an hour or so each day. Throw into that the new moon, with blowout tides due to the strong north winds and each night was unknown until it was over. But there were fish, good ones, that would have made my spring 2022 season, and a three year wait, complete.