Thanksgiving

I just got back to Doylestown from a nice long Thanksgiving break. It seems like its been forever since I've been in my apartment but it also seems like the break went by in no time. I guess thats how it always goes. Its nice to be back at school in the peace and quiet of my apartment, but on the other hand I did have an awesome time at home. I got to see my family from Virginia that we usually only see about once or twice a year. My two cousins are a few years younger than me, and they also brought their foreign exchange student along to experience Thanksgiving. The student's name is Ivonne. She is from the Netherlands. She speaks fairly fluent English and it was great hearing about her home and very interesting to discuss and learn about the cultural differences amongst us. Overall the week was a great time with family and friends (one could argue maybe even TOO good of times with friends), but I'm glad to be back to wrap up my first semester at Delaware Valley and I am now looking forward to doing it all over again for the Christmas time holidays.

Sunrise over the Atlantic, 6:30 a.m.

Travis fileting my catch

Just after the fight

Striper Season

The great thing about fishing at the shore is that theres only a small period of time where there's not much to fish for. As far as saltwater/ocean fishing goes, theres pretty much always something to catch, as long as you're willing to brave freezing temperatures, higher winds, and higher seas. The summer flounder, or fluke season in and around NJ waters runs May through September. This is what most people go out for this time of year in the inshore waters (within a few miles of shore). They're one of the better fish for eating around here. Another popular game fish in the spring is the striped bass. They are a migratory species, so it's very exciting in the early spring and the fall, around this time, for stripers. Last weekend my friend and I went out on his boat around sunrise traveling up and down the coast in search of the elusive and highly sought after striped bass. We started the morning out of the Manasquan Inlet aboard his 25 foot center console fishing boat, "Relentless", and headed south trolling a couple hundred yards off the beach. No hits. We then headed north and tried fishing by hand this time; jigging lures and fishing clams. We moved around to a nuber of different areas with not much luck, just a few skates (similar to a sting ray, not a desirable catch). Finally we ventured further offshore, about 3 miles. We began to notice fish breaking the surface of the water feeding on schools of baitfish. By this time it was gorgeous out, about 65 degrees and sunny, in November! I threw out a few casts with a weighted jig and sure enough I got a hit. It was a big fish, and these things put up a great fight. We battled for a few minutes as the fish kept taking line. Finally I got the fish up to the boat and it nearly pulled me overboard, bending my rod nearly under the boat. Travis grabbed the net and scooped him up. It was a 36" striper, well over the legal size limit of 28". This was the biggest fish I've ever caught and my first keeper striped bass. Needless to say I was very excited about my catch, as some people go through multiple seasons without landing a fish like this. Dinner was delicious, and the beast ended up feeding about 10 people.

Catching Up

Wow...and oops. I can't beleive it's been this long since I've posted. How can 6 weeks go by that quickly. (I'm trying to rewrite the entire paragraph I had a few minutes ago that I just lost when I was trying to figure out how to add these pictures, so needless to say now I'm in a pissed off mood). I don't know why it's so hard for me to sit down and post on this blog. I find it hard to start writing if I don't have a clear head or have my thoughts organized. But I always forget that this is a casual blog. It's more of a flow of thoughts than an organization of words. It should be really easy, but I make it out to be harder than it really is. Since I have a hard time coming up with topics to write about, I decided to start integrating pictures into my posts. I take a lot of pictures on my cell phone, and as I've said in previous posts, I love to explore and be outdoors, so I find myself trying to compose a shot quite often on my Motorola Q with the screen cracked about 5 different ways. For an advanced cell phone, this thing takes pretty shitty pictures. My camera crapped out a while ago and I'm putting off buying a new one because I want to make sure I get a good one, and I can't really justify putting a few hundred dollars on my credit card since I have very little income now that I'm back in school, not working for the first time in about 10 years. So the pictures I put up are of Peace Valley Park, just outside of Doylestown. I think it's technically New Britain Township. It's really a beautiful place, the park itself surrounds and includes Lake Galena, the main attraction. What led me to this spot originally was the 6 mile paved bike path around nearly the entire lake. It's an easy ride or walk, not too much in the way of elevation changes, but enough twists and turns and little hills to make it interesting. Check it out at sunset, its just a nice peaceful, natural place. The first 3 pictures are from Monday evening, the second 2 are from back in September.