The first time we came to the beach, Nov 2007, we needed the pickup to carry all the stuff we brought and it took about a half hour to unpack and pack again when we left. Each time subsequently we lightened the load and now use the Camry and still have plenty of room left over. Ten minutes to pack and unpack. We arrived about 1PM and had my first bluefish by 2. As soon as I saw the surf, I suspected it was going to be hot. It was rough but not monster rough; some sea weed but close in rather than out where I would be casting; nice, clear water; an incoming tide about an hour from high so I would be fishing both sides of the high. By 3:30, start of the Fla-Ga game, I had used all my mullet and was pitching spoons into the surf and still catching blues. None longer than a foot but they all hit like freight trains so you always think you have hooked a monster. No idea how many I caught but it was sure a great way to start the trip. Used two of the new rigs I picked up in NC and caught fish with both so at this point I am long on bluefish tackle – home made, Jersey stuff, and NC stuff. I think with blues it doesn’t much matter – they are voracious feeders and will bite anything they deem edible, however ridiculous it looks.

Day 2 – a few small blues and a catfish. Hooked something really big but lost him after a minute or so. Since we were here all day it gave me an opportunity to study the beach contours at low tide and put an eye on the deeper pockets that are covered over at high tide. In past years, the basic contour of the beach is that a narrow, 2-3′ deep trough runs parallel to the shore; then a sandbar 100′ or so wide; and finally a second, deeper trough beyond that. The fishing strategy was to fish the shoreside trough at high tide by casting out to it. That would normally be a cast of 100-150′. At low tide, you wade out onto the sand bar and cast into the second trough. This year, the shoreside trough is almost non existent. It shows up in a couple of spots but is only a few inches deep and just not an issue that would hold or attract fish. I found a few tidal runout spots and will give them special attention but they’re a tough target being narrow and quite a ways out.

Had an awesome grilled mahi burrito at the taco stand. I’m always amazed at how good the food is from such a marginal looking operation.

Sure hope to post a fish picture one of these times. Got the camera, hooked to wi-fi, but nothing worthing snapping unless I resort to basic scenery shots of the beach.

Good news, no trick or treaters.