Adjustments in Unfishable Conditions

Hickory shad
were on the rampage
today in protected
backwaters that
I fished.

Even the stripers were keying on
my shrimp fly teasers.  They were
mixed in with the abundant hickory shad.

I love fishing nasty weather.  However, there is a fine line between rough, productive water and water that is not fishable.  This afternoon I headed to the oceanfront and was greeted by a huge, rough surf that was charged up by a vicious northeast wind that was gusting to 40 and 50 knots.  One gust that hit me almost knocked me over.  It was that bad.  The oceanfront was simply not fishable.
I nearly turned around and headed home, but I told myself "adjust".  So, I headed to some protected backwaters where I actually found a lot of fish.  I landed big numbers of hickory shad on shrimp fly teasers, and I also landed some stripers on a Cocahoe that was teamed up with the the teasers. I saw good numbers of these fish busting all around the area I was fishing.
When the surf gets big, dangerous and unfishable, head to the protected backwaters along the oceanfront. Places like the backs of the breachways or in the coastal ponds are good places to fish in unfishable conditions out front. These are places that have saved the day for  me in the past and worked like a charm again today.