November 23 and 24, 2020 – Well, You Have to Start Somewhere and Now That’s a Little Better – Ocean County Beaches

After the rain, the good kind of sporty.

After a rain-soaked, slow ride, I met Jeff outside of a tackle shop Monday morning to consolidate gear and take a ride on the beach in his buggy.  We met at 5 AM ahead of the sunrise just before 7 AM, hoping to get a pre-dawn and dawn bite on our first striped bass of the fall.  Even after airing down and taking a ride to prospect, we were casting our first lines in the dark with heavy rain coming at us from the SE.  At least the sweep was north to south, so we could turn our faces from the rain and cast into the oncoming swells.  It was supposed to be 4 to 6 feet and eventually breezy out of the SW, but I would say the surf was closer to 4.  There was plenty of whitewater, however, and zero weeds.  I was very hopeful that our first trip would be a success.  Having no experience on this beach, and this being Jeff’s first ride of the fall, we were the blind leading the blind in the dark, when every bit of soft structure looks about the same when the seas are nothing but whitewater.  With some gray light, I found one small cut, and we gave it a shot for the anticipated sunrise bite.  Birds even gathered out over the bar, probably hovering over adult bunker, however, not sandeels because there was no diving. 

Mobile today, but still got wet and cold...

We took another ride and found a legit point with two nice holes with current on both sides.  We got a couple bumps here, but we were not fast enough to recognize the cut where all the fish would be passing through now at low tide.  A few guys set up below us had it just right, and we watched a few keepers and many shorts come to the sand.  One of their fish was probably 35 inches, and it stayed cloudy into the morning, so we held out hope until well after usual quitting time that we might land a decent bass.  No dice.  Jeff dropped a decent one and had two dinks on that came off at the lip.  Me, I was struggling, impatient.  Had we mugged a mitch, we may have gotten a couple, but I am not wired that way, I guess.  The funny thing is, we kind of got mugged because we were on a decent piece of structure, so we should have just mixed it.  It was not that hot and heavy, however, not enough action for blitz norms of courtesy to take over.  We headed off the beach around 10:30 AM, debating Tuesday, but tossing my 10-footer had me a bit sore, so I was not so sure.

Found a couple in the dark before the usual sunrise flourish.

Funny what a nap (well, attempted nap) and some pain relief meds can do for a couple of men of a certain age.  Around 7 PM Monday night, I texted Jeff and said I could do it again, and he said he was also ready, so we decided to do the same thing today.  No rain, less surf, colder, but actually a good number of shorts landed since we got to the cut we scouted on Monday long before dawn today.  We met at 5 AM again, so two dudes in their 50’s got up at 2:30 in the morning two days in a row and fished the November surf.  Not that I have three in a row in me, but it’s been a while since I was this dedicated to the surf.  I live at least an hour and half from the beaches, but Jeff is sick with it and reliable.  If we say, see you at 4 AM, we are both there, which is one of the marks of a keeper fishing partner.  As I said, fish were caught this morning.  There were no keepers, but we landed 12 or 13 bass from 18 to 25 inches, so a much more successful second fall trip.

Quite a different day today.

I started out throwing a black SP Minnow in the dark and landed two 20+ inchers before sunrise.  I had a couple short bumps at the lip as well.  With high tide and lighter surf, I am sure those bumps were from the dinks running the lip before dawn.  But the larger shorts were also pretty much running the slough.  We got hit just as the plugs or metal came over the bar or just outside the inshore edge of the lip.  Not until the bright sun came out, did I have to haul off and further stiffen a sore shoulder from Monday.  To fish that cut we found yesterday, I threw a THex after the sun was up with a soft plastic eel teaser.  I only got one on the metal and two on the eel teaser, however.  Fish were roaming in closer today, so Jeff and I had the most success with a bone white SP minnow.  With a west wind, it was easy enough to get the plug out there nearly as far as metal, anyway, and I personally love that violent hit on a plug, regardless of the size of the bass.

Only one on the fall standby.

Jeff had the dreaded cracked guide or something because he had technical problems right as things were happening at dawn, so he only landed a couple of fish and lost another.  I was a casualty too.  The good news is that I snagged his blue braid and hauled in his lost rig one time, but the bad news is I snagged 50 yards of blue braid, dig?  I just grabbed my other rod from the buggy and kept fishing, but I had landed three fish on the metal and/or teaser right before the tangles, so I was a bit miffed.  Luckily, the bone SP on my lighter 9-footer worked just fine.  I landed 10 fish before we quit at 9 AM, so it was a momentary miff at best.  I was hoping Jeff could have gotten into a few more, so that was likely part of the miff too!  

Sandeel teaser.

By 8 AM we were feeling like it was over, but the wind had shifted a bit, so I walked up and fished the other side of the bar, this time on the side that was receiving the sweep of current, not blocking it.  It was a good hunch because I landed my last fish of the morning on the THex and teaser with my 10-footer now free of Jeff’s braid ball.  I think I took a break at the buggy to drink water and to text a report to Pete, who was also out fishing elsewhere, and must have decided that a pair of braid scissors would make quick work of the tangle that seemed so bad in lower light.  It was a decent 24 or 25 inch fish, the second this size today and probably the largest we encountered.  Not awesome, but when I am plugging, I just love the tug.  The idea of tossing a lure into the mighty Atlantic and having it pounced on by a fish still has not lost its appeal.  I have Friday penciled in to fish again, this time with Jeff’s brother in law Dolf, one of my first surf fishing partners and the one who set Jeff and I up last year.  I always tell Dolf, “Chunks is for punks,” because he still loves a good soak, but if I don’t rest this shoulder, I may be happy to hang a bunker noggin on a circle hook and sit some bucket later this week.  I am sure Jeff will figure out a way to fish with us!

The white SP Minnow was probably high hook between us.  Some B roll until next time.