September Saturday Fishing

I bike across a rising, waking Keyport. As I pass through Front Street,  vendors are preparing for a street fair.

Food and music are in their early simmering stages, and both off to deliciously promising starts.

The weather is September beautiful with a touch of a cool wind whisking in off the bay.  As the sun grows in strength the breezes calm and the chop of the bay flattens to a ripple.

I pick up fresh bait from an entusiastic counterman at Crabby's and bike back across town, this time passing along the waterfront to scout the bay.

The tide is coming in, a good sign on most days.  Another fisherman's tale,  perhaps. Time would tell

As I settle into a spot on the town fishing pier there are only a few hearty fishermen working the tide. They give me a welcoming nod.

"Nothing." is the reply to my obvious question.

My three nieces are on their way with my sister Tara.  We have had some good fishing days on this pier down through the years. Maybe they'd bring a little luck.

The William Ralph Municipal Fishing Pier, Keyport, NJ.

 The pier reaches out about towards the channel where a good cast can often produce a fluke or a striper poking around for clams or peanut bunker.

It is fisherman-friendly and there is plenty of parking right there. A growing number of good food choices are a short walk away. Beer, too (Bulkhead, McDonagh's, Tropical 8).

I get my own pole set and cast out off the front of the pier.  Tara and the girls arrive and they are all ready to do some fishing.  I rig their poles for snapper and bait the crab trap.

A jazz band gets in the swing of it up the hill and we can hear it on the pier.  A few legs start moving and soon a little dancing erupts. A little shaking and a little shimmying as they jam out a lively version of "In The Mood".

 The Fishing Tuckers!

Well, the wind and choppy water did settle down and all of a sudden the bay was alive with baitfish.  They nibbled on the spearing on the snapper hooks to little success.  This is where the snappers usually show up for their feeding, but not today.

The crabs were on strike, too.

Keyport sunset.

Still, not a bad day at the office.

Papa Bill showed up and gave us a hand wrapping up. We parked our gear in the minivan and went up to the fair. 

There were plenty of people enjoying the sweet September weather with a stroll down Front Street as the music grew and fair vendors beckoned.

We ate pizza at one new place (Antonia's Brick Oven Cafe) and ice cream at another (Debbie's) and listened to a pretty solid blues band belt a few tunes in the mini-park across from Espresso Joe's. They sang "Everyday, everyday...".

As if.

And we all talked about the fishing.  Not catching today, but fishing. They notice the difference.

Boy, are they learning.

Keyport sunset from "Magic Beach".

by

Jim Shaffer

September 21, 2008