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