Saturday, July 12, 2008

Bertha and the Surf


Well big Bertha is storming along out in the Atlantic Ocean and meanwhile along
the New Jersey coast, we saw some of the impressive swells come in, resulting in
what our forlorn surfers call as "surf's up".

Fishing along the New Jersey coast has been interesting since our inshore waters
are cooled down significantly by a Southerly wind, prevalent when there are extended
Bermuda highs impacting the weather on the Eastern seaboard, such as we have seen
this spring and early summer.

To note, on Thursday of this week, Atlantic City surf temperature was 57F. FIFTY SEVEN
in July. Very chilly, but as a result a significant number of striped bass, even some of the
normal migrants, have stayed in the cool water and feasting on the abundant schools of
bunker, seen up and down the coast.

Why does a Southerly wind cool down the surf?

It's due to the Coriolis Effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect

more on this another time.

God Bless,
Surf Rob

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