(Making) Time (to fish), by Alexi

     In no particular order.....there's bills.  There's art.  There's family.  Then, there's fishing.  Sometimes referred to as an addiction, sometimes a compulsion, sometimes a sport.  What it means to each of us is unique, it can be an escape from the daily grind, exercise, food, or all three.  It can be a battle, as in man vs. nature, or a game with rules, and if you don't follow them then what's the point?   If you want to go fishing for the sole purpose of catching fish to eat, then go to the grocery store....

The Grasses are growing

 "I'd rather work than try to kayak fish in the wind."  KGB.

 Me, I tend strongly towards the old adage,  "A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work."

It was a calm and beautiful morning,  sunny, but not too hot.  Once again I arrived at the end of the outgoing tide.  I was able to stand and paddle quite a distance, sighting a large puffer fish in the shallows, and three bass in the 20 - 25" range.     Around the corner and down the proverbial road, while trying to make my way to the inlet through snake ditch I picked up an accidental short bass.

My only Bass of the day

I had some hits fluking in the inlet but nothing came tight.

 I re-convened with KGB at Seal Island around 1 p.m.  As I woke him from his slumber (why he was sleeping at near slack-tide at OCC is beyond me)  I had a hit on a bucktail, inspected it, found a bluefish scale, jokingly cast out again boasting that I was going to catch a blue, and as he looked up--- I hooked up.  It was a coctail blue. I ate it for lunch today.   It was grilled.


So it goes.  The wind picked up around 3.  We let it blow us north across the flat while I cast around in the hopes of hooking into one of those monster blues that have been terrorizing the bay.  We blew all the way to fox-poop camp,  then rested.

rest, not sleep

We ended the day paddling against the current and the wind to the launch.  By this time it was too windy to be going out, but a couple in a tandem must've had a date or something, because they were determined to make it happen.  Good luck to them.  (I'm sure there's a great saying out there about couples that paddle together.)

The First Full Sedge of 2015, By Alexi

     What a difference 10 or 15 degrees air temperature and overcast conditions makes when going out in Barnegat Bay. There were VERY few other fishermen/ boats around  the Sedges, OCC, and the Inlet.  For a while I was the only one fluking.  Not that it mattered much, I didn't do so so hot!  Despite several really good drifts late in the day in the inlet, I still only managed one short fluke from earlier.  (There was still a Seal around in the inlet.)

     Why is this post called the Full Sedge?  That's what I call it when I hit ALL of my favorite spots; the flats/ Seal Island/ Oyster Creek Channel/ The Sedge House/ Horsefoot/ Snake Ditch/ the inlet.

Empty inlet

first striper of the day

late day calm waters on Snake Ditch

Short Fluke early in the day

Second bass

Third bass/ Seal island, this one was around 24

4th bass, also Seal Island

5th bass, OCC