One more tug

I’m over the wind. Seriously, for five days straight after the Derby we had gusting wind, small craft advisories, and frigid fall cold. I’ll admit this to you: I struggled. Derby withdrawal is real. 

You might think the crappy weather made it easier not to be out there fishing, but it made it worse. Bad weather and no fishing and the possibility that the bad weather would move all the fish away as the late September nor’easter pushed nearly every albie south earlier than normal is downright painful.

But, there is hope. There is still a leaderboard to check every night.

Octoberfish is in full swing. Larry’s Tackle Shop posts daily updates of its fall competition on social media and has live results on its website. Octoberfish, which began Oct. 1, is hosted by Larry’s. The final weigh-in for Octoberfish is Friday, Oct. 30, at 4 pm, and there is an award ceremony with lunch that starts at noon on Saturday.

I confess that I’m checking the board multiple times a day, because my teammate Dave Balon is currently in third place with his shore bluefish (16.33 pounds), behind Ben Ciciora (19.69 pounds) and Bob Bottary (16.67 pounds). 

Dave caught his blue on the last day of the Derby. We booked the early Chappy Ferry at 6 am and began fishing for bonito on Chappy point. It was about 30 degrees, windy, and miserable. At one point, Oliver Valdes said, “I’m going to Dock Street for breakfast.”

We ate breakfast and strategized how to fish the remaining hours of the last day of the Derby. Oliver left. Dave and I headed to the Gut, one of my favorite places anywhere in the world, but fishless on Saturday. We debated heading to the Chappy Ferry, but decided to take one last drive on the beach.

Man oh man, what a drive! We drove all the way down to the breach, watching the water and all the slack lines in the water. We turned around and parked the truck on the right side of the Rip. Within minutes, we saw a decent blue pulled onto the beach.

We cast. Dave got whacked. We cast again. A blue chased my lure almost to the beach. We cast again. Bam! Dave was on. He got the fish almost to the beach before it jumped, shook its head, and earned its freedom. Another fish followed me in, hitting the lure but not taking it. It was frustrating, exciting, and downright fun.

Dave hooked up and lost another one. I hooked up for a split second and dropped it. Then Dave sailed one out there, and the second the plug hit the water, a blue crushed it. The fish was big. 

Dave got it to the beach; I grabbed the plug and dragged the fish up the sand. It was a beauty! It was Dave’s biggest bluefish ever. He took third daily on the last day of the Derby, and is holding onto third overall for Octoberfish, as of Tuesday, with only a few days to go.

I landed a nice one too, but not as big as Dave’s. It was a great end to the Derby, and a perfect first entry into Octoberfish.

“That one fish right at the end was the perfect way to end the Derby,” said Dave. “You said, ‘Remember what Janet always said: Don’t give up until the miracle happens.’ And it did.”

My friend Kevin Lord has been texting me updates from Chappy since the Derby ended. “I’m catching schoolie bass every morning and a few blues at night before sunset,” said Kevin, who caught a 13-pounder last Tuesday.

On Thursday, I received a text from Kevin’s wife Leigh with a picture of Kevin holding a big blue. 

“Leigh and I were out for a drive on a very windy afternoon right before sunset. I saw Cam [Maciel] hooked up, so I jumped out to cast in the same area. I didn’t have my waders on, so I got a little wet, but it was worth it,” said Kevin.

How worth it? “It bounced between 16¼ and 16½ on my Boga [scale],” said Kevin, who is not entered in Octoberfish. Sadly for Kevin and fortunately for Dave, “I always forget to join Octoberfish until I get a big fish after the Derby, and then it’s too late.”

I’d had plans to fish all weekend, but Lenny Beford’s catch on Wednesday shifted my focus from bluefish to bonito. “The first two days after the Derby I still had my rods with me. On Wednesday, I left the rods home. I’m at work, getting ready to go into a house, and a friend calls, saying, ‘Where are you? The birds are going AWOL.’”

I’m laughing as Lenny is sharing this story. It’s every angler’s nightmare. His friend generously offered him a rod. “I grabbed a rod, walked out, didn’t see any birds, and I’m getting sandblasted. The water was surprisingly clear [with the winds]. I said to myself, ‘I’m taking a handful of casts and getting out of here and going to work.’”

Lenny took two casts. Nothing. He cast a third time. “I got cracked. I thought it was a blue. Then it was burning my line, and I thought it was an albie. I’m thinking I get it on the beach and I’ll have the only albie in Octoberfish,” said Lenny.

With the wind howling, his dog tucking into the grass to get out of the sandstorm, and a four-foot piece of seaweed on his rod tip, Lenny reeled in a gorgeous bonito. “I knew it was good. He looked similar to the one I took third with in the Derby [7.61 pounds].”

Lenny didn’t have a cooler, didn’t have ice, and was late to work. His friend had a cooler, had ice, and had the time to drive Lenny’s fish to Larry’s for weigh-in. The bonito was 7.90 pounds.

“That’s my second-biggest shore bone,” said Lenny, who had finished third overall in the 2020 Derby with a 9.30-pound shore bonito. “Any time I’ve cracked a big fish it was when I wasn’t expecting it or wasn’t prepared for it, like not having my rod.”

Lenny now leads the After Derby Bonito division and is in third place for shore bonitos. Lenny’s hoping to hang onto his positions or better them. Many of us will be chasing the leaderboard too.

This week, the weather should be perfect for the final days of Octoberfish. The sun will be shining, and temps will be in the 60s. Dave and Oliver and I have a plan. It includes many hours fishing and a drive to Larry’s to weigh in our big fish. It’s a plan.

God may be laughing, but we’ll be fishing.

I hope to see you on the beach, casting for one more tug, and at Larry’s on Saturday at noon for the Octoberfish awards.