Summer Daze

Summer is settling in along the Jersey shore. Along with all the good things, it is also time to take the Lancaster county farmers fishing. Just to give you an idea, while anchoring the other day, Capt Steve announced over the PA that the wreck we would be fishing was an old barge. One of the young dirt farmers proceeded to ask "What does he mean by a barge?" And if that wasn't enough, a young girl reeled a mussel up from the bottom and happily declared "I caught an almond!" Like I always say, you can't make this stuff up. Well at least the fishing is good. Plenty of nice ling, lots of big sea bass (we can keep them again starting Sunday) and an occasional big flounder, pollock or whiting. Yesterday, Evelyn and I went in search of the blue claw crab from a local dock. Two and a half hours later, thirty-one keepers went into the basket. Yep, it's summer all right.

Happy Summer

The spring sea bass season has passed and you will only be allowed to keep two per person for the summer. Blues are starting to bite and the fluke fishing up in the bay looks pretty good. We tried the beach again, and had it all to ourselves but only caught a few shorts. Crabbing still stinks. I am starting to think all the dredging down here over the winter has something to do with it. If you get a chance, check out Bob Nightingale's USA Today story, titled "Baseball is terrible right now". He hits the nail right on the head and I could not agree more. You can find it on line.

Pennsyl-tucky Riviera

The "Shoobie"" invasion has begun. The " one plater's " have all the parking spots full along the Jersey shore. We tried fishing our favorite beach spot yesterday and had the skunk for the first time this season. The water was clear, but had a dingy look to it, maybe fresh water from all the rain. There were bait fish around, but the fluke we were catching the past few weeks must have moved into the back bays. We will give it one more try before the beach gets too crowded for the next ten weeks. Now it's time to start looking for those blue claws.

Lots of Rain

Wow, did it rain down here last night. The rest of the week looks nice. The sea bass bite was strong yesterday, with quite a few limits and a smattering of ling. Our first try at crabbing this week produced a dozen keepers. Yum.

Slow Day at the Beach

An early start on a cool morning was rewarded with an empty beach yesterday. On the third cast, my rod bent with a good fish, and then it was gone. That set the tone for the day, as the fluke would hit the jig but would not commit. A bunch of bites but only two shorts made it to the sand. Even a little striper that Evelyn brought to shore shook off. Just one of those days. With no fish for dinner, we have to hope the Yankees hit a bunch of home runs so we can go to Poppa John's.

Busy Days

The sea bass bite remains strong. Some days are better then others, but everyone goes home with fish. Yesterday, Evelyn and I headed to the beach for some more fluke. It was very foggy and there were only a handful of anglers and we had the place to ourselves. Fishing from land is a little different then boat fishing, as you get up close and personal with the fish. The first one to hit the sand was a nice 22 inch boxer. More shorts and a bluefish came out to play before adding another 20 incher for the cooler. The excitement for the day came in the form of a 30 pound cow nosed ray that had me running down the beach to keep me from getting spooled. After along battle, I pulled the beast to the beach and got my bucktail back from his wing. And I did all this with the "dinky" pole, ten pound fireline on a 100 sized reel and 6 to 12 lb rod. Good fun and home before noon for a delicious fluke dinner.