July 18, 2018 – A Jog on the Sods, a Ghost Blitz, a Short – Barnegat Bay

Bumper cars, yo.

I took the boy down to LBI to see my parents and hang at the beach for a couple days this week.  Unlike last time I was down, instead of sleeping in after a night on the town with a boy, eating junk food, playing expensive arcade games, and riding the rides, I actually got up at 5:30 AM and took a ride to the sods to see if I could catch something this month.  I was not alone, as my dad actually came up later in the morning, and he did land one short fluke.  Me, not so much.  The water was dirty after a night of heavy rain, the tide was getting low, nearing the end of the outgoing, and grass was an issue from the heavy seas prior to the incoming tide, but when I got about a half way through my half mile hike, birds were going ape on small spearing or bay anchovies.

They ate spearing for over an hour with no game fish in sight!

I didn’t run, exactly, but I did go into a steady jog, not believing my luck of stumbling upon a potential blitz on my first day with a rod in my hands in weeks.  Well, those birds ate their fill for most of the moving water towards the end of the tide, perhaps over 90 minutes of picking small bait off the water, but not one game fish shared in the buffet!  Not a snapper blue, or a weakfish, not even a spot or blowfish.  About 5 turtles ate well, but that was about it.  I ran into an older guy who had what looked like a borderline short, maybe a 17 incher on a stringer, and he actually put it back after my dad kindly told him it was short.  He said he had 5 other smaller fish just before sunrise when the tide was still moving a bit more.  My dad landed one about 10 inches long.  Me, as I said, not so much.  It was good to walk the sods, however, and the ghost blitz did get my heart pumping, but a little more planning is in order next time I head out.  Cool weather and rain at home next week, so maybe I will sneak out again, this time in the sweetwater.