Back on the Bridges

(above: Big Jim Fee works the shadowlines of a South Jersey bridge in the wee hours of November 30th.)

Facing into the blustery west wind 40 feet above the inlet, I felt cold. And nostalgic.

It had been more than 7 years since I’d spent a late-fall night bridge-hopping through Cape May County, but there was a time when most of my weekend nights from Halloween to New Years were spent scanning shadow lines and picking fish off pilings.

The cold snap before Thanksgiving this year had driven down back bay water temperatures, and any fish left in Southern New Jersey’s backwaters were in no mood to feed during my triumphant return to the bridges. I worked the structure slowly, letting the Fin-S Fish and ¾-ounce jig sweep into the holes carved out by the rushing currents between the pilings.

One other angler showed up, rigged with the requisite Pink Zoom. He moved quickly, peering down into the shadowlines, making certain not to cast a shadow of his own. He flipped out a few casts, parallel to the bridge, but left quickly when no stripers or baitfish made their presence known.

I remember nights when hickory shad and herring splashed in the lights during the entire outgoing tide. On those nights, he stripers were visible, but silent, their noses just inside the shadowline as they waited for a baitfish to make a mistake. A sudden drop in water temperatures would certainly put an end to that action, so the Thanksgiving cold front had sealed my fate.

After three hours of nothing, I took the hint and walked down the bridge to my car. I’ll be back soon though. If there’s anything my years of fishing the bridges has taught me, it’s that the South Jersey backwater season is a long one, so I’ll have my bridge gear ready when I go home for Christmas.