{"id":3395,"date":"2018-09-12T08:50:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T15:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=3395"},"modified":"2018-09-12T09:32:19","modified_gmt":"2018-09-12T16:32:19","slug":"fishtales-2018-the-rosh-hashanah-schvitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=3395","title":{"rendered":"FishTales 2018: The Rosh Hashanah Schvitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

A soggy nor’easter inaugurates the Days of Awe<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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RITUAL FISHING: LeeBob casts a line upon the moving waters<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

September 12, 2018:<\/strong> For Montauk surfcasters, the Jewish High Holy Days<\/a> are the ceremonial start of the fall surfcasting season.\u00a0 So, I ask you: this you call a beginning? What kind of chosen people choose wet, windy and wild weekends? Instead of the celebrated Rosh Hashanah \u201cblitz\u201d, we got a veritable Rosh Hashanah \u201cschvitz\u201d!<\/p>\n

Not that we surfcasters haven\u2019t suffered during past Jewish New Years: 2013, for example.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0However, over the course of many, many years, Rosh Hashanah is the surfcasting season’s better than even chance at many, many fish. \u00a0So why, for heaven’s sake, is this year different than this one<\/a>, or that one<\/a>, or any other in the recent past<\/a>?<\/p>\n

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STORMY MONDAY: What should have been a surfcasting slam dunk turned out for me to be a no fish “skunk”. Click here for video<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

But perhaps it was to be expected after the somewhat tepid summer in the surf experienced by The Faithful.<\/a>\u00a0Despite their best efforts to feed my smoked bluefish fetish, from May to August their take was lots of short bass, only a handful of keepers, and not nearly the bumper crop of bluefish compared to previous years. Certainly no \u201cfourties or fiddies\u201d for us daytimers.<\/p>\n

Now, with September not nearly halfway done, and Labor Day weekend\u2019s hot, hazy and humid heat wave only recently behind us, a gnarly nor\u2019easter blew in for the Jewish Holiday weekend. \u00a0It should have brought God\u2019s good grace and forgiveness in the form of cooperative, blitzing fish. Instead, the storm turned the beaches, and all who dared venture onto them, soggy and sad.<\/p>\n

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GNARLY FISHING: LeeBob tasting the fruits of his Rosh Hoshanah enthusiasm on Montauk’s North Bar<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

All, that is, save LeeBob N. He greeted the wind and the rain as if they were apples dipped in honey. LeeBob is truly one of God\u2019s chosen people to judge by his hard-won results. As the storm enveloped the East End on Sunday, LeeBob gleefully fought the incoming tide from a slippery perch bathed in whitewater among Montauk\u2019s south side rock pile.\u00a0 Just before the sundown Shofar blew, LeeBob hooked into a short striper that he landed and then cast back upon the rushing waters to wash away his sins.\u00a0 LeeBob would have stuck around to sweeten his lot\u2014as in more and bigger fish\u2014but the ocean rose ominously around him. Heeding the will of heaven, LeeBob returned home for the evening blessings.<\/p>\n

The following day, I joined LeeBob to fish the outgoing tide on the North Bar of Montauk.\u00a0 Wind and rain honked in our faces but did not deter LeeBob\u2019s optimism or enthusiasm.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s ON<\/em>,\u201d he howled above the wailing windswept waters as a schoolie striper inhaled his 1.5 ounce white bucktail lure.\u00a0 Later, a bluefish with a confused look on it\u2019s devilish face chomped on LeeBob\u2019s line like a pervert on a pomegranate<\/a>.\u00a0 Both of the fish–and LeeBob–however, were home before it was time to share the fruit and challah.<\/p>\n

I was skunked the the entire two day holiday. Clearly, repentance is called for in my immediate future.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, FishTales ain\u2019t no Book of Life<\/a>.\u00a0 But for my money, LeeBob is destined for a very prosperous future\u2014on the north and the south side of Montauk\u2014this season and beyond.<\/p>\n

And y’all know what’s next, right? \u00a0Yom Kipper….come hither!<\/p>\n

Shanah Tovah, baby!<\/p>\n

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SPRING STRIPER: Verizon Charlie near Accabonac Harbor<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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GANGSTER BLUEFISH: Heading for the smoker<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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FISHY HANDFUL: Amazing Randy with an early season keeper bass<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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OCEAN COCKTAILS: June bluefish for BBF on the town beaches of Montauk<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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BASS FOR BILLY: Stripers in the summer surf<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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STRIPER on the sand…<\/strong><\/em>..<\/p><\/div>\n

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….GRILLED BLUEFISH on the platter…<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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…#feedthesmoker<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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LET THE FISHING BEGIN: FishTales 2018 has commenced<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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YELLOW EYED DEVIL: I’m keeping an eye out for bluefish<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A soggy nor’easter inaugurates the Days of Awe September 12, 2018: For Montauk surfcasters, the Jewish High Holy Days are the ceremonial start of the fall surfcasting season.\u00a0 So, I ask you: this you call a beginning? What kind of chosen people choose wet, windy and wild weekends? Instead of the celebrated Rosh Hashanah \u201cblitz\u201d, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3395"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3475,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions\/3475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}