02.04.15 Just a peek at what the changes to "jetty Country" may look like....

     I was surfing on Stripers Online and found a post about the recent contract that was awarded for work to be completed from Deal south to Asbury Park. This is the heart, well half of, of Jetty County. A contributer, "Bido", posted these mock up before and after images of what we may expect. Needless to say it is horrible, but is coming this spring.

     Combine these changes with the decline in striped bass that hit the beach outside of blitzes and things may be worse in 2015 than they were in 2014. 2014 was a boat fisherman's dream......mostly big fish on big bunker. Not what a fly rodder looks for.

01.25.15 Back from The Fly Fishing Show......

     Well after nearly twenty years of attending and working The Fly Fishing Show in Somerset I finally had my own booth. It was a big decision getting a booth because the truth is it isn't cheap and it's a lot of work but I think it was a good move.
     I have to thank everyone who stopped by my booth or attended my seminars. I presented "Fly Fishing The Jersey Jetties" and had a great turnout with the best being on Sunday where I had over 40 come out. It was also a pleasure being a part of the Women's Fly Fishing Showcase where I presented 'Kids and Fly Fishing; The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"
     I was able to walk the floor several times and noticed how many "destination" booths there were. All of the big manufacturers were on hand and it was good to see Orvis back at the show. I looked for something new and innovative that jumped out at me but nothing really grabbed me. I was next to the Kast booth and there's a pretty big hype on the Kast gloves and I was able to try them on for size. I might be including them in my foul weather gear arsenal.
    I was surprised but I didn't make a purchase all weekend, except buying raffles supporting the local fly fishing clubs. My phone hasn't rung yet so I guess I didn't win.
    I look forward to fishing with my old clients this year, and hopefully with all of the "new" people that attended my seminars or stopped by the booth. I think it was a successful show for me and if you had to ask me right now I think I'd sign up for next year.

01.22.15 Getting ready for Somerset......

     It's that time of year again.......and boy do we need it. It's not like we all have cabin fever because winter hasn't really set in yet. But, if you are a saltwater fly fisherman you have most likely been hibernating since October. 

     I have been going to The Fly Fishing show since it's early years. I worked The Fly Hatch booth with my buddy Dave Choinard several years and a few years back hung my hat at the Orvis booth for the weekend. Since Orvis wasn't in attendance last year I figured it was time to man-up. So this year I'll have a booth at C-17. I'm looking to see old friends and clients and meet new ones. In addition to the booth I'll be giving a few talks. "Fly fishing and Kids, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" at 5 o'clock on Friday and 230 on Sunday in the Women's Showcase Room. On Friday I will be presenting "Fly Fishing the Jersey Jetties" in the Techniques Room. 

     It looks like a good weekend for the show and hopefully the snow isn't to bad and gets people to come out and stay for a while. 

01.20.15 Contracts awarded for "Jetty Country"

     The $38,282,230 contract was awarded this week to a Seattle based company that will perform beach replenishment and "alterations" to groins from Phillips Ave to Loch Arbor ending at 8th Ave. This is phase one of the Lake Takanasee to Loch Arbor project, with the Phillips Ave north to Lake Takanasee being awarded later this year.

In phase one 1,400,000 cubic yards of sand will be pumped and the lengthening of six storm water outflows will be extended. Two groins, Brighton Ave and Marine Place will be notched. Phillips Ave will be notched in the second phase. The original plan called for six groins to be modified but in the end  only those three will be ruined.

Also, plans will be finalized between the Army Corp and the Deal Lake Commission on an electronic gate in the 8th Ave flume that will be installed to allow the outflow to be cleared of sand.

01.10.15 New Jersey blows it again.......

     Yep, New Jersey disappointed the angling and conservation world once again. On Thursday the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council stood up and showed how serious we are about the striped bass and the declining numbers of the stock.

Not.

     Just when other states, like Virginia, took a hard line on size and bag limits New Jersey voted like there is nothing wrong. Our council voted to keep a two fish limit for the 2015 season. Instead of dropping it to one fish at 28", or the 1@32", we set the following limits.

One fish 28 to 43 inches and a second fish over 43 inches. That my friends is a travesty. You can do all the math you want and can even try and figure that a second fish over 43 inches isn't an easy fish to catch.......but it really isn't......at least for the boat angler.

     What they have done is now started, or just ended, a war between the boat and beach angler. It used to be that the recreational and commercial fisherman we pointing fingers at each other. That was easy. They would use the argument that recreational anglers took 27 million pounds of striped bass each year to the commercials 9 million. And those numbers aren't factual. I always said that charter boats, from six packs to party, numbers should be put into the commercial category. They are vessels for hire. They are commercial operations. Even though the fares are fishing for and taking "meat" home for their own recreational pleasure. 

                               

     But what this new regulation does is pin surf fishermen against boat fisherman, well there was always a divide, but now it will get ugly. In this age of social media, from blogs to fishing forums to fishing report pages, readers are able to see, almost in real time, who is catching when and where and how. 

     What it came down to was pressure from charter boat captains who feared that reducing a paying customers haul to one fish would hurt an already hurting industry. Duh, yes it will. But that already hurting industry is happening because of the reduced number of fish available to catch and kill. You want to save a fishery......its simple......reduce mortality.

     So the early spring clam and bunker bite massacre that happens in Raritan Bay to pre-spawn Hudson fish will continue. Then the bunker snag and drop massacre will continue into the early summer. Then in the fall it will pick up again. 

     We will continue to see charter boats decks and docks loaded with dead bass. We will now see anglers "catch and releasing" those second fish that don't make the 43 inch mark. So, if your fellow angler next to you doesn't want your second 38 inch fish, and the captain doesn't want it for the boat.....guess what? That means that 10/0 treble snagging hook stuck deep into the striped bass' esophagus will be ripped out and that fish released, if you can call it that, so the angler can catch a "legal" greater than 43" fish. Just look at what happens to those summer flounder shorts. 

     Most surfcasters seemed to be okay with the one fish limit. Some will take one for the table if at all. It was a mentality shift from the weigh-in and kill tournament mentality that has existed for years to a more conservation minded approach. That felt like they were doing their part. 

Enjoying the sport and protecting the fish that they love. 

     New Jersey should be proud of itself. The ASMFC was looking for a 25% reduction......and according to Russ Allen of the NJDEP, we gave them 25.1%, way to go New Jersey. 

01.03.15 Couldn't resist giving it a go.......

     Finally the wind has changed and white water is back. Coming off the two day the flurry last week the ocean went flat and dead. I think if todays conditions continued after the few fishy days there would still be fish around.
     This morning was perfect and the water looked like it should hold fish but working a fly up and down the beach and from the rocks on the ebb tide proved for naught. Looks like the cold and rain and snow is going to start up tonight which may put the nail in the coffin till spring.

So today is quit day number 2.......

01.01.15 HAPPY NEW YEAR !........I'm done till spring......

      Happy New Year to you and yours. It has been an interesting year for me all the way around. From professional to personal it has been a year of ups and downs.......and it just keeps on coming. In the end "It is what it is" but more accurately "It is what I make it". I look forward to a great 2015 and I wish the best for my family, friends and enemies.
     This morning it was 28 degrees out and the water was like a lake. Gave it a go looking for a New Years Day, first fish of 2015, and January striped bass. I could tell as soon as I saw the water that wasn't going to happen. Had to be careful as the ice was just starting to melt off the top of the rocks. That would have sucked falling and getting hurt on my last outing till spring.
     Today I will say I am done and put away my fly rod, waders, stripping basket and StormR jacket. I am now going to shift to other more important things going on in my life and preparing for The Fly Fishing Show in Somerset.
   
                            

     On another note it was nice to see The Average Angler blog top 300,000 views. On February 26 2014 we hit 200,000 views. Some quick math says that the blog is averaging 325 views per day since then. I will continue to post even though the fishing for me is done until we start back up on the Upper Delaware in April.

12.28.14 Wow! A belated Christmas present.........

     So I grew tired of posting pics of the rocks and the surf. Over the last few weeks I have continued to make my way down and fished without posting.

                                                                It just got depressing.

    Today I got a text from a friend stating that he got a few which was surprising but gave me some hope for a December bass. I fished the morning without a tap and made my way this afternoon into the evening on the ebb tide.

     I ran into a few friends that had each caught fish and made my way along he beach without a tap. I had come to figure that these fish we just spin fish, either taking small Bombers or rubber. I made my way onto the rocks as the light left and was happy to catch all I needed....just one healthy. and fiesty, December striped bass.

12.25.14 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!.....

     Thought I'd give it a go this Christmas morning. Looks like a December bass will have to wait till next year. Water was off color and there were only surfers out this morning but it was still nice to get out. Between my casts I kind of got in a melancholy mood thinking back to Christmas' past. 

     I thought of times when I was a child and through my adulthood and to this current year, my how time flies. As my kids get bigger and my family situation changes year to year I can't help but think of all the good, and the not so good, decisions and things I have done over the years. 

     I remember when I was young and when my kids were young how special and fun waking up on Christmas morning was. It seems things were different, presents were different, I was different. I don't know why but its always easier to look back and think that things were better....but really they are just as good now. My family, well families, are alive and healthy. My kids are growing up faster then I can keep track and are carving their own paths in life. My older kids are well, getting older, and becoming young adults. Luckily I still have my 9 year old to see and experience life through a younger set of eyes. 

     For some reason as I walked the beach this morning and thought about this day on years past one day stuck out. It was a Friday morning 22 years ago. I was on duty with the Newark Fire Department assigned to Rescue Co. 1. An alarm of fire was dispatched at 840 a.m. as we sat at the kitchen table in the firehouse having coffee. A fire was reported at the O'Brien Co-Generating Plant in the cities Ironbound section. 

35 Blanchard Street Newark, former O'brien Co-Generating plant

     Soon after the alarm was transmitted the first due engine company reported smoke in the area and a working fire. It was a nasty fire fueled by petroleum products inside the steel clad building. As the fire was being extinguished it was noted that cars belonging to the employees that were working were parked outside but no one from the company was located. 

     During the search the bodies of three men were found in a second floor control room. My company had the task of packaging the victims and lowering them through a wire enforced window that we removed for access. The same window the victims tried unsuccessfully tried to break with chairs from the office. The men were identified as Joseph Eley 41, Hillside, Michael McLoughlin 23, Ridegfield, and Andy Motichhka 25, from Wallington.  

     As anyone who is in the business we all have stories of those tragic days that occur around the holidays. For some reason memories of that day came into my mind today. I am glad I never forgot, as I am sure the victims families still grieve to this day. 

     I am grateful and thankful for all that my family and I have. I am beyond lucky and should always remember how blessed I am.  It shouldn't take remembering tragedy to remind me how good I have it, as other people in the world have endured and are enduring worse then I ever have. 

    

12.14.14 Not a touch......

     Nice morning out there. Temps in the 40's and clean water following the blow of last week. Found loons out and about fishing in the wash but I never saw them coming up with anything. The water was like glass but there was some movement in the new post-blow structure.
     Like I said a month ago what would happen if the sand eels never showed. Well, find the bait and you'll usually find the bass. Basically this fall into winter we had good big bunker movement which was more like spring fishing than fall. An okay mullet run that was shut down during the third week of September blow. Peanuts were here and there and the only thing that was really good was that Halloween-ish butterfish, squid, and spike weakfish blitzes on the beach. It has, or was, a real disappointing fall.
     It's time to get ready for the holidays and the show and talk season. I'll keep a rod ready just in case we have a crab hatch or the late herring show up. But I think, the fat lady has sung.
   

12.09.14 "Where's the beach ?"

     It's been a while since I have ranted about beach "nourishment" along the Jersey Shore. Here is Little Monmouth. It has been replenished three times in the last four years. It is almost all gone. These images were taken at almost low tide, at high tide the water was over the wall. I can't imagine that anyone "pro" beach replenishment can look at these images and say the program works...it continues to be a waste of taxpayer money. Next year there will be hardly any beach for beachgoers to sit on, but the pocket at the groin should be prime for fishing.

Here's some pics before the beach replenishment and then after. What a joke.

     On my way through Sea Bright on the outgoing tide there was a familiar sight....flooding. This morning they had to rescue people on the high water moon tide. I believe post-Sandy was the time for this town to get some things right. I hate to tell people how and where they can live....but this same story repeats itself over and over again for decades.

12.08.14 Not today out front....or any time soon it seems.....

     Really nasty out there today. ENE cranking wind with muddy water and lots of foam and debris in close. Going to take a few days and tides to clear things up....and then....who knows.
     Last year on this date it was 28 degrees but the difference was there was bait and fish around. Have to admit the end of this year has stunk, not a nice way going into the Christmas season.

12.05.14 Funny post one year ago today......

     Maybe over the next few days I'll break the recent skunk, kind of like I did on this day last year. You can read about it HERE. Seems like each year and or season there's a period of "skunk" that can last for days....but weeks and even a month?
     Last night I fished as the full moon rose and found what I thought were small hickory shad tossing around off the beach. Since they were on the smaller side I wondered if they might not have been herring. Nothing would surprise me anymore, especially this fall into winter.

12.04.14 Found where that Spring Lake sand went...

      Out for a scout on low water in Deal and I think I found all that sand that has washed away in Spring Lake. South side pocket above is loaded with sand to the point I wouldn't even call it a pocket anymore. Amazing that you can almost walk out to the end of the groin while in the water. Just for a comparison the picture below is from 2012 during a time when there was more water and fish!

     Hoping the next few days after the moon the fishing might turn on a bit......we need some bait.....we need sand eels
   

12.03.14 Noticed the changes to Spring Lake......

     Traveled south down to Spring Lake today. Not hearing much anywhere above the Manasquan Inlet but I wanted to scout south. Went I got to the beach I was pleasantly surprised in a selfish fisherman kind of way. It seems most of the post-Sandy beach replenishment that was done along the Spring Lake stretch is now gone. That's a good thing. What's bad is that most of the sand seems to have been deposited in sand bars between the groins. I could tell it wasn't good because the surfers weren't around these beaches, but were out in plenty in other not-yet-replenished towns. If you look up and down the beach the groins are all exposed and the notched groins now have water passing between the beach and the start of the rocks. At least there is structure...not like in Long Branch where the sand hasn't yet traveled. Either way its just horrible for the ecosystem.

     As I walked the boards before heading into town to pick up a special gift I noticed someone fishing at the waters edge. I started to think that this guy might just have it right. Dress warm, grab a chair, and soak clams in the off color and rough water. It sure beats throwing flies....well maybe not.
     The next few days into the weekend look promising and I look forward to getting out and catching a December bass. I better do it quick because if it's not over yet......it will be soon. But really did it ever start this fall?

12.02.14 The blow is here...

     E wind 25-30 on the incoming tide.

12.01.14 This photo made me do a little cyber surfing......

Facebook post photo by Rex Manning

     This weekend I saw a flotilla of boats up around "rocky" areas off the beach and wondered how the tog, aka blackfish, bite was going. Yesterday I saw the above photo posted on Facebook by Rex Manning on the Surfcasters page. That's a 10+ pound tog. I went and searched around on the internet on pages like SOL and BassBarn and even on the local party boats fishing reports page........bass fishing is over and tog are on. 

     That's not to say theres not some bass around and guys are finding a pick here and there on the beach, rocks and boat.....but it does show the trend that anglers have abandoned striper fishing for a more abundant and tasty species. 

     As far as today.....I counted 13 groins and it was just me and my friend Rich out fishing the skinny outgoing tide. No birds, no bait, no fish.....at least for me. But I'm getting used to it. 

11.30.14 Can't help but think changes are coming to Roseld.....

     Out on the rocks this morning and I couldn't help but notice the groin at Roseld Avenue. Hurricane Sandy displaced rocks and changes the landscape of the groin and with the looming beach replenishment and groin notching about to happen in "Jetty Country" this favorite place will sure be changed. 

     Near the beach end there remains a "walkway" of a mix of rock and concrete that traverses a natural cut in the groin. On big water and tide days water passes underneath kind of a like a notched groin. Early on the Army Corp of Engineers said Roseld would be left untouched, but once the machinery arrives it will have to be fortified, or notched. 

     Beach replenishment projects occur late fall and into winter so the beach goers and fishermen aren't around to get in the way or see what is really going on. It's also done at this time hopefully past NE blows and late so the "new" beach that is pumped will still be around for the next summer season. Either way, changes in "Jetty Country" are coming. You can read more about it HERE. 

Below is a picture taken 3 days post Sandy showing the damage to the groin and sea wall. Over time and after subsequent storms the groin has changed and the rock field dispersed. Hopefully the Army Corp will leave this alone and let it continue to be a access point to anglers to enjoy. 

11.29.14 Pretty ice cold morning and fishing out there.....

     It looked real good out there this morning. Maybe a little too cold for the finger tips but the water looked great and there was just enough white water on Lake Atlantic Ocean where you would think a bass would be on patrol in the shadows. I walked the beach jumping over two other anglers and between the three of us came up with the skunk.

Hoping the weather stays the same and to get out in the boat sometime this week as I have a bunch of fly rodders on stand-by waiting for the fall run to begin......looks like I might be returning deposits soon.

11.28.14 "Black Friday".....hope you went shopping and not fishing.....

     After walking round in the cold at midnight at the Jersey Shore Outlets I stayed in this morning opting for the mid morning to give it a shot. Incoming tide with a NW wind with clean water to fish. No signs of birds and no takers in the pockets. I watched from a distance as the headboats drove around  on the horizon. There may be fish out there, although I'm not to confident, but nothing here on the beach. I heard they were some fish this morning south which is good for those that braved the cold weather.

     Hopefully you spent the day taking advantage of the super sales that kick off the Christmas, or more politically correct, holiday season.

11.27.14 Happy Thanksgiving !!

     Happy Thanksgiving to all the followers of my blog. Down along the Jersey Shore it was beautiful this morning as the snow and cold temps stayed north. The surfers were having fun in the swells and it was to get out on the rocks for a bit. Casted some black Kinky Muddlers into the Yoo-Hoo without a tap.
     I have a lot to be thankful for. Even though this past year has been a little rocky I have a great family that loves and supports me and a bunch of kids that make a life worth living. Over the next year I will be experiencing a lot of changes in my life.....not limited to a move and returning back to college.
     This fall has been terrible for The Average Angler and it has made me re-evaluate my business and question if my time and talents are being put to the best use. I see 2015 being a transition year with several changes in my guiding locations and schedule forthcoming.

After hitting the beach I went home to sit and watch one of my favorite things ever on TV. Ever since I was a kid I have watched "March of the Wooden Soldiers" and this year was no different. If you haven't made this part of your family tradition.......then don't start now because you're really not missing anything. At times I watch it myself and wonder why I like it.......but in the end I realize I just do.....its part of my favorite holiday day.

11.26.14 Really sexy water out there this morning but no fish.....

     Beautiful and surprising conditions out there this morning. The water was clean with lots of white water. I thought the NE wind swing would just increase the dirty water we saw yesterday. Caught the incoming tide just right and had a relatively quiet south side to fish before the bigger waves moved in. The air temps were 48 which will only last a few hours as the cold front moves in today.

                                       



     I fished a sand eel fly on a sinking line for a while before donating the fly to the rocks and tearing my fly line when I paused just a little too long during a retrieve on a wave breaking on the rocks. Hopefully this NE blow and cold front will help get things going towards the end of the weekend...but hope in the angling community is waning as this "delayed" fall run gets deeper into winter.