Thanksgiving Weekend Part II

Thanks again Tom! Tom arrived after Thanksgiving dinner with an Umberto’s Pizza which I promptly ate since extreme traffic and discomfort from sunshine burning through my window gave me the idea to forgo my dinner plans.  More importantly, Tom’s powers crafted a splendid morning bite on Friday.  Tom, Doug, and I hit the sands early and had what is best described as an all around good time- the fish were there, the wind was just right, a nice little set rolled in every now and then which was nice to watch, the air temperature was comfortable, and no one crept into our space even though our party was putting on a show banging out the fish.

Doug holding one of the smaller models caught Friday morning.  Most of the fish that were taken were 30 inches or better which is remarkable for fall.

After the morning bite, the fish went into a steady feed, and we left them biting at 10:30am with a slow pick.  Now, I strictly practice catch and release, but by strictly I mean that I am flexible.  I used to keep at least 3 or 4 fish per fall until I got too lazy to clean them.  After getting banged around in the surf for hours on end, I realized the last thing I want to do when I get home is yet another somewhat intricate procedure.  But when Tom, who is in advanced school, lives on his own and has a girlfriend, asked if we can keep some fish I knew it was time to “feed my people”, a phrase that we like to say in a tone similar to Riley Martin, friend of the Aliens.  So it was time to keep some fish for Tom.  I pulled out two keepers in no more than the first 10 casts at first light and Tom landed his own half an hour later.  I really am still trying to figure out his aura, it’s like being around a magician or something.  We caught plenty more keepers but the cooler was already overstuffed!

Tom and I doing the double hook-up in the morning light.

I don’t know whether or not it’s touristy to weigh in a fish but it sure felt like it.  Of course, with it being the holiday weekend, I wasn’t going to let Tom get away without the full experience.  Tom received his wooden nickel and his name in the log book and on the website.  31 inches and 9.50lbs.  Nice Work!

After we left the beach that morning, I think Tom and Doug got to experience how doing this stuff can take over because even after you leave the beach you really aren’t done fishing.  We left around 10:30am and were scheduled to arrive back around 2:30pm.  In those four hours we stopped at two tackle shops, weighed in the fish, went to the bank, cleaned the fish, bagged the fish, dropped the carcasses off at the beach, talked on the phone with some people about fishing, re-geared the tackle bag, cleaned out the truck, let out and fed the dog, went to Wawa, and picked up a lunch/dinner combo of food.  And it was all done, of course, with military precision without a second to spare.  Really what we should do is move Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s to the middle of the winter to spice those months up more.

Two fish had empty stomachs and one had only 3 totally fresh sand eels inside.  This is migration time.  Feel free to criticize my fillet job, but explain your thoughts clear enough so you can make me better.  Either way, Tom went home with 6 real nice pieces of meat to “feed his people”.

We cruised back up for the afternoon bite, but couldn’t repeat the success of the morning, since the fish were mostly off the feed aside from a slow pick.  Like any good addict would do, I was undeterred and told Tom to plan for a hot night bite.  Unfortunately, when we got back to the beach later that night the weak west wind couldn’t hold and had shifted south.  Damn.  Sorry Tom, but I personally don’t fish at night during a south wind, usually, because it sucks.  We did the 7 casts per spot thing to cover a lot of ground but found nothing.  I blame the damp south wind for the lack of action, but either way we still had a nice night under the stars.  I thought maybe we weren’t working hard enough for them, though I heard a second hand report from two top notch sources that the night bite stunk, and they confirmed it was all a morning thing.

Saturday was possibly the world record for crowded fishing.  The holiday weekend, easy weather, and a near total lack of fish on most other beaches forced everyone to occupy the same strand of sand.  The people that are in the Ava jig business will be getting some fat checks real soon.

I have never seen a crowd like Saturday.  There were truly perfect conditions to create a crowd of historic proportion- no fish except anywhere except for one beach, mild weather and no rain, and with instant communication the way it is even farmers in Texas chopping down their dead trees probably heard about the hot striper bite a thousand miles away.  The fish were there again in the morning, but did not put out as motivated a feed as the day before.  Maybe they were finally a little weary of the thousands of Ava jigs being hurled at them from every which way. 

Doug and I cruised the beach just to watch the show.  After a bit we stopped where there was just enough room for Doug to squeeze in.  I decided I would nap for a bit while he went to cast.  Of course it was too entertaining to sleep when I could watch the guy next to Doug throw Avas on his 6 foot conventional set up.  And of course the guy hooks up on a fish.  Now, when you hook up and your fish is going down the beach, it is customary to keep in line with your fish and travel with it.  A simple ’I’m coming down’ is the proper etiquette for these situations. 

Instead, this guy’s fish runs off to the south at about a 45 degree angle, yet he is planted like a telephone pole.  Since I trained Doug well, he let the guy know that the fish was coming near his line.  The guy responded with a rather condescending ‘you better not be anywhere near my line’.  Hmm.  After about a five minute family photo shoot the guy spent another three minutes with pliers unhooking his single hook Ava before releasing the half dead fish back into the water.  I have no problem with people that innocently suck at fishing but this guy was not in that category!

It seemed the looney bin was also on holiday this weekend.  Actually, after watching this guy I was kind of sold on this one.  Going fishing?  Yes dear.  Don’t forget your ladder!

The bite continued to wane so that by Sunday morning I was content not to fish in the crowd.  I called Doug out of the water before sunrise with an idea that only certain people would actually find exciting.  ‘Let’s count everyone fishing on the whole beach!’ Doug was on board and hopped in the truck.  We started at the bottom of the beach and began the count . . .1 . .2 . . .3 . . . 100 . . . 200 . . . Hey look there’s Rick and Steve! Numbers 282 and 283 . . . 300 . . . Hey There’s JM and Billy! Numbers 317 and 335 . . . 400 . . . 500 . . . Dude, oh wait I almost didn’t see that guy (he was decked out in full camo waders and jacket) . . . 600 . . . 700 . . . 712.   

That’s right.  There were 712 people actively fishing at the water.  There were 200 in the first mile and a half of beach!  And of those 712 people only 3 had a fish on as we were driving by.  I interpreted that to mean it‘s time to get the hell out of here.  Such concludes the great 2011 Thanksgiving Day Weekend fishing extravaganza!

Isn’t it cool that you can pretty much find stuff like this in any situation as long as you are aware of your surroundings?  Kind of makes fishing shoulder to shoulder with 1,000 other people seem like a good idea.

 

Thanksgiving Weekend Part I

I passed my test.  The fishing this week garnered the following quote from Shell E Carris . . .

. . . and I do not feel bad for missing it.  Well, maybe a little, but it's just awesome that stuff like this happens in New Jersey!  And it was not just numbers.  Shell E said a lot of the bass were keepers and that there was a fair number of fish from 15-20lbs.  Hmmm.  That's just the way it goes sometimes!

Will and Doug were down this morning for our Thanksgiving Day tradition of watching miles of bass and birds going wild out of range followed by the fish coming in right as we are about to leave.  Seriously.  Just as we were about to leave at 10:00am, a small of school of bass broke off the main school, and was just in range on the back of the bar.  And of course I had to get a fat 30 incher on my "last cast".  That fish prompted about 50 more casts and made us quite late leaving the beach.

Doug actually prefers when the fish stay off the beach since he is a rope fisherman.  "When the fish are in I waste a lot of time fighting and unhooking fish," Doug explained.  "Today was great.  There was a storm yesterday and the fish stayed offshore today.  Perfect rope fishing conditions.  I wait all year for days like this.  This made my fall!"

Tom is set to arrive shortly, so that means we're probably going to have a pretty good morning tomorrow.  Maybe even a great morning.  Maybe even the best morning of the fall . . . 

You go to the Beach, You Catch Fish

In the last post I remarked that bluefish have been noticeably absent this year and right on schedule reports of blues on the beach start coming in. The dominant bite is still bass on sand eels, though, from what I gather. Word is the body of fish has slid south some. I haven’t been up at the beach much for the past few days because I am doing this training on my self to gauge my reaction to not fishing a few days during the peak of the fall run.

See, I used to be addicted to surf fishing, because I love it much, so much so that I would neglect all other areas of my life. It was so bad, that for nights in a row I wouldn’t eat dinner until 1:30 am because I was out fishing all morning, working, and then fishing again. And there I would sit eating my cold dinner at 1:30 am with racing thoughts about what I was going to do for the morning bite at 5:30. It was a great program for rapidly learning how to catch a lot of fish, but it wasn’t good for much else. Now that I know what I am doing, the past few days my body was tired and I felt a cold coming on, plus I had some other things to do, so I decided not to fish. Do not underestimate how much this amazing activity can control your life.  The only thing I ever want to be controlled by is a dominatrix so I figured I should make some changes.

Since I am away from the water, I can feel the stoke level building back up for the arrival of Will, Doug, and Tom this weekend. Tom is amazing, he has been in a city, owns no car, and has been plugged into the matrix since summer, but he will probably come down here and catch more fish than the locals.  Will too, the catching fish part, and he is also amazing.  Doug as well, who is above and beyond the 'buoy' stage :)  I hope these guys can experience a night bite using Needlefish or at least score in some other way.

I know there are fish right now, has been fish, and that there are some nice ones to 20lbs. I also know, personally, that I need to be more balanced and well rounded and not so extreme all the time . . . Until this weekend at least. For now, I am understanding there is no substitute for waking up without an alarm, to actually complete a cycle of sleep. I mean, you don’t start peeing and then walk away mid stream, right? Other functions of the body are not much different.  They feel good when you finish them.

Morning Bite Regimen

For at least the past 7 days it has all been about the morning bite. Miles of bass have taken up residence along the shore and have adopted some qualities of domestication, at least in terms of regimentation. Like many of us do, we eat at roughly the same time and work at the same time, the bass are doing too. The formula for a fun hour or two fishing each day is to have the discipline to get to the beach by first light and the ability to work a needlefish or metal lure in just the right way to induce strikes.

Though the fish are in a feeding pattern, time wise, not every one is catching fish the same like during a blitz. I have been having success working a needlefish with a lot of jerks, stops, and pops as opposed to just a straight slow retrieve. For example, in multiple instances after getting a bump I would shake the rod like a popper, and the fish would slam the needlefish almost instantly. Others are having success with slim metals, and metals with a black tail are hot right now.

A fantastic hour or two of fishing each morning has been the norm over the past week. Slim metals and Needlefish that imitate sand eels have been hot lures. Those who have been imparting some finesse with the lures have been taking the most fish.

Bluefish continue to be missing from the surf or are only mentioned like a rumor. It’s all bass right now and has been the entire time for the most part. It’s like a really good steak that is missing a sweet potato or side of vegetables. The action right now is really good; it just needs that extra bit of nutrition, which would be bluefish. Bluefish provide more action during the day and make the bass more competitive.

Either way, after a late start (warm weather and a lack of bluefish) now that the bass and sand eels have settled in, and the water is fishable more days than not, this season, so far, has ended up turning out very good.

P.S.  Just scored a nice bass and dropped 3 or 4 more in the dark not more than 30 minutes ago.  Since I know I will get them good in the morning I'm choosing sleep tonight.