golden beetle
Active member
Brian Cowden, a professional guide and perhaps New Jersey's best known TU representative, showed me the Jersey shore last Saturday.
From an angler's perspective...
The cool thing about salt for me is that it is a new ecosystem for me to study.
There are, of course, physical challenges in fishing the salt. Strong winds require heavier rods and line, that I have trouble casting.
But the physical challenges aside, the salt ecosystem is unique.
ON a small stream, I blind cast... But I blind cast to high probability spots. You can read the seams and pools of a creek to determine likely trout holding areas. And more often than not, if you read the stream correctly, a trout or two will come to hand from such seams and pools...
The salt... Well, what can I say about the salt?
I don't know much about it.
Birds and bait are the ticket.
Look for birds and bait, and gamefish are likely not too far away!
But what if you don't see birds? And you don't see bait? And there ain't no blitz?
Can you blind cast in to the surf, and hope to catch a straggling blue or striped bass?
Probably not.
You just gotta wait.
And what will I learn from my saltwater fishing expeditions?
I don't know yet.
There is a mathematical, statistical, probability sort of analysis that goes on in the mind of every fisherman. How often we bring a fish to hand is a function of a number of factors. Water temperature, for example, is critical this time of year. I'd rather fish a small stream at 2 pm than daybreak, in late October, though in the summer the reverse is true.
Back to the math...
So when the line hits the water, and the fly unfurls itself into a feeding lie...
We get a sense of trout populations based on our strike rates.
The same may be true in the salt.
Of course it is.
But if the birds are 200 feet from shore, it won't matter. My cast can't get there.
There is nothing like the pursuit of prey on a small trout stream...
You just can't wander out in to the ocean. But you can buy a pair of binoculars...
And increase your hunting range accordingly.
Oftentimes, I imagine a good angler getting in to his truck, driving down to where the birds are, and back and forth as the day unfolds itself.
That's what Brian does.
So is this sport for me?
Sure it is. I may even get a bamboo rod for the salt.
Or maybe not...
But I will fish the salt in the coming months, that's for sure.
From an angler's perspective...
The cool thing about salt for me is that it is a new ecosystem for me to study.
There are, of course, physical challenges in fishing the salt. Strong winds require heavier rods and line, that I have trouble casting.
But the physical challenges aside, the salt ecosystem is unique.
ON a small stream, I blind cast... But I blind cast to high probability spots. You can read the seams and pools of a creek to determine likely trout holding areas. And more often than not, if you read the stream correctly, a trout or two will come to hand from such seams and pools...
The salt... Well, what can I say about the salt?
I don't know much about it.
Birds and bait are the ticket.
Look for birds and bait, and gamefish are likely not too far away!
But what if you don't see birds? And you don't see bait? And there ain't no blitz?
Can you blind cast in to the surf, and hope to catch a straggling blue or striped bass?
Probably not.
You just gotta wait.
And what will I learn from my saltwater fishing expeditions?
I don't know yet.
There is a mathematical, statistical, probability sort of analysis that goes on in the mind of every fisherman. How often we bring a fish to hand is a function of a number of factors. Water temperature, for example, is critical this time of year. I'd rather fish a small stream at 2 pm than daybreak, in late October, though in the summer the reverse is true.
Back to the math...
So when the line hits the water, and the fly unfurls itself into a feeding lie...
We get a sense of trout populations based on our strike rates.
The same may be true in the salt.
Of course it is.
But if the birds are 200 feet from shore, it won't matter. My cast can't get there.
There is nothing like the pursuit of prey on a small trout stream...
You just can't wander out in to the ocean. But you can buy a pair of binoculars...
And increase your hunting range accordingly.
Oftentimes, I imagine a good angler getting in to his truck, driving down to where the birds are, and back and forth as the day unfolds itself.
That's what Brian does.
So is this sport for me?
Sure it is. I may even get a bamboo rod for the salt.
Or maybe not...
But I will fish the salt in the coming months, that's for sure.
