2012: The Summer of Thunderstorms

There is a certain amount of hope that is part of fishing, but after a while too much 'positive thinking' becomes delusional and mental patient-like.  As far as I'm concerned, this entire year of fishing, aside from a nice boat day, has been more disapointing than lifting.  Or it has felt very fleeting.  Doug and I had a great experience the other night for sure, but we were also barely hanging on to get a night without a thunderstorm.  And then an hour into the fishing- which was going to be the night of the summer- some snot 20mph SW wind picked up and forced us to leave.  Just like the bass bite this year- it always feels like what you have is about to be lost at any moment.  The plague now, as it has been, are thunderstorms.

It has been difficult to find a fishing day this summer without a map like this.  Here is tonight's map.

Yet another Midwest-style thunderstorm moved through on Thursday.

As drought decimates the rest of the United States, the Northeast and New Jersey are under a weak trough pattern that is keeping the air unstable and ripe for seemingly endless summer thunderstorms.

Sometimes I have a difficult time dealing with the weather because it can be frustrating.  Yesterday there was a nice west wind blowing, the water looked nice and alive, and I figured there would be a shot at some sharks even though it wasn't a moon week.  So I go through the whole process of bait gathering, rod rigging, prepping, etc and the wind switches onshore at 6:30pm, the water gets that junky stale dead look with a calm wind, and the best Will and I could do was land a stingray each.  All I am asking for, at this point, is one night where it's just nice or surprising and exciting.  A good bite, no threat of death from lightning, no abnormal 25mph SW wind picking up at 10:30pm.  Just a few solid hours of good fishing, being all pumped up, without having to look over my shoulder for the next weather misery.  Until then . . .

. . . more thunderstorms.

Wow.  Even ANOTHER Midwest-style storm rolled though while I was writing this . . .

My well of staying motivated has run dry and I am in full hunger mode.  Fortunately, I have some more wild plans that have a serious risk for disappointment, but they will yield an incredible reward if things work out.  It's high risk investing, fishing portfolio, but the profit is worth all the drudgery and obsession with the darkness of the western sky.  Snakes are associated with the devil, at least that's what wise people purport, and I assume sharks are too, so I'm playing with the dark side a little bit with this one.  If you pretend thunder is angry angels stomping the ground in heaven and lightning is what god does when he is pissed, and I'm using snakes to catch the most evil fish in the sea, then this is some heavy fishing.  And it's where it is that's really spooky.

There are sharks where?

The great thing about fishing is there is always another level to take it to and there is always someone who has more knowledge on the subject and who is happy to pass on what they know.  There is a ceremony in that, moving to a higher level and learning, which I consider a sacred and mystical act, not something to be bastardized by the information transfer disorder so prevalent in modern communication, evidenced by the debasing of words into argument and debate.  If you want to be the best you can be you'd be wise to learn from the best.  Last night was the synthesis of information I received and it really changed the way I view the water around me!

Doug and I set out our live eels.  I was in a bitchy mood for some reason, but fortunately Doug was not and he was real cool because he expected nothing and was happy just to have a line in.  All I was thinking was the spring sucked (from the beach mostly) and if I just spent the last four hours, again, to stand and stare at a rod and catch no fish . . . And then my rod tip started really going.  That eel is scared!  Here we go.

Bam!  I picked up my rod and got the slack, but there was nothing there.  Wait for it.  Wait.  Boom!  I gave it a five count and set back.  Zip, zip, zip.  Break off.  I reeled in and had only a 1ft mono portion left of the Beach Shark Rig.  The shark had a chance to rub my line and that will break it.  The mono was even sandpapered a few feet into my mainline!  They're here!  It wasn't even dark yet and my eel was only in the water for 15 minutes.

I removed my roughed up mainline, tied back up, and baited a fresh live eel, taking about 10 or so minutes.  The bait was chucked out.  I don't remember how long it was, but it wasn't very long before the rod was going down to the ground.  I set up and was on immediately!  However long into the battle Doug and I shined our headlights on the water and saw a dorsal fin cruising back and forth.  Sick!  With some effort the fish was brought onshore for the standard hook removal and pictures.  Back in the water for a successful catch and release.  Awesome!

There is something different about this photograph I will tell you.  A nice sandbar a bit out of place from the sandbar.

Wow.  One for two sharks in about an hour.  Doug wasn't even fazed that they liked my rod more, he was just as stoked as I was about the score.  Unfortunately, that would be it for the night, which I blame on a snotty SW wind that picked up and the dying eels from my poor storage method.  Another hour of snot wind and elderly eels produced no more bites so we packed it up and called it a success.  The tide and moon 'sucked' so I won't factor that.  A snotty wind I will factor, as well as thunderstorms.  The liveliness of eels seemed very important, and I thought of a method for that today.  What this means is there is a good chance the drought will be replaced by a flood- kind of like the weather around the world nowadays.  It's all just so interwoven.  Success!

Frustrating Fishing but Interesting Cooler Weather

The thing about fishing is that- sometimes it sucks.  It's like with gambling, unless you are rigging the cards or reading them or whatever, or if you are fishing a stocked car-sized pond in your backyard you will be disappointed from time to time, sometimes for a streak.  When the bet is higher and failure occurs the result is that much more disappointing.  All I will say about the A effort that Doug and I put in last night is that we essentially drove two hours for ice cream.  But I thrive on frustration and a blocking atmosphere, so you bet I'm going to try that much harder next time, and when I score it will be huge!  And there will be more than one . . .

Yet another ominous shelf cloud moved through, but this one had a lot less wind than the one the other weekend.  The downdraft dropped the tempreature some 15 degrees for a while and it felt awesome compared to the relentless 90s.

Just like there is a 'January thaw' there is a 'July cool down' but this is no ordinary cool down in July.  Today, the 20th, I arrived at the beach to see life guard stands on the verge of drowning and knee deep brown foam blowing around them.  A July nor'easter!  Climatologically, the middle/final third of July has to be the least likely time for a nor'easter, but yet as I type there are gusty NE winds, cool air, rain, and 4-6ft wind swell.  By September, or next week, this storm will surely be catalogued in the whatever category in memory, but for July it is a pretty decent nor'easter- and just as good as any of the winds during the past winter that wasn't a winter.

July Surprise!  I think in the last update, in a caption, I mentioned how when there is storm the beach would go right out because there is no outer bar to break up the wave energy.  If I didn't move the stand the high tide tonight surely would have.

Record warmth in Greenland and a high pressure means cooler weather and NE winds locally.  It's a big world, but then it's not, but it is certainly interlinked.

So as the central United States roasts and Greenland is coming off of record warmth, locally the weather is nice and cool and refreshing.  If you've ever noticed how when you let air out of a bicycle it feels cool, that is similar to what the low pressure overhead is like.  Expanded air is cooler.  The July nor'easter is traceable to the effect of record warmth and high pressure over Greenland, since that type of pattern tends to force cooler weather and NE winds here.  There is a weather station in Greenland that only broke 32F four times from 2000-2011.  So far this July the station broke 32F five times, and on four consecutive days from the 11th through 14th.  That record warmth and high pressure creates a profoundly negative High Latitude Oscillation- and in New Jersey that translates to an unusual July nor'easter.

What this means for fishing is that it's time to surf.  Waves only.  This moon is cancelled, so it's now up to the August full moon to get it done.  But what will it be then?  Thunderstorms, sea weed, upwelling finally, jellyfish . . . That's why when I see someone with a picture of a nice fish and they show it off to me I am happy for them.  There is a degree to which it is okay to brag as I empathize with the dedication and enthusiasm and perseverance that is attached to this great activity.

I might gamble some more tonight- the worst i get is a nice couple of hours in my favorite NE wind weather and the best I get is a night that will make the summer . . . Whenever I can I rig it so I never lose . . .

Cruising in July



The past week featured activity above the July standard of hot, flat, fishless and lazy beach weather.  A fun medium period swell filled in on Wednesday evening and lasted through Friday morning, an at least eight mile long school of herring was in the surf, and unidentified orange balls were again flying across the sky on Saturday night.  Waves, some fish, and UFOs are pretty good compared to the normally comatose conditions of mid-July.

Doug and I, mostly Doug, nailed a sessions worth of bait in 6 or 7 casts with the Sabiki rig for use at night.  I was using a metal and small teaser, but the herring really wanted those dart things, which left me and an angler to the north without a fish on the beach.  I eventually got one as soon as I put the Sabiki on, we left since we had enough, and the angler to the north took our spot and remained fishless.  Who are those kids that came onto the beach at 6:30am, caught a bunch of fish in ten minutes, and just as quickly left?  Is what that guy must have been saying.

Chunking the fresh herring out that night during the wrong tide with a shallow shelfy bottom not surprisingly produced no fish.  From speaking with other friendly fisherman, the information I absorbed is that the sharks are out, perhaps kind of like how the bass stayed out this spring.  There was mention of a good bite where there is better access to deeper water just off the beach, and the offshore areas have been producing a good number.  I was very fortunate to have some new ideas enter my brain and things are brewing about how to finally score a good bite this summer.

A very fun fill-in swell and water like North Carolina was a nice July combination.  Notice how gigantic the beach is.  I bet that since there is no outer bar to dissipate the wave energy, when we get a storm again all of that beach will go right out.

As far as the weather, you and I, right now, are living through a very significant national drought event that is ranking with the country's most legendary droughts in the 1930s and 1950s.  Unless you are bulimic or anorexic, or have an abundance of and ambivalence to money, the increased and possibly increasing price of food has surely been or will become noticeable.  In New Jersey we are on the borderline, so other than food and your extrasensory ability to be aware of the drought several states away, there have been enough gusty thunderstorms to keep it wet enough here.

If you look at a timeline of the 1930s Dust Bowl, and then at a graph of global temperature, and then back to the 1930s Dust Bowl, and then back to global temperature you may notice global temperature warmed really quickly from the 1920s through the 1930s- and the Dust Bowl happened during that time:

The atmosphere warmed really quickly from the 1920s through the 1940s- the first year global temperature was above the 20th century average was 1937.  The worst Dust Bowl years were 1934, 1936, and 1939.  Something was up with the atmosphere in the 1930s.



Back to the fishing, while the atmosphere from coast to coast is calm, aside from local severe gusty thunderstorms, my brain has been having a storm and I am looking to replace this years shark drought with a flood.  This week will be spent working on how to do that.  I still love this game because there is always another level to take it to- and there are usually always good natured people who will give you information to help you get on your way.  And the moon on Thursday coincides perfectly.