Jersey Shore 11/4 Report

[ParkerTwentyOne]

My son Billy and I had tried to fish on Saturday, but man the seas were rough. I wondered why we even made the trip down for the weekend. By the way, Scott, thanks for taking our call Saturday afternoon, despite you and your daughter being in the middle of grouse hunting. Excuuuuse us. Grouse Hunting? Please pass the Grey Poupon. Did you drive to the estate in your Range Rover? Were you dressed like the POLO window in the Short Hills Mall? Anyways.....

Come Sunday morning though, we were blessed with a November morning that was just inspiring. I ran 7 miles at dawn, showered, and got down to business.
Folding beach chairs? Check
Cleaned and freshly rigged surf rods? Check
Bucket? Check
Clams? Check
Water bottles? Check
Pillowcase with Halloween candy? Check
Tackle box of the Gods? Check
James? Check
Billy? Check

Ok. grabbed the knuckleheads off of Halo3, and we set out for 7th Ave. One of my neighbors pulled me aside and showed my his two bass pulled 30 minutes earlier (28 and 34 inches). He showed me the "7th Ave" hole, about 25 yards to the right of the 7th ave access walkway. The air was clean, the sun warm, and the 5 surf fishermen with the awesome fishin' pants (I think you call em waders) looked up as we arrived. I could tell by their faces that they wanted the company and friendship!

Curiously three of them had to suddenly leave, and two remained:

I set out to teach the boys the fine art of surf casting. After we lost a few rigs to the sea (apparently 8 ounce weights can snap the line, despite it being rated for 17 lbs!), we got the weights down, and the boys proceeded to compete to see who could hit the surfers.

Alas, the bite was slow, so we relaxed, cast our bait a few times, and enjoyed the sun kissing our cheeks.





We eventually got bored of donating the clams, and figured maybe because all the other fisherman were using clams, we would try to stand out: I give you the HiLo rig with CLAM on lower and NESTLECRUNCH on upper.


We were amazed at all the starfish washed up on the beach, and although we didnt catch that which we sought, we were reminded that fishing brings all types and personalities together!


The morning ended with my two sons fistfighting after number1 rubbed "clamhands" in number2's face. The pleasant shrieking didnt bother the other fishermen and families on the beach at all! They actually smiled as we were leaving the beach, I mean really smiled.

Useful info: there really is a good hole just south of the 7th avenue access in Normandy; check it out. Fish were there.