03.05.24 Long Branch will have it's fishing pier back....

      After a fire destroyed the Long Branch Fishing Pier in 1987 this week it was announced that construction will begin to replace it starting in 2025. The first pier opened in 1828 and there have been several versions of it over the last century until the fire in the late 80's ended its run. 

      I remember the day the pier burned. It was on June 8, 1987. I was working as a photographer for The Register which was based in Red Bank. On that day my boss Carl Forino had sent me down to The Photo Center in Brick to pick up darkroom supplies or film or something. Back then we had no cell phones. To get tipped off to breaking news someone had to have their ears glued to the police scanner

or we would get tipped off by land line phones. It was the early years of the beeper, and each of us had one. The fire started under the pier and grew rapidly, and was over relatively quickly. While I was in the camera store, and probably spending more time than I needed, it was all going down, literally, back up in Long Branch. William Perlman was a photographer working that day and got there relatively quick and did a good job shooting the fire.  

     Since I hade no portable scanner I was unaware what was happening. As I was leaving my pager went off telling me to call the photo desk.  It was then I learned of the fire and I asked my boss Carl if he needed me to go, and he knew I wanted to, but he said, "No, just come back". As I drove north on the Parkway I could see the smoke off to my right. I did as I was told and having picked up the supplies I returned to the paper. Later that afternoon I caught a car accident that occurred after the high schools let out. So basically, I missed the historic news of the day.

     The pier sat and rotted for about 10 years before it was removed in the late 1990's. Long Branch back then wasn't all that and a bag of chips like it is today. Nobody cared. These days Pier Village is a 

summer hot spot for the young, and the rich and famous. Yes, you can take your ghetto-ass self there and walk around, but really you don't belong, and most likely can't really afford it more than once every few months. It's the same thing down in Asbury Park. But that's okay, that's how money works. 

     Frank Pallone proudly announced that he secured 3.25 million dollars for the project, which is laughable, because that wouldn't cover the beach replenishment to go under the pier. The pier will be 500 feet out into the ocean and I am sure the total cost would be somewhere around 20 million dollars. 

     So it is being billed as the return of the Long Branch Fishing Pier. Be careful what you wish for, and how you pimp it all out. The above scene isn't what today's fishing piers look like. People don't get dressed up to go fishing. Just imagine blitzing bass way out in the Atlantic Ocean and the plug chuckers with 11 foot rods, the locals with rods with busted off tips soaking cut bunker, and delusional fly rodders throwing flies 30 feet down into the fray, as people walk out for a stroll.

     And after that nice young family enjoys their $350 brunch at McCloone's they'll take a walk on said pier where the smell of dead bait permeates the air and the bloodbath murder scene from the previous night caught gator bluefish that saturates the boards. The radios will blare the favorite tunes of the day, ones they won't be familiar with. There will be over-filled garbage cans with old coffee containers from 7-11, and wrappers from food joints up on Broadway. The sea gulls will be overhead taking shit-shots at the family as they navigate the bikes, tackle boxes, and cigarette smoke. 

     I don't know if I would call it a fishing pier until you take a visit to some of the other fishing piers we have in the New York and New Jersey area. No, Ocean Grove doesn't count and Belmar has a lock at the entrance. The pier is either a fishing pier, like Keansburg is above, or it isn't.  So be careful what you wish for while trying to satiate and include everyone, the words already out.

    The location for the new pier will be at Laird Avenue which is right at the circle where Pier Village begins. No doubt it will be closed at night, heavily patrolled and monitored via camera, and won't be what fishing piers have historically been for ocean front towns along New Jersey in the past. We'll see.

 

03.04.24 Let the insanity begin...

     Stacked. Loaded. Nada. Three days, three states, three rivers. Well opening day for me came and I wet a line Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I did it in the dark, and light, in the sun, and rain, and in the still air, and in the wind. I know it's early, what could I expect. I started out in spots unknown with kinda high hopes of finding an early bass. 

     It was a beautiful spot, as you can see above, and if not for the arctic air that blew in on Thursday I might have had a chance. I cracked opened the gun safe and went with my mummichog imitations.

     After a quick smash-down of the barbs I was off. I was just waiting for a nibble but that never came. When I jumped spots I met a guy who was leaving who landed a 26 inch bass. Then my hopes got 

higher. I went from fishing the dead low through the incoming. Hitting spot 1, then spot 2, then back to spot 1 for the finale. I made a fly change hoping that would maybe give them a different look. If I didn't

see that guys pic of his bass I would say they just aren't eating yet. But he was using a small white rubber lead-headed thing low and slow in the deeper water which was out aways. As much as I thought that the warming morning sun would get them onto the mud flats that didn't happen, but soon it will. 

     Back home it was to nice too not give it a go so I did. I came tight and wasn't going to miss the hook set on a beautifully placed rock. It only caused a slight increase in my heart rate and it wound up being my first donated large fly to the river. Not wanting to piss off the wife on opening weekend I thought I'd make Saturday, albeit a rainy and cold one, all about her. That was until I got a call from a friend who said, "I'm going". That's all I had to hear. That didn't go over well with Theresa, and it was on opening day. 

     We met up at 5 am and took the drive and gave it a good effort in the rain, cold, and wind. Hey, it is what it is. One day it will happen and make all the time and effort worth it. The rain continued to come down and by Sunday it was done but the river still had some catching up to do. It caused a bump, but not too bad. I again gave it a try on both the high and ebbing tides. At least I didn't lose any flies. 

    The Raritan Bay is looking good temperature wise and soon that will be a good spot for those fishing from the beaches and rocks. They say 50 degrees is go time and we're not too far away, even if it's early.

     Back home we're a couple of degrees behind but I'll take 45 on March 3rd all day, maybe. It's really not what's good for us but more for the bass, and the shad and herring. It looks like we're gonna get 

some rain this week and that doesn't really help because it just bumps the river and then it drops like a rock. We really need those good winters back, at least in the hills, which is where good water comes from through the aquifer system and leads to a healthy river. Tons of water, that blows it out, and then is gone, isn't good.  I checked the surfers website and it says that Deal is coming in at 45 degrees. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a bite down there on the right tide. 

     I'm happy it's go time. Last year that first fish came for me on March 9th. It'll be good to get the first one under my belt. I'm entering a schedule change at work and it'll be four long days Mon -Thurs. for the next six weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to find some time to wet a line. The idea sounded good when we put the class schedule together, now I just want to fish all the time. But it's okay, it's still way early. 

03.03.24 Let me circle back about bounties for striped bass...

     If you been reading this blog for several years you know I get up on my soap box about bounties for striped bass. It's never a personal attack or telling someone how to legally enjoy the sport, even if that means killing striped bass. My opinions, or comments, are more fact-seeking based and usually ask more questions than provide answers. But one of the first days on bounties for striped bass occurs down in Atlantic County. The Absecon Bay Sportsmen's Center has been doing this for years. A bunch of prizes for the first striped basses of that year. While all in good fun, and legal, there was always a hint of suspectness that went along with it. For years anglers would hit the Oyster Creek outflow in the wee hours of the morning for a quick fish and run down the Parkway to Abesecon to enter the fish for a check. 

     Then it became a little more suspect when anglers used to hit multiple shops who were running the same kind of event. That does a few things, it gives the angler an opportunity to cash in at several stops, and these days, gives them an opportunity at internet stardom. 

     Last week I wrote a piece questioning, "Should we be running striped bass tournaments these days?". I referred to the opening day check give-a-way and other tournaments up and around the striper states. My goal isn't to judge, it's to raise awareness. How can we have people stating, "Shut it down", in order to rebuild it, and then have tournaments targeting them, and sometimes having one-dayers in a single body of water. Anyway, I got some texts, some emails and some comments back on the post. 

     One comment that stood out was, "This was not necessary at all". Okay, I'm okay with someone's opinion. It's a free world, it's free speech, we all have to pull our big boy pants on. But what left me hanging was no other insight as to why it wasn't necessary? It's kinda like by raising the question I had done something wrong. I touched a nerve that shouldn't have been touched. But I still offer my question out there for discussion, "Should there be bounties, even catch and release, for striped bass these days?". Let's think, North Carolina has just about made their state 100% catch and release. I have a good idea, let's take a Saturday and run a C & R tournament. Mmmm. Doesn't sound right to me, and I think the striped bass would agree.

     On Friday morning before I headed out for a shot at my own opening day bass I took a look on Facebook. Absecon already had the first guy showing up before 6 AM to claim his prize. I'm thinking to myself, "Hey, nice legal fish for the table", and if I wasn't me, why not swing by my local tackle shop and see if I could cover some bait or fill up my tank. But if I were going to "Take one for the table", I would have "dispatched" it, as they say in hunting, gutted it, bled it out, and put it on ice. That's the way to prepare a fresh fish before you prepare it for dinner. But then things got interesting....

     After my own failed attempt for an opening day bass I came home, and like I'm programmed or something, I opened up Facebook. "Hey, there's that guy from this morning", I thought to myself. This time he and his fish were gracing the One Stop Bait & Tackle Shop in Atlantic City page , just 10 minutes away from the Sportsmen's Center. He must have made the call home to the family to come and join 

him for the weigh in. Hey, it's all good. Not sure what he won at One Stop but he did get a big congratultions from the shop for a job well done. This fish was probably caught 8 hours earlier at this point. I think I'd be done after one shop with the tour-de-La-30.75" striped bass. What I do like is the multiple hat and outfit changes he does throughout the morning...well played! Just kidding around bro. 

     But then it just got ugly. I watched it go down from Friday into Saturday into this morning. There was a similar situation brewing with another angler. This is the guy who was displeased with my post regarding tournaments/bounties on striped bass. And again, that's fine, don't judge me, and I won't judge you. Although, they say, "Don't throw stones in glass houses". So I saw another post from Dave Showell 

announcing the second place winner who took home a check for $200. But what interested me was was this just another fish trolled around to multiple shops to claim multiple prizes? Now let's be clear- all those catch and kill tournaments that used to run and were participated in by the Jersey Shore fishing clubs did the same thing as well. And most of the time those big fish were killed for bragging rights, and then either given away or tossed in the dumpster because they were either caught a night ago or hours and hours ago. 

     And then bass #2 made it's rounds. This time Scott's Bait and Tackle in Tuckerton posted up the 1st bass of the year and handed over the $200 prize. All of this for a sub-31 inch striped bass. Now, let me say it again, a legal fish, and I guess within the rules of the contests or tournaments? Interestingly, Abescon Bay in their post acknowledges that "the" fish had made a stop at another shop before it rolled down into Absecon. But it wasn't over....

     That fish had yet another stop in its "Era's Tour" making it out onto Long Beach Island to hit the Fishermen's Headquarters for their official "first weigh in". By then the fish had to be cooked through. But then question is, where was this fish caught? Was it a north fish that made it's way south on it's opening day migration or was it a southern caught fish traveling north on the Parkway?

     That fish is the most popular fish on the internet for opening day weekend. A quick scroll around and I saw Art's Tackle and Fly Shop up in Nanuet, New York had posted the same fish. This time there was no contest prize just an update on New Jersey's opening day success. And then things got real interesting, and maybe a tad more ugly. 

     The internet and social media can be a great place, or not. As we all know there are a lot of internet tough guys out there. Sometimes people, all of us included, deserve a poke or two depending on how we put ourselves out there. I try and watch what I say and post, and one day, it'll be my turn in the hot seat. 

Oh wait, I had my 15 minutes of shitty fame. Yep, that's me on the bow in December 2020. They all had a blast with it. It is what it was regardless of the story behind it. But one thing I will say is I always get a kick out of the memes. They just make me laugh. The hits just kept coming with this fish over the weekend, and hopefully they will soon go away. Fun, yes, but personal attacks, to me, are always not cool. 

     Might there be a lesson here all the way around, including for the folks that run these bounty events, yes. There's nothing wrong with putting the time in, usually just after midnight on a cold March 1st, and then going to your local tackle shop and sharing the story along with the fish. I think that's what it is intended for. Hell, even if I made the trip south I could enter in, it's all legal and within the rules. But be careful what you wish for. 

     So I leave the question up, yet again, for discussion, "Should we be having striped bass tournaments, and contests, with a bounty on their head, for striped bass these days?" And no matter which side of any position you have it's always a good time to have a discussion, either way. It raises awareness, and can lead to positive change, even if in the end you have to give a little back for the common good. 

     And today is the Asbury Park Fishing Flea Market. No doubt this whole mess will be a topic for discussion and the butt of even further jokes. To the guys involved, this too shall pass. In the end I say, back at ya', "This was not necessary at all". 

     

03.01.24 I'm a little late to the party....

    The last few years Blane Chocklett has really brought some great innovations to fly tying and fly fishing. He brought us the Gummy Minnow a ways back, then the Game Changer, now the Feather and 

Jerk Changer. I saw Blane swim the Jerk Changer up in Newport at this years Stock the Box. Like all other flies, the Jerk Changer has its time and place. But the beauty of fly innovation is that you can take techniques and materials and apply them to flies you tie for the fish you target. 

     Last year I was fishing with a buddy who let me fish through a spot. I was throwing a big Surface Seducer with all kinds of stuff hanging off the back. After 1,000 casts he said, "Are you done"? He then

took out a 9 inch Doc Spook and on the second cast I watched a 30 pound bass blow up on it. After we released it I reeled my line in and told him I was good. Bob Popovic's always states fly design is done to solve a problem, like a fishing problem. So I have a problem. It's not a bait to fish problem- it's a fishing next to a spin fishermen problem. And while there's always the "If you can't beat em' join em" approach to things, I choose to stick with the fly but I have to come up with something different. 

     A few years back Chase Smith came out with a Spiral Spook that came to market through Fly Men Fishing Fishing Co. These look, and swim, like a Spook but they are only available in size 1 and 2. I'm looking for a 6/0 or 8/0 version. Below, Champlain Flyworks offers a 6 inch Topwater Game Changer 

which is nice but has the same Surface Seducer head and kind of travels in a straight line during the retrieve, the same action that my poppers have been giving me. I need to come up with something else. 

     When Blane first introduced the shanks to tie on I loaded up. They have sat for years. It's the same thing with the Fleye Foils. I have enough stickers, in all sizes, to tie 1,000 flies. Mine just suck so they sit in a box waiting for my skills to catch up. 

     These days you can't "invent" a fly, they have all been stolen or renamed. I don't care about that, I just need a fly to do what I need it to do. Basically here's my wish list,

• It has to be big, around 10 inches
• It has to be castable
• It has to shed water
• It has to be a topwater fly, not necessarily a popper. 
• It has to have action other than in a straight line. 
• It has to be in scale with a 6/0 or 8/0 hook

     So I sat down like I usually do and just started tying. I know these Game Changers and Jerk Changers use some kind of special brush which I don't have, and I'm not sure if those brushes float. I didn't want to tie another foam head popper, because that's not what I'm looking for. So I went with my go-to which is deer belly hair. If I could spin on these shanks maybe the flies would be buoyant, which will have them on top of the water, and articulated enough to move around a bit? I know it won't be like 

that "walk the dog" action but maybe a tad right to left would suit me well enough. I've never tied with shanks and quickly was puzzled how the first shank gets tied on to the hook. I nearly broke my brain before coming up with the below, which is not the way they were designed. But you gotta learn 

somehow. I just clipped the shank onto the bend of the hook and tied in lead top and bottom so it stays somewhat in line. Hey, it's spun deer hair so it'll float anyway. The trimming went well and I siliconed the head of the fly to have it push more water, maybe? 

     There are a ton of deer hair spins on these two flies. They come in at just over 10 inches tied on a Ahrex Popovic's Beast Fleye Hook in 6/0 & 8/0. Things I like, they meet all the things on my wish list. Things I don't like,

• Too much gap between the ties, if that matters
• Takes way too much material, and time, to tie

     If I were to name it, or them, I'd call them "Snake Changers". They're a cross between the Snake Fly/Game Changer (Tabory/Chocklett) and tied on a Ahrex Popovic's Beast Fleye Hook, 6/0 and 8/0 Long. It's the first two go arounds and after about 100 I think I might be happy. Only way to know is to swim them and then toss them to hungry fish. 

    I haven't swam them yet, if it was yesterday's 60 degree day I would have, but someone left the freezer door open because today it was 39 degrees. Maybe there's something here, or maybe this will put me in the right direction to fix my I hate fishing with spinning guys problem.