11.14.13 Had the beach all to myself.....

     With the boat down and at the marina for hopefully a quick fix todays boat trip was cancelled. It's a real bummer as today is a great day to be fly fishing for striped bass. Although I watched a ton of boats leave the inlet and follow the longshore drift to where the bass are in good numbers and biting, it should still be a good day. That's if everyone on the beach and in the boats play nice.
     So I threw myself a pity party and hit a beach where I new there were no fish. 90% of the New Jersey anglers are bottled up on the beaches in about 4 towns, I went to be alone. Started out walking two beaches in the dark with a Pulse Disc led sand eel fly and got no interest. There were a few anglers out and I didn't see anyone get a bite. I traveled down to a town that had about 4 anglers spread out over a mile. Found a cool notched groin bowl and worked a Snake Fly threw it and around the groin tip and back the other side without a tap. Flat water, not much for birds, and not a splash or swirl up top.

I am sure that's not the case where everyone else is this morning.

11.15.13 Great, but very eventful, day on the water with Kevin...

      First, have to tip my hat to my client Kevin who was a trooper the entire day while it lasted.

                                                Let me start with the "good stuff".

     Got out front and joined up with a fleet of boats with not much going on. Took a turn and headed into some rougher seas before finding a ton of birds and bait on the beach. Got an invite from my friend Captain Jason Dapra from Blitzbound Guide Service that he had found a nice bite in the area so we took a ride over. Kevin's a great caster and we first tried a larger sand eel fly before switching up to a Brad Buzzi, aka BuzzFly, smaller sand eel fly that quickly got bitten. We had good marks on the screen
     
                         



with fish occasionally up on top crashing on sand eels. Kevin landed another nice bass before we got ready to move and get back to our original plan. And that's where our day came to an end. So now I'll fill in the details from start to a regrettable early finish.

     We started the day pumped up. We were both early, everything was ready, the boat was in the water before first light, and we both had extra large 7-11 coffees in our hands. The only damper was, the boat wouldn't start. At least not at first. Rather than scrap the day we fought on. First removing the battery from my truck, then getting a set of jumper cables (thanks Vinny!), and jumping the boat after putting the battery back in the truck and just having enough cable to reach the boats batteries.



     We were delayed 50 minutes from our original start time but made our way out front and started the day. After running for a while I tested the battery by shutting down when we fished. It started back up and shortly after I went back to the well. And fell in it. The boat was dead. We were dead in the water.
I called for Town Boat US and they came out and got us running and we headed back in. I dropped her off at Gateway Marine where they said they'll get it done with a quick turnaround. My fingers are crossed - it's a great time for fly rodding for stripers from the boat.

     For those of you who fish the False Hook, recently being called The Rip, and haven't been out there, it's off limits as they are dredging there and taking the sand to the HARS (Historic Area Remdiation Site) You can read more on that contact HERE.  The HARS is a 15 square mile area located 3.5 nautical miles east of the Highlands and 15.7 nautical miles south of Rockaway.  Here's a few pics of what's going on.

11.14.13 Find the birds, find the bait, and sometimes you'll just find the bass...

     I took a break from getting the boat and gear ready for tomorrow's charter to see how things at dead low tide looked. The beach was quiet and the birds were flying around but with no real purpose. Took a longer ride to find birds off the beach and guys lined up in front of them waiting for them to make a turn in. I stayed for a bit not wetting a line but with more interest in taking pictures.





     I pulled up from there and found some friends getting ready to investigate a gathering of birds off the end of a groin. That's the way it goes down sometimes. You see some birds, they seem to have an interest, you make you're way into position, and it gets better from there. That's just sometimes.
     Well these birds were on bait being pushed up by bass. It wasn't an all out blitz, but they did roll and crash bait as the birds swooped down. It was a spin fishers day as dead low tide and gin clear water showed no life of bait or bass in the shallows. Continued below....
                           

     I spent most of my time with my eye looking through the lens trying to catch the bass, or blues, blowing up on the bait. One time the birds got close, Andy made a cast, and he hooked up, just like that. I watched the fish take off and Andy had to change his position to the opposite side to land the heavy 33" bass. After a quick hook out he gently released the fish into the water. 

11.14.13 Got a boat?

     A lot of anglers are in the same boat. We know that fishing is hit and miss. You can go down and wet a line and catch or not catch. Sometimes the fish are there and their mouths are just shut, other times they are just not there. The worst times are when you have to convince yourself to go, even though you really don't have much confidence that fishing will be good.

     This morning I felt that way. I got down to the rocks at 2 a.m. walked out on the groin, had my new STORMR gloves in my stripping basket, and made a cast to clear my line......

      Well my line picked up one of my gloves and put it in the water, and just like that it was gone.

                                                  

Couple that with 32 degree air temps and west wind at 20-25 with flat calm water and I started questioning myself why I even came out. There was no one else out, except a guy from out of state sleeping in his running car.

     I searched for my glove to no avail and headed back home for the comfort of my warm bed. I was done for today, or so I thought.

     I thought about the possibility of bass slurping sand eels one hour into the ebb at first light. So at 330 I set my alarm for 515. I didn't want to get up when the alarm went off but I did. After a quick coffee stop I arrived as the light crested the horizon. I saw a few birds working way off, and not a dimple or swirl anywhere along the beach.
     I picked a start and stop point and threw a sand eel fly without a bump. Before heading home to get my daughter up for school I re-visted the beach next to the groin where I lost my glove. I was hoping for some good glove love but it wasn't on the sand, or perched on one of the rocks sticking out from the water.

With this wind and flat surf conditions it's drive a lot and fish a little. Yes, the bass and blues are pushing bait in at some point somewhere along the Jersey Shore on any given day, but you know how that goes. You're either in the right place at the right time or part of the psychic friends striper cell phone network or you're out in a boat where the fish have been eating steady out of reach of the beach anglers.

11.12.13 And just like that Mother Nature opened the freezer door.....

      Talk about hitting a switch. Started out early with a southwest wind with air temperatures around 50 degrees. With minutes before slack high tide I hit a few spots figuring it would be slow till the tide turned. On my second spot I hooked into a nice fat bass on my first cast. The fish grabbed a sand eel fly on the beach end of a notched groin. Lots of water movement and I figured the fish were stacked there waiting as the tide and wind brought the water from left to right. Fished the same spot every which way but that was the only taker.

                                                     



                                  

     Fished till about 5 am and by then the wind had started to shift from the northwest and pick up and bring in the colder air temps. By 7 am it was blowing hard and SNOWING! The air temps had dropped to 34 degrees, nearly a 20 degree difference.



     Headed back just after low tide and found birds working on sand eels just off the beach. I did see, in the near white out snow flury, fish busting on top but it wasn't steady. I watched and waited for them to push in but that never happened. Today was my first time using the STORMR Typhoon neoprene gloves. I have went through a bunch of different gloves to use while fly fishing, some with the finger tips cut off and some without. In the mid 30 temps these worked great keeping my hands warm and still giving me control and "feel" of my fly line. I was using an intermediate line which is thicker than a sinking line so that extra mass helped with the feel. For fly anglers that feel, especially during a strip strike, is so important that we usually sacrifice warmth and comfort for the control we get with bare hands. In the end, we wind up shortening our day when our fingertips start to lose feeling and hurt from the cold.

11.11.13 Worked half the graveyard shift and got lucky on my last stop....

     With a quick stop home between trips to University of Rhode Island this weekend and the University of Maryland today I only had the graveyard shift available to fish. Got out before 11 pm on the last half of the incoming. Stiff west winds had the surf layin' low and flat. Stopped at a few ho-hum places halfheartedly wetting a line without a bump.



     I decided to take the drive and "the walk" and as I did the wind gods blew hard, real hard. Let's just say the walk there and back was longer than the time I put in fishing. A few other hardcore souls were out and hadn't found the fish just yet. With the tide starting to ebb, with a near blow-out tide, I stopped at a few spots where there was protection from the wind, which had laid down to a more manageable speed since I left the howling winds a little north. Again the surf was dead calm and flat. If a fish farted you would have seen it easily.
     With a much needed warm shower and coffee on my mind I hit one last spot. I was running out of time, and interest, and my casting was reflecting that. I had rigged up a black Snake Fly with a black sand eel dropper. It was the only combo I tied on and used it all night. As I worked my way towards the beach a hard hit woke me up and a strip strike hooked the only bass of the night. Quickly I was into my backing and making my way to the beach.
     Once I got it up I took a quick pic and released it back into the surf. I had put tape on all my rods and this fish hit the 34" mark.  Of course my interest was peaked and I fished for another half an hour before calling it a night. It was nice reward for a night full of jumping around, walking, and casting.

11.10.13 Nice few days in Newport.....

     Spent less than 48 hours in Newport but we go a lot in. If any of you have been to Newport you know how great a place it is, if you haven't gone, then you should make plans to do so. I started coming to Newport in 1993, and have been here at least 100 times since.

     I'll give you the high points and if you're in the know then you know we did pretty good for such a short stay.

- Dropped the kid off at URI (University of Rhode Island)

- Checked into the B&B -Beech Tree Inn (on Rhode Island Ave)

- Had a late lunch/early dinner at bar at the Brick Alley pub

- Hit the Christmas Tree Shop

- Went to the movies to see Captain Phillips with Tom Hanks (two thumbs up)

- Woke up and had a great B&B breakfast

- Hit Cape Brenton State Park to fish ( took a walk but didn't wet a line, above)

- Watched the guys catch squid on the bridge going over to Goat Island

- Hit the D. Kelly used bookstore and scored some great books

- Hit Flo's Clam Shack and had fried clams, chowda, and beer

- Hit The Saltwater Edge and picked up a few odds and ends. While there tried on a bunch of the STORMR jackets. They didn't have my size but I see a Strykr jacket in smoke in the near future, HERE. While there I bumped into Steve Cook who I met last year and have been "friends" with since on social media. I picked up one of his flatwing ties. He wants me to send him a pic with it sticking out of a large stripers mouth.

                            

- For dinner we hit one of our favorites, Scales and Shells. We opened the place at 5, and dam near closed it at 10. We had two prime bar seats and ate and drank for 4 -1/2 hours. We had Jess as our bartender who was working her first weekend solo behind the bar and she did great serving drinks for he bar and the house and handling the raw bar, including shucking about 10 dozen oysters and clams.
I said hi to the head chef Kerry, who I first met there 20 years ago! She sent over an order of the best fried calamari I've had. We backed that up with shrimp, soup, sole, wood grill lobster, beers, wines, tiramisu, sorbet and coffees. My "new" stomach should have ruptured! Cindy and I had a great time.

- Sunday morning we were out early and took a ride to Bristol for coffee before heading back to the B&B for another great breakfast before checking out.

- On our way to URI to pick up our daughter I hit another bookstore and scored even more books on striped bass, and a signed copy of Joan Wulffs book.

Great, action packed weekend. Worried that I missed good fishing back home, but you can only be and enjoy one place at a time.

11.08.13 Four days away from the Jersey Shore....

     Wow. This will be like therapy. Just as things are looking like they are starting to heat up I am heading out. Who's idea was this? It was mine.

     My daughter is going to University of Rhode Island for the weekend to check out the college and visit a friend. I had the great idea to drive her up there and spend a few days in Newport with my wife before driving home Sunday and hitting University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) with my son on Monday.

You know what, it was a good idea. It's time to step away from the beach and boat for a few days.

With walk and wade and boat trips on the schedule for next week these few days away will be a welcome for me, and my wife who's sleep is constantly disrupted as I leave to guide or fish, or am not there because I am guiding or fishing.

Of course, I will bring one rod and a few flies. Steve, who used to work at The Saltwater Edge tells me there's still schoolies around so maybe, just maybe I'll take a few casts while I'm up there.



                         

11.07.13 I met a very special young man today.....

                         

     Today I met Zachary. Zachary is a 14 year old who came down from north Jersey with his friend and his dad to fish for striped bass. I watched as they made their way down the groin and took up position amongst a handful of anglers. After a little while I looked up and one of the boys was hooked up, I mean hooked up. I could see it was a very large bass as it closer to the rocks. It was high tide and he decided to bring it up the rocks rather than work his way down to the beach.
     Everyone had stopped fishing and moved closer to either help with the landing or see the fish. When he got it up on the rocks and laid it in a puddle of salt water you could see how pretty she was. In my estimation she was around 40 inches and 25 pounds. As he removed the hook I moved in and myself and another angler asked him what he wanted to do with it, keep it or release it. I don't think he was really sure what he wanted to do with it that second. But as he stood there I told him I could take a nice picture of him with it and he could release it, or he could keep it. He quickly answered, "I'm going to release it."



     I made sure I got off a few quick frames before Zachary and I made out way down to the water. He did a great job cradling and moving the fish back and forth in the water. With the size of the fish and the waves coming onto the beach it wasn't an easy task. Seeing it wasn't going easy, and with repeated offers from a guy on the rocks saying he would take it, I asked if I could help him out. He had done all the work I just happened to get a few back and forths before a powerful tail swing propelled the fish back into the surf.

                  I said, "Nice job young man, very, very, nice", and shook his hand.

     Later on I talked with his dad who said Zachary loves fishing and loves fishing for striped bass. His father also said that his son out fishes him on every outing. Now here's, well not the best, but a good part of the story. Recently they purchased a couple of 9 weight setups to use in the saltwater. They have practiced on the lawn at home and took them on vacation to the Caribbean, but haven't used them in the Jersey salt for striped bass. His father also told me that his son is very interested in the conservation of striped bass and he has been following the recent developments in the striped bass decline and results of the ASMFC votes last week. In addition, he is going to do a project and presentation for school about striped bass conservation. I told you I met a special young man today.

     As they got in their car I told Zachary how proud I was of him and how much a part he played in help save the striped bass. I also told him that releasing the larger females will help ensure the species survives in better numbers we are seeing. His father took my card and gave me his email so I could send him some pictures from today. He said he would like to schedule some intro to fly fishing classes, casting lessons, and maybe a walk and wade or boat trip. I said that would be my pleasure, nothing like getting parents and their kids started in this great sport.

I shook Zach's hand again and said, " Great catch and great release, and Zach, the first fly fishing lesson is one me."

A great, great moment today out on the rocks.

                           

 The day started early getting to the beach by 330 at dead low tide. Found a few anglers out at my first of many stops and soon a few fish, some really good fish, were being caught, and kept. There weren't any small ones, if you had a fish on it was a fish better than 32 inches and 12 pounds. The fish below 

taped out at 36 inches but didn't have the weight the other fish did. 

     Just after first light I had to go get my daughter off for her driving test. The driving school was picking her up for a quick practice and then off to motor vehicle where she would pass. Now I have two seventeen year old drivers! I went back down on the flood tide and hit some spots that were off color before finding some fishy water that I had all to myself, literally.
     By the time the events with Zachary were over I had thrown five different flies on three different line weights without a bump. In addition to large bass I saw several hickory shad and snapper blues (which I thought was interesting) caught.

           In the end it didn't matter if I hooked a fish or not as a nice young man had made my day.

11.05.13 Nice morning out front....

     Got out front by 6 a.m. in somewhat snotty seas. ESE winds 10-15 mph with some swells made the slow up and down ride seem longer. At first light there was a plethora of birds on bait and bass boiling at the top. Best part was I was the third boat to arrive. Quickly hooked up on a sand eel fly and lost the big fish just out of arms reach as the barbless hooked got spit. 

     Then as soon as it went off...it stopped. The birds were gone. The bait was gone. Even the fish marks were gone. And by then I was not alone. As the party and private boats showed up it hard to get a nice drift. Boats were doing a lot of jigging and trolling so I decided to go and try and find my own fish. 

     As I pulled away from the pack I spotted some birds working closer to the beach. I cut the throttle not wanting to look as if I was going somewhere with a purpose. But it was too late, about a half a dozen boats were already on my tail. I got to the spot and made a few casts before moving on. Before I left I watched as the anglers on The Fisherman jigged away without a bite.  

     I went to just "be alone" and got a nice drift and connected on a few bass with a sand eel pattern in 35 feet of water. They hit low, and hard, and the above fish was just a beast. Boat drifting one way, fish running the other. 

     I didn't wait around for the outgoing to really kick it and for that bite to start but I am sure those that did were rewarded for their patience, or for others, their later start. 

                        

11.04.13 Gimme shelter....

     If you were out this morning from say 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. then you know what I'm talking about. It wasn't a fly rodders paradise. Got down before first light hoping to get a line in the water and a fly to the bass before the new moon full tide hit at 7 a.m. Found a south side pocket that I was able to tuck into. Great place to fish, but no takers for me. Soon the water was up and the northeast wind blowing 20-25 mph hour made things a little sporty and wet. I don't mind getting wet, even at 38 degrees, but every now and then there was a rouge wave that would break on the north side and sweep hard across the groin. I had to wait a few hours into the ebb to get back out near the tip to fish.



     I jumped from spot to spot looking for the best place to fish in the conditions and that looked fishy. I found a small group of spin fisherman taking a wet and cold beating on the rocks. It paid off for one angler who caught a nice bass on a bucktail. It was a tough day with the fly rod getting that fly to sink and stick, even with the sinking line and weighted Snake Fly. Just as you would time the northeast swells, a big wave would sneak up and sweep your fly to the left into the rocks (if you were fishing the more fishy north side).

This weather calls for dressing properly, not putting yourself in an unsafe location, and not fishing alone. None of which I did today. "Do as I say, not as I do", I guess.