[striblue]

This won't be long. Pete ,Adrian andMyself left CAC at 5 AM. We went to the point and began our casting. The tide was perfect middle to late outgoing.. Nothing. We moved along the ocean side of South Beach... Both Adrian and Pete hocked up with mid twenties fish. As the tide lowered and it approached low tide... Adrian headed out to catch the riprider and Pete and I stayed... we began exploring the outer edges of the outer sand bars... Wallace came with us and we found some nice holes way out there so we fished the open surf. In a perfect text book location Pete hooked a 30 incher if it was that short. I positioned myself about 30 yards shoreward from about 15 seals. The conditions were perfect and it was real low tide but the depth where we were remained me of Big girl. Did not catch anything but that place looks good and we left at 9. On the way back Pete and found a large sand eel and examined it for tying purposes. HMMMM... Freshly dead and it ha a Very dark green top ,almost black and a thick silver line and a little white for the belly. Didn't look like anything I tye... will experiment with new patterns. I told Pete if he ate it to give us a better perspective of just what the stripers taste... purely a scientific approach mind you..I would post it on the internet. Well, he ate half of it as Wallace and can attest to.. he says.." Hmmm. very salty and very bony", then he has the nerve of complaining about his breath on the way back to CAC. He has now determined to wonder among bait fisherman scoffing their bait and eating the stuff in front of hem... a sure proof way of clearing the beaches for flyfishermen.. I think it could work..we must come up with a getup for him . "The attack of sand eel man", or something like that...what a guy.

 

[Bob Pink]

Pete transcends the role of common fisherman to reach the higher order of being 'one' with his prey!

 

[SOLO]

Sure there were seals...but one in particular took a liking to John...must'a been the semi-walrus style stash...she kept winking but the man would not, could not be sidetracked from his appointed casting. Such concentration!
My fish took me into some backing and would have become lunch-on-a-string had John not had such a mezmerizing effect on the tothy critters.
Just to the East I could see what must have been the Azores. We were really out there and the place looked textbook fishy...Great potential but you better keep track of the tides!

Regarding the freshly dead offering...Less filling! Tastes great! I'd recommend a dab of hot chinese mustard and a SamAdams chaser!

 

[striblue]

Pete, thanks for a great weekend... just one more thing. Lets not take it so far that you become know at bait shops for depleting them of their sand eel surplies. Reminds me of an old movie classic called "The Little Shop Of Horrors" when this guy goes into the flower shop and orders half a dozen carnations. When Gravis Mushnick,the shop owner, asks if he wants them wrapped, he says .."no...I'll eat them here". Keep in touch.

 

[Adrian]

This turned into quite a day for seeing new places and meeting old (new) friends! After I left John and Pete at the lighthouse to catch Rip Ryder (before the bait eating incident I'm pleased to say) I met up with Brian Z. Just after we arrived at the drop off, a scene reminiscent of Grand Central rush hour ensued as about thirty anglers were disgorged from various ferries. After spending about half an hour at the prime spot without anyone hooking up on the outgoing we headed south to check out the channel. Looked fishy but no cigar. Brian decided to make the long trek to the Northern point and I decided to cross the dunes and check out the surf. This turned out to be quite an education. Tide was just about low at this point and down the beach the sand had been gouged away leaving a level gravel bottom about eighteen inches deep. There were occasional fish clearly visible in the wash and breaking waves but they petered out. Hmm, maybe get here a bit earlier next time. Walking still further south I came across a very interesting series of bars and holes which would be awesome when the tide's running. This area is a good forty minutes south of the boat drop. Even at dead low there were fish passing through and that's where I learned not to turn your back on a breaking wave! Crossed back to the inside where the tide was starting to flood and picked up four mid-twenties schoolies from the cruising schools on the flats working back to the boat drop. One of those fish had a jet black back and deep bronze sides which I've never seen before. Juro and the gang were waiting at the boat drop and we finished the day where it began at the lighthouse. No fish for me this time except a brief encounter with a feisty bluefish but Juro, Terry and Jim all hooked up. Savior Jim Doogue was on hand with coffee and much needed Red Bull (that stuff works) as behind us the sun went down over the coastguard house to end a great day all round!

 

[MarkDoogue]

What both Adrian and Juro failed to mention in their posts was that Sunday evening we came across the half eaten remains of one very large sand eel on South Beach. Having never seen one before I quietly listened as Adrian and Juro discussed size and color and how it compared to the fly that Juro ties. I'm thinking this is cool, my first exposure to matching a fly pattern to the actual meal a striper searches for.Then Juro mentions that in all probability the eel was spit-up by a blue as it was being reeled in. Doubly cool. What it is and how it got there. Later that day I read the post of Solo's culinary sojurn and I realized that the eel we saw could have been the one and only "Gray sand eel". Guess this relates to the comment Juro made earlier in the day about just when you think you have it figured out, you learn something new. Just wish we knew the whole story at the time we saw the eel. Pickled in a jar, it would have made a great Clave trophy. J.D.