Thursday, February 28, 2019

National Geographic Day

We hit the beach on a lonely cold morning. With the temperature at thirty degrees, there was no wonder no one was around. We headed down to the inlet to explore, and a short way into our hike we found a snowy owl. Down at the inlet were all the usual winter visitors ( scoters and long tails) and we got a great view of a flock of common eider. Back behind the jetty, towards the bay, we saw a seal hauled out on a rock and found a trail leading back there to check him out. As we got closer, we found more taking in the sun on the rocks about 250 yards out. There were harbor seals and huge gray seals, the ones they call horseheads that had to be at least 500 pounds or more. The cool thing was all the noise they were making, grunting and barking at each other. I could only imagine how many fish they eat in a day, and how big the sharks are that eat them. Cool stuff to do in the winter while waiting for fishing to start.

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Spring Training

The first spring training games of the winter are on TV this weekend, reminding us that baseball and fishing are only about a month away. The Snowy owls continue at the beach and trying to find them is a fun way to spend a nice morning. The Bass Pro Shop has a big sale this week and it is always nice to go there as you can spend a day looking at all the cool stuff. Fishing in the ocean stinks as it usually does this time of year. About half a dozen fish for thirty anglers is a good day. Stripers usually start biting when bay water temperatures get to fifty degrees and we are looking forward to catching the schoolies. I don't expect too much in the way of flounders as there have been hungry seals around all winter. Lets hope we have an early spring this year.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Up and Down

The weather has been normal this winter, with warming temperatures ahead of low pressure systems and then plunging after the passage of a cold front. The water is cold, as it should be this time of year, but the half way point of winter has passed and there has not been much snow. We were able to get out this week and explore the beach. Usually, you don't expect to see anyone out in winter, but it was really cool walking five miles and never seeing another soul or even a boat or ship out on the ocean. It was like going back in a time machine! Saturday, we took a ride to the NJ Maritime Museum. I call it the "shipwreck museum" as it is full of artifacts claimed by divers from many of the spots we fish. I found it very interesting and will go back again. Capt Steve is out this morning on the Ocean Explorer and I will get a report later. Spring training starts this week, it won't be long now.