Well, I finally had a chance to take my youngest son, Daniel, age 7, on his long awaited camping and fishing trip. We got to Burlingame just as it started getting dark. Got a great site right on the lake and had the tent up seconds before the rain started. After supper we went to Weekapaug for some "night fishing". There were no fish showing in the channel and Daniel's first lesson was on the role of tidal movement and its affect on fish acitivity. In other words, there was no tidal movement [slack tide] and there was no fish activity. We spent about an hour with a flashlight and dipnets collecting sticklebacks for our aquarium. We finally left when cold and damp started to take the fun out. Went to sleep in the warm dry tent and listened to the pouring rain beat down all night.
Being on a seven year old's time schedule, we slept in that morning and had a relaxed breakfast of doughnuts and coffee. We arived at Weekapaug about 10:00AM. We checked the breachway, the overlook and fire district beach. At all locations huge schools of fish could be seen breaking off shore. There were giant schools feeding on giant schools of bait. Surface blitzes could be seen pretty much all morning almost anywhere you looked. Some of the flocks of birds looked like black clouds off in the distance. Many schools didn't even have birds on them there were so many . There was no running and gunning, most every boat had all the fish they could handle.
I pointed out the schools of fish to Daniel and tried to explain that they could come in at any minute. Still, by lunch time, he anounced that he wanted to leave. "Saltwater fishing is boring" he said. Oh no! This isn't good! Thinking quick, I came up with a fool proof plan. This was not a big deal. At least nothing a cheeseburger and ice cream sunday couldn't cure. As we were leaving, Sean called across to us from the other side of the breachway. Sean, you should have stuck around!
After enjoying a leisurley lunch, we headed back to the breachway. Now Daniel was well fed and content and willing to indulge me a little longer on this fishing thing.
As we were getting out of our car at the parking lots, Daniel pointed to a guy and said "Hey something must be going on! That guy just ran back to his car and grabbed a rod and ran back toward the water!"
Well damn! I don't even know how he came to that conclusion, I don't remember teaching him that. Nevertheless, we also grabbed a rod and ran onto the jetty where we could see a huge school of fish breaking close to shore. All the fishermen present were hooked up and soon we were too. Daniel had his hands full trying to land the 5 - 8 lb blues and schoolie stripers that hit on every cast. It was a blast! I'd cast the surf rod and hook a fish and hand him the rod. It took all his strength just to hang onto the rod, but he did a good job. He was laughing and hollering and generally having a great time. Eventually he told me I could catch a few if I wanted, he was getting too tired. It was great fun! Besides catching all the fish he could handle, Daniel got to see a good old fashion fall blitz and the effect it has on normally sane grown men. The topper was a when a novice fisheman [identified as such by the colorful bobber he was using to float his bait] managed to fall off the jetty into the sea. When I looked over he was swimming in water up to his neck. He was very lucky the sea was calm. I've seen many days when the surf would have pounded him to a pulp where he fell in. As it was, he provided me with another valuable lesson for Daniel's ongoing education in surf fishing [Dan thought it was the funniest thing he ever saw. I had to scold him about laughing at the poor guy].
Eventually the fish drifted off, still feeding but out of range again. Daniel and I decided we had seen enough and headed back to camp for the much anticipated campfire [which Daniel lit all by himself - BIG deal!]. We cooked hotdogs over the coals and roasted marshmellows for dessert while we relived the excitment of the day. I think it would be safe to say that my youngest boy no longer thinks of saltwater fishing as "boring"!
Being on a seven year old's time schedule, we slept in that morning and had a relaxed breakfast of doughnuts and coffee. We arived at Weekapaug about 10:00AM. We checked the breachway, the overlook and fire district beach. At all locations huge schools of fish could be seen breaking off shore. There were giant schools feeding on giant schools of bait. Surface blitzes could be seen pretty much all morning almost anywhere you looked. Some of the flocks of birds looked like black clouds off in the distance. Many schools didn't even have birds on them there were so many . There was no running and gunning, most every boat had all the fish they could handle.
I pointed out the schools of fish to Daniel and tried to explain that they could come in at any minute. Still, by lunch time, he anounced that he wanted to leave. "Saltwater fishing is boring" he said. Oh no! This isn't good! Thinking quick, I came up with a fool proof plan. This was not a big deal. At least nothing a cheeseburger and ice cream sunday couldn't cure. As we were leaving, Sean called across to us from the other side of the breachway. Sean, you should have stuck around!
After enjoying a leisurley lunch, we headed back to the breachway. Now Daniel was well fed and content and willing to indulge me a little longer on this fishing thing.
As we were getting out of our car at the parking lots, Daniel pointed to a guy and said "Hey something must be going on! That guy just ran back to his car and grabbed a rod and ran back toward the water!"
Well damn! I don't even know how he came to that conclusion, I don't remember teaching him that. Nevertheless, we also grabbed a rod and ran onto the jetty where we could see a huge school of fish breaking close to shore. All the fishermen present were hooked up and soon we were too. Daniel had his hands full trying to land the 5 - 8 lb blues and schoolie stripers that hit on every cast. It was a blast! I'd cast the surf rod and hook a fish and hand him the rod. It took all his strength just to hang onto the rod, but he did a good job. He was laughing and hollering and generally having a great time. Eventually he told me I could catch a few if I wanted, he was getting too tired. It was great fun! Besides catching all the fish he could handle, Daniel got to see a good old fashion fall blitz and the effect it has on normally sane grown men. The topper was a when a novice fisheman [identified as such by the colorful bobber he was using to float his bait] managed to fall off the jetty into the sea. When I looked over he was swimming in water up to his neck. He was very lucky the sea was calm. I've seen many days when the surf would have pounded him to a pulp where he fell in. As it was, he provided me with another valuable lesson for Daniel's ongoing education in surf fishing [Dan thought it was the funniest thing he ever saw. I had to scold him about laughing at the poor guy].
Eventually the fish drifted off, still feeding but out of range again. Daniel and I decided we had seen enough and headed back to camp for the much anticipated campfire [which Daniel lit all by himself - BIG deal!]. We cooked hotdogs over the coals and roasted marshmellows for dessert while we relived the excitment of the day. I think it would be safe to say that my youngest boy no longer thinks of saltwater fishing as "boring"!