What a year it was!
The spring was a little slow for me, but the fall more than made up for it. All in all it was a great year. I fished a lot of new places, tried new things, learned a lot and fished with some great folks.
Started the year off early fishing some back waters and by the first week of April got into some bass in the Delaware River. It was the first time I ever went west of home for bass. Had some good luck in the Barneget Bay during the spring mostly with blues, but a few bass in the mix.
The spring run really took off in early June with insane fishing along the Seaside -> Lavallette beaches. Several days in a row of BIG bass tearing through huge pods of bunker. Got to witness some amazing sights that week. On one of these evening Becky got her personal best….a 25lb bass on snagged bunker.
We took the summer off for the most part. Just a few trips to the canal and inlets. Those trips produced steady cocktail blues. One night on the canal produced nonstop 5lb bluefish for 5 hours without another human in sight. At the end of the season we had a couple beach trips for fluke and landed a few shorts.
The fall really got off to a late start and for a while I thought we were gonna miss out on a fall season all together. It wasn’t till mid November that we got steady bass action, but once it started…WOW. I had several days with double digit catches. Most fish were keeper size with numerous fish released in the 15-20lb range. Nov 30 was by far my best day of bass fishing to date. I lost count after 20 fish and had to quit when I was too tired to fight another fish.
I called it quits the second week of December….but the fish are still here.
Although I fished bait a few times, all my fish this year were on artificials. Total count of bass for the year was 75 and all but 4 were safely released.
A few other highlights…..
-Upgraded some gear….VS200, St. Croix Mojo, Aquaskinz drytop, korkers and lotso plugs
-Branched out and fished the Monmouth Co area more, Delaware River and got into rock hopping jetties
-Joined the Stripercoast Surfcasters Club and participated in some club sponsored events
-Finally caught bass in the PP Canal and the bay
-Had a great time at the NJSWF Banquet and looking forward to the 2012 Banquet
-Probably my greatest achievement of the year….I learned to enjoy myself even if I don’t catch. I learned to appreciate just being out on the water and all the sights and sounds of nature. I had some tough times this past year and found great solace in spending time out in nature alone.
I’m looking forward to a great 2012 season and hope to share some good times with friends in the process.
