Scouting The Beach

a) SCOUTING THE BEACH

I do most of my overland travel by bicycle and frequently use the boardwalk, so I get to see a lot of stuff most people don’t see, or even have the foggiest idea of what’s going on around them.

I’ve seen acres of blue fish just off the beach, within casting range, without anyone on them. In the mean time, there are guys fishing the jetties and hopen’ and waiting not far away, sitting there basking in the sun instead of heading over and tracking them down, not far away.

Whatever piece of water that might have been hot for fishing the last set of tides may be barren 12 hours later and vise versa. An early morning tour of the boarwalk by bike could mean the difference between catching fish and just basking in the sun. From Corson’s Inlet to the Great Egg Inlet is about six miles or so. With a vehicle and a pair of binoculars you can cover the whole beach in about a half hour.

All I’m looking for is birds feeding.

Under those birds will be bluefish, weakies, stripers or a combination of all three.

I would be armed with a eight foot graphite rod with a ¾ -2 oz tip, a pen 5500 rell and 17 pound Stren line, a ¾ ounce white on black bucktail lure with a porkrind soaked in Shedder Scent. The only other lure I would use is a two to four ounce Hopkins.

Find the birds, cast and retrieve and catch some blues, weakies and stripers.