It Will Not Let Go!

December 27th.  On days when I don't surf or fish in the morning I like to take a walk up to the beach before work and stare at the water for five minutes.  It's like a meditation thing I practice to settle out any junk going on up there.  When I started across Route 35 on Tuesday, the first thing I noticed was a horde of gannets above the dune line.  Oh s*** I thought.  It just won't end!  I got to the beach and saw gannets everywhere, purple water, and a cluster of beach buggies.  Unbelievable.  The reports were even more amazing:

From my experience, from the 2000s to present, to have fish still around now is 50/50, but to have 20lb and 30lb fish is nothing I've ever seen before.  They weren't all that big, but I heard of a decent number of 'smaller' 30-35 inchers also in the mix.  By this time of year a 32 inch fish is usually worth a phone call to your friends instead of being a small fish.  I wasn't there because I was at work but I got some interesting first hand accounts:

ME:  Ok.  What the hell was that?  30lb fish from Brick to Seaside?  Are you kidding me?
RICK:  I was asleep when I got the call from Charlie.  By the time I got up there the fish were already a half mile north.  They were moving, north, so fast I could only get a few shots at them before getting back in the truck.
ME:  North?  30lbers?  What the hell?
RICK:  They weren't all that big, but I got at least a 20 and a few around 30 inch.  Shell E got the biggest one I saw on that new secret lure he's been using.  It weighed in around 31lbs.
ME:  Unbelievable.  Herring I guess right.  My neighbor said there was herring washed up on the beach in Seaside the other morning.
RICK:  Yeah they definitely weren't on sand eels, they were moving.  Part of the reason was probably the beach being so featureless.  Nothing to pin the bait against.  We got another shot at them, same thing, a copule hours later.

STEVE:  It was fast paced and moving north.  You would get a few shots at them, but then we had to keep moving to stay up with them.
ME:  Not like the sand eels.
STEVE:  We just kept going and ended up way past where we could drive.  No one really noticed because we all kept hooking up.
ME:  Haha.  I can see that happening.
STEVE:  I've never seen anything like this.  Write that in your book.  December 27th!

So the unbelievable fall continues.  With herring and even bigger bunker in the mix, and with milder weather forecast for this New Year's weekend, anything is possible.  I am going to stop saying it's over because I'm starting to get too good at proving myself wrong.  I'm going to give it some looks tomorrow, but will only fish if I see something obvious.  Friday I'm busy and I'll be away this weekend for New Year's.  If there's still legitimate fish around next week, in the New Year, I mean come on!

A surprising sight hit my eyes and camera lens on the morning of the 27th.  What a season.