I decided to go fluke fishing today after work so I headed to the Spy House pier in Port Monmouth. It was a little rainy out so I put on my rain gear and headed out to the pier. When I got out there I couldn't believe how hard the wind was blowing. It felt like 30 to 40 MPH. When I got out of my truck there was virtually no wind.

I was using squid strips with spearing and fluke hooks. I usually use egg sinkers but I didn't have any so I was using pyramid sinkers. Not sure if that makes a difference or not but I was not getting any hits. After about an hour I was reeling in when I got snagged on something. I was about to cut my line but whatever I was snagged on was coming in. As I was reeling in I looked down and saw what looked like the tip of a fishing pole. I figured someone broke a rod and threw it in the bay. As I kept reeling up I realized it was a whole rod. When I pulled it up that's when I noticed not only was it a fishing pole but a whole set up; rod, reel and bait. It is an 8' Ugly Stick with a Shakespere Prius reel complete with hook, fish finder rig and weight. It also had a strike indicator on the tip of the rod which leads me to believe that someone had the rod casted out and was not paying attention and something big hit and took off, taking the rod with it. From the looks of it the rod was not in the water that long.

I may not have caught a fish today but I now have a new (well new to me) rod to add to my collection.

Mid-life crisis?

Not sure if I am going through a mid-life crisis or trying to re-gain my youth but I have been contemplating on taking up surfing. I work in Belmar and since it is getting warm out, all the surfers are coming out. Surfing is not something I ever thought about doing in the past but lately I have been wanting to try it. And with the fishing so slow it will give me something to do while I wait for the first fish of the season.

Now, anybody that knows me knows that I am not a little guy at all, not in shape nor am I a spring chicken. The thought of getting up on a board and keeping myself up does concern me but I still want to try it. I looked at surfboards and never realized how much they cost so needless to say if I do get one it will be a used one. Maybe I will even get a Tiki to wear around my neck when I go surfing in Hawaii. :-)

If anyone has ever surfed or knows a good place for beginners to start in central New Jersey, let me know, thanx.

Yesterday was garden day. Baileigh helped me plant this year's crop. First we had to go to Home Depot and get top soil. I always get Miracle-Gro soil with plant/vegetable food in it. It feeds for up to 3 months. I also use Miracle-Gro Liqua Feed once or twice a week. Last year I didn't use it until half way through and the tomatoes were not as good as they were the year before when I used it the whole time.


We planted:
Tomatoes
1. Super Steak
2. La Roma II Red s
3. Big Beef
4. Super Fantastic

Peppers
1. Jelepenos
2. Habaneros
3. Mandarin Sweet Peppers


We also planted sweet basil and cilantro. I decided to plant the Habaneros because I like to make hot sauce and those peppers are hard to find.

This is the pepper, basil and cilantro garden.

Here is the tomato garden.

Here are a few of the many pictures I took at Cheesequake Park in Matawan, NJ.

Garden State Parkway traffic in April. Kind of looks like summer traffic. Northbound is going away.











One of the many paths in the woods. There are quite a few of them











When I took this one I was hoping the seagull didn't, well, you know...











This creek is fed by Raritan Bay. According to park literature, there is crabbing in the creek.