The personal reflections Thanksgiving brings can't help but also bring back to the surface memories of the season past and special fish. I thought people might want to share a few of their stories, hopefully the true ones, of memorable fish.
I had two personal bests this striper season, the first I had to kill since when I tried to release him he didn't really have the energy to take off.
The second was one very early morning, in the dark, waiting for the sun to start to rise before I started paddling (alone) to the spot where I killed the fish mentioned above. I was in a boat basin and knew the contour of the bottom, having dragged my kayak across it at low tide multiple times. I was pretty sure that with a dropping tide there would be fish sitting just behind the bar picking up bait as it washed over them.
My first few casts tested the current and depth, looking for fish in the shallows as I inched out. I picked up 2 stripers @ 30" as I kept working my way out to have a better cast at the now formed seam of current off the back of the bar. I made the cast, coached myself against starting the strip too soon, on my second strip there was a subtle hit that I missed, two more strips another gentle hit that I didn't miss.
The fish started off like a regular schoolie, I was able to steer him away from the moorings but the schoolie kept going, he was picking up speed and now taking backing. I didn't want to lose my line to any other moorings out there so I started to crank down on the drag - ever mindful of my super light 25# tippet (HA!).
To make a long painful story short, I muscle this fish up into the shallows, I'd backed up into about 1.5' of water, I hadn't really seen him yet but finally turned on my headlamp - WHAT A HOG!
I get my hand on my leader, start to reach for the lip and the tippet breaks, right at the fly, I see it happen, I can't believe it!!
I let out a yell of frustration which is cut short as I look down and see the fish hovering between my legs. What the hell, I grab him by the tail and he almost pulls me in! I throw my rod up on the beach and try to grab him by the jaw with my free hand. This is when I realized he was a little bigger than usual, another stumbling/ wrestling match ends with me NOT in the water and lipping the biggest striper I ever landed. Got my fly back (black, brown & gold flash real eel) and let him go.
Have no idea how big he was, will aways remember the crisp morning, the commercial fleet heading out in the dark, the personal satsifaction.
Couldn't have done it without the lessons learned from the many
members of this board.
Thanks, happy Thanksgiving!
Roop
I had two personal bests this striper season, the first I had to kill since when I tried to release him he didn't really have the energy to take off.
The second was one very early morning, in the dark, waiting for the sun to start to rise before I started paddling (alone) to the spot where I killed the fish mentioned above. I was in a boat basin and knew the contour of the bottom, having dragged my kayak across it at low tide multiple times. I was pretty sure that with a dropping tide there would be fish sitting just behind the bar picking up bait as it washed over them.
My first few casts tested the current and depth, looking for fish in the shallows as I inched out. I picked up 2 stripers @ 30" as I kept working my way out to have a better cast at the now formed seam of current off the back of the bar. I made the cast, coached myself against starting the strip too soon, on my second strip there was a subtle hit that I missed, two more strips another gentle hit that I didn't miss.
The fish started off like a regular schoolie, I was able to steer him away from the moorings but the schoolie kept going, he was picking up speed and now taking backing. I didn't want to lose my line to any other moorings out there so I started to crank down on the drag - ever mindful of my super light 25# tippet (HA!).
To make a long painful story short, I muscle this fish up into the shallows, I'd backed up into about 1.5' of water, I hadn't really seen him yet but finally turned on my headlamp - WHAT A HOG!
I get my hand on my leader, start to reach for the lip and the tippet breaks, right at the fly, I see it happen, I can't believe it!!
I let out a yell of frustration which is cut short as I look down and see the fish hovering between my legs. What the hell, I grab him by the tail and he almost pulls me in! I throw my rod up on the beach and try to grab him by the jaw with my free hand. This is when I realized he was a little bigger than usual, another stumbling/ wrestling match ends with me NOT in the water and lipping the biggest striper I ever landed. Got my fly back (black, brown & gold flash real eel) and let him go.
Have no idea how big he was, will aways remember the crisp morning, the commercial fleet heading out in the dark, the personal satsifaction.
Couldn't have done it without the lessons learned from the many
members of this board.
Thanks, happy Thanksgiving!
Roop