Bonus Season

With the onset of the eleventh month, I consider any striped bass landed “out front” a bonus to my season stats. This doesn’t mean I don’t fully expect to catch some fish on each outing, and hopefully a few good ones before I hang it up for the year, but with the conclusion of the season now far closer than the inception, each fish just seems to mean a little bit more. There is something about knowing that the calendar is working against you, that the opportunities to get out and do what you’ve spent so many months doing are quickly dwindling, that makes every fish feel a little more special.

Motivation is difficult to come by many nights. Yes, I said NIGHTS, as that shouldn’t change in the late season. As diminishing results make the couch and a Bruins game more and more appealing with each passing tide and ever-dropping temperatures, the mental battle to get out the door can become every bit as challenging as anything encountered in the surf. Add to that the fact that it gets dark in the 4 o’clock hour, and it’s pretty easy, during those four or five hours between sunset and leaving the house, to find reasons not to fish on any given night. Tomorrow is always another day, after all. Or, more accurately, another tide. And it’s awfully easy to convince yourself that maybe you’ll have better luck with that one.

Of course, the problem with that thinking is that tomorrow’s tide or weather outlook isn’t guaranteed to be any better, and before you know it, another week has slipped by. The late season has a way of testing your commitment, not necessarily because the fishing is always bad, but because the combination of shorter days, colder temperatures, fewer fish, and the general fatigue that comes with months of chasing stripers can wear on even the most dedicated surfcasters. The excitement and anticipation that come so easily in the spring can be a little harder to muster when you’re standing all alone on a dark beach in November, wondering whether the next cast is going to produce anything at all.

Some nights I wonder if there is even a fish in front of me to be casting at in the first place.

When I do finally make it out for a November tide, though, I feel like the act of getting to the surf is a win in and of itself. I’ve beaten the temptation to stay home and instead put another tide between me and the end of the season. Sprinkle in some mild weather and a few fish, and it’s just the icing on the cake. A good fish is obviously welcome, but at this point, I’m not necessarily looking for some epic night to make the effort worthwhile. Sometimes it’s enough to find a little life along the shoreline, make a few good casts, and enjoy the fact that there are still striped bass out there to be caught.

There will be plenty of time for the couch, the Bruins, and all the other comforts of winter soon enough. For now, there are still tides to fish, and I’m not quite ready to give them up. Every November fish is a bonus, every decent night is a gift, and every trip to the water is one more opportunity to make the most of a season that is quickly running out of calendar.