Between the Seasons

I haven't done much fishing since the end of summer, and for the last week or so I haven't been very involved with the ocean at all.  I let a swell go by unridden last week, but that was mostly because I didn't want a bad cold to get any worse.  Whatever the reasons, it feels interesting to take some time away from the water, sometimes.  I actually made a point last week to see how long I could go without looking at the ocean- I made it four days.

And when I checked the ocean last night after being away from it, it was pretty awesome.  It was like I noticed things in a way I hadn't been noticing them before.  The smell coming from the water, the sound of the small waves rolling on the sandbar, the herring and shad dabbing the surface.  The experience seemed a lot richer and fresher, and I stood there for several minutes just observing.  No thoughts like oh let me get a rod, or when is there going to be swell again, whatever routine things I think so that I am more with my thoughts than with the outside.  It was a fresh perspective.  I didn't want anything from the sea.  I wasn't concerned with whether or not I was going to score fish, I wasn't concerned with anything.

I am one who gets very passionate with things, but sometimes passion is like wearing blinders.  So what I am taking time with right now, is removing my passion for the ocean, and taking my blinders off.  A hiatus.  A break or interruption in the continuity of work, series, action, etc.  A break in my normal habit of going to the sea and thinking how can I catch the most fish, how can I score the best waves.  So for the next two weeks I am going to continue to be more lightly involved with the water.  If some fish show up, I will be sure to fish for them, but I'm not waiting for them.  If the waves come up and break good, I will surf them, but I am not worrying about whether they will come.

So I will end the hiatus and resume my normal pattern on October 17th.  But it really won't be the same pattern, because I will have gained a new perspective on the water by observing it differently.  When in the next several weeks I find myself out in the first chilly night on a rocky beach, stealthily throwing a needlefish awaiting a strike, under the stars, with some good friends, away from the crowd, it won't be the same.  It will be better- I will be more awake, more aware, and more connected with my surroundings.  I will have the added knowledge of what it is just to be with the ocean, in addition to knowing what to do with it.

All that is some deep stuff, so here is something shallow . . .

"This is the result of many flatter, calmer years piling tons of sand literally up against a 'wall'.  There is a point where it is going to exceed capacity and begin to overfill beyond normal limits and have effects that are very rare.  This is that time.  In December, it will be 20 years since we had a real storm!"

Well, there is a chance this December and winter may end up like 2002, the warmest winter on record in New Jersey.  It's a matter of if the extra heat is going to park over the Great Lakes or farther north in eastern Canada.  If the heat is farther north, New Jersey will be cooler and a little stormier.  Otherwise, it's more blah blah blah and more straight sands.  Of course, fall fishing can be fantastic regardless.

So as it is, a hiatus between the seasons.