Monday, September 24, 2018

Fall Fishing

Fluke season officially ended but it was really over weeks ago when the east wind started blowing. Usually there is a period of east winds in September, but this year it was all summer long. We have been out a few times and catch a few porgies and throw back nice sea bass on a lumpy ocean. I would like to try an inshore tuna trip, but it has to be on a short notice as we have only been able to fish weather windows. Today the east wind was relentless and all boats tied up. It was even too rough for the beach as the high tides compromised the dunes. We spent a couple hours soaking crab traps down the road and had a good time watching the, osprey, bald eagles, kingfisher, blue herons and hawks. Just when I thought it would be a bust, a few showed up and we went home with seven big blue claws. I heard some boys in a private boat fished the "Pioneer banks" and had a good catch of blackfish up to ten pounds that all went back. Sea bass season opens 10/8, if this wind stops blowing.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Two More Days of Fluke Season

If you did not figure out fluke fishing from a boat is a waste of time, pay attention to this report. We hit the beach today at first light and had immediate action with snapper blues. An adventure out to our favorite spot produced more little blues and a bunch of short fluke. As the tide eased, we worked our way back down the beach and found a bunch of biting fish. All the "surf" fishermen, with their fancy trucks, were catching twelve to fourteen inch bluefish with eleven foot rods. Evelyn and I were landing a fluke ever other cast and at times had two on, with ten pound dinky poles. The ranger stopped by, and asked what those fish were, as no one else was catching them. At that time I hooked a good one and showed him what a keeper fluke looked like. If you have never had a fluke dinner two hours after the fluke was swimming along with a baked potato and tomato salad that was picked this week at the local farm, well....That's why we don't go out to eat. Our biggest problem is these fluke will bite for another month.

Monday, September 17, 2018

End of Fluke Season Report

"Runnin' round the deep blue sea, hear those diesels hummin', put more water in the soup 'cause better  days are comin'..."

Friday, September 14, 2018

Rough Weather

God bless the people in the Carolinas. The damage from hurricane Florence will start to be evident over the weekend. After the remnants of Gordon spawned a low pressure last Monday, we have had a never ending easterly fetch. Wednesday, the wind subsided and we wanted to try our favorite beach spot, but the fog was so thick you could not see across the street, so we headed to a local crab spot. We took our time getting there and was surprised when we had the whole place to ourselves. A few hours later, fifteen big blue claws were in the basket. Yesterday was raining here, so we took care of a few errands, and planned to hit the beach today. The ride down was damp and breezy and you could feel a hurricane was near. We walked out to our favorite spot and had some action despite the dingy looking water and all the sea weed. I had some snapper blues, a short fluke and a couple of good sized fish that came unbuttoned. Evelyn also lost a nice fish that I think was a fluke. We walked around the point to look at the ocean from a safe distance and it was wet, wild and white. When we arrived it was an hour and a half after low tide, but the water was already as high as a normal high tide, and we retreated to the truck before the water reached the dunes, just in time to beat a heavy rain band from the storm. We will try again next week as it is the last week of the fluke season.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Baseball

The Yankees have the third best record in baseball and everyone says they are going to the playoffs. So why is it, every time I watch a game, they bring back memories of the 2007 Mets?

Monday, September 10, 2018

The Weather Channel

They never let you down. Just when you think they are doing a good job, they prove that they are only looking for ratings. Florence is coming and it is going to be bad, but today most coastal regions of the Jersey shore were under water and no one cared. Belmar, Manasquan, Ocean City, Cape May, all the local streets on the bayside of rt. 9, LBI, Stone Harbor, I could go on and on, were all flooded from the severe Nor'easter. The remnants of hurricane Gordon have been pounding the coast for over twenty four hours, with gusts to forty knots and seas running over twelve feet. Our friends on TV showed the surfcam from Wrightsville Beach NC. It was a beautiful bluebird day, with a four foot swell and kids surfing and the talking heads were telling me how bad the seas were. Tomorrow they probably will have Jim Cantore pointing to a puddle and yelling "flood".

Florence

Florence appears to be headed for the Wilmington NC area and will cause major damage. The effects will be massive, as the heavy rains will cause flooding in the inland areas, much like hurricane Irene did a few years back. That storm shut down our fishing for over a month. As the media usually starts a panic with all the hype, it seems appropriate with this storm and I hope everyone is prepared. While they are better then us at handling these natural disasters in the Carolina's, this storm will be devastating and it's effect will linger. It's coming, we can just hope and pray it moves through fast.

Friday, September 7, 2018

Another Lost Weekend

This weekend is lost to the relentless east wind and who knows how far beyond. Twenty big, rusty blue claws this morning.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

A Day at the Beach

We were kind of bummed out that we could not fish this weekend, so we took a ride to our favorite beach spot to welcome the first day of "Local's Summer." All the "schoobies" were gone and only a few regulars were on the beach. We saw the first mullet of the fall season along with the usual spearing and peanut bunkers and the snappers were going wild. We spent a while trying to jig up a fluke with no love, so a switch to a top water plug made for some fun with the baby blues. None of the tackle shops are carrying green crabs yet, so I picked a few fiddler crabs from the ten million walking around and tried for blackfish. That only produced a few dink sea bass, as the water is warm as a bath tub. It is nice to have the beach and the bay back while the weather is still nice.