I’ve always considered the long walk to the West End 2 jetty as a walk to somewhere. Even though it’s about a mile-and-a-half trek in sand and wind the walk always seems to be worth it. The walk back to the parking lot, however, could be full of aches and pain if one is hauling back a hefty bass or a few chopper bluefish.
I’ve always done well fishing at the jetty. Most of the time I don't fish on it, but about 50 yards just east of the rock structure. In the old days that fishing spot was nicknamed “the pocket” before the jetty was rebuilt in the mid-1990s. Either on the side or on the jetty, there always seems to be fish there. I consider it the best fishing spot at the beach.
These days, however, I could barely walk a half-mile let alone a mile-and-a-half in sand and often strong winds. So when I decide to venture down the sandy path at West End 2 I stop once I get to the oceanfront knowing the jetty is still three-quarter miles away. I settle and park my gear right where I see the ocean. I am too damn tired to walk west to the jetty. Nonetheless I have had success right at the end of the sandy path without trekking to the jetty. Once I caught two keeper striped bass there in less than an hour, having to return one.
In my days of being a young and strong man, I would walk always far enough to set up shop close to the jetty. It's an ideal spot to catch a prowling bass looking for broken clam shells or dislodged crabs. Once I even picked up a bunker still alive with a chunk bitten out of its belly. I also fished on the jetty. But I stopped doing that when I said to myself what if I hooked a hefty bass, how would I lift it up off the rocks? If fate happened and I hooked a fat slob bass, I would have had to step off the jetty to land it. I use 20-pound test line and if it rubs against rocks it snaps. That's why I often fished alongside the jetty not on it.
On the rocks, however, I’ve caught schoolie bass and plenty of cocktail blues plus keeper size blackfish. Because of the rocks, however, I've lost a few fish. Nevertheless, I’ve never caught a keeper bass on the rocks. If my aim is bass, however, just east of the jetty on the sand suits my purpose. I've had success there, and you can't beat success. Biggest bass I have ever caught in “the pocket” just east of the jetty was about 20-pounds.
The jetty has a long history. After it was rebuilt in the mid-90s the problem was that the sand started to push up against the rock and the water became very shallow. Another tidbit of trivia, for those wondering why the Old Construction dock is named the Old Construction Dock at Jones Inlet because in the late 1950s when they were first building the jetty the building crew used the Old Construction Dock to store the huge flat rocks for the jetty. When the new rocks were added in the mid-90s the rocks were placed this time on the sand at West End 2 beach all the way in the western corner.
The construction crew for the original jetty left many extra not needed rocks in the water off the Old Construction Dock, now an ideal place for blackfishing. In the 1970s there was a huge, rusted red crane at the Old Construction Dock left there abandoned by the jetty construction crew. When the jetty was rebuilt in the mid-1990s the rebuilding process was only a matter of replacing worn out rocks with new flat surfaced rocks thus allowing the sand to build up and make the water shallow.
That jetty also has another history. This of misfortunates and sadness. I remember at least four if not more fishermen getting killed there. I remember in the mid-1980s three fishermen decided to fish there during bad weather and got swept off the rocks. I also remember a few years ago, a fisherman got his rig stuck in the rocks and tried to yank it loose and his sinker shot back hitting him in the head and killing him. I'm sure there were more instances, it's dangerous, yet those are the only two I remember.
Anyway, I’ve always considered the West End 2 jetty as the best place to fish at Jones Beach. A jetty is ideal structure to attract prey and predator. And shellfish lost in the whirlwind swerve of the ocean get tossed and cracked against the rocks, offering food to the denizens. And let’s not forget all the crabs those rocks attract, all ofthe mussels and barnacles. And all of the baitfish looking for protection, the ecosystem around a jetty is a small universe within itself.
Too bad my back hurts so much today that it prevents me from making that long trek to productive fishing grounds. I remember once I had landed two big bluefish with a combined weight of at least 16-pounds, probably more, and I had to carry the fish back to the parking lot. I had to struggle to walk the mile and a half facing a strong east wind blowing right into my face while I was dragging the two big bluefish. I had a crazy idea half way to throw back one of the fish because it was becoming too heavy to carry.
I didn’t, however, I just took a breather every 50 yards. Same story with a bass, if it was too big for my cooler I would drag it along the sand to the parking lot. Tiring as heck. Funny thing about that, however, is that I left a bass tail drag mark on the sand. If someone were scouting out West End 2 he could tell there wre fish there just by the mark I left in the sand.
On the way to the jetty, to keep my legs moving to walk the great distance to the jetty I always looked for bass tail trail marks in the sand. So when I caught a bass I always left a mark so signal to others that the long walk was worth it.
