Harleysville-Lansdale Real Estate and More: WSGA Montgomery County PA: Being Less Than 2 Hours from the Beach

For this post, it’s all about location and the plethora of fun things to do nearby.  From most places in Montgomery County, you can be skiing in the Pocono Mountains in as little as an hour.  For those who like the big city, Philadephia is very close and even New York City is reasonably so.  But consider that it also takes just 2 hours or less to get to the beaches.  In my mind, that’s close enough for a day trip and last week I took take advantage of the fact with a needed day off.  My friend Ed and I recently heard some reports of big bruiser bluefish (up to 20 pounds) being caught from the beach.  So, we packed up our gear and headed to Island Beach State Park for a little surf fishing. 

For background, Island Beach State Park is a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay.  The park has a lot to offer and explore.  If you like the usual summertime lounging on the beach or dip in the ocean, there’s nearly a full mile of guarded beach.  This stretch of sand is served by ample parking facilities and large, well maintained pavilions with restrooms, changing areas, first aid stations, and concessions.  The park extends for a whopping 10 miles, however, and offers so much more than sunbathing and fishing.  There are 8 walking trails throughout the park with nature and history exhibits along the way.  Three different interpretive centers provide fun and educational tours for a more in-depth view of the park’s history and ecology.  The main road has an 8 mile designated bike path.  The park also allows horseback riding in the off season and bonfires are permitted in certain locations on the beach.

As summer fades to fall, the park becomes a haven for surf fishermen (and yes, we are graced with the presence of the occasional fisherwoman).  In my view, there are two main reasons.  First is the good probability of actually catching some fish.  From late September through November large schools of bluefish and striped bass migrate south feasting on mullet and bunker along the way.  This is known as the fall run and it passes right by Island Beach State Park often bringing these fish within casting range of the beach.  There’s also a spring run when the fish return northbound, but it’s typically not as productive.  Another big reason for the park’s popularity with fishermen is that you can drive on the beach (assuming you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle and a proper permit from the park).  This makes it easy to cover a lot of beach in search of good fishing action.

So, back to last week.  Ed and I left Lansdale a little before 5 am.  I know that’s nuts for an ordinary person’s day off, but it’s actually a bit on the late side for fishermen.  We made the usual stops at a WaWa to fill-up on gas and get some snacks and then off to Betty and Nick’s bait shop for a couple of bags of mullet (snacks for big bluefish).  We were at the park gatehouse just before 7am and stopped to talk to the ranger and get our drive-on permit.  Just as we were heading out of the door, we were greeted by Scooter.  Scooter is a red fox that, according to the ranger, frequents the gatehouse in the hopes of an easy breakfast.   Red foxes are pretty common in the park, but this was the first time I had seen one.  Somebody hit the nature button for us; awesome!

With our permit in hand, we aired-down our tires (a must for driving in deep sand) and assembled our fishing rods.  We were on the beach and actually fishing by 7:30am; not bad.  Within about 20 minutes, one of our rods bent over like a party switching politician.  A real exciting start, but the fight was short lived in this fish which turned out to be just a cow-nosed ray.  Not exactly what we were hoping for, but it was still fun to real in and neat to see.  We had similar luck for the rest of the day with a total count of 3 cow-nosed rays, 3 flounder, 2 small bluefish, and one sea robin.  So, we didn’t catch any bruiser blues, but I got a needed dose of nature, caught a few interesting fish, and spent the day with a good friend.  We packed-up our gear, aired-up the tires, got on the road just after 3pm, and beat rush hour to make it back to Lansdale by 5pm.

What’s So Great About Montgomery County PA?  For me, it was being less than 2 hours from the beach one day last week.

Note: I forgot my camera on this outing (bag blogger).  So, the pictures are actually from a few previous trips to the beach.

Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 to buy or sell a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.

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