November 21, 2017 – Lucky Enough to Stick One on a Scouting Trip, Or Simply a Blind Squirrel? – Ocean County, NJ

Slacker.

A real surf fisherman would not have been photographing the sunrise from 10 miles off the coast this morning, but it’s been too long since I have been a real surf fisherman, I suppose.  After Sandy, I took up fly fishing again in earnest, partly because the beach was off limits, jacked up, or not productive enough to warrant all the long drives I once made.  That said, I still love it, especially catching fish on a plug.  It is hard to describe the alien excitement of picking a piece of soft structure in the vast Atlantic Ocean, often in the dark, mind you, delivering a cast with confidence, somehow knowing something has to be waiting there, and then feeling the thump of a bass as it ambushes your plug in a washing machine of suds and crosscurrents.

Too short: taped at 27, so close enough to have to dig around in my bag for a tape!  Bone SP minnow.

My first trip of the fall is a late one this year, but I wanted to take a ride today and scout a few miles of my favorite beach.  Leaving earlier may have been more productive.  Staying longer to walk the beach at low tide may have been more informative.  However, I was just happy to be out there in sporty conditions, tossing an SP Minnow into the wash, and tangling with a fat 27 inch bass.  I had nary a bump after that, in almost 3 hours of walking and throwing, but the bait guys were doing nothing either, and I saw no signs of life, even offshore.  I did find a few new cuts, holes, and even a rip that has always formed in approximately the same place ever since the super-storm, so I am hoping to head back next week.

Got a little breezy on the walk back, and not the good kind: SW 20-30.

The week after Thanksgiving was one of the few good ones last year, so I am hopeful.  I am also a fan of the schoolie run that usually takes place in December, and I may even try to catch one on the fly rod this year.  Talk about a blind squirrel there!   That’s not what it’s about for me, though.  When I first started surf fishing, I used to plug the early, early mornings and then soak some bait to make the long drive worth it.  But now I am of the mind that if I can catch one or two on the plug each time I take the long drive, then I have beat the odds, especially on foot and not in a buggy, and it is a good trip, even if I drove 90 minutes to fish 3 hours..  Today was a good first trip of the fall, and it will not be my last.