We traveled down the beach. We caught fish. We ate well. Weather was great! But it you want to read more…..

Everybody met at the Malachite Pavilion parking lot by 11:00 in the morning. This is when we got our gear together, did some transloading and prepared to drive down the beach. We did take a group photo before we gave our safety briefing. That group picture is the featured image up top.

While we were preparing our gear, that is when we decided to split into two groups. One group would go down to the Turtle House on Friday night, and the second group would go down to a big shell around mile marker 20 or so.  The group that went to a mile marker 20 or so decided they were going to camp there for the entire weekend and meet us back at the Malachite parking lot on Sunday afternoon

The plan of the folks that went to the Turtle House is camp at Turtle House pack camp and go the furthest of the way to the jetties the next morning It didn’t work out that way

We could not have asked for better weather or better driving conditions. Friday night winds were strong, making the waves higher than we expected. But the wind was supposed to die down on Saturday and Sunday which it did. The water was crystal clear and bait was moving, but we did not see gamefish destroying the pods of bait as we have in the past.

The tide had come almost all the way to the dunes the previous day, making the driving conditions perfect as the water had packed the sand down. We traveled most of the way in two-wheel drive, rarely having to engage our 4-wheel drive. While we traveled to the Turtle House which is around mile 37, we didn’t see any birds barking but we did stop and fish a few times

By the time we made it to the turtle house we probably stopped eight or 10 times, but the fish just weren’t there, so we set up camp relatively early and started working on dinner

On Friday night, as we approached the Turtle House, one of us was the last to arrive and the first to get stuck. Working as a team, that was remedied within minutes. We did learn something about the equipment that we carry down range. One thing is to make sure that you have tested your equipment and are familiar with the equipment that you use. We broke one strap. We did some digging. We wet the sand. We use the traction mat. And the truck popped right out. Look at the video. Lesson here… Use 4WD to get out of trouble, not get into more.

Oscar and Ozzy took over the chore planning and coordinating our evening meals and they did a wonderful job. I won’t even begin to describe the wonderful food prepared and contributed by the group.

The group at the Turtle House decided that it was OK just to stay at the Turtle House and not venture down the beach to the jetties. Which made it nice not having to move camp but it did limit the area that we fished to a few 100 yards, or perhaps call a mile of beach.

We would fish for a while and then take a break. Then go fishing for a few more hours and then take a break. Bringing our own sunshades with us added a lot to our creature comforts.

• Flies that worked:
  • • Clouser
  • • Smack candy
  • • Spoon fly
  • • Woolhead mullet
    • EP minnow
  • • Kreelex

With the wind dying down on Saturday we were able to have a campfire Saturday night sharing stories, enjoying good food and good company.

Sunday morning, we all got up had coffee had breakfast and started packing camp. The plan was to be on the road going north toward the parking lot by 9:00 it worked out perfectly we were back at the parking lot before noon. The showers were open, even though the US Government was shut down, so we cleaned up the gear that we had used, took showers and headed home.

We are already making plans for next year to try to find out when the anchovies are in.