Summer Skunk, By Alexi

     A lot of fishing is planning.  And if plans work, that's great, and if a plan doesn't come through, that's fine too.  But to start a day with no plan at all, that's just not right.

     I only knew that I had some free time and hadn't been out for over a week.  I didn't know where or when or what the tides would be doing where or when the wind would blow or any of the one million things I usually think of when planning a trip.  I only knew I wanted to go.

gazebo launch

    I didn't start fishing until 4 p.m.  Sometimes in my quest for fishing areas with little boat traffic I think I sacrifice going to areas with a higher likelihood of holding fish.  (I can only second guess myself now, there is no other way to analyze a failed fishing trip.)
     I launched way back at Shell Bay Blvd in N. Wildwood (again).  It was high tide, and my plan was to drift out through the creeks to the bridges.  But as I quickly found out, it was a neap tide, and the water just wasn't moving.  A few casts for schoolie stripers along the sod-banks, (the bait is schooling up nicely back there and I was really surprised I didn't have any shoolie action)  and then I was yearning for deeper water for fluke.

between the bridges

    In the larger channels, still very little current, and what little there was was countered by the wind.  So I sat still most of the time, unable to conjure up any drift at all for fluking.

   One short fluke off at the side.  No bass.  A sunset.

sunset, still some wind

    And then, of course the wind that was blowing against me all evening, which I was hoping would blow me back to the launch died down completely at sunset.
    As I paddled back in the dark, in mere inches of water, I spooked a ray that jumped straight up, clear out of water and practically into my boat.  It scared the shit out of me.  So, since I was no longer fishing,  I left my headlamp on and enjoyed the scenery for the end of my trip.

Sun down, wind gone