December 10 and 11, 2019 – Swapped the Dry Top for Raingear – SEPA and Ocean County, NJ

A walk, and slide, with fishing rod.

Although it was raining, it was nearly 60 degrees on Tuesday, so I had to get out somewhere, even for a short while.  I had the bright idea of tossing a streamer in the Pennypack to see if I could move any fall stockies; that is, if there are (m)any fall stockies in this particular stretch….  The boy and I took a skunk in this same area in October, though we did see a handful on stringers, but today I hunted around looking for them and had one bump on a small black bugger.  That was it.  Well, I also slipped on some mud on the seriously saturated banks and tweaked an ankle and my knee.  Good times!  I will not be back this year, especially since a few other spots near home get a more thorough distribution of fish.  I was hoping to locate the trout so that I could go back and midge them up when the water was not so high and stained, or even take the boy over to the same park for redemption, but perhaps the water was too cold or many of the fish were harvested, or there was not enough help stocking this fall.  Like I stated above, see you in the spring, Penny, at least this particular PFBC-stocked stretch.

Novelty snow bass eating the weighted eel on the dropper.

Now for something completely different: I drove to the beach in a driving wet snow this morning to get at least one more shot at the schoolies eating sandeels.  With the possible exception of Thursday, which is not a day I can fish this week, the remainder of the week looks like a mess.  A big 4 to 7, followed by a 5 to 8 foot swell and high South winds will have the surf a mess, and probably not the good kind.  Today, the surf was the good kind of messy.  Today was striper weather: steady wet snow, wind from the NW at 20-25, plenty of whitewater, a nice 2 to 4 foot swell, even a sweep of current moving along the beach from north to south.  The bass got the memo too.  Though the best were barely 24 inches, there were no true dinks, all 18 to 24 inch fish in the slough and the front slope of the bar, ambushing sandeels.

White-out on the beach, tools of the trade, morning driving conditions on the final approach.

The drive down was not that fun and took a good 30 minutes longer than normal.  When I went out to warm up the ‘Ru before 4 AM and load in my gear, it was just misting.  But by the time I left, a heavy wet snow was falling and landing on the lawns.  I drove east into this visibility-sucking mess, watching the temps hover right at 33 to 34 degrees.  Yesterday was so warm that the roads were fine, but it was a hassle to drive in as the trucks woke up to begin their morning deliveries.  I swung a U-turn and pointed the car into the wind when I arrived at the beach-end street, so I could use the hatch as some protection as I geared up before the walk up the beach.  Hood of the raingear up and cinched, neoprene gloves, and I was as ready as I was going to be.  I was happy to see whitewater in the wash, and the tide was good too, but beyond a few dozen yards, I could not see much more.  As a result, I walked past my landmark on the dunes once, overshooting it by a block or two, but with all the white-out conditions, first light was going to be a little later, anyway, and it would be cloudy enough to keep the fish in close a bit longer if they did arrive.  I eventually found my spot, picking out a couple familiar cribs beyond the dunes.

Most on the dropper, but T-Hex scored 3 of 11 fish.

Well, they arrived sometime around 7:30 AM, a bit later, as I expected.  I had about an hour, maybe more, of steady action.  Because the surf was a little rough, I stayed on the sand and caught half my fish right in the slough and the surf lip.  A couple better ones, like 24 inches (so “better”) came at the end of the cast on the front end of the bar, so I needed some weight.  Even in close, with the current sweep from the swell—up to 4 or 5 feet on the primary wave, enough to get the surfers out as the tide ebbed further around 9 AM—I had to use a 2 ounce T-Hex to deliver a 1/5 ounce soft-plastic eel teaser on the dropper.  I landed three fish on the metal, even one on a 3 ounce T-Hex in the last half hour of productive fishing.  As the tide receded, the surf got snottier, even dirtier with grass and brown foam, likely from all the rain water washing in from the previous day(s) of precipitation, so in order to get down to the bottom and not just swing left to right too quickly, the 3 (and a half with the eel) ounces certainly helped contribute to my last two fish of the trip.

Some nice whitewater even in a NW blow.

Taking photos was a chore with snow hitting me at 25 MPH in the back, accumulating an inch on my plug bag, so I did not take many fish pictures.  I did not want to take my gloves off either, and when I did, it was a pain to get a dry enough finger to work a phone!  We know what short bass look like, anyway, perhaps all too well as surf fishermen in New Jersey the last several years.  I did text a shot of a bass in the snow to Dolf and Jeff, and at that time I had counted 9 fish and was hoping for 10 so that I could quit.  The snow started tapering off about 9 AM, but the tide was going out and it was getting incrementally brighter by the second.  With the aforementioned 3 ounce T-Hex, I was able to reach 10 and then 11 fish, and told myself I would quit at an even dozen.  I quit at 11 fish when that 12 became an increasingly elusive and silly goal.  Towards the end of the productive window, the water was getting dirtier, so I had more fish bump it and not connect, but when even the bumps stopped, I knew they had moved on for the morning.  I took their example and headed for the car around 9:30 AM.  The walk back was more comfortable with the NW wind pushing me along, and with no snow to contend with, I was able to watch the surfers and other enthusiasts come out of hiding to enjoy their morning activities.  A brisk walk was probably good for that knee I twisted on the Pennypack too, as it really did not stiffen up or hurt much today.  It will be ready to wade a trout stream on Friday, for sure.  Sadly, the surf may be too snotty.

A coating to an inch, on my shoulders and plug bag too.