Into May

Steven, Carl, and I commemorated the six month anniversary of Super Storm Sandy by having a lonely beach in the rain with a bucket of clams and hi-lo rigs.  It could have been sold to me as hey we're going to stand in the rain next to the sea and catch sand crabs with mouse traps- I'm usually not fond of clamming- but now no excuse is needed to be near the water.  And I won't even bring a sand spike, I thought, so I'll have to feel everything.  And it felt great casting out for the first time in six months.  We had some 'good water' nearby, to which I decided to try after no success in the 'not so good water'.

I'm getting them, I know it, right in there.  And it didn't take long for a hit.  Steve, hey, they're in here.  More bait, another hit, set the hook, no fish.  Another hit.  No fish.  If it wasn't for the ocean getting much needed oxygen to my brain, my response would have been anger.  On the next hit I tugged it just right and was finally on.  What the heck is this thing?  It was hardly perceptible on my 10ft conventional with 30lb mono.  No surprise as to why my shark outfit didn't move.  In came a mere 10 inch bass attached to the lower clam.  It was the cutest bass I have ever seen.  Steve dutifully photographed the little one.  I told you they are in here!  Isn't this great?  No one around and the fish are biting!  I got out two more, each one was bigger than the next, at 11 and 12 inches.  I'm proud to say I smoked Steve- kind of got him for when he out fished Donald and I three to one in the Columbus Day snapper blitz last year.

The surfing benefits from the endless spell of E winds, but the spring bunker blitzes usually don't

E wind, E wind, NE wind, chilly and damp, chilly and damp, weird wind swell, more E wind, E wind with sun, E wind with clouds, more strange wind swell, E wind with fog clouds, chilly, E wind and cool nights, E wind and clear skies, E wind today, E wind tomorrow.  Air in the 50s, the 50s, the 50s again, 50s, 50s, 50s.

As long as the E wind dominates, it's usually the swell that dominates, and the spring blitz fishing gets put on hold.  There are exceptions of course, but classic spring water is clean and green with smallish waves and a W or new SSW wind.  Things usually don't start happening in the middle of a spell of E wind and so long as the E weather continues, the water's edge should remain free of madmen casting treble hooks into frothing fish.  In a way, I don't even want that right now.  With the shore obviously still scarred, it has been nice to get acquainted with my new life near the water in a state of peace.  Surfing last night in the fog with only two other souls- and no one else for miles- is fine with me for now.