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PI, Thursday, 5:30AM-8AM

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  TinMan 
#1 ·
Today I was determined to do 2 things:

1) Educate some people with circle hook brochures and catch-and-release doc,

and

2) Catch the first on my own fly.

I'm happy to say I did both and as rewarding as #1 was (this went VERY well actually - even ran into Popeye I believe, agagagagagaga) it was a great feeling to catch on my own creation! Schoolies, but hey, I didn't care! Had a keeper on it as well, but lost it due to slack line. Once he cleared the hook, he slapped the water with his tail just to let me know that I really missed out. BTW: these Orvis X-POINT (Owner makes them too) are really nice. They set very well and easily, but I believe they also come out just as easily (I crush my barbs and as tempting as it might be not to sometimes, after almost losing use of a finger due to a large barb I never will).

Great activity off the bar right at my feet, often caught while just letting the fly dangle of the ledge in the current only 15 feet away.

One guy walked back with a 30" kept-er from the jetty. Close to where all the boats were. I stayed until slack and then all the clam guys lit up with schoolies.

Popeye brought up some very fat shiny fish, mostly 26-27" on half-and-half rubber. While he was torturing one of them out came a VERY LARGE sand eel. I have really never seen one that big and fat, probably about 8" and 3/8" thick! Went to grab it and check it out, but it dug into the sand in the most amazing display of ... digging I guess. That's when I switched to my version of the Deep Sand Eel and did very well. Constant stream of taps and tugs all the way until slack. At one point I had the whole bar to myself and it was gorgeous out!


RE: #1

Every single person I approached was receptive to my shpiel about proper C&R and circle hooks (left the brochures on people's windshields, but the couple I gave out were great ice breakers once you convince people you're not selling anything). Total of about 20 people I approached, 19 were keepers

CAUTION: Venting ahead.

One guy was pissing me off and I don't anger easily. He would take every single friggin fish, carry it by the rod/hook and measure it way back up the beach at his little schoolie-torture-compound-from-hell. Then when it was certified that this was indeed an 18" fish, he would literally toss it about 10' in the air with a nice extra little effort to make sure it spins as well. SMACK it would hit in the 6" of water where they would land. It was odd, because sometimes he would release them semi-decent and other times he would fling them like that. WHATTUP WHIDDAT! Can't you just measure a place on your rod or just know that a fish is no where near a keeper? Ugh.

Watched one guy trying a fly rod for the first time ever (Christmas gift) and seemed quite hooked once he was onto his 12th fish. He was ecstatic.

Another gent caught the biggest fattest shad I've ever seen (sorry sir, I forgot your name) on a fly.

BTW: Almost parked in a spot covered in broken glass (still hoping it was someone who locked themselves out of their car during the night and not a break-in).
 
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#3 ·
Pretty good morning just below the main sandbar, 3:30-5:45. Had a 25" fish get me excited he was much bigger by bullying me into the backing with a couple good runs. At times fish were busting into the thick schools of tiny bait in front and behind me at rods length away. Small o/w clouser picked up consistent strikes, best just before sunrise.
I was parked right next to the broken glass and was joking about it with another guy back in the lot.
Where I was there were mostly flyfishermen waiting to get out on the main sandbar, no potential striper abusers except a group of kids set up with gear and chairs directly in front of the sand bar fishing in less than a foot of water, pretty comical, but at least they couldn't do any harm.

Norm
 
#7 ·
Mike, that was me with the Shad.........What a beautiful morning on the bar. The guy slinging sluggo's next to me was murdering them for a while. I ended up four stripers and the shad but only after switching over to a longer sand eel. Heavier grain line or a deep sand eel would have been the ticket today........DennisS

I overheard your discussion with the Sluggo fisherman regarding his C&R technique. Your approach was excellent. Non-threatening, giving him a little credit for the nice fish while explaining the downside of kicking it back into the water.....
 
#8 ·
Mike,

That was me in the white durango.
Hit it again this morning and it was pretty much the same. Before sunrise lots of 20"+ fish slamming tiny sand eels right up against shore. A little frustrating at first with fish swirling all around and no pickups on the same fly that was killing them yesterday. Switched patterns a few times and finally started picking up fish. After sunrise a group of tiny fish moved in. I caught a couple that couldn't have been more than 6 or 7".

Norm
 
#9 ·
DennisS (06-07-2001 09:33 p.m.):
I overheard your discussion with the Sluggo fisherman regarding his C&R technique. Your approach was excellent. Non-threatening, giving him a little credit for the nice fish while explaining the downside of kicking it back into the water.....
Thanks Dennis! Those two guys were pretty entertaining actually and I always feel a bit if humility approaching seniors about something like this. Was frustrating watching him carry them like footballs all the way back to the dry section, but when he starting literally kicking it back into the surf (not just a push with his foot, a no holds barred socker side kick) I had to say something.

Nice to meet both of you!
 
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