surfers who fish.

From earlier this week.

 

Nice LB!! Found a big hen today on the way to check the surf! Scored a ton of honey mushrooms off some ones lawn last week, my first time trying them, and my first mushrooms not growing on a tree. My buddy loves them, took me along.
I have found a ton of chickens this year, but most were just past their prime, getting a little woody. Those look awesome.

 

Picked up a few more hens, chickens, a puffball, some honeys, and this lion's main. I think honey mushrooms could be my favorite of all the "common" species.

 

Paul Stamets believes Lions Mane is a super shroom, stops cognitive degeneration, Alzheimers, all kinds of stuff. Never found any in the wild but I should start taking supplements.
Never thought you could eat puffballs, my buddy loves those too, says you could slice, marinate, and grill the big ones. Yeah, I love those honeys too, sautéed mine in olive oil with garden tomatoes and garlic, threw in spaghetti and mixed it all up, simple and awesome.

 

My favorite way to eat them is sautéed with shallots, sherry, cream and thyme, and served over crostini or grilled polenta.

 

You know what they say about shad... smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Flat water yesterday... went down to the beach for a dive but the wind was so hard offshore the shoreline was filled with murky, sandy water out to about 200 yards. I passed.
This morning the water's flat again, and the wind back off a bit, so I'll try to give it a go again this afternoon. Water's looking a little bluer today, so it could be doable.

 

Water was spectacularly clear yesterday... and flat as a lake. Perfect Jerzy diving conditions. Put a 17" blackfish on the stringer within the first 10 minutes, then hunted for stripers. Only saw a half dozen or so, and only one was marginally legal with a bonus tag. Didn't take it. But I stayed in the water for over two more hours, just enjoying the pristine conditions. Came across a MONSTER tog... thing was huge. But I already had a nice fish one in the bag, so we just smiled at each other and kept swimming.

 

What a nightmare, Peajay! That's a crazy scene...

Another day of perfect diving conditions, with dead flat water and 25' viz. Pulled up to one of my go-to spots after work and saw two guys getting geared up.

"Three's a crowd."

Turned around and went to a new spot I've never dove, and have never seen anybody dive. It's a small nub of a jetty with submerged rocks that extend out only about 30 meters. It was low to incoming tide, so it was only about 10-12' deep at the time. Took a slow swim out over the rocks and saw a lot of fish, but they all looked short. So I kept going and swam out another 200 meters or so... out to about 20' depth... and could still clearly see the bottom! Lotta skates, but no bass cruising by or hanging on the bottom. Turned around and headed back to the rocks.

Ended up hunting the rocks and edges of the jetty for a solid hour and a half, spending most of the time chasing one big blackfish from one hole to the next. It was really fun, though... just enjoying the warm, clear water and practicing my relaxation and breath holds, and fine-tuning my hunting techniques. Which actually paid off.

I started getting into that zen-like state... super relaxed, but super focused at the same time. Holding my breath became meditative... just disappearing into the moment... forgetting that I was even holding my breath. Minutes would go by unnoticed as time slipped away, while my senses sharpened... vision acute and everything bright and clear... the clicking sounds of shifting sand and feeding fish seemed amplified underwater... pulsing sounds of fins beating and fish darting perceptible in my state hyperfocused awareness. Locked in between rocks... only my eyes move.

Then... the sight of a white chin appears. A large, black head emerges from a dark, deep hole. The fish wonders if I'm still there... he hasn't felt me move or heard me breathe for minutes. From where I'm positioned I don't even need to aim... I squeeze the trigger. A headshot stones the fish... in one side of the head and out the eye on the opposite side. A clean kill. I rise. Exhale. A few deep recovery breaths and oxygen rich blood starts to feed my limbs once again... they've been shut off temporarily. I look down and reel in my catch... hand over hand... pulling it to me.

Gotcha. Now you're Togos. (Tog fish tacos)

 

how to register a fishing license vessel.

 

Do you need a fishing reel while surfing?

 

10ft Hammer

 

Outside Asbury , 1/2mile, my fishing friends know I paddle daily if flat . They love to torture me with these shots, esp the shot with AP in the background .

 

Sick story.

 

Strange season for jetty fishing , stripers were absent from the bunker pods on the beach , Shad must be in our lake which had them only eating shad lures at a jetty . Thats 1 jetty only where the lake , the largest brackish lake in NJ , empties in the ocean . Super moon tides backfill into the lake and large swells will push the ocean thru the flume . The fish were large 48 plus but they looked like they were strung out on meth , skinny . I beat the chit out these 2 or they would have lived for another day . Good color but I am picky about what I keep . Sores , lice , or bleached color fish are returned . The bleach comment are fish coming from shallow like the Chessy as a deep water fish are vivid in color . We get to see a variety up front from deep water , local bays , and the Chessy .