December 13, 2020 – Party of Six, Three Shorties – Ocean County Beaches

Fish were caught, one on a bare hook?

If you read this blog a lot, you probably know how much I love crowded fishing.  I almost bagged my plans last evening when I heard the small party of hopefuls I was expecting to fish with this morning had ballooned to five, possibly six.  I had in mind a certain rip in Ocean County to fish, but I like spot burning about as much as I like fishing in a crowd!  Plus, I could feel an expectation to put these guys on fish, and I have not fished the aforementioned area but once this fall.  I don’t mind social fishing sometimes, but that is not my motivation to fish most mornings.  Even on a crowded beach, I take a step closer to the surf than most in order to take the distractions out of my peripheral vision and just enjoy the experience, get in the zone, watch the diving birds and flipping bait, do whatever is required mentally that day to catch a fish or two.  I realize that not all of my buddies feel that way about fishing and some rarely if ever venture out alone.  Fishing provides many things to many different mitches.  This is the way. 

Some whitewater, but mostly shorebreak.

After surfing the possibility of sleeping in or heading out on my own, I finally wrapped my head around the fact that today would be my 91^st fishing trip of 2020, and I have enjoyed the surf more often this fall than in more recent years because a couple buddies who want to learn something have motivated me to take more long drives than warranted by the diminished Jersey surf.  I know I sound old whining about the glory days, but it wasn’t THAT long ago that a schoolie was just under 28 inches not barely 24.  A lot of 24 inch fish get photographed these days, so that must make a four or five year old fish feel good!  Or is it more like everybody getting a trophy in little league!?  Me, I snapped a shot of an 18 incher today, so pee wee league baseball card?!  Anyway, with help from one of those mitches, our boy Jeff, I called an audible on Plan A and decided we should share our little productive cut on another beach in the same county.  With the expected crowds (and this was before we knew how good Saturday had been with the clouds and west wind) I figured we could use the mob we brought with us to our advantage.  We probably looked like a blitz line-up where there was no blitz….  Fish were caught, however, so this little spot has been kind and an awesome proving ground for Jeff, especially.  

The line up and pee wee league for me.

We had Dolf (the Braid Pioneer), Tony (the Squid), Jeff (Sandy Dunkin), his son (Gentle) Ben, Ben’s buddy and Dolf’s daughter’s boyfriend GC (Girl Crush), and me (the poor man’s Shell E. aka Short E. Caris) all lined up by 5:30 AM.  The young bulls were in the cut, but I caught one borderline rat of 18 inches a couple blocks away on the bar just at sunrise.  When the boys got wet and were done for the morning, Jeff got a decent shortie over 24 and Tony got one that size too, also in that cut.  I apparently missed quite a lot hanging down the beach on the edge of the structure, watching from afar: Ben had to rummage for toilet paper and join the foxes in the dunes, just like his Uncle Dolf would have done most mornings.  I also watched a video with play by play commentary of Jeff landing his fish spoken in the tone only a son would use to rib his old man.  Jeff’s fish was landed with only a bare teaser hook in its mouth.  I gave him a tip that if we wanted to get a little more distance in his cast, he should remove the teaser.  My one theory is that he hooked a sandeel or flea on the bar with that hook on the retrieve, and bam when it dropped in the slough.  Basically, the insanity one would expect from a party of 6 among a party of hundreds, and three cooperative fish as far as the eye could see.  

My quiet moment with some brant geese and loons.

It was good to see good times being had, and I was content to fish around the edges and see some fish in our party, especially because none of us noticed another bent rod in sight, and there was no shortage of rods out there, believe me.  I was hoping more fish would come to the beach with 6 sticks in the water, but there was a south to north sweep and a swell that kept most of the short fish that are around this time of the season out in calmer water, I guess.  Apparently, with the rainy morning and a W not a SSW wind like today, many shorties came over the bar on Saturday.  Not good for us today, of course, but that is a good sign for this upcoming week, provided the snow storms and latest cold snap don’t end this thing very soon.  Loons were still bringing up sandeels, though the little bass I landed coughed up a sand flea, so he was scavenging for whatever he could find—they do love those things, though!  One dude that we wanted to get on a fish came up short today, our boy Dolf (and he was even throwing braid) so I hope there is at least a weather window for rats by next weekend.  I will likely scout around this week.  I think Tuesday is supposed to be cold but stable, sandwiched between two storms, so that is my tentative plan for now. A bit cold for trout that day, anyway....