August 23, it blows
The wind, that is. It’s howling out today around 20-30mph due east. The beach will take a beating, especially considering the full moon tide is tomorrow, and the stormy weather will last through Thursday. Better double the weight on your clam/worm rigs to cast into the stiff wind.
.
Today was the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge drive-on permit opening. Sadly, there were only 50 permits available on a first-come first-serve. Last year there were nearly 150 according to our local experts. Then again, last year there was a lot more beach (7 miles!) open to driving, and the beach was pretty wide. This year the beach was narrowed considerably due to a large number of severe storms. At places on the beach now there might be only a single-truck’s width sand between the water and the dune. So our length is now only 1.3 miles. Hence the smaller number of permits.
.
Well the permitting started at 7am, but fishermen had been there in line all night, starting before 9pm! Yours truly, after fishing until 2:30 in the morning, finally made my way to the line at 7:05. I was 47th in line. Anyone who came after 8:15 was out of luck for a permit this year.
.
.
Despite the reality of the conditions, we think more could have been done to give the fishermen access. There is only one entrance to the beach for vehicles, down from 2 last year. Though we haven’t been on the beach down that way, it would have been nice to get a section of beach available down that end too. It’s a balance for the Reserve officials between protecting the dune and allowing the fishermen on the beach. This year the fishermen are losing.
.
Well the fishing kind of blows today too. The big numbers of bass taken throughout the last month or so have dwindled. The rivers have not produced fish in the regular spots, and even the tube and worm guys have had no luck, and they are usually the bellwether of fish on the flats.
.
Friday and Saturday nights were great times to be on the water though. Flat calm with a nice clear moonlit sky. We did have reports of a few fish for the eeling crowd. With better reports coming from the beachfront than up in the rivers. We haven’t got a lot of reports from daytime fishermen but the rumble is that there is not a lot going on, not even bluefish blitzes, which are kind of expected this time of year. Hopefully this trashy weather will kick in some higher-quality fishing.
.
We’ve been getting some catch and release photos to add to our weigh-in portraits. If you’d like to send us some, email them to stickman@surflandbt.com. Here are a few reports from our readers:
.
.
A sad trend is developing. First the bulk of the refuge is now closed for the entire Summer, its 8/24–there are no Plovers that have not fledged by now..none(the excuse that there are two left is B.S.). Second, the drive on ERA is about to come to a close, this is likely the last year. The trend is to keep people out of the refuge as much as possible….
your 100% correct
Went out Sunday afternoon. Was drifting eels in the flats without even a nibble. Went to the route 1 bridge and got 4 eels cut in half by bluefish! Ended up getting one 25 in blue on a Magnum though.. I am hoping that the fishing will be better on Saturday..
I fished off lot 1 on Sunday evening. I caught two skate and a bunch of weeds.
Been fishing the resevation for over 40yrs. and to see it in its present usage and denial to fishermen/women is sad and beyond believe. The birders took it over so let us sportsmen take it back from them. Lets join together and start something.
Excellent comment, and we support anyone starting a group. Might be helpful if we had a representative from Beacon Hill to help.
Again, when you see miles of coastline closed for “two birds”, who they say have not fledged by 8/24 you know its a pretty hopeless situation. Then you see the opening of lot 6 on 7/3…then its closed again for weeks so that the walkway can be “rebuilt”. The walkway could have been rebuilt at anytime during the “closure period”, but access denied again for weeks. Its easy to see that they simply don’t care if people use the refuge at all.