Eggs for breakfast and a bag of fish jerky to take to work as a snack. I'm starting to look at my chickens and actually see them spinning on a rotisserie with well seasoned, crispy skin. So apparently I haven't gotten too attached to them as 'pets' yet.

Breakfast

I looked at the weather report for tomorrow and the forecast is quite good. I think I will give Dad a call to see if he would like to come up to explore some new fluke spots or possibly do some crabbing. Either way - I'm going fluking tomorrow.
I read a fishing report that some kids posted from the Navesink river that was really good. If I could find some nice fluke holes nearby I would be a happy camper. I haven't had a solid fluke bite since I left Rhode Island.

lunch concoction

After work I did a little chicken coop repair work. I still need to put some hinges on and Debbie has made it clear that it needs to be painted if it's going to be part of our yard. I was thinking I would paint some type of ivy pattern on it to make it blend into the ivy growing on the fence. Just a thought.

The backyard farm

As the sun started going down I took a ride over to the boat ramp to see if there were any more bunker and bluefish like the night before. I also wanted to set the killie trap so I would have some live killies for fluke bait in the morning. I figured that I would leave it there overnight with some bread inside and it would be loaded with killies in the morning. There were no signs of bunker. There were tons of biting gnats though! I got all chewed up while I was setting the killie trap

I loaded the trap and tossed it into the shallow water. I figured that since I was already there I might as well take a few casts with my plug to see if there were any larger fish cruising the area. It was a really cool sunset so I didn't mind staying for a few more minutes. I was unsuccessful at fishing but after about 10 minutes I pulled up the killie trap and wouldn't you know it - it was filled with killies! In 10 minutes. I was shocked (in a good way). I didn't want them to escape so I had to figure out a way to keep the ones I caught and then set the trap out for more. I drove home and picked up a bucket with a lid on it. I drilled a bunch of drain/fill holes in the top and sides to allow fresh water to flow in and out. When I got back to the ramp, I poured the killies from the trap into to the makeshift bait bucket. The whole time I was doing this I was getting killed by the gnats.

I sat in my truck, protected from the gnats, for another 15 minutes to finish watching the sunset. Before leaving I decided to check the trap again and it was again filled with new killies. I transferred them to the bucket and put everything back into the water. This was plenty of bait for the morning. And at this rate, the trap would be full of killies again in the morning when I pick it up. Escaping the gnats, I drove back home.

My dinner was more of the same - striped bass sashimi, rice, sprouts, some greens from the garden, water. Pretty well balanced overall - but pretty monotonous. I can't wait to drink something other than water! I'm ready for a beer and I just bought a case of Guiness today in anticipation of the weekend ahead.