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| Another long ride to photograph a cloudy sunrise. |
Well, this year was as bad or worse than the years past that made me refocus on fall and winter trout fishing in lieu of the surf. The sandeel honeymoon of the last few years has been fun, although the fish have been so small. I would have taken a day of dinks today to end on a high-ish note, but I ended the way I began this fall. There was a good South blow yesterday, I guess, because the water was dirty and weedy about two hours after high tide—cabbage at the beach lip and dirty foam as the tide continued to fall. I was suited up and casting by 5:30 AM, and I hit two likely spots before 8:30 AM when I decided it was not going to happen. No birds, no bait, no boats, no buggies, no signs of life. With an East swell, the surf looked great, plenty of whitewater and depth, even on those improved beaches, at least for the first two hours of outgoing. The water did not feel that cold, either, but as the morning air warmed with the sunrise there was a slight fog over the water, so maybe colder than it appeared. The boys are going tomorrow in the Park, so maybe good news will coax me out one last time, but I do believe this morning was just that. I was actually scouting for even dinks this morning because I wanted to get my son out on the beach on Sunday (and last Sunday!) but that too might have to wait until spring. Maybe he will be my trout good luck charm?
Wow! Tuff surf end of year. I hope this slot limit thing works out for the Bass over time. Down OBX, people are ecstatic with the results of the Red Drum slot limit and 1 fish rule. I am not sure how long it has been in effect, but it seems to be working.
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Who knows? The peanuts were potentially a great thing, but blitzes do little to separate the lucky googan from the unlucky googan. I was just an unlucky googan this year. Been a long time since I had it this bad though! I saw that Chessie YOY stocks are really low for the last few year classes, so maybe the fish that did arrive for a while were Hudson and Delaware fish and the biomass is not huge right now. I will spend more time on less improved beaches next year if no sandeels appear again. Better shot at peanut blitzes if you can find pockets and things to hold them at night, I seem to remember!
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