November 29 and December 1, 2024 – A Couple More Surf Trips with Success this Time – Monmouth and Ocean Counties

Hiding 1/3 in his jacket but a very decent first popper fish

I took a ride to fish the second high tide that was poised to flood into sundown of Friday night.  I think the rain earlier in the day, and a blow post-rainstorm, had the fishery off that night.  The water was green with rainwater where the boy and I had found a few blocks of bait (peanuts and sand eels) last visit.  They must have pushed out over the bar or moved south or something today.  I tossed a pencil hoping for a random blow up and did a lot of scanning for life in and above the water.  Because of the stained water, I also tossed my bunker spoon and a black SP Minnow, just to see if fish were there and working with changed visibility.  Not a touch.  Right after the official sunset while I still had some light, I made a move north to another beach that had life a week prior.  Enjoying the rare solitude on the beaches this fall, I fished into the night for an hour with the black SP, a confidence lure, and did not get a touch at the second spot either.

Friday night in MoCo with nary a bump well into dark.

The boy and I met Sandy Dunkin at Grumpy’s on Sunday and rode the Park for the potential early morning bite.  It was frigid and honking from the West, which kept the crowds relatively light.  The boy experienced a couple of firsts in the Park and a much better first later at the aforementioned bait-heavy spot to the north.  It was his first beach buggy excursion, which I know he appreciated in the cold.  I had some fingerless gloves for him, and even a finger guard for handling braid with wet hands, not to mention spanking new chest waders (an early Christmas present) but it was cold out there.  We all wisely did some waiting and hoping from the buggy with the heat running.  In true Sandy fashion, Jeff couldn’t find his waders this morning, so he got wet when the mayhem went off briefly in the Park.  Right before 9 AM, about 100 of our closest friends and we had a shot at a blitz on adult bunker.  I got a 3-ounce pencil into the milieu once, but did not hook up.  Two nice bass were landed in that flurry—out of 50 dudes, mind you.  Still, it was a sign that the adult bunkers was around.  The boy witnessed the madness of a blitz, however brief, so if we didn’t catch, he at least had a buggy ride AND a shot at a blitz.  Heck, we even had seals in the surf zone eating bunker—quite the nature show this fall, although no fox sighting in the Park nor big rutting bucks in MoCo just yet.

An early, cold start in the Park, the warm buggy, and the armada on acres of bait and birds

We rode north and south along the beach looking, and only found one bird eating a peanut on the sand.  The boy spotted a popper that would come in handy later, however.  Score!  We decided to air up and take one last ride to a couple of the spots I had located, including the one I fished Friday that was alive with bait and good soft structure for over a week.  We could see the birds hovering even from the street.  The boy was the first over the dune, and after seeing what was happening, gestured excitedly and was off.  By the time I cleared the dunes, he had run two blocks north to intercept bass and adult bunker in the wash.  I caught up as quickly as I could and launched my pencil into the fray.  My first cast did nothing but confirm the bait in question—I hooked a 10-inch bunker I had to reel in quickly and release.  On my second cast, I hooked a piggy!  I fought a fish at least the size of the one shown below that Jeff landed in the same blitz.  It may have been slightly bigger based on a couple of the fish we did see hit the beach during the same productive window.  I tend to trust my knots and gear, so the drag on my reel was pretty much cranked down.  I caught 50 fish last fall on the same 60lb leader and 30lb braid, but number 51 broke me off.  I don’t know if a weak spot in the braid failed or the connection to the barrel swivel between braid and leader failed, but I lost the fish right over the bar after a solid battle.  I tend to rush them in too, already thinking about the next one, during a blitz.  Sadly, I also lost a lucky wooden pencil that was probably worth 45 bucks in today’s dollars!  In the moment, my concern was getting back in the game.

No waders, rod in the sand at his feet, good bass.

I was delayed while helping Jeff land a great pencil popper fish, and then I took a minute to put a pencil on the boy’s set up when his shad was getting no love.  I did a quick look for an extra leader or at least my leader material in my plug bag, and instead made the executive decision to tie directly to Power Pro and get back in there.  I tied on the popper the boy found in the Park and then decided to hand that rod, my 10-footer, to him in case it helped him get a little more distance.  I grabbed the 9-footer from him and quickly landed a slot fish on a pencil.  Not long after that I could see the 10-foot rod bent over in my peripheral vision.  The boy was hooked up on a slot fish that ate his found popper with extreme prejudice.  Jeff and I both stopped what we were doing to coach him into his first pencil popper bass.  We were all pretty excited, but I had to get a couple more before the blitz was over.  I did land a nicer fish and had a couple other blow ups before it was all over.  I walked out on the bar, which was still covered in scattered and scared adult bunker and peanuts, but couldn't call up a fourth bass.  I bet that 3-ounce lucky pencil would have slayed…  After taking an informal poll amongst the three of us, we decided to be content with our success here after a long morning.  Still plenty of bassing left to go, even with this frigid weather forecast.

They let me get a couple.  That one that got away though....