07.09.24 Gave the salt a go...

         

     Today was the best day for me to hit Monmouth County. I set my alarm for 4 am last night and after a tossing an durning sleep I overslept and awake at 545. It really was okay because low tide was around 4 am. The fog was in full effect due to the high air temperatures and the high dew point which condenses into fog over the ocean. By the time I left at 9 am it was just starting to burn off. 

      Yesterday when I decided that I was going I ran upstairs and sat down to a very disorganized fly ting table. It was that way because when I left for the Vineyard I ramshackle through my stuff and since haven't been able to withstand the torturous temperatures in that room to tidy it up. I found what I 

needed and banged out a couple of "AMC's" (Archer's Mole Crab). Mole crabs are summertime staple for striped bass, fluke, and other rooting type of predators. At some point on social media I saw a 

photo of the stomach contents of a bass that was kept for the table. You can see how much of a trough stalker this fish was. Mole crabs, sand fleas, sand bugs, whatever you want to call them they must be a 

good source of nourishment during the summer. I can picture the bass, with a reddened bottom jaw, just patrolling the trough with mouth open almost raft feeding on all the mole crabs displaced by the wave action on the beach scarp. Today when I tied up my offerings I went high-low trying to mimic a small crowd os sand fleas. As a bonus I bought along a bottle of anise to add a little scent that might attract 

a bass from outside of the beach zone. I had high hopes because I had just tied up these flies and after getting wet I could feel the ocean temps had come up since the last time I was here. Couple that with an incoming tide with heavy fog cover and I thought I was in for at least one of some kind of fish. 

     I fished hard, like technical hard. I had put on my Cortland Ghost Tip floating line thinking the water was low and I wouldn't want to be dragging the line through the target zone. The only problem, just for a bit, was the AMC's are tied using foam bodies, which float, and the barbell eyes inside were just enough to keep them below the surface. So I had to high stick my offerings around the trough rather than strip them in slowly, or they would have just been pulled across the top of the water and waves. 

    After reminiscing yesterday about 'The Hump" I made sure I made my way down there and worked both sides of the rocks sticking out of the man made beach. It looked good and I anticipated a pick up

after every cast. Almost three hours in and I started to lose hope. The sun was starting to burn off and I could feel the heat of the sun coming through the clouds. I don't think it was the flies I offered that 

didn't get it done it was just a no fish kinda day. After a good morning I picked up my son Sean and we hit Bagel Talk for the usual before swinging by to see my daughter Juliet who was down the Shore for the holiday weekend. It was some time during the morning I looked over and saw the water on the mat

of the passenger side. Looking further the rug was soaked, like bathing in water. I first thought heater coil but at home and on You Tube learned that Jeep's commonly have leak in and around the air conditioning drain. Hopefully I can get it fixed without having to forego using the A/C. 

07.08.24 Interesting look at Sea Bright....

 

     I recently saw these pics on a Facebook site called All About Sea Bright. The photos were posted by Rich Tagliaferro. Above shows the seawall in the area of Via Ripa, a familiar stop for anglers looking for striped bass, especially during the fall bait runs of mullet and peanut bunker. I don't remember

fishing off the seawall from Monmouth Beach up to Sandy Hook but guys tell me on a big tide and in snotty weather the bass and blues would push the bait up to the rocks. They say the seawall has saved towns along it from sure destruction during big storms throughout the years most notably Sandy in 

2012. People question if breaches in North Sea Bright and Mantoloking should have been made into channels to improve the quality of the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers and the Sandy Hook bay to the north and the Manasquan River and Barnegat Bay to the south. In my time beach replenishment has made the seawalls and the stairs that lead up and over it a stop to scout and have access to the wide 

beaches that now ebb and flow with the current, tides, weather, and beach replenishment. The closest I got to fishing off the seawall was at Big Monmouth about 12 years ago. Before beach replenishment, which has really killed the sea life environment along the Jersey Shore, water used to hit the seawall in Monmouth Beach and "the pocket" was a great place to fly fish for striped bass. One day I found Charlie

Shapiro working the pocket on a dropping tide. That area has been changed forever when the first big rounds of beach replenishment started. Below are some Big Monmouth images after some large scale

pumping occurred. Little Monmouth also changed forever, although now and again we see it coming back, only to be covered up again. In 2013 they really did a number on that area and those pockets

where predator and prey would meet. While new to the game guys like me refer to fishing off the rocks as the jetties and groins, old school anglers remember the days of the rocks meaning the sea walls in Sea 

Bright, Monmouth Beach, Long Branch, Deal and Allenhurst. Above was an old favorite place for the Phillips Avenue Gang to fish each morning. Me, Leif, Richie, Al, Bob, Andy, and Bucktail Jimmy would work the stretch between Whitehall down to Roseld depending on the tides and weather. That's Jack Denny above coming out of the water just north of the pocket at Roseld with 'The Hump" in the near distance. So many good times there. It just goes to show the power that images have in helping us remember the way things were and good times, and fishing, had. 

07.07.24 Had to hurry home quick...

     I wish there was some more fishing going on but there's not. After work on Friday we headed down to Cape May to catch some of the holiday weekend. Lucky for us no traffic going down and no traffic when we left at 8 am Sunday morning. While I'm out on spending big money of food and drink we did 

go and catch a nice dinner at the Crab House Restaurant which I highly recommend if you're in the mood for seafood especially crabs of all types, sizes and grades. On the restaurant side you can't get the all you can eat for $42 and I think that come with an ear of corn. I've done it, it's fun, and worth it.

     And the reason I had to rush home was because on Friday I realized my board certification for my nurse practitioner license expires on Sunday July 7th. Re-certification calls for having completed all kids of CEU's (Continuing education units) and practice hours over the last five years. Board certified nurses and nurse practitioners have strict requirements they must meet to practice. And as far as being compensated for it, it might be worth an extra dollar and hour if you work in a hospital setting. The cost of doing business as a nurse and or nurse practitioner isn't cheap. Every two years we have to renew our license with the state which runs $175-275 and then the board certification runs $275-375. Liability insurance runs $1,200 - $2,400, I pay the later. CPR runs $75 bucks a year and then the cost of scrubs and stuff just adds to the amount it costs to care for others. 

       As part of filling out the renewal application I had to do a timeline of my nursing career going back to when I first got licensed in 1996 after graduating from Essex County College where I now work. 

1998

    That's me, not John Candy, above at the bedside in 1998 while working at Overlook Hospital in Summit. I was assigned to the neurological intensive care unit (NECU) and I worked that schedule around my shifts with the Newark Fire Department. My first side hussle from the F.D. was as an EMT at University Hospital in Newark but I knew I needed a second career to work towards so after I retired from the fire department I would be established. I wouldn't have thought I'd still be a nurse today, some 25 years after the above picture was taken. What a long, strange trip it's been. I hope to fish soon. 

2024

07.04.24 As I get older I forget what these days mean...

     It's true. As I get older I forget what things mean, like what they really mean. I know July 4th as the birthday of America. It's when we established our independence, that's why it's also known as Independence Day. But how that all came about I forgot, or never knew. It all comes down to the actions of the Second Continental Congress and the signing of the Declaration of Independence which occurred 

on July 4th, 1776. Well, actually it was voted on July 2nd but adopted on July 4th. Some historians say July 4th, Independence Day, really should be July 2nd. And who are independent from? Back then there 

were thirteen colonies and they were under the rule of Britain and King George III. Now here's where I'll bow out because it's all above my historical understanding. But starting a year after 1776 the United States was "formed" when the 13 original colonies became what we now know as the 50 States of today. Delaware is the oldest, then Pennsylvania, and New Jersey is the third oldest. The youngest is Hawaii, joined in 1959. In addition to the 50 states we "own"? the unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I'll pass on that. 

     July 4th is one of the biggest holidays we celebrate in the United States. It's one that affects every single citizen regardless of race, color, politics, or religion. It's one of the busiest vacation and travel days during the year and probably is the busiest days in the emergency rooms across the country for burns, 

amputations, and eye damage caused by fireworks throughout the year. The guy above lost four fingers in a fireworks accident and now has a big toe where his middle finger once was. How many people have been injured or killed by fireworks over the last 200 plus years of celebrating? The last time we watched 

fireworks was from our balcony last week while down in Hilton Head. Oh Hilton Head. Where the grass is greener, the living cheaper, and I'd be skinny and better looking. The truth is no where is perfect and 

life, and each of our lives, is what we make of it. On this Independence Day I ask myself how independent, or free, am I really? Since HH I have really been asking myself the hard questions. Am I free from paying ridiculous taxes in New Jersey? And I free of the "stuff" that I hold onto, well really hoard, that is just like a weighted blanket that holds me back? Have I allowed this new world control me- the internet, ATM cards, auto bill pay, swipe, tap and gone, and just accepting the high costs of things these days. Buying a new truck? Ha, $65,000 or $700 a month. And forget about food, like stopping by for a burger and a beer at the local haunt, or going out and being BMG (Big Money Grip) with another couple or the kids and footing the bill and the tip, that'll run you $300 easy. And you know 

my feeling on spending money for food. Eat to live or live to eat. Either way it all winds up in two places, on your hips or in the toilet. Whoever invented the thought of the social aspects and eating is a genius. How much do you or your family spend a year on food? Like food you need to survive? It's stupid. $15- $25,000? There's got to be a better way. There has to be food freedom somewhere. 

     When we got home I had really come to terms with starting anew and possibly moving to Hilton Head in a few years. That's it, I'm done. It's all going. The broken things, the clothes that don't fit, the memories of lives past (that the kids want nothing to do with), and the books and cards and that's it. 

    So what did I do? I did the same thing I've done 100 times since we've lived "free" in Titusville. I went around the yard, sweating my balls off, and picked up sticks, trimmed the bushes, and pulled the weeds. Again. And I'll do that another 100 times before we sell the house. So really, I've haven't done anything towards the goal of getting rid of shit and downsizing. That'll only happen when the big dumpster gets backed into the driveway. Until then I'll continue to live free doing the same thing over and over and over like bald tires trying to get traction on an icy patch of road. I need new tires. 

07.03.24 My skunk continues....

A bass, fluke, bluefish, sundial, cow nose ray, or even a stargazer would have made me happy. I caught a nice sunrise and went to work with a Blados Crease Fly. I like the CF when I want something on top but

a little less then a full out popper. They track nicely and give the water a consistent and noticeable disturbance that really mimics a small baitfish. I thought it was a good choice when I saw some terns hovering over the water and occasionally dipped into the surf. When that didn't get any attention I went

to a crab/baitfish dual fly setup. I was there for the top of the tide and fished for two hours as the water ebbed and the trough became more accessible and fishable. 

     One thing I noticed was the water was still cool, reportedly warmer than it's been but a quick check showed it was 62 degrees when I was there, 10 degrees plus less than normal. That has been the result of all of the southerly winds we have had for about a month now. If I was locked away and was released and brought to the beach and asked what the weather has been it would be an easy answer. If you look 

at the above pic you can see how shoaled up the south sides of the groin is. That's like really shoaled up for that spot. Usually you have to wade out a bit to get to the notched groin but the sand was all kinds 

of stacked up on the south side and a bowl formed on the north side. I fished it all, from the beach and the rocks, but didn't get a tap, up top, on a dual set up, and then a single fly. I called it a morning when 

couldn't take it anymore and made my way to Bagel Talk for a breakfast treat, one I haven't had in a long while. Of course they would have white milk, nope, only 100 chocolate milks, so I had to settle for

an OJ to wash down and egg and cheese on a scooped and toasted everything bagel. That made the early up and long ride worth it, plus that beautiful sunrise. 

 

07.02.24 There goes the bunker...

     If you a believer that menhaden, bunker, pogies, are the most important fish (forage) in the sea then you'd be interested in this. Now while I'm no expert my buddy Paul Eidman of Menhaden Defenders does. He's been at it for decades, raising awareness and conservation to this very hot topic. Hot meaning controversial as it pins big business versus those a more environmental approach to protecting these fish. 

     From my understanding it's all about Omega Protein. A bunker reduction fishery that fishes for and uses bunker for fish meal, pet food, and omega-3 supplements. They used to be able to fish in New Jersey waters but no longer. It has been reported they have decimated bunker schools down in their home waters off of Virginia and inside the Chesapeake Bay. Well now, today, they are fishing off of New Jersey in the New York Bight, in federal waters, 3 miles off the beach. 

     There are five boats out there now coupled with spotter planes overhead. Once loaded up they return south to offload until they meet their quota. Who is this fish so important? Well, all predator fish love them, striped bass, dolphins, whales, sharks, bluefish, tuna, you name it, if it likes to eat fish it likes 

bunker. And not only are they good food, they are good for the waters as they are filter feeders they help clean up where they swim. And while they are targeting big adult bunker, the question will be what will happen for the fall run. Will we have a good peanut bunker push? 

     Having bunker around means other fish will be close by. While I am not a fan of live-lining, or what was once snag and drop fishing, it surely is almost a guaranteed fish like the good old days when guys used to live line herring. But having bait around is good for striped bass, especially the large ones who benefit from their rich nutrient bodies. 

     If you would like to learn more or support the effort to protect the bunker go over to the Menhaden Defenders website, HERE.