What an interesting weekend...I saw every possible extreme of conditions due to Hurricane Katia that was churning off the east coast. One morning the water was as smooth as I've ever seen it, the next day there were the largest waves I'd ever seen at that particular area. The fishing was just as different too!
The morning with the glassy water brought a ton of fish, I managed to land Scup and Bluefish. In addition to the water being calm it was also clear and fairly free of sea weed. I saw tons of little minnows and hundreds of little jelly fish (they looked like moon jellyfish to me, but I'm no expert.) It was only my second encounter with blue fish...My first one ended up with a lost lure, this time I also lost another lure, but at least landed two snapper blues of about 13 or 14 inches. The lure I lost was a diamond jig that I had hooked directly to the snap on my braid. It was a great fight and I suspect that the fish was in the 5 to 8 pound range and a corresponding 20 to 25 inches. Too bad I wasn't using a wire leader or I might have landed the biggest fish of my short fishing career! It was a great fight though and I was glad for the experience, but maybe not for the trip to the B&T to buy a replacement lure.
Trips to the local B&T are always fun...but also always expensive. I don't really mind giving this particular B&T my money though as they have always been kind and helpful. This time they managed to sell me a replacement diamond jig, a handmade 6 inch 1 3/4oz pencil popper, and a two pack of mackerel. They also gave me some great location info that I will have to remember for next time. Sometimes it pays to pay!
The next morning couldn't have been more different as there was a 20 to 30 mph wind and huge waves made conditions awful. Every time I would bend down to cut some mackerel a "rogue" wave would make sure that I ended up wet. This was the first time that waves had regularly topped this particular jetty. Once I had set up I commenced casting only to find that if I didn't snap the bail closed as soon as the sinker hit the water I would end up spooling an extra thirty or forty yards of line out in a wide arc between the tip of my rod and the water. The wind was also so strong that I found it nearly impossible to distinguish the bites from the wind and waves. I'd cast about ten times when I was approached by another fisherman...odd for this early in the morning and when none of the other jetties were occupied...Oh well, it turned out to be a nice babushka (head scarf and all) offering me fresh squid if I would give her any Scup that I didn't want. We made polite small talk over the roar of wind and waves but I decided to leave her to it. I bid her good luck and wished that I could remember how to pronounce that famous Russian toast "Za uspiekh nashevo beznadioshnovo diela" (to the success of our hopeless task.) Of course I wasn't sure if she was Russian or not, she was certainly Eastern European but I couldn't be sure much beyond that, I just thought that it was a perfect sentiment for the conditions.
That ended my fishing for the weekend as the day didn't improve and my motivation to endure the crappy conditions was non existent. I hope to make it out one afternoon this week, but we'll see, real life calls and there is much to do around the house. I just hope I don't miss the fall run entirely.
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