I watched a show on NJN the other night. It was one of those narrated documentaries about the Delaware River Watershed. It had lots of neat footage of crabbers and other commercial interests working the Delaware Bay, and those images really got the blood flowing. Combine this with all the recent chill in the air, and my mind can only think of one thing...Delaware Bay stripers!

There's something really special about fall on the bay. Sure, the presence of some of the world's largest striped bass is a big part of it, but there's more to it than that. There's nothing like a November evening, with a fiery red sun dropping toward the horizon and a pesky wind dropping out to nothing. The sound of hissing whitecaps is replaced by a gentle lapping of waves on the hull and the barking of waterfowl in the distance.

The air chills quickly and we dig through the dry storage for those jackets we shedded earlier in the day. We picked at fish throughout the afternoon...mostly 10-20 pounders along with a smattering of big blues and those everpresent dogfish. With water cooling sharply, the horn dogs are now mixed in with the smoothies, a sure sign that winter is coming.  But we know the next hour holds the most promise, and despite being a little punch drunk from a day on the water, our focus remains sharp.

We chum heavier than we did earlier in the day, as we no longer have to worry about conserving bait. The tide is running just right and the four conventional setups are positioned properly and doing their thing. The clickers on the reels are all locked up. This method worked better throughout the day than keeping the clickers on, so we're playing the percentages. Every day is different in this regard.

Whether or not a runoff follows is irrelavant. Experiencing a beautiful fall evening on the bay is worth more than what's in the cooler, and it's the kind of thing that can see an angler right through the winter. Fall is quickly approaching, folks. Are you ready?