Well all I can say is BOY WAS IT WINDY...
I was up at 3 this morning to get to the judges meeting on IBSP for the 19 outing. The wind was pretty calm that early but by the time I got to the office it was cranking well over 15 mph. The day got worse.
There were plenty of participants out on the beach but not as many as usual. The day started off partially cloudy and breezy. I got to the park and got my location to patrol (A16 & A17) I was a bit nervous as that area was not to good at high tide as the beach was non existent for some time. But was told that the sand had come back within the last week. You know they were right. Plenty of sand and the rains had packed the sand so it was easy driving.
The tournament started at 6:30 and I measured the first bluefish in at 7:10 15 1/4" and it sort of went down hill from there. The wind started to really build up and I bet the gusts were well over 35 with a sustained NE wind at 20. Well in my area there were blues (small) being caught but no size to them a Kingfish and a nice size striped bass I measured at 30 1/4". To the gentle man who caught it good luck.
If it was not for the friends that came by to see what was going on the day was full of driving close to 30 miles on the beach and seeing some pretty extraordinary dedicated people of every shape and size you can imagine.
I would like to salute all the walkons that not only had to endure the walk but to put up with all that wind for 6 1/2 hours is pretty remarkable. I know for some, you were disappointed that your fish was undersized or out of season but look at it this way you were able to catch fish on a day that even the seagulls were not flying.
I am sorry that I do not have the results as the day was very long and the crowd was confined to the center court inside the pavilion. So we all will have to wait for the results. I left knowing that whoever won really deserved this one.
Happy Catching
Paul
