As I sit in my home tonight and listen to the wind rip across the roof I feel lucky that I'm not out on the water or braving the blowing sand across the beach.

I've included some pictures of the surf and wind conditions. No place for the fisherman today as the surf and wind created havoc at the beach.

It was a good day for surfing and just watching.

This upcoming week and next weekend have some great tides. High tides in both the evening and morning will provide some great fishing once the wind dies down and the water settles. The current large surf will help to reshape the beach and should hold some good areas for fishing later this week.

I plan to hit the beach on Tues or Wed as the wind dictates.

Until then keep an eye on the beach at my beach cam page: http://fishthesurf.homestead.com/FTSTIDESMOONBEACHCAMS.html

As this week wore on, warm clear mornings were replaced by fog and a cool southwest breeze.

There are still good numbers of crabs to be caught while the water temp stays around 66 degrees. Other baits like lug, blood or nuclear worms are working great now also.

This week most of our best fishing was in specific spots where fish were schooling. Unlike in the summer, fish are not spread out this time of year. Barred perch, yellow fin croaker and this small leopard shark gave us the best fight on light-line gear.

This upcoming week and weekend will have some good tides and it looks like the water will stay warm and calm during the period.

I tried the nuclear worm for the first time and they work great. You get two monster worms for eight bucks and can cut or pinch them down to size for bait. They are very much like blood worms in color and casing and are much more hardy than lug worms. The best way to fish this worm is on the carolina rig. You'll need to thread a 5 inch piece up the hook, puncture the casing with the hook point and leave a 1 inch "tail" below the hook.

Take a look at my last article in Fish Taco and you'll find some good pictures of this technique. If you don't have a copy--shame on you!-- drop me an email and I'll send one to you for free. Here it is: fishthesurf@mail.com