April 22, 2023 – I Was a Day Late, but Jeff Timed It Just Right – Monmouth County

That grin says it all.  Storm coming...

Jeff has been putting in the time this spring, and on Friday he was rewarded with a few bass, including one that was in that 25-pound class, more if she wasn’t post-spawn.  The best part is that he hooked the fish on a surface popper and with an audience, so he was deservedly on cloud 9.  We thought I might be lucky enough to get into them with him on Saturday night, but the odds were against us.  That front was coming, but with a SE wind all day, the rain stayed off the coast until 9:30 PM or later, so at least initially that was not the problem.  When it arrived, it came with lightning and thunder and heavy rain, which made the 90-minute drive home in the dark fun for me.  High tide was after 11:30 PM, so we got booted from the spot a couple hours before slack.  A pair of slot keepers were landed next to us, so it may have been a good night without the dangerous weather spoiling things.  Before that even, we were asked to leave a spot because there was an event happening, and I guess a bunch of jadrools in your parking lot tossing shads is not all that classy.  We readily complied, just grateful that this spot is open to fishing most of the time.  We poked around the Hook before dark, drove through a busy Red Bank, had some slices, and caught up after probably four months of not seeing each other, so it was not a total loss.  I always begin my striper season with a skunk anyway.  Jeff, well, he will be at it again on Sunday, I bet.  I wish I was still sick with it, but I may take the boy for some trouts instead.