Island Beach State Park Report - July 29, 2007

[Capt. Ed]

Hi All,

My family and friends had a nice barbeque at Island Beach State Park on Saturday, July 29, 2007.

We had our fishing poles, because we had to. Here are my observations:

1. It was gorgeous all day. The rain clouds moved north of us and we were in the sun, with a steady 10 mph afternoon breeze out of the SE. High tide was around 7:00AM if I remember correctly.

2. We were at the "Pocket," 50 yds. north of the Barnegat Inlet. There were not a lot of people at IBSP in general yesterday. I guess the weatherfolks scared them off. We got there at 11:00 AM and stayed until 7:00PM.

3. The ocean was flat and refreshing. No thermometer but body surfacing after being in the sun felt good.

4. Conditions were horrible for snapper fishing as there was a ton of grass right up next to the jetty and extending out 20 ft. I must say I have never seen it that thick down there. So, casting into a 10 mph breeze was a challenge, even with a weighted bobber. We tried for about 10 minutes and gave up.

5. The guy next to us caught a 30" Striper, the only fish I saw caught all day. we were never concerned with throwing the poles in. BTW, for those that think that Stripers spook easily - NOT TRUE! The guy caught the Striper in the middle of about 50 people swimming in 2-3 ft. of water (and I mean right in the suds - he was casting challenged but it worked).

6. Condiitons for flying a kite were ideal. Oh yeah, with all the kids kites in the air, I expected tangles like a Bluefish trip on a Head boat but it did not happen. Hurray!

7. Frisbee action was cool.

8. Not much of a "Green Head" issue.

9. Plenty of "Diggers" (sand fleas) around to amuse the kids and for bait. A lot of nice spearing in the surf as well.

10. Thanks Mom and Alan for all the food preparation. Great portable grill skills exhibited by Alan once again - a great "tailgater."

11. The greatness of IBSP exposed itself again. If you have never been there, rush there. It is a great place that I take for granted and should not.

12. BTW, gulls like hot dogs, hamburgers and pop corn.

Good fishing,

Capt. Ed

[Hotrod]

Nice Ed!.  My type of day

[ped579]

Hi all,

Hey Ed we just passed each other.  You were on the way out and we were on the way in.  We hit the beach about 7:15 or so.  Did the same thing basically.  We loaded the family into the buggy and hit the beach for some R & R.  Brought the rods picked up some clams and off we went.  Beautiful night for fishing almost a full moon ocean was pretty flat. 

We were about 200Yds from the pocket now if we had flags to fly while on the beach I would of known you were there weather that would be good or bad who knows, lol.

We fished for a while caught 1 skate  and everyone wanted to have a fire to roast marshmellows so we moved a little north and set up camp again.

The fire was good fishing was bad the company was priceless.

Happy Catching

Paul

[Capt. Ed]

Hi Paul,

I intended to call you. I am seriously cell phone challenged right now. Long story - it does not work and Verizon doesn't think they should have to help.

Are there certain areas that you cannot have open fires?

What a great day! We do need flags for boats and the beach ... I like the easy identification aspect.

Best wishes,

Ed

PS: I wish the old bulkhead was still there ... the jetty does not do it for me where it used to be!

Ed

[IrishAyes]

Heehee, I wore my NJSWF hat to the captain's meeting on Friday night, figuring that if Sealife showed up, he would see the hat and know me or at least know I was from the site.  Sure enough, it worked.  Dave came walking up to me, pointed at the hat and said,"you must be Joe".  HEHEHE   

A flag for the boats would be a good thing.

BTW, good post on the day's outing.

Joe

[Luna Sea 5]

sounds like a great, relaxing day.

[Hotrod]

Flags in the Works..

love the hat story Joe

[ped579]

Hi Ed,

i know what you mean about the extention of the rocks I too liked the old way better I have a hard time maneuvering around back there now.  I use to love to fish the flats there for weakfish great spot to fly fish.  Not any more...

As far as fires, you can have a fire on the beach for the most part anywhere except close to the pocket area, there is a sigh stating no fires beyond this point probably because it is so crowded at times. And you have to be at least 50 feet east of the dunes.

I use Nextel and some times I have a problem getting a signal out there even though you can see a water tower across the inlet with an active cell site, go figure.

Happy Catching

Paul

[NJetty]

PS: I wish the old bulkhead was still there ... the jetty does not do it for me where it used to be!

Couldn't agree more!