Just Thinking

Surf fishing dreams: Yesterday I thought about getting ready to go surf fishing today but couldn’t commit. Glad not to have gone since the wind is gusty from the southeast and that means dirty water on the beach. Besides, gusty here at home means a gale on the beach. Hope to try it later in the week after the next cold front and the winds die down. Besides have to prepare my annual report for work by Friday.

Sand flea update: my observations conclude that sand fleas are most prevalent at or near high tide - especially if high tide is early in the morning. Therefore, if you arrive at high tide just before or at daylight your hunting is optimum. Such tidal conditions cycle about every two weeks. Warm temperatures (75 degrees or higher) increase sand flea activity and they are near the surface and easily visible. During colder temperatures that fleas are buried and you have to dig for them.

Use of attractor beads: I almost always used some type of colored (red, gold, orange or yellow) attractor bead on my double dropper loop setup. That was until the last two trips in which I used none. The catches were dramatically higher – especially the number of double catches. Was this due to the elimination of the beads or just that fish were in high number and hungry? More testing is to come on this. However, I always wondered if the fish felt a bead when biting would it let up because the bead did not feel natural. That led to my not using beads the last two times. I am also going to test placing the beads so they will not be near the hooks. I always am looking for something to experiment with.