Farewell, Summer

 

    As I write this, the north winds are blowing away the throes of what may be our final heatwave of the year, which is going down in a fight creating spitting buckets of rain and flashes of lighting in the crossfire. The mullet will be beginning to run along the Jersey shore, as our last waves of Bonito and Spanish Macks do the same. The bunker will soon follow, with the bass not far behind. By then, our snakeheads and flatheads will be winding down, our walleyes and muskies will be winding up, and the salmon and trout will start petering into the tributaries. By then, the tree frogs will be going silent and the forests will switch out their attire from greens to reds, oranges, and browns. 

    The theme for the summer of 2022 could be pretty much summed up into 3 words: need more water. We had far below average flows, even for summer, making for tough fishing overall. 

    Snakes and bass in shallow water were the bread and butter, and that's exactly what I spent my last day of summer break targeting. Even though it was still August, the chilly nights had cooled down the water consistently. I succeeded in catching a few salad-faced bass on zoom flukes. 

    After missing a snake, I decided to throw a Hail Mary and try topwater, tying on a buzzing toad. Third cast, a wake appears behind it. Speeding up, my frog gets slammed right when it hit a patch of open water. I hit this fish as hard as I can and drag it out of the weeds, a very darkened up 4 lb snake, typical in clear water conditions. I pop the hook out and set her on her way. 

    Goodbye snakehead. Goodbye summer. Cheers to the fall. 

Cheers, fishy people.