Best June Surf in Memory

Did you ever have a time when things get better and better and you say 'I can't believe it could get any better'?  Well I can believe there is no limit to how much better things can get because that's what I saw happen.  June 2013, compared to other months of June in my memory, has had the best surf of any month of June.  Consistent and varying were the most accurate adjectives to describe the swells rather than weak and southerly which is more typical for June when the Bermuda High begins to dominate.  A pattern set up for waves on the weekends with the swells lasting into the workweek, or there was also an occasional workweek swell.  And the waves broke as good as ever with the new sand bars made by 'The Storm'.

One of the best days of June surf ever

When the waves are good catching fish is the farthest thing from my mind, but it's not like there were many fish around to cause a distraction from getting barrelled.  From what I hear, this month the fishing was really bad, capping off a lousy spring season.  Father's Day was the best day for me- I almost had them do it all to myself on an isolated beach, but it was quite an anti-climax like someone pulled the plug in a bathtub.  But other than serious empathy for fellow people who fish or make a living from people doing that, when its 6-8ft peaks with a straight west wind I might as well be on another planet somewhere.

June 2013

There was a pattern this month for a more northerly Bermuda High, which allowed larger and more consistent fetches of southeasterly winds to develop on its western side.  This 'flow' was often enhanced by storm systems that entered from the west and stalled.  So when the weather repeats in this way, it means a lot of waves and a lot of cooler water and apparently no fish.

June 2013 was quite similar to June 2003.  Too wet in the east and too dry in the west.

Preliminary data shows June 2013 usurped the title for wettest June in New Jersey from 2003.  Both months were similar in that the east was too wet and the west was dry with a heat wave.  The heat wave in the west this June was more severe- Death Valley, CA had the Earth's warmest June temperature on record.  What followed June 2003 was Hurricane Isabel in September.  Hurricane Isabel was considered the worst hurricane in parts of the Mid-Atlantic since the 1933 Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane, a benchmark storm.  It seemed the Bermuda High tended to be more northerly and weaker on its western side in 2003 like this year, making an open door for an Atlantic storm.

Isabel approached a weakness in the western portion of the Bermuda High, which allowed the hurricane to turn west-northwestward on 13 September, northwestward on 15, September, and north-northwestward on 16 September.  The latter motion would continue for the rest of Isabel's life as a tropical cyclone.  Isabel Report

But outside of the surf and weather, as far as fishing, the sharks are the next chance for it as I consider the 'bass season' to be well over.  The best moon days- not counting the multitude of atmospheric variables that override or enhance fishing with the moon are as follows:

NEW       JUL 07-11
FULL      JUL 21-25
NEW       AUG 04-09
FULL      AUG 19-24

It looks as if the swell will fade to the background and so there may be a chance for fishing the new moon next week.