March 22, 2020 – Sort of Broke the Seal on the 2020 Striped Bass Season – Ocean County

Was it?  Nope.

I was hoping to get out with Dolf and Jeff this past Saturday to change it up and fish for early season striped bass.  I had an online meeting come up for Saturday, and then Dolf ended up having to take a work conference call on Sunday, but Jeff was on the line for a ton of pricey bloodworms and even some salted clam.  Jeff’s enthusiasm is infectious, so I had no choice but to man up and meet him on the bay in Ocean County to soak some bloods.  Tide and sunrise were a potentially effective pairing, but it was cold, so the water was probably colder too.  On warmer days this week, especially with clouds, flurries of shorts were being pulled up the sods, some up to 24 inches—one old timer got a 24 a on shad on Saturday while I worked!  We were out on the point before sunrise on a beautiful and calm morning, perhaps too calm and beautiful for the entire incoming tide, in fact.  That changed by 9:30 AM, however. 

Pricey skunk too!

It felt eerily quiet out there.  As I mentioned, Jeff secured bait on Friday close to his home, but the bait shop up the road that supports this fishery closed on Saturday.  The Gov wanted enforced social distancing, so this helped for sure. There were 10 rods instead of 30 out there.  All ten remained angled at 45 degrees into the wind, that angle never changing for 3+ hours.  A front chased all of us off the sods, too.  It was cold and still to start, but we could see the clouds coming from behind us.  When the front arrived, it came with sleet, rain, and wind.  Since no one out there caught a fish or even reacted to a bite, it seemed crazy to remain standing out there for long.  Jeff and I enjoyed talking fishing and smack about Dolf, his brother in law and my longtime friend.  Since even Wawa was counting heads as they entered the stores, breakfast and coffee was out, so we just bumped elbows and said our adieus about 10:30 AM, logging our first bass skunk of the year.  Don’t worry, there are always more when it comes to bass!

Would not have seen this from bed, however.