With much anticipation and the beckoning call of the ocean in autumn, I headed to the NJ shore on Thursday for some surf and jetty FFing and was joined by Frederick on Friday. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with surf fishing, my timing wasn't good. The common refrain from the locals I chatted up was consistently "yuh shoulda been here last week."
Aw heck. Truth be told, the reports from last week before the noreaster pummeled the coast were very good but it seems the shore still needs some time before the fish are back in force. The surf at IBSP was still dirty (worse on the lower end at the North Jetty) with temps in the mid to upper 50s. In a day and a half of hard fishing I caught the skunk. Even under poor conditions with fishing slow, one can usually nab a short striper or two in a day's fishing. Word around the island is that sand eels have been the prevalent bait this fall with few peanut bunker around and this can sometimes produce better fishing at night, although I saw no fish caught on Thursday night and was the last one off the beach in the sector I was fishing. At least the weather was nice and, although windy, FFing was possible. Frederick and I hiked down to the jetty yesterday (see photos) and all the fishermen were singing the blues. At least Fred managed a winter flounder on a Clouser. When the bait and plug folks can't get 'em, I'm usually not optimistic about FFing. We saw no other fly rodders.
Disappointing trip - but with shore saltwater fishing, it's always hit or miss and we can hold out the hope that the next trip catches the blitz.
Aw heck. Truth be told, the reports from last week before the noreaster pummeled the coast were very good but it seems the shore still needs some time before the fish are back in force. The surf at IBSP was still dirty (worse on the lower end at the North Jetty) with temps in the mid to upper 50s. In a day and a half of hard fishing I caught the skunk. Even under poor conditions with fishing slow, one can usually nab a short striper or two in a day's fishing. Word around the island is that sand eels have been the prevalent bait this fall with few peanut bunker around and this can sometimes produce better fishing at night, although I saw no fish caught on Thursday night and was the last one off the beach in the sector I was fishing. At least the weather was nice and, although windy, FFing was possible. Frederick and I hiked down to the jetty yesterday (see photos) and all the fishermen were singing the blues. At least Fred managed a winter flounder on a Clouser. When the bait and plug folks can't get 'em, I'm usually not optimistic about FFing. We saw no other fly rodders.
Disappointing trip - but with shore saltwater fishing, it's always hit or miss and we can hold out the hope that the next trip catches the blitz.
