By CAM Staff
The presence of life was obvious long before we reached the jetty. On an outgoing tide, dingy water rushed through the channel cut from the bay to the ocean. It flushed with a brown plume that carried the detritus of marsh decay.
Diving birds were the first sign we were in the right place at the right time. As we got closer, other anglers came into view. There were a couple of boats jockeying for position off the end of the jetty, another trolled the rip farther offshore, and the beach brigade was set up fishing that corner pocket where current flowing down the shore piled up against the rocks.
Pods of pogies flickered and darted, harassed by gulls from above and by redfish, trout, small sharks and who knows what else from below. Blue crabs skittered around doing cleanup duty just outside a light surf.
With all this life, catching fish shouldn’t be a problem, right? Well, if you talk to any veteran of the rocks, they’ll tell you putting in the time to learn a particular jetty is the key to success. Every jetty has its own peculiarities, its best times and tides, its hidden holes and mixing currents.
Here are a few tips to help flatten the learning curve at a new jetty.
- Start in the Rocks: The food chain of a jetty is created by the stuff pushed against the rocks. The rocks also create current breaks and hidey holes where predators lay in ambush for baitfish, shrimp and crabs that feed on the buildup of organic matter. Start your search close to the rocks. Work quickly but meticulously to pick a jetty apart. You can’t see everything that’s going on under the surface, but with experience, the sweet spots will become evident.
- Make Friends with the Old Guy: In the scenario above, it was our first time to this jetty, and we went straight in with a cast net to scoop up pogies. It seemed obvious to match the hatch, and we caught some fish… mostly stingrays and catfish. As we clambered all over the jetty in search of the magic combination of factors to produce a more exciting catch, an old man posted up in a beach chair came tight with an enormous bull red. After helping him land the fish and jawing with him a while, he gave up a secret. He’d been fishing this jetty for years, and big reds and tarpon at this spot are suckers for half a fresh blue crab fished on the bottom. Because jetties draw anglers as well as fish, being friendly or just watching can lead to solid local knowledge.
- Find the Current Seams: Fish where fast and slack current meet. Predators hang in the slack and wait as a conveyer belt of food is swept past them. Conversely, baitfish also seek refuge and stack up where there is current shade. Either situation makes these areas high probability targets for anglers.