Slow Fishin'

Went out Tuesday 7/6 and again today (7/9). Left from Niantic at 3:30 am both days headed towards Harkness. Tuesday provided a really brief window at dawn with about 15 minutes of breaking stripers by the sanatorium, but the slack tide almost coincided with sunrise, so it shut down quickly. A couple of blues at the outflow, and then I baked in the 100 degree heat until about 11:00. Would have gone in earlier, but saw some schools hanging around Wigwam Rock area. Wasted an hour trying to get a bite and getting chewed up by scup. Figured today would be better, with a tide change a few hours after first light. Had to creep along by GPS to Harkness, but by first light, birds were diving on really small bait along Goshen Beach. I tied on a 3" sluggo and had 2 hits, but lost both. No big numbers of fish despite the bait. The fog actually got worse as the sun rose, limiting visibility to 100' at best. As I began picking my way back around the jetties using GPS and crab pots, I notices a big school of blues moving through and birds working just about at the edge of my visibility. The first blue flattened out the smaller hook I had on, and by the time I grabbed a big plug they were gone in the mist. So was any visual reference. While I had a GPS, I wasn't wild about chasing schools in Twotree Channel where I might get run over in the fog. Finally skirted my way back to the outflow, where nothing was happening. On some days, I would have fished harder until I got something, anything, but today I just said screw it and went in by 7:30 am. Monday I will be out fishing with Jack Balint, so I'm hoping for better luck. For those fishing the night ebb tides in the Race and other rips, I did see a 40+ fish brought in as I was going out.