Tell me your fish story [Archive] - Stripersandanglers Forums

Rip-Plugger

04-13-2009, 11:30 PM

May 25th,2002,tide is about an hour ebbed,water temp is 51,air temp is 55,wind is NW @ about 6.
I am out there all alone,not a soul about but me.
I am slinging rubber,a red leadhead[3/4 oz] with a white 5 inch lunker city shad.
I am using my "do nothing method" casting down and acrosss the current and letting out line to get it down and then holding it there down deep.
I have already caught several fish up to about 15 pounds.
they seem to be stacked in this hole.

after about 40 minutes or so of silence not even a small fish.I begin to go on auto pilot.casting and sleeping at the same time.
then it happens,I get the tell-tale heavy thump on my line,I slam the steel into something VERY large and extremely heavy.I do a time check and my watch says it's 1:03-am.
this was very odd because I feel just a heavy throbbing and then my rod does the well known 1-2-3- nod.very heavy headshake.
I have an extreme heavy bend in my shimano salmon stick.
my shimano corsair-401 loaded with 20 pound mono has it deag creeping out a bit at a time,I max my drag as much as I dare to.it was just all I could do to hold this fish steady.it takes only about 20 feet of line slowly,I gain it back.
again,my drag creeps away slow,I regain my lost line plus more.it begins to creep again followed by heavy head shaking.
when I got this heavy hit,I lit a smoke and puffed lke a steam train on roids,my heart was pounding and my head was making up a scenario of me walking into the local bait shop and dropping a slob on the floor and saying to all inside,"you guys stink,all of you just **** your pants huh?,see what I brung ya?"

Now I am getting tired switching arms is not doing any good, am just spent and wishing this fish would just give,it did not.I begin to hope one of my budds would show up to witness this game but,not.
During dreamings of the baitshop antics,I must have smoked 4-5 cigs and still this fish did not give,I never felt it weaken at all.
after a while,it ws coming closer,still closer and closer still,BUT,it then turned and blazed the drag like a fully loaded freight train heading southeast,it then came shallow heading over a hump which has a musselbed on the other side,I told myself to put on more brakes so,I did,it did not slow at all.
I saw a big wake on top as it went from 35 feet deep to 6-8 feet deep and kept going over this hump.
I tried to hold on,slow it but it wa all for not.
I feel that sickening groan of mono scrapping across the mussels and my line went slack.
I did another time check,my watch read 1:36-am!.
33 minutes and I couldn't do nothing with it.

that day,I talked to Crazy Alberto and another guy whom I trust implicitly,told both of them this same story.
before I tell you all what both of them said,I have to tell you that I have taken fish on rubber and wood in this place up to 43 pounds,I have taken my best fish of 49 inches@45 pounds in the north rip off block,,this was NOTHING like anything I have EVER had on my line at all.

Now,I'll tell you guys what my big brother Joe De'Gregorio said back to me after he thought about what I just told him.
He shook my hand,told me I had my once in a lifetime chance and hoped/wished I'd get another chance.
then I asked him how big ya think?,,50?
he looked at me and laughed,he said 50?,,if you think that fish was 50 pounds you need your head examined!
I said back to him,well,how big ya think?.
he said,you had your dream fish,a lifetime fish.
he said if that fish ws 50,you would have landed it.he then said,he did not have ANY doubt and was willing to bet all his assets that the fish I hooked was much over 65,,,MUCH over!

Now,Crazy Alberto,after I told him the story,he said,my friend,you no doubt put your time in.from what you tell me,I have no doubt that this fish you hooked was 70 or maybe better than that!
yes,you had a bass of a lifetime,you'll get another chance,be ready and keep your gear in top shape.
he said I have hooked fish that just walked away from me even with very stout gear.
he said you did everything right,the fish was just so big,if you didn't do it right you would have snapped of much more early than you did.
I said so,,you don't think it was 50?,he said what did I just tell you!,a 50?,you would have caught that.
50's will run,not just stay still!

I must say,when my line parted,I could not speak for more than an hour,I was a drooling fool for a while,because,I knew exactly what happened,I finally got my chance to be a member of an elite club and I got beat,,,I'm pissed off again so with this all said,I shall take flight!

Cheers
R-P

mick2360

04-14-2009, 12:05 AM

Fifteen years or so ago I head up to the Thousand Islands for a four day trip with a bud of mine. We get there just ahead of an October cold front; it just slams the fishery down for three days. We do it all casting, jigging deep, trolling the channels and drop offs and get nothing. On the fourth day, I pull out a creek chub pikie and start to cast the point of some rocks. I get slammed big time, bent rod throbbing with the weight and power of a big fish. My drag is holding up okay and the fish and I carry battle for about ten minutes. Not long on the clock but a very long time when a mistake will end it. I pump the rod up, reel down and begin to get the timing of the fish and get him closer to the boat.
As I am ready to pull him up into sight, and we are in deep water with a 30 foot or so line of vision, my eagle claw leader shreds. I couldn't believe it. And the vision I still have is not of losing the fish, although that sucks, it is of that magnificent beast impaled with three treble hooks. I still feel bad for that fish. :embarassed:

DarkSkies

04-14-2009, 11:51 AM

May 25th,2002,tide is about an hour ebbed,water temp is 51,air temp is 55,wind is NW @ about 6.
I am out there all alone,not a soul about but me.
I must say,when my line parted,I could not speak for more than an hour,I was a drooling fool for a while,because,I knew exactly what happened,I finally got my chance to be a member of an elite club and I got beat,,,I'm pissed off again so with this all said,I shall take flight!

Cheers
R-P

That's an amazing story, man! Might end up being the story of the year here, you never know. :clapping:

For other guys, ya gotta realize R-Ps been doing this for a long time, he's got mad skills!

I'll wind up putting up a story about a bass somewhere under 30# that I lost in strong current. It's the story of how I lost it that plays over and over in my head.

Anyone else here, you don't have to beat or match any of these impressive stories. Let's hear about what is your most important story. I think the details part is what makes it exciting, to me at least.

As I am ready to pull him up into sight, and we are in deep water with a 30 foot or so line of vision, my eagle claw leader shreds. I couldn't believe it. And the vision I still have is not of losing the fish, although that sucks, it is of that magnificent beast impaled with three treble hooks. I still feel bad for that fish. :embarassed:

Big pike or muskie, Mick? First time I went to Quebec for pike I was seriously undergunned for those big fish. Ended up going back to the cabin and re-spooling with serious line. Those toothy critters can chop through many things leaving you drooling in the process. Cool story. :thumbsup:

cowherder

04-14-2009, 04:49 PM

:clapping::clapping::clapping: That was a great story rip plugger! I'm just curious, how many years have you been fishing?

Rip-Plugger

04-14-2009, 09:29 PM

:clapping::clapping::clapping: That was a great story rip plugger! I'm just curious, how many years have you been fishing?

well,I started fishing when I was 11,at 14 I dove into the salt,I am 45 now.
mind you,in those early days,I fished every day,I'd even take my rod and tackle box to school.
my history teacher fished a lot and he encouraged me to go even skip school a little too although skipping was not something I did often.

R-P

nitestrikes

04-18-2009, 07:30 PM

Story of the year, rp. :thumbsup:

surfwalker

04-19-2009, 09:15 AM

R-P, that was a great story, felt like I was right there, I'm sure you've got plenty more. I always enjoy others experiences from the salt. I can only imagine what what going through your head at that time.

Happy Trails

Rip-Plugger

04-19-2009, 11:19 PM

Rip-Plugger

04-20-2009, 11:24 PM

it was the night after Thanksgiving,it was a small chill in the air,very dry and nary a wind.
on the shore you see 6 fishermen,myself,little John,Herman,big john,Jimmy and steve[actually the very guy that has the Ct.state striper record] all friends and all catching large,alligator choppers on the high ebbing tide.
we have a system to keep our lines tangle free.
the guy on the left goes first and when his line gets towards the left then the next guy casts.
I am # 4.I hook a fish and once you're hooked up you have to walk waay to the left to stay out of the way.

my fish blasts to the left so I move along with it.
while I am away fighing my fish,little John hooks up.
he is using a shimano speedmaster that small too small for the salt.
when I land and release my fish I come back and hear that little john almost got spooled.
big john offers his sigma whisker reel to use,larger and much more suited to the salt little john declines.
then we all tell him to switch reels,he then agrees to after 1 more cast.
so,I hit another fish,I go left and battle it,soon steve comes over and then we hear little john yelling Oh ****,oh ****,dam,oh ****!.
little john comes ove but in the mean time,my fish got off the plug so I stood next to little john.
I could see the gold label on the bottom of the spool.
I call the other guys over to see a guy get stripped,with ourlights on his reel,I tell hm to Lock up,lock up,ya got no choice,you're gonna get dumped!.little john locks his small hand arond the spool.
the rod bends very deep and then lifts a bit,he cranks on about 30 feet of line and the suddenly,the fish went apeshit and blasted down current and has not been seen since.
needless to say,little John's line parted like a 9mm report,POOOOWwww.

one thing is certain,if ya have a chance to upgrade,do so asap!
this incident took place in 1981,striped bass were all but vanished as no one ever caught them in our area.

R-P

surfwalker

04-21-2009, 07:34 PM

R-P, nice. That was 28 years ago, but the memory plays certain events as if they were yesterday, great.

Happy Trails

DarkSkies

10-03-2009, 11:14 AM

There are thousands of good fishin stories out there. I know each and every one of our members has a few dozen in them.

Some people might be intimidated by telling a fishing story on the internet. They might feel other people tell a more polished tale, or that if they include pics others will have caught a bigger fish.

In fact, for some people on the internet, it's all about the biggest fish. :wow:

To me, it's about the story. :thumbsup: Hearing someone tell a good fish story is enough to keep my interest. I, and others, really enjoy hearing the experiences, trials and tribulations of others, no matter where or how they caught or didn't catch fish.

The economy is in the toilet, and people are counting their pennies. Here's the chance for people on a budget to win something for the stories that you got inside ya!

For a limited time, every month I'll give a free plug to the best Angler story of the month, in any month when at least 5 members post a different story in this thead. Pebbles and I are excluded, though I will let her pick the winner. Anyone is eligible, no limit on number of posts to participate. This offer can expire at any time.

No spelling Nazis here, :beatin:I promise I will smite them down. Just post up the story, describe in as much detail as possible, and be honest about your fishing experience, whether you caught or not. You could also post any interesting fishing story, even ifit didn't happen to you. However, to qualify for the plug, you must have been there as part of the story when it happened.

What I'm saying here is that even a skunk report could qualify for a plug if it's entertaining enough!

Lots of people tell me I could be a writer because I take pleasure in conveying details and experiences to others. I don't want the guys and girls here to feel intimidated - I feel you all have these stories in you.

A great example is SharkHart, who never posts beyond 3 or 4 sentences. Instead he expresses his experiences through his videos.

Yet, yesterday, he felt compelled to write about one of his past fishing experiences. And it turned out to be a fantastic story, IMO. :clapping::clapping:

Take a look at it here:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=5090

If Shark, a man of few words, ;) can post up something like this story, I know there are a bunch of others out there who can as well.

Just remember....

a SKUNK report
a fishing report
fishing on a boat
fishing the surf
fishing the rocks
skishing
fishing your local pond
fishing a small stream
fishing for any species at all, even if you're just fishing for carp in the winter...
any kind of fishing, or fishing related, rod n reel, fishing with a spear gun, or even if you saw a fish somewhere and jumped in and grabbed it with your bare hands caveman style.... :viking:

There won't be any judgements about size..if your children caught sunnies in a local pond, and they had a fun day, that experience qualifies. :thumbsup:

Stories will be judged on excitement factor and the "I felt like I was there" factor so as to make all submissions equally eligible.

Pics, if included, are not necessary.

But let's face it, we're only human, so if you include pics with your story, it probably increases your chances of winnning. :bigeyes:

Just remember, we're not looking for trophy stories here. Focus on the experience, and ya got a chance. As another example, even though I wrote it, I thought this fishin report with pics was a pretty good example:
Take a kid fishing today, maybe you'll find a fluke blitz
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=4913

If your story happens to be about your children, and they win the Angler of the Month, I'll send some kind of a certificate for them along with their prize.

So let's hear those stories!!

basshunter

10-03-2009, 02:32 PM

Great idea. I'm not good at telling stories, but maybe I couild put one up.

7deadlyplugs

10-03-2009, 04:49 PM

In fact, for some people on the internet, it's all about the biggest fish. :wow:

To me, it's about the story. :thumbsup: Hearing someone tell a good fish story is enough to keep my interest. I, and others, really enjoy hearing the experiences, trials and tribulations of others, no matter where or how they caught or didn't catch fish.

:clapping:What Dark said, I like the stories, that's why I like coming here, good idea.

bababooey

10-03-2009, 05:01 PM

Just remember....

fishing on a boat

As I was reading this I thought you might say boat reports don't count. How magnanimous of you to include us.:cool:

Frankiesurf

10-04-2009, 03:36 PM

As I was reading this I thought you might say boat reports don't count. How magnanimous of you to include us.:cool:

They don't really count but Rich is a hell of a nice guy :naughty:

SharkHart

10-05-2009, 07:43 AM

hey Im just lazy on my posts :)

DarkSkies

10-05-2009, 10:36 AM

^^ We all fit into life somewhere, Shark. I think the fact that you put up quality posts is one of the best things I know about ya. That and your signature heart in the mouth of the shark in all your videos. I gotta learn how to do stuff like that! :laugh: :HappyWave:

Here's the famous shark at 4:42 :cool:
yVhT8RzMmJw

Breaking the skim ice at 0:45, dedication to being out there.
hQszS8tPSc0

This one tells a hundred separate stories, but no Shark at the end: ;) Still a fantastic compilation, something to be proud of long after we ain't catching any fish and the cold winds of February are blowing outside.
Gkr0KQth8KE

JakeF

10-05-2009, 11:45 AM

Rich,,, stories should be posted in this thread, or elsewhere?

DarkSkies

10-05-2009, 12:11 PM

You guys can post them up here, Jake. We'll make it a continous running thread for stories, videos, observations, whatever... just no spelling Nazis. ;) It doesn't have to be a story from the present time either. It can be anything that happened to a member or someone they know at any time of their life.

JakeF

10-05-2009, 12:44 PM

Any chance you could increase the character limit on a single post so we don't have to break them up so much?

jonthepain

10-05-2009, 12:59 PM

No spelling Nazis here, :beatin:I promise I will smite them down.

Why is everybody always picking on me?

Pebbles

10-05-2009, 01:26 PM

Any chance you could increase the character limit on a single post so we don't have to break them up so much?

Thanks for recommendation, doubled the size.

JakeF

10-05-2009, 04:20 PM

The Cow of 2009

By Jacob Freeman

Monday night September 21st, 2009, began like so many others before it. After the kids were tucked in and sleeping peacefully, I said goodnight to my wife and tossed my skishing gear in the truck. It was going to be a good night, I could feel it. The place I was going in Rhode Island had yielded the nice 46” fish pictured below just two nights before, and was loaded with sand eels and lobster.

http://www.skishingnewengland.com/photos/skishing-jake5.jpg

I pulled into the lot around 10:40pm, killed the engine, and started gearing up. After donning my wetsuit, I lay down in the bed of my truck and watched the brilliant stars in the moonless sky as I waited for the arrival of a guy I had arranged to meet there that night at 11. The tide had just turned, with a light onshore wind, and we would be fishing the outgoing that night. “ChefChris” pulled up right on time and by 11:15 we were heading away from the trucks toward the beach. He would be rockhopping a section of shoreline that has usually been good to me on an outgoing tide, while I was determined to skish around a point to the left of him.

As we approached the location, I pointed out some rocks where he might start out, and described the submerged structure than lay beyond. As he started off in that direction, I called after him, “If I don’t come back in by dawn, call the Coast Guard!”

I donned my fins, then reached into the bag on my belt, pulled out a nice large dead eel and hooked it onto a 1.1oz tin eel squid (wobble head).

Making sure my rod leash was securely fastened to my belt, I walked backwards into the surf. I could see Chris’s light in the distance as he picked his way through the slippery rocks toward his spot, and felt a little sorry for him as I swam through a large matt of floating eel grass. The onshore wind, though light, was pushing a lot of weed against the shore, which would make plugging difficult. I continued finning out toward the point of a large rock outcropping, picking the grass from all my gear where it collected as I swam.

Finally I got to the edge of the weeds and into cleaner water, just as I got to the outside of the point I was planning to target. 15 yards further out and the water lit up brightly with phosphorescence with even the slightest movement. “This can’t be good”, I thought, as there seemed to be only a 15 yard strip of dark water between the edge of the weeds and the ‘fire’. I floated there for a while, trying to decide if I should just head in, get Chris and move to a different location. Screw it,,, I should at least make a few casts first before heading in. I slowly moved back toward the weed edge to get out of the ‘fire’ and then fired my eel parallel to it toward the rocky point.

I let the eel sink until it touched down on the sandy bottom in front of the rocks, then very slowly worked it back to me, the tin squid sliding along the sand. Nothing. One more cast, a bit to the right, retrieved the same way also produced nothing. By now the tidal current was starting to move me back into the weeds, so I slowly and quietly finned my way back into the fishable zone. After repeating this a dozen or so times, fanning my cast a little to the right each time, I decided to give that area a rest for a while, spun a quick 180 and casted in the opposite direction along the weed edge. The bottom is a little rockier in that direction, so I kept the eel squid off the bottom and let the action of the wobble head work against the current as I gently lifted it up and down through the water column. 5 casts and no takers there either.

I just had to give the rock point one more try before I moved on, and swam against the slow moving current back toward it, getting a bit closer than I was before. This allowed me to cast beyond the point and work the eel past it. I also varied the retrieve on this cast keeping the eel off the bottom and letting the wobble head give the dead eel a bit more action. Then I got hung up solid. Crap. I didn’t think that cast wasn’t close enough to the rocks to get hung up in them. Wobble heads are hard to hang up anyway. I gave the rod a quick tug to free it from whatever it had caught on, and that’s when the fun started.

The ‘Rock’ apparently decided that she was not fond of being tugged on and shook her head as if to say, “No, I don’t like this” I had my drag fairly light (about 4lbs) as I usually do when skishing, and I couldn’t budge her at all without the drag slipping. She still hadn’t moved at all from the spot where she first tasted my eel. I knew that my light drag setting was going to be a problem on this one, so I turned the knob 1 full turn, which brings my drag setting to about 6 or 7 lbs. That’s as much drag as I’ve dared to use while swimming, even though I know that my 30lb test Fireline can handle much more.

I sat back for some leverage and pulled again. This time the fish really didn’t care for it at all and decided she wanted to head for some deeper water. As the smooth drag of the ZeeBaaS whined and the line peeled off the spool, I could feel every stroke of her tail. At this point I was fairly certain by the feel that it was a bass. But I’ve never caught a large shark before either, so that thought definitely did cross my mind. The power behind each long slow sweep of that tail felt incredible. Still the line poured off the reel. This could be a problem soon, I thought, as I saw the rocky point get further from me. Then she stopped and just sat there. Each lift of the rod pulled me closer to her and I gained back maybe half the line she had taken before she decided to move again, this time parallel to the shoreline with the current toward where Chris was fishing from the rocks..

It was probably a dumb move on my part which could have resulted in a parted line, but I really wanted to see how fast she would pull me and was afraid of getting spooled, so I gently palmed the spool until it stopped and I was being dragged through the water much faster than I can swim. Now THIS is skishing!! After a while of this she stopped again and I was able to half pull, half fin my way closer, reeling to keep the slack out of the line as I approached.

I got to within 50 yards of her before she must have decided to come check me out. This surprised me very much as the last thing I expected was for the fish to turn and swim right at me (still not sure it wasn’t a shark) and I reeled as fast as I possibly could to keep the slack out of the line and the fish passed about 20 feet to my right, spinning me around and pulling drag back in the other direction toward where we started. After 30 seconds or so fish turned and started circling me. I pulled my large dive knife from its sheath on my right calf and gripped the blade in my teeth, ready to cut the line if the fish did not turn out to be a bass, then reeled when I could to lessen the distance between us.

As the fish’s large spiked dorsal fin broke the surface of the water, I hooted with joy, sheathed my knife, and then resumed the fight with renewed vigor. She was tiring, and so was I. My arms ached but I was determined to win this fight. I felt the Alberto knot between the Fireline and the 10 foot 40lb test Ande flouro leader pass through the tip guide, then strip back out again as she kicked her tail. This happened quite a few times and I began to be concerned about the knot failing, but it held firm. When she seemed to have all but given up, I turned on my light, spun myself in a quick 180 and launched myself toward the fish with a scissor kick, grabbing the leader and wrapping it around my gloved hand. I pulled and as her gaping mouth slid toward me, I reached with my other hand and caught hold of her jaw. She didn’t like this at all and started thrashing and trying to roll. I dropped the leader (rod still leashed to my belt) and reached for the bottom edge of her gill plate with that hand. The tin squid must have dropped from her upper lip at some point during this struggle, because by the time she settled down again she was no longer hooked.

I floated there in front of her, catching my breath, and trying to decide what to do. I’d never handled a fish of this size before, much less while swimming, and despite my 6’3” 210lb frame, I felt very small. Not just physically small, that too, but I also felt small in the way a peasant might have felt if brought before King Richard the Lionhearted. What majesty! I did not deserve to win this fight. No way. My heart was about to beat right out of my chest, and my emotions were forcing my eyes to pool with tears as I hung onto her head. A photo of me standing beside this fish as she hung from a hook at the tackle shop flashed through my mind. Screw it,,, I don’t deserve that either, but least I can get a measurement before she regains her strength and starts to fight me again.

I turned her on her side and let my legs float up underneath her so that she was lying on top of me and pulled her up until the fork of her tail was straddling the top of my boot. Letting go of her jaw, I reached down, grabbed my rod and positioned it on top of her with the butt of the rod also on the top of my boot. There was exactly 1 palm width between her nose and the first guide on my rod. She didn’t have a beer gut, but she was no skinny fish either. She had obviously been eating well, and I was kicking myself for not having something on me with which to measure her girth. Oh well, at least I got a good length measurement (though at the time I did not know how many inches it was exactly). She flopped, interrupting my thoughts, and I righted myself to get out from under her.

I took her by the lower jaw, letting go of the gill plate, and guided her in a circle around me as she slowly kicked her tail. After a few minutes, she had regained enough strength and twisted her head sharply wrenching it from my grasp and slipped away into the darkness. Fair well ol’ girl. Come see me again sometime……

I just floated there for a while, thinking about what I’d just done. Yeah,,, I did the right thing. Who cares if anyone believes it,,, that’s not what is important to me. Getting to watch her swim off into the dark was more satisfying than any personal glory or fame that would have been gained by killing and weighing her. May she live on and prosper.

After cutting out scuffed up sections of my leader and retying, I hooked another large dead eel onto the tin squid, made a half hearted cast and started finning with the current back toward where Chris was, trolling the eel as I went. I was done. How could I top that in one night? After a while I caught site of Chris’s headlamp and could see that he was working his way to another rock further down the coast. Obviously he wasn’t done yet, so I decided to stay out a while longer. I ended up picking up two more fish in the mid 20lb range as I drifted in the current past where Chris was, and then finned my way back to where I got in. Time to get home and at least grab a shower before work. I walked the shoreline to where Chris was and when he saw me he worked his way back off his rock. He said he’d picked up 4 fish on plugs. I told him I got 3 and one was big, but wasn’t sure how big as I didn’t have a measuring tape to measure the mark on my rod. He said he had one in his truck, and we headed that way.

Once back at the trucks, he got out his tape and we made the measurement. 58” on the dot. I was quiet for a few minutes then we chatted about other things for a while as we put our gear away. I saw I’d missed a call from Chad and called him back. He’d had a great night, too about a mile down from where we were. On the ride home, I relived the events of the night over and over in my head and felt strangely depressed. I had just successfully released what will likely be the largest striped bass I will ever get to see, and I was depressed about it. I had to keep convincing myself that I’d done the right thing and wishing that I had a waterproof camera with a flash so that I could have somehow gotten a photo of her. Oh well… maybe next time…..

Monty

10-05-2009, 08:04 PM

Jake,
Great read. A camera would have been perfect. But that is an incredible acomplishment, and releasing that fish is inspiring, especially how you explained it.
What an experience, acomplishment, sportsmanship and a memory for life to share with others. Did you do the right thing? My answer to that would be no one could have done that better than you did. its inspiring.

hookedonbass

10-05-2009, 09:25 PM

Jake, What a gread read. I felt as if I was there. What drew me in was the descriptive details. I never caught one that big, it must have been awesome!

vpass

10-05-2009, 09:56 PM

Jake, all I could say is WOW! That must of been awsome. As Monty said " its inspiring". Great job, Great read.

lostatsea

10-06-2009, 12:52 PM

The Cow of 2009

By Jacob Freeman

I’d never handled a fish of this size before, much less while swimming, and despite my 6’3” 210lb frame, I felt very small. Not just physically small, that too, but I also felt small in the way a peasant might have felt if brought before King Richard the Lionhearted. What majesty! I did not deserve to win this fight. No way. My heart was about to beat right out of my chest, and my emotions were forcing my eyes to pool with tears as I hung onto her head. A photo of me standing beside this fish as she hung from a hook at the tackle shop flashed through my mind. Screw it,,, I don’t deserve that either, but least I can get a measurement before she regains her strength and starts to fight me again.

I turned her on her side and let my legs float up underneath her so that she was lying on top of me and pulled her up until the fork of her tail was straddling the top of my boot. Letting go of her jaw, I reached down, grabbed my rod and positioned it on top of her with the butt of the rod also on the top of my boot. There was exactly 1 palm width between her nose and the first guide on my rod. She didn’t have a beer gut, but she was no skinny fish either. She had obviously been eating well, and I was kicking myself for not having something on me with which to measure her girth. Oh well, at least I got a good length measurement (though at the time I did not know how many inches it was exactly). She flopped, interrupting my thoughts, and I righted myself to get out from under her.

I took her by the lower jaw, letting go of the gill plate, and guided her in a circle around me as she slowly kicked her tail. After a few minutes, she had regained enough strength and twisted her head sharply wrenching it from my grasp and slipped away into the darkness. Fair well ol’ girl. Come see me again sometime……

Wow that says it all right there, a close encounter with a huge cow! Great story Jake. :clapping::clapping::clapping:

jonthepain

10-08-2009, 10:19 AM

You did the right thing. She'll reward you and all of us with thousands of progeny.

Well done Jake.

BassBuddah

11-15-2009, 08:55 PM

This is for all the elite guys with noses in the air out there who were born with a VS in their hands and don't want to admit that we all had to start somewhere...
From Melnyk's blog, good reading.
8/30/09

The Googan (http://www.surfcasting.com/2009/08/ends-of-earth-are-known-to-be.html)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9Luo5N8tnEc/SpqfXXxtlYI/AAAAAAAAAGA/4APgta3U22Q/s320/827.JPG (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9Luo5N8tnEc/SpqfXXxtlYI/AAAAAAAAAGA/4APgta3U22Q/s1600-h/827.JPG)
The ends of the earth are known to be particularly susceptible to attracting the fools, drunks, and eccentrics of the world. If you doubt the validity of this statement, just take a quick look at the Florida Keys, the Outer Banks, or the state of Alaska. You are sure to find more then your fair share of strange folk situated in those places. Montauk being the furthest point east in the great state of New York may also be considered to fall within these parameters. Take my word for it we also have our share of oddballs who visit our shores as well as those who inhabit them.

We "locals" will tell of the strange goings on that occur with regularity in our little town. There are quite a few establishments whose reputation may be considered notorious. Take for example, the tale of the love-addled Buck that jumped through the window of Salivar's Bar and Grill a few years ago. Even our wildlife is afflicted. Within the surfcasting community there can be no more conspicuous place than Johnny's Tackle Shop. Don't get me wrong, Johnny's shop is renown for having the latest and the best fishin' apparatus on all of Long Island. You could say that if he hasn't got it, you don't want it, or need it! (John will have no problem telling you this himself!) In addition to all the miscellaneous racks and exhibits of fishing equipment and supplies, the most coveted of spaces in his shop are those above the displays, on the walls, bordering his ceiling. Any caster, worth his salt would tell of how he prizes that location up there. This is where the photo montage of honored fishermen is arrayed.

At the shop, anyone whose catch is weighed-in and photographed by John is eligible for a posting up there on that wall. The only prerequisite is that John has with his patrons is, of course, that the fish must weigh over forty pounds. I know many a caster, myself included, who has devoted great portions of his life in an attempt to be lauded in this way. These photos range from the most recent to the near antique black and whites with dog eared corners and sun faded smiles. They are the withered memories of the most remarkable catches. Row after row of smiling faces and enormous striped bass are revealed in such a way; there is no doubt about the prestige and honor one feels when viewing his likeness up there. And out of all the photos on those walls there is one whose story is particularly noteworthy. Enter "The Goog".

The story begins one fine fall afternoon quite a few years ago with a rowdy throng of surf fishermen who visit us fairly regularly in Montauk. They seem to think it is great fun to circle their wagons on the beach and have a surfcastin' convention each fall relishing in the vast quantity of migrating linesiders. The stretch of shoreline known as Murder's Row is the location for their jamboree. This spot is half a mile from the Montauk Lighthouse, close to the False Bar. This group would make a busman's holiday of fishin', boozin' and fartin'-around out there in their camper Chevy's and Winabagoes. Some in their lot swear that these guys are not just your run of the mill every day surfcasters. These fellows are the real deal, the sharpies, with an abundance of tournament "weight points" and the egos to go along with them.

The previous night they had quite a time. Each to a man it seemed had, "banged the bloody bass till dawn!".

But for all the action and the hard work of hauling one striper after another to the beach, not a decently sized lunker was taken by the group.
"Things just ain't the way they used to be," would be a constant refrain.

"Them damned gillnetters and draggers have swallowed up the best of the schools and this is all that's left!" was an oft' heard phrase.

As pure chance would have it, into this orgy of booze and ********, strode the most unforeseen of men."Hey Rocco! Get a load of this guy, will ya?"

From down the back trail walked a chap of about forty. He was kind of short in stature and dressed in a cap, jacket and boots. With a huge toothy grin, he had the audacity to wander into "Surf-land" bearing, (of all things!) a seven-foot boat rod with what must have been an ancient conventional 2.0 bait fisher reel fastened to the seat. That was it. No other equipment could be discerned. No waders, tackle bag, or any of the required accouterments were visible.

These deficiencies were not left unnoticed by our illustrious group. The crew turns a curious eye toward this stranger.

"Can you believe this guy?" they mumbled under their collective breath.

"What a Googan!" was a sharp retort.

For those of you who don't know, the moniker of Googan, (Goog for short) is a particular epigram which may be attributed to our local Montaukett dialect. You can be confident that this euphemism is not one of your more distinguished forms of compliment. The designation "Goog" is often associated with the lack of coordination and experience that it takes to be an accomplished surfcaster, a true "sharpie". I have been told, under certain circumstances, that this handle must be considered a term of endearment. I have even been associated with this classification occasionally. My pals insist that I should be deeply honored by the title - but I'm not quite sure. Let's put it this way. In my opinion, by even the most liberal of interpretations, a "Goog" may be considered a "sorry sort of sod".

Back on the False Bar, this brash usurper saunters up to the nearest camper and promptly opens the conversation;

"Hi fellahs, how ya doin'?" the gentleman asks.

A series of grunts and snickers usher forth from the group. The pros give the guy the once over. Looking around, and visibly moved, this fellow begins to sense a developing air of malevolence. A thin film of sweat has broken out on his brow, despite the cool autumn air.

"Any fish around here, guys?" was all he could bring himself to say.

More snickers.

"Ya gonna fish with that piece of junk, pal?," was a remark heard in the background.

"Do you think I'll have any luck?" he asks.

Someone murmurs, "Can you believe this guy?"

Our friend turns with a nervous smile.

"Excuse me? Well . . . I've got a half hour to kill and I just thought I would come down here and give it a try."

With this statement a speechless stupor descends upon our hardy group. How dare this upstart invade the sanctity of this place? Fish? This guy's gotta be kidding! The sun is high overhead and there is not one promising ripple on the water! (Many a Budweiser was tipped in disbelief.) Out of this gathering commotion a few kind words are yet to be heard. Pushing through the throng, one good Samaritan appears.

"Let's take a look at what ya got there, buddy" Joe-so-and-so has come to the rescue. He turns with a smile and a wink for his cohorts.

Looking over the antique gear, Joe shakes his head and says,"Well, if ya put a hunk of bunker on the end of your line, ya could give it a shot." Another giggle issues from the tribe.

"Gee, ah . . . a bunker, huh? Aw . . . I thought maybe a worm or something. Do you have any? Ah . . . bunker, that is," our wayward hiker asks with a straight face.

With that, Joe scratches his head and walks to the front of his truck to his cooler rack. He opens the lid, reaches in and grabs a ragged old piece of bait that's been stuck to the bottom all weekend.

"Thanks pal, thanks a lot!" Accepting the rancid bait, off he goes to the surf.

A chorus of hoots and guffaws follows.

"Did you see that! All the Goog has is a rusty old hook on that rig!" Rocco laughs.

"And that line looks as old as that piece-o-junk reel he's got on there!" one of his buddies remarks.

"Jees, Joe, do ya gotta encourage 'em?"

Just about then, the Googan launches that stinking bunker sky-high with a mighty heave. It rockets aloft. Seventy feet it went, straight up into the chilled October air. The rig lands all of twenty feet from the edge of the dead, slack high water with a tremendous splash. A mediocre cast at best.

"Oh darn, a tangle!" the guy says in exasperation. He bends over his ancient equipment, pulling loops and knots from his backlashed spool.

This caused a hearty chuckle from the crew. In acknowledgment to this misdeed, the popping of beer lids can be heard. Our infamous group settles into a long afternoon of indolence. Truck doors are slammed . . . radios are tuned in . . . lazy eyes drift off into dreamland.

But wait! Low and behold, after several minutes of lassitude the rip of a snarling drag stirs our idle group. Zzzipp! (Rocco just about falls out of his truck as he scans the waterline for the offending fishing rod.) But this can't be! This guy, the "Googan", is loping down the beach with his rod severely bent! Someone heard him yell "Yahoo!" as he ran by.

A great exodus follows. Cab door hinges are sorely tested as frantic fishermen make way for the wash! Half cocked and drowsy, this motley crew had become aware of fish on the beach! Rods and waders get snatched from rest and sent off to battle. Twenty bodies blunder into the surf, flailing as they run, full tilt boogie, into those quiet waters. What a sight it was to see. The tumult. The jockeying for position. The pure exhilaration of it! But for all their skill and bravado, for all their technique and style, it was an exercise in futility. The "sharpies" got severely skunked. Not another sign of life was to be seen. Not another fish wascaught that day.

Minutes later, out of the distance comes our fellow (would you believe?) struggling as he drags a huge cow of a bass back toward the campers. Great furrows of sand are plowed either side of the mighty beast. The "Goog" stops short in front of Joe to catch his breath.

"Boy, what a lot of work!" He wipes his brow.

The gathering audience gives off a collective sigh. Someone hands the "Goog" a beer.

Suddenly, everyone wants to talk with this new hero.

"How did he fight?"

"What did ya get 'em on?"

Taking a long pull on his brew, our champion asks, "Gee fellahs, is this fish edible?"

A gasp runs through the crowd. It turns out that this is the first time this "man among men" has ever done any fishing from the beach. Why, he had never even seen a striped bass before!

"Gosh, this fish is heavy!" he says. (The fish bottoms out Rocco's Shatillion hand scale.)

"Hey, can one of you guys can gimme a ride to the parking lot? My wife is waiting. Boy, I hope she isn't worried."

Now Johnny is not known for his story telling. Any visitors to his shop will attest to this fact. I would think though, if you were to ask him, he might tell you about our friend. John may even smile a bit. "The Goog" - so to speak - is known to enter the store quite regularly now - with his close friends in tow. He gazes at the photo of his fish up there on "The Wall". He doesn't say a word - he just grins.

www.surfcasting.com/2009/08/ends-of-earth-are... (http://www.surfcasting.com/2009/08/ends-of-earth-are-known-to-be.html)

hookedonbass

11-15-2009, 10:43 PM

I thought to be angler of the month you had to put up your own story?

DarkSkies

11-16-2009, 01:26 PM

I thought to be angler of the month you had to put up your own story?

You're correct Hookedonbass, but that Googan story by Melnyk is priceless. :clapping: Even though it wouldn't qualify for the monthly contest, it's a great story about what happens when we judge others who we think might have less skill. :learn:

As has been said by others, none of us was born with all the knowledge and skills to consistently catch fish. It's a learning process. I try to learn something new about fishing every day. So thanks BB for posting it up.

You guys and girls can post any fishing or fishing-related stories you want here, and your own will be the ones that qualify for the plug. That sound fair enough?

OK so post em up, let's hear em! :wow: :lookhappy:

We do have a winner for October, I'll let Pebbles chime in and spell out the details. Congrats to all who posted up their stories. Keep em comin! :clapping:

Pebbles

11-16-2009, 07:30 PM

I get the wonderful job of announcing a winner for this thread every month. I'm sure you guys have lots of stories to share. They don't have to be long, just have them be truthful.

Bassbuddah, I know you put up a story but it was not your own. I appreciate your post I'd like to hear an experience that you personally had.

Jake, your story was incredible. I don't know much about skishing but you put me right there in the water with you. I was holding my breath on every word. I could feel my own heart beating waiting for the result. You're a great writer and deserve to be named Angler of the Month for October.

Please pm me your address and I will send out your plug. Congratulations!

cowherder

11-17-2009, 01:37 PM

Congrats Jake that was a great story. Kudos to you for being able to release that monster.:thumbsup:

DarkSkies

11-20-2009, 03:36 PM

I'm posting this for JohnnySaxatillis. I think it was funny, creative, and will make for good reading in the dead of winter....:thumbsup:

Well I caught somethin
Does a duck count?

I was too bored and it was too nice not to go fishing in the canal yesterday. I had nothing to do becuase I'm recently laid off, and fishing pretty much dominates my thoughts until subconciously I start driving off cape. So I find myself in a parking lot right off the canal and gear up. Even though my chances ar slim on november 18th im excited just like i always am those couple minutes before wetting a line. I walk down the steps and enjoy the brisk walk a couple hundred yards to a suitable location. but I have neighbors. about 1,000 white and black ducks, chowin on little chubs.

Well Im fishing for about an hour, no other signs of life. but the ducks are startin to get used to me and swim a little closer. Well ducks are smart so when one of them takes off to fly 20 ft down the canal ALL of the ducks near em take off too. I just made a perfect cast with a 2 oz butterbeanjig, and theres a considerable amount of 40lb braid in the air. A flock of ducks take off. I take 3 ducks down. 2 of them just get close lined and go down like a twa flight. the other one gets nice and tangled in my line for a second and then torpedo's in the whipping rip that is the canal for at least a minute.

The thing fianlly surfaces and is motionless. Im like, "jesus christ I killed a duck." as I'm reeling it in however, the duck gets its second wind and starts trying to paddle away as im dragging it through the current. I finally get a hold of the thing and struggle for 5 mintues trying to free the braid while getting soaked from splashes and nipped at by the beak. But it was a successful rescue, the little F'er. so no stripers, but i did catch something:thumbsup:
Attached Thumbnailshttp://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8377&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1258642026 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8377&d=1258642026)

vpass

11-23-2009, 05:15 PM

Congrats Jake, That was a great read. I wish I was a good swimmer. If I was I would try skishing, knowing me.:clapping::clapping::clapping:

BassBuddah

12-08-2009, 03:38 PM

Saltydoc posted this on another site. I thought some folks here might like to read it. I think it's a great story. It also illustrates why it's important to take home all the braid that comes off your spool. Great job Saltydoc!:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

A Season Ending Amputation

Flymann and I joined up for a season ending voyage on the Parker 18, hoping for one last shot at a fish or two with the fly rods. At sunrise, I launched the dinghy and made my way out to the lone boat in the now deserted mooring field. The shorter days and inclement weather patterns had conspired to keep me off the boat for at least a week.

As I made fast the dinghy, I peered into the boat and was shocked by the mayhem. The decks were covered with foul smelling guano and debris. It appeared as if a few seabirds went several rounds and trashed the place.

I boarded gingerly to avoid slipping, assessed the damage, and immediately reached for a long handled scrub brush. Bending down to access the brush- I spied the culprit still on board! A seagull was sitting on its haunches by the scuppers eyeing me warily. I stared back, mostly in surprise, in that the bird made no effort to fly off.

I made a step toward the stowaway when it started to flap furiously around the boat, banging into the gunwales and creating more of a mess. It couldn’t get airborne, however. I surmised it was ill or perhaps had a damaged wing. It truly looked exhausted.

I motored to shore and introduced the crippled passenger to Flymann. With the boat secured, I slowly approached the bird and gently placed a towel over it. It was either from sheer fatigue, or due to some strange sense of trust- but the bird was docile. I checked out the wings which seemed fine. Upon flipping the bird, the problem was evident.

This poor fellow had its feet tied together with some type of braided line! The line was so strongly wrapped and knotted, that we couldn’t unwrap it. With a sharp knife and a wire cutter we freed up the right leg, which upon inspection, looked fine. The bird remained still as we now assessed the left leg.

The left leg was essentially strangled, the line had cut through the flesh. The leg was infected and putrid below the wrapped line. An immediate decision was required.

After obtaining the proper consents and conferring with the assistant surgeon- the operative site was verified. The limb was prepped with an alcohol pad from the first aid kit and draped with a towel. Utilizing an 8 inch West Marine Filet knife- the limb was incised sharply through the adjacent joint. No bleeding was encountered. The bird didn't flinch.

The patient tolerated the procedure well and was transferred to a grassy area on a towel, in stable condition. Figuring that the bird had not eaten in a while- I provided my avian friend my breakfast power bar which he gobbled up quickly.

As we walked back to the boat discussing how we would perform a postop check in a few hours- we couldn’t believe our eyes- as the bird took to the air to join his fellow aviators!

We laughed as we scrubbed up the boat and headed for the fishing grounds.There, we saw a few small fish jigged up- but found none on the fly.

8569

8570

8571

dogfish

12-08-2009, 04:09 PM

:clapping::clapping::clapping: Great story buddah! Like you said it would make a good reminder to guys to bring the braid home. Even if you fish rocks and toss the braid in a hole, it will somehow find its way out. I don't have too much love for seagulls but feel bad to see one tortured from braid like that. Thanks for posting.

cowherder

12-08-2009, 05:56 PM

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8570&d=1260304716

Wow that's pretty nasty. Good thing that guy knew what to do. I wouldn't.:eek: Thanks for sharing.

ledhead36

12-08-2009, 08:25 PM

That's a great story, never saw anything like it.

DarkSkies

12-13-2009, 01:56 PM

I'm posting this for Madcaster:

Old timers ……I moved here in 1999 from the SF bay area. I have been fishing since I was a kid. Now I only live 3 miles from the bay in Keyport, so spring of 2000 I unpack the surf rod (which I found in a junk yard in Calif.) and slap on the old Dam quick 550 my father handed down to me. I drive down to the Grocery store where they sell bait. Pick up some bunker, which I never seen before. So I head down to the bay and rig up some bunker chunks and cast it out. This was early March when the bay is full of blue fish and I don’t know what blue fish are :huh:.(there are no bluefish on the west coast) I was the only one fishing in this spot and there was an old guy sitting in a station wagon next to me. Two minutes later my pole is bent over and I picked up the pole and set the hook and the line breaks. So I bring it in and the hook is bit off. So I pull out another hook (that as mono leader on it) cast out and 1 min later …same thing happens. I can figure out what’s going on:huh:. As I start setting up again, the old timer in the station wagon gets out and slowly walks towards me. He reaches out his hand and hands me a hook with a wire leader on. He says son you’re going to need this. So he tells me there blue fish and they have sharp teeth and to be careful when you try to unhook one. So I thank him for the hook and he turned and walked away as quietly as he came. I tied it up and then hooked into one …the fight was on and I landed it and I was hooked on blues fishing:dribble: . Landed four more after that.
That old timer saved the day for me.:)

BassBuddah

02-11-2010, 04:01 PM

surferman originally posted this.

Years ago, I was introducing one of the Shoal N Reef guides to the difference between fishing and catching. Art of the possible Aikin and I found ourselves on my boat and out on the Chesapeake Bay. In those days I kept a 26 Bertram at the Breezy Point Marina on the western shore just south of Chesapeake Beach.

It was a late summer, early evening as I remember it. We left the dock around four in the afternoon and headed south to the mouth of Parker’s Creek. As neared the channel that the creek had dug in the muddy bottom, I noticed a large area of riffled water just south of the channel. As we drifted into it my fathometer began to show solid black from just below the surface right down to the bottom. We had stumbled onto a huge school of bluefish.

The wind was light and onshore so I decided to do a series of drifts from the deep water towards the shore. I circled around and got the boat in position. The bucket of razor clams that I had picked up in Chesapeake Beach looked to be exactly the right bait to use. So I put the bait table on the gunwale and set out a few clams.

Now, I’ve got to say in his defense that this one of the very first fishing trips that Possible had ever been on and, as a senior scientist at NASA, nothing in his professional life had prepared him for what was about to happen.

The routine was simple you baited the hook cast it into the water waited a second or two then reeled in another one they were that think. By the time we starter the first drift, the bluefish were chopping up the surface driving the baitfish up and then charging through the schools. The breeze had dropped to almost nothing and the boat drifted gently towards the shore. The sun was heading towards the western horizon and life was very good. I set to work hauling in my share.

In a break between fish I became aware that Art was muttering something about how inconsiderate that kind of thing was. Darn things at least you could wait! I looked over and noticed that he had not boated a single fish I had half a dozen nice ones in the fish box on my side of the boat. So I decided to watch for a bit and see if I could. This is what I saw:

Art would start with a clean hook - bait it with a nice piece of clam. And then, being a fastidious type, he would place the rod in the holder and turn back to bucket of water I had placed in the middle of the cockpit and wash his hands. By the time he got back to the rod, the bluefish had cleaned the hook and the process started all over again. You see he had enough line out so that the hook was in the water.

I looked down in the water just aft of the transom and saw a bunch of bluefish lined up waiting to be fed!

What was funniest was Possible’s reaction to the discovery of the bare hook. You darn fish could at least wait until I was ready! That is very inconsiderate! I watched this cycle a couple or times. The fish got fed and Art was getting madder and madder at them. Finally I just had to make a suggestion.

Art, when you put your rod in the holder, crank in a little line and keep the bait out of the water until you are ready.

So here he goes baits the hook puts the rod in the holder cranks the reel until it is just above the surface and turns back to wash his hands. As he did we heard this splashing turned to see the bluefish coming out of the water and a clean hook dangling at the end of the line. We both broke out in a fit of laughing.

Well that was many years ago and Art is now a fine, battle tested fisherman - but, every once in a while, I still remind him about talking to the bluefish.

ShoalnReef.com

CharlieTuna

02-12-2010, 04:18 PM

^^BB, washing your hands while fishing must be bad luck. See what happened to that guy? Nice story, thanks for sharing.

CharlieTuna

03-05-2010, 12:22 PM

This is a story from Stripermike's site, www.stripermike.com (http://www.stripermike.com)
Great story!

I absolutely love September. The weather is super ...the tourists thin way out..the fishing, with pre migration, is as good as it gets. I hope September was good to you. If you have not heard by now.......it was incredible for me. Not simply the array of 38-40 inch stripers that I landed, but also..... The Humarock Surf Tuna, that was the thrill of my surf casting lifetime. Not long before this odd angling saga, I was out at H buoy and the schools of blue fin tuna were everywhere. Beautiful ocean missiles sailing right out of the water and feeding on peanut bunker.....and only 7 miles from the land! Tuna can swim 50 mph...combine that with a stiff north east wind for two days and the fact that the shoreline is also full of peanut bunker, while cloaking all of this with the darkness of 430 am on Sept 26th.....and you can see how my good fortune had some theory behind it. Stop and think about yourself or your buddies, etc., that live in the South shore area ...so close to the tuna...have their spool offs always been 50 lbers??..........Makes you wonder doesn't it. And soon after my catch some guy brought one to the sand from Scusset beach.....or so I heard.

Speaking of the "so I heard " bit. I learned a lesson about people......jealousy ..and why such character defects are so disdained by the human race. The editor of the news paper that wrote this story called me after it was printed. He said that some one had called and said that perhaps I did not catch the fish. He told me that he wanted to hear my voice and its honesty so that he could be assured that the voice he heard call the paper was just, as he put it" a typical case of sour grapes that we see all the time from happy stories". I was told that it is human nature for some people to be angry ..and jealous...and have incorrect perceptions of occurrences in others lives. The joy of these moments is the fact that we humans can communicate....and that if there were confusion about this wonderful moment in local angling, the rumor mongers could have asked the person involved........ME. But unfortunately that rarely occurs and a percentage of sour grape people warp and twist the truth to dampen the joy of those involved and those that are happy for the people involved. This canker sore of the human race has been so predictable and disruptive to society, that one of the 10 commandment's pleads with mankind ..."THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR".....please note that is included with ...killing...stealing...adultery... etc....it has represented a similar level of social and moral deviance....or in modern terms..a loser!

Now with all that aside....and my assurance that.....I did not wade out into the 3 foot surf at 430 am and find a blue fin tuna just floating around out there.......or did I find one on the beach that just happened to have the cut under its pectoral fin where I bled it out....and off course after weathering the surf all night...the meat was fine!. I have been affiliated with Humarock beach for over 20 years.....I cant recall any tuna being.....washed up....perfectly intact, still bleeding. By the way it was easy for me to bring the found??? tuna home....it just happened to be near my house!!! Well, with no further need for tongue in cheek comments....I present to all of you that are happy for me and the sport of surfcasting, the thrills that I went through.........and so...

CULMINATION

Surfcasting is not that difficult most of the time. Getting there to do it can be the hard part. This was one of those days when 4 hrs sleep and the alarm at 230 am were causing me to pull the covers back over my head. Its the fall run Mike. you have to get up...you live for this stuff. By 245 I was on the beach. Living so close is a blessing.

It smelled raucous. There was an east wind...and sizable surf. To add to it all the new moon, made life on the beach at 245 am.... ebony. The crabs were the only bites and one lousy taster choice half warm coffee didn't make it......my eyes were drooping. It wasn't even 400 yet and I was weakening. I must be getting old. I rebaited with a hefty piece of Belsans special mackerel...hurled it out past the three sets of breakers and it found the calmer water beyond the foam. I put the rod in the holder...set up the chair right next to it...plopped down, with my hood up and finger on the wide-open drag and line ....I settled in. That's called taking a nap!!.

I normally am not long winded about the actual fight with a fish...those are the private memories for me to keep. But in this case...you are going to get the blow by blow description.

The strike was explosive.........and so was my reaction to it. I was out of the chair..rod in hand..lowered the tip and buried the hook...within 2 seconds. In a natural motion that I am so familiar with in the dark, I cranked the drag clockwise to a familiar position. I would guess around 10-15 lbs of drag. The fish never even flinched. Never even turned...Never even faltered... It just went out at breath taking speed. If it had been light I think that watching the line disperse so quickly would have caused me to over react. It was better that this chaos be given to me in the dark...And so...what I dreamed of seemed to be occurring. A fifty pound striper at long last. I prayed it would not spool me. I held the van staal up to the flicker of brightness from a distant street light check how much line was left. I swear I was starting to see the white Dacron backing at the end of the spool. And on a van staal reel, that is 350 yds of 20 LB test. I was tempted to play with the drag.....or palm the spool a tad in order to weather this first run....but I had discipline. I held my 11footer high and arched and made this huge striper battle the rod and reel as it fled.
It slowed down....I still had line....I had survived it to this point. When I leaned alittle into the rod, the huge fish turned and sauntered down from me for about 50 yds as I followed along from the terra firma. It must have headed in a bit too, because I gathered up some line that it gave back, while never letting any pressure off it. The whole time I repeated the mantra in my head..Pay attention..stay calm.....pay attention...stay calm...

Just when I felt like the fight would be a give and take, it roared toward England again....with the same vigor that I felt would spool me off the first. So this is what its like I thought..My god this is some enormous quarry. My confidence wavered as the spool of line melted away again. But as before. I survived it! It spun to the right and simply tugged and darted about like an enormous schoolie. I have no idea the time span that this went on for...gain a small amount of line .....she would peel it off and more, every time. I didn't need a watch to tell me my right arm was nearly asleep from no blood flow as I refused to take the arch of the rod. She would have to get off on her own...IM not going to give it to her.

After a number of nearly being spooled by this fish and the fact that it seemed to dart more than a striper.....it didn't have that traditional throbbing that a big cow will give you during the standoff. It seemed to frisky ! Could it be a huge bluefish or a shark that just isn't going through my 50 LB leader????..I stopped that kind of thinking. Pay Attention and stay calm...I went back to that mantra.

Even though I could only put 10-15 LB of drag on the fish...nonetheless my back and stomach and arm were really feeling the effect of all this. I vacillated between numb and agony. The sweat poured down my face and into my eyes...and the burning came next. The waders were way to much to wear at this point and I could feel the sweat pooling up inside them, not to mention that they made me about 110 degrees. If I gave in I knew this fish would get off. Its to big and to old...it knows more than me or any of the anglers it has faced to date. If I made a mistake..she was gone. Let me tell you, after an hour or more, confidence wanes and pain can make a loser out of anyone. God I wanted to win. I kept it arched. I kept it tight.. I made the fish fight...If I was gonna hurt..it was going to also. So it went on.

Up until the fish came into the white water, about 3 waves worth, it was shear power. Frightening power. The power I had heard about from guys that landed 50 lbers from the beach. This was it...this was the striper of my life. We all know that when a striper gets into the surf ...it becomes recharged from the oxygen in the foamy water and that is where we all lose the big cows. Now there was a hint of light and I would need it to get this monster to give up now that it was in its real realm of fighting environment.....the surf! The stars must have been aligned. The fish struggled, not from the fight...but from the surf. It began to weave and roll...but without the force and determination of a skinny water cow. It was a mass of bobbing weight. When it hit the bottom I expected to get rubbed off...but it seemed to bounce on the bottom of the wave and give me varied moments of extreme weight and then a return to buoyancy. I refused to think about it..............Pay attention and stay calm......I kept repeating it.

When I could tell that the fish was close it had seemed to...........are you ready for this??????.............DIE.?!? When it was in approx. 18 inches of remaining surf I saw its pectoral fin stick in the air as it lay on its side..............A TUNA!!!!! I threw my van staal in to the sand and ran into the water. Literally diving on the fish. I grabbed it by the gill plate and dragged it to where it was mine....where there was no water.......to land! I looked at was before me and panted like the days of running in marathons. I had caught a tuna from the surf.!!!!! When I attempted to clear my throat, it was all my body needed to set me into a bout of dry heaves from the over dose of adrenaline. It was a tuna.!!!!......it was a CULMINATION of surf casting hope and fury.........it was a tuna.!!!!

I sat there for maybe 10 minutes....it was not fully light yet and I needed a picture etc. Having gotten tuna from boats before, I realized that I had to bleed it out ......so with no true light from the sun, I saw the ocean tint alter as thisgreat fishes nectar of life oozed into the Atlantic......the cut below the pectoral is ceremonial..........and final.
http://www.stripermike.com/images/peccut.JPGPec-cut on a 200lb BLUEFIN.

The war had taken me about 300 yds from where I started and now I dragged this miracle catch up to safe beach height and covered it with sea weed. I would run home ...get my wife and my buddy Chris for pictures and help...So as the sun rose....I ran!

I tossed my rods and gear into the sand dune grass...my waders were stripped off at the door...bathing suit on and camera grabbed....woke up Susan and called Chris. I grabbed the dog to come to the beach. His franticness added to it all and he was promptly returned. I would tell him a bout it all later.
Upon returning to the fish, The normal array of beach walkers were striding and some of my friends strided toward myself and the fish. Realizing that a permit might be an issue being a blue fin tuna and all. I hemmed and hawed about the fish and this and that, while anxiously awaiting Chris and Susan. The gulls had picked its eye already and the meat is far to precious to let it get tainted or warm. None of the on lookers were surfcasters..in fact I believe none of them are even fisherman. A long winded expose on my exploits two hours ago would be something none of them could relate to.. .....So with everyone wondering why I was doing what and where., I dragged it off toward the house....God this heavy!!. Still no help and when I saw another local acquaintance strolling down the beach I took this opportunity to have a photo. Got a second????....Sure what's up?....Can you take a picture of this fish I got?..of course....HOLY COW!! ....was all he said....the shutter clicked.....and the drag home continued.

http://www.stripermike.com/images/surf%20cast%20tuna.JPG
I called Pete Belsan .. a renowned tackle shop owner and friend, to tell him of my feat and my anxiousness about the possibility of a permit being an issue. It was the right move. Pete connected me right to the top of the legal chain. Brad McHale , He allowed a variance for that fish due to its very unusual nature. He was moved by the fact that my first action upon quartering the tuna , was to donate a quarter of it to a Group Home....give away another quarter to neighbors and friends, while putting an ear to ear smile on Susan's face as I put the steaks, from the remainder, in our freezer...and that night, on the grill!

All my years of new knots...new line...new hooks...the best rods and reels...fresh bait...top grade terminal equipment etc...all was worth it....I think releasing so many big bass in my life also built up, as an old hippy would say...good Karma...Only in terms of allowing me the chance to fight this remarkable fish. Being the winner of the fight was the CULMINATION of a surfcasting life. I have fought tuna off of boats and in my opinion, they are the ultimate rod and reel fish......and with deep water to sound in and open ocean to work with, they can turn any angler into a quitter..they fight that hard!!....But this time he was in my environment. the surf....He could not sound here .There was no deep water!..he could not stay righted in the water due to the pull of the surf....He struggled to maintain his normal purposeful swimming....He was in my world....and he lost!.
...............FISHING IS THE SPORT OF HOPE.........Pursue hope.....Striper Mike
........See below......Tommys hope was almost on the beach!!!!

DarkSkies

04-23-2010, 06:41 PM

I'm posting this embarassing story of mine to remind the members out there that I'll give away a plug each month to the best story posted, if you were there when it happened.

So if I can laugh at myself, so can you!

Post up, it doesn't have to be a trophy story. All it has to do is be entertaining. Give it a try, what do you have to lose... :thumbsup:

Don't count your chickens before they hatch!
(My Dad tried to teach me this lesson, sometimes I need to re-think it) :embarassed:
I was next at bat, and hooked what I thought was a nice bass. After you catch enough fish you learn to recognize the unmistakable head shake of a bluefish and up and down antics vs the strong steady deep pull of a nice bass. I couldn't turn my fish for a few minutes as it pulled steady drag and I only gained inches at a time. Then it would sit there as it got strength for another run.

I was thinking I had a nice bass in the mid 20's, a good photo op C&R to make Finchaser proud. :HappyWave:

I can usually bring any fish in within a few minutes, this one I fought for 10. When I finally see the fish I see that the bucktail was impaled in its back, like it was a giant bunker. Only instead of a decent bass it was a foul hooked bluefish. If only some thresher sharks were around we would have had some fun! :eek:

The night continued to produce some nice blues up to 10#. Then Yardville hooked into a nicer fish and ended up beaching a 32" bass, around 14. :clapping:

OFFC smokes the youngsters, I tell ya! ;)

Action gradually died down as slack tide approached. By then we had all caught a few nicer blues, and lost some unknown fish after some nice runs. And Yardville had the hot hand with the only bass landed. :clapping::clapping: :plastered:

We all had a blast, I'm happy we got the chance.

Shaky

04-26-2010, 09:06 PM

Spring of 1987 saw us setting our gear off the coast of Florida for swordfish. We were hauling back our third set if I remember correctly and we were having a pretty decent trip. Had about three thousand pounds in the hole for the first two sets and the third looked promising as well.

Captain was bringing in a live fish and Jay, the butcher, was waiting with the gaff. He gaffed the fish cleanly and I reached over the side and stuck the meat hook in the eye socket and gained control of the fish by grabbing his bill with my left hand. Looked to be a nice fat double.

We started hauling the fish over the side when we got broadsided by a good sized wave. The boat shook and heeled over. I lost my footing and as i started to head over the railing i let go of the fish’s bill and grabbed for the railing to keep myself from going over the side.

I had a handle on the fish as the meat hook was still stuck in his eye and in hindsight this was a huge mistake. What happened next took only a split second, but seemed like an eternity, as i grabbed the railing the fish thrashed and caught me in the belly slashing upwards. I pushed myself away and I let go of the meat hook. I looked down only to see a huge gash in my belly.

I grabbed my insides and hit the deck, the rest is a blur as I went into shock. Jay put out a mayday over the radio and John the skipper, an ex Viet Nam combat vet and medic tended to my wound. Lucky for me John was a universal blood donor and he set up make shift IV as I was losing a lot of blood. Doctors say he probably saved my life.

I was airlifted of the boat and hospitalized for a few weeks as a result of infection, nasty critters those swordfish are and the injury put an abrupt end to my longlining. I try to forget about it but the scar is a constant reminder of the dangers at sea.

10790

DarkSkies

04-27-2010, 08:51 AM

I had a handle on the fish as the meat hook was still stuck in his eye and in hindsight this was a huge mistake. What happened next took only a split second, but seemed like an eternity, as i grabbed the railing the fish thrashed and caught me in the belly slashing upwards. I pushed myself away and I let go of the meat hook. I looked down only to see a huge gash in my belly.

I grabbed my insides and hit the deck, the rest is a blur as I went into shock. Jay put out a mayday over the radio and John the skipper, an ex Viet Nam combat vet and medic tended to my wound. Lucky for me John was a universal blood donor and he set up make shift IV as I was losing a lot of blood. Doctors say he probably saved my life.

I was airlifted of the boat and hospitalized for a few weeks as a result of infection, nasty critters those swordfish are and the injury put an abrupt end to my longlining. I try to forget about it but the scar is a constant reminder of the dangers at sea.

Shaky that's an incredible story, it was an amazing read. You're lucky to be here. That scar is a gruesome reminder of what you went through. I'm glad ya made it, you're damn tough! :thumbsup:

rip316

04-27-2010, 10:14 AM

Yes sir, that is one tough guy.

DarkSkies

05-01-2010, 03:59 PM

This came from the April 2010 reports thread. Since April has passed, I thought I would post it up here. Please be advised that my stories don't count in the contest, but yours do. :thumbsup: So post up, don't be shy! :HappyWave:

Bunker and the police...

G and I hit some RB spots last night to do some scouting and fishing. Bunker were playing musical chairs and were not in some of the places they had been visiting. At one of the first stops, we met some cool people who fish every night :HappyWave:

We intended to fish the last of the flood and half the ebb. We did but it was boring as hell. We had fresh clams, rotten clams, and clams that were only slightly stinky, covering all bases for the "hot clam bite". :wow:

G had one small runoff on his bait runner. I had no action whatsoever other than small flounder trying to supersize their meal. ;)

There was a mid-teens S wind when we started. That continued for the duration until it shifted back and forth from S to W. It was interesting as the S wind of mid-60's air made it feel like June, and the cool intermittent W wind was in the mid-40's.

I grew impatient with the lack of action and waded about 1/2 mile of shoreline probing every slough and depression I knew of in that area.

I kept getting serenaded by some traveling geese that decided to rest in the area I was. There must have been about 300 of them in a shadow line on the water, a long line of quacks in the night.

Try as I might, I couldn't find any swans, though.
How about that, Fin? :2flip: :HappyWave:

We finally decided mid-tide that it wasn't gonna happen for us. This despite seeing scattered single spearing up to 5". I brought spearing profile yozuris to fish, but as I said the spearing were few and far between, not one school to be found. The bunker we were hoping would show never came in to that area, and we packed it in to scout some more bunker spots.

We hit a few and at one of them, G looked depressed because he knows his Dirty Water Spots are more productive right now. I think he was hanging over a bridge somewhere...;) :ROFLMAO
Someone thought he was a jumper and called the police. :scared:

They appeared like ghosts in the night to question our motives. When we told them we were just fishin freaks lookin for bunker :eek: it was all good and we stood there BS'ing for awhile. Turns out they're fishermen too. :cool::fishing:

They agreed to let us go on the condition that G get psychiatric help for his Dirty Water Depression and promised them he wouldn't hang over any more bridges. :laugh: ;) :ROFLMAO

We continued on to some other spots, marked small pods of bunker. We tried snagging a few but they were scattered. It was still good to be out and about on the bunker adventure. The fishin sucked, but we still manage to find adventure wherever we go, and G tolerates my lunacy. ;)

Edit: Be advised that I was the one "hanging" over the side of the bridge here. It wasn't G, I embellished that part. ;) :HappyWave:

jonthepain

05-01-2010, 08:17 PM

DWD can sneak up on you.

G tolerates my lunacy
must be the Zoloft.

And watch out for quacks in the night.

DarkSkies

05-03-2010, 06:47 AM

must be the Zoloft.
And watch out for quacks in the night.

I could probably use Zoloft, it would mellow me out a bit. ;) :HappyWave:

********************************

Cmon people let's hear some stories, I know there are lots more out there. No need to be embarassed that people will laugh at your story, it's all good. :clapping: In case ya need some motivation, here's another one of mine, the stinky waders... :upck:

My stinky waders story
Quote:
Originally Posted by rip316 http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?p=36355#post36355)
THESE THINGS WERE HORRID. The meat was grey dude. I don't mind clammin or fishing chunks. The smell doesn't bother me but, these things were bad. Tackle shop should be ashamed to sell these things.

Quote:
Originally Posted by finchaser http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?p=36361#post36361)
DS is this what made your waders stink:HappyWave:

****************

OK it's a little embarassing but who cares, it's all good even my stinky waders. :laugh:

I was fishing with Finchaser last week. We took his van. I knew the waders stunk because I could detect a faint aroma, the kind you get when you go out fishin a lot, don't change out the waders, and the stink of perspiration and other substances lingers longer. :upck:

There was an aura of stink wafting around me. No wonder when we went in the WaWa to get some coffee the people behind us stood 10 feet away. :eek:

Finchaser was too diplomatic to say something at the time, or maybe he's so grouchy because he lost his sense of smell. ;)

Anyway, the morning after his girlfriend gets in the van.

The first words out of her mouth were:
"Whoa, what the heck is that horrible smell? :scared:
Were you guys fishing bait last night?"

Fin:
"Nope, that's Rich and his waders, he was sitting right there where you are..."

At that point I think she forced him to stop the van, and they had to sanitize and put blankets on the seat where I was sitting.

Does that seem embarassing?
Maybe I need to wash those waders soon? http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/smilies/don't%20know%20why.gif :ROFLMAO

jonthepain

05-03-2010, 09:20 PM

not my story, but here goes:

"Back in July this year. Too much to drink the night before, and bad

food. I'm driving from Weekapaug headed to Quonny. I get to the light

and the gut starts talking to me REAL LOUD. Now I'm debating...go

straight and hit the Mobil or take the right and hit the potta-potties

( if any of you listen to Howie Carr you know the reference )I go

right. About 10 seconds down the road my A-hole is screaming at me,

should of gone straight. There are about 5 vehicles behind me. I'm

sweatin it as my butt hole is clenched as tight as possible but the

fist in my stomach is doin' its damndest to push out the foul mixture.

I look in the back of the van. I don't have a googan bucket ( bad,

very bad ) no where to pull over and dump. I look back again and see

my eel cooler ( soft six pack cooler ) of course it has a 1/2 dz. eels

in it w/ ice. next to the cot. Decision is now be'in made for me.

Thank God I didn't have my neo's on. I practically power slide over to

the side of the road and bail into the back. Drop trough as I am

unzipping the cooler. Of course I forgot to slam it into park so the

van starts moving the same time as my bowels. I just reached over and

bang it into neutral for the time being " Ka Thunk " ( no, not my A

hole the tranny ). I grab hold of the cooler and don't even get to a

squat and projectile crapping has commenced. Well let's just say the

eels became pretty active suddenly and that cooler was filling up too

quick. I look out the back of the van windows and who's sitting there?

Yep, Charlestowns finest. He walks up to the drivers window and the

smell must have been the trigger. I'm looking through the side window

at him and he probably can only see my siloutte ( tinted ). He asks "

is everything OKAY in there? I'm sh!ttin my pants both ways. I reply I

needed a sudden restroom break and that currently the back of my van

is Rhode Islands newest Porta Potty. He kinda chuckles and walks over

to the side where the sliding door is. I crack the sliding door and he

pulls it back about a foot and looks in. Now he can see the cooler.

The eels are squirming around in the plastic bag under this pile of

... and his eyes are like... OH MY GOD. He turns around gagging. Now

I'm laughing and crapping at the same time. He walked back to his

patrol car and pulled away. I kid you not. He must have thought I just

gave birth to the spawn of Satan. I grabbed a roll of TP I always have

in the van and proceed to finish up. That was one of the best Sh!ts I

have ever had regarding relief. I laughed quite a bit on my way to
Quonny thinking... what would the ticket have been for?"

Pebbles

05-04-2010, 06:38 PM

There were some great stories this month but we need some more contributors.

The winner this month is Shaky. His story made my skin crawl. :scared: Glad you are ok after that ordeal Shaky. PM Dark your address and the plug will be sent out on Saturday.

rip316

05-04-2010, 10:59 PM

Here's my fishin story. Last week I was fishing a spot on a beach with my boss, Cardoc and Mrs. Cardoc. My boss offers me a piece of his dunkin donuts cheese flatbread sandwich. I happily accepted his gracious offering. Then out of the blue, Mrs. Cardoc yells out to the entire beach "Rip is eating a bannana". I looked around stunned. Point to myself as if I am shocked she said this. Now is where the story gets good
I go home to check the Stripers and Anglers website to see about the days catches. To my utter amazement I find that everyone is making fun of me and laughing at me because I was eating a bannana which is total taboo to the fishing community. Well I was not doing such a thing but, no one wanted to believe me. I was being laughed upon by the entire fishing world.
Since I am a pretty big guy and not afraid of many things besides my wife when she picks me up on payday, I vow to get my revenge. See there's another wise a-- out there whom I do not know that sends me a fake bannana lure. ( Do not worry Cardoc, I have not forgotten about you and you either pebbles) I end up winning a tournment with this lure. A ten thousand dollar fish and make Cardoc and Pebbles hoist me up on their shoulders and carry me to the podium. I give my celebration speech and a young man wearing smelly waders walks up to me asks how I tackled such a feat. I reach into a googan bucket and pull a dozen of Rips Rotters smelly clams and hand them over to him. The SOS looks up at me and says "Thanks Mr." I am going to sit on my bucket for a whole day til I catchem up like you. The young man then had to go home and rub the soar shoulder of the trouble making woman from carrying him to the podium.

The End

The End

DarkSkies

05-05-2010, 09:10 AM

. I give my celebration speech and a young man wearing smelly waders walks up to me asks how I tackled such a feat. I reach into a googan bucket and pull a dozen of Rips Rotters smelly clams and hand them over to him. The SOS looks up at me and says "Thanks Mr." I am going to sit on my bucket for a whole day til I catchem up like you. The young man then had to go home and rub the soar shoulder of the trouble making woman from carrying him to the podium.

The End

Classic creativity dude! :clapping::clapping::clapping: :thumbsup: I had tears coming down I'm laughing so much ROTFLMFAO great!
(The only thing I would dispute is you called me a young man. I'm old, though not as old as the OGB and the OFFC. Though I would consider it a highlight of my fishin career if one day they made me an official member ;) :HappyWave:)

Effing fantastic story Rip! :ROFLMAO:ROFLMAO
I'm sure Pebbles will get a kick out of it when she reads this, you blasted us all in one story, priceless! :thumbsup:

rip316

05-05-2010, 02:34 PM

Glad you liked it.

Pebbles

05-19-2010, 09:48 PM

rip316

05-19-2010, 10:20 PM

Wondering what took you so long to read it? That story has to win me the plug of the month. If you need me to carry your groceries into the house for you, you let me know. I only live a few minutes from you. I would hate for Dark to be out fishing somewhere and have you hurt your shoulder lifting those heavy bags of food. ( how's that?)

finchaser

05-20-2010, 08:31 AM

rip316

05-20-2010, 08:46 AM

Fin. One day we were fish sh and Cardocs wife thought I was eating a banana, which I wasn't. Everyone now starts calling me all kinds of names. Cardocs wife nicknamed me Back Bay Banana Boy. The other members thought this name was inapropriate for someone of my stature and they started coming up with a new banana nickname. TMB stamds for the The Mad Banana.

finchaser

05-20-2010, 11:29 AM

DarkSkies

05-20-2010, 01:23 PM

That was very clever, TMB aka, "Back Bay Banana Boy". I wonder if your cleverness will win you the plug this month? If I were you I would pay attention who you have to suck up to on this thread.

Your a great sport. Thanks for giving me a good laugh.:HappyWave:

What do we mean by Back Bay Banana Boy:moon:

Fin. One day we were fish sh and Cardocs wife thought I was eating a banana, which I wasn't. Everyone now starts calling me all kinds of names. Cardocs wife nicknamed me Back Bay Banana Boy. The other members thought this name was inapropriate for someone of my stature and they started coming up with a new banana nickname. TMB stamds for the The Mad Banana.

Oh I see. :HappyWave:

May God forgive me Rip :embarassed: but I couldn't help myself. :ROFLMAO

iKrXYEmI7fA

I suggested you erase all association with yourself and this name. Pebbles even nicely suggested it might not be a good idea... saying that the name sounds like the "banana wants to go into the back bay" :eek:

Please show this to Mrs Cardoc and ask her to immediately create a new name for you, and start calling you that every time. Send her my apologies for rejecting this name. Every time I see it here or hear it, this song comes up in my head.

I was holding back on posting the youtube link. It it was so funny I fell off the chair as I listened to it. I haven't laughed this much since we were in the Quik chek and the girl wanted to go home with you because of your banana routine.

I hadda post it, I just had to. :laugh: :HappyWave:

Please ask Mrs Cardoc to remove that name from her friendly vocabulary before the Rainbow boys show at your house looking for a new recruit. It's not too late, please don't go over to the other side... :eek: think of your family and fishin buddies who will have to bear the shame of it as well....:plastered: :wow: :fishing: :HappyWave:

Finchaser is worried about fishin with a guy named back bay banana boy. :scared:

God forgive me, this was too good to pass up. ;)

Pebbles

05-20-2010, 05:40 PM

Yes you are correct it did take me a while to respond. Somehow it passed me by.:beatin:

If you need me to carry your groceries into the house for you, you let me know. I only live a few minutes from you. I would hate for Dark to be out fishing somewhere and have you hurt your shoulder lifting those heavy bags of food. ( how's that?)

I have to say that is a good start to the sucking up movement. You better hope no one else hops on the band wagon. You might lose your place in the story contest.

rip316

05-20-2010, 08:49 PM

I will detail your car or pressurewash your house. haha how's that. Getting better?

DarkSkies

05-20-2010, 09:41 PM

Yer a good sport Rip. And as for any gay inferences, I was only ballbusting the guy, he can take it, for those who don't know him. :thumbsup:

I'd go fishin wit ya anytime, bro. And Finchaser was only bustin ya too, we're done with the bb on this. You are officially TMB. :thumbsup: :HappyWave:

finchaser

05-20-2010, 10:19 PM

BYE BYE BBBB:HappyWave:

rip316

05-20-2010, 11:29 PM

Too funny.

Pebbles

06-02-2010, 08:24 PM

After much consideration and a few sleepless nights, I decided that Rip316 wins the plug.

See Rich for your plug. I'd mail it but he'll see you so why waste the postage.

I wonder who is going to win next month? :don't know why:

Let's hear some of those great stories! :plastered: :fishing:

rip316

06-02-2010, 09:35 PM

Woooo Hoooo That is Awesome. Thanks Mrs. Cardoc. I couldn't have done it without you. hahahahahahaha. Thanks Pebbles.

rip316

06-02-2010, 09:40 PM

Tmb is in the house.

speedy

06-02-2010, 09:43 PM

Woooo Hoooo That is Awesome. Thanks Mrs. Cardoc. I couldn't have done it without you. hahahahahahaha. Thanks Pebbles.
congats rip :clapping::clapping::clapping: thats the way to kiss butt wtg:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: i need my car washed:naughty::naughty::naughty::naughty: lmao

rip316

06-03-2010, 08:39 AM

What do I get for washing your car?

DarkSkies

06-03-2010, 11:27 AM

Tmb is in the house.

Congrats bro, that was a great story, entertaining as hell. :clapping::clapping:

I have a feeling we'll be needin a lot of these stories when the big migratory bass have finally all passed us (could be the end any day now :() and we're left with a few resident fish who don't know enough to follow the food. :kooky:

What do I get for washing your car?

One of these..... :moon:
:HappyWave:

speedy

06-03-2010, 01:08 PM

What do I get for washing your car?
a hook in the hand:moon::moon::moon::plastered::plastered::plast ered:

DarkSkies

06-07-2010, 12:51 PM

Here's the first submission for the story of the month for June, people.

See how easy it is?
I know some others have some stories, let's hear em!

Good mojo to Cardoc for always trying to pass it on. :clapping: :thumbsup:

Out again today with a family from PA on board. most of the day was dead. Tried to fish every kind of current we could find and nothing.

Decided to make a move and but up agains a lighthouse.

All of a sudden 14 y/o Brian looks over at me kinda confused and says he has a fish on. The confused look was not knowing whether it was a fish or stuck in the rocks. I stood and watched and saw a couple pumps on the rod. Everyone on board swore it was stuck. But I watched to see if we were getting moved around and we were not.

Then the line heads for the anchor and the capt thought he had the anchor line. Finally i said heck with this. I grabbed the pole and started towards the bow of the boat.

Pumping the rod and feeling a fish. It did wrap once around the anchor line, but somehow i was able to turn its head and get it to go the opposite way and get untangled.

Everyone on the boat sorta forgot i was there since they thought i was getting the thing un stuck. LOL Then the line starts heading towards my left and i give a big pull back and it was like the angels sang AAAAHHHHHHHHHH. Ran back down the other side of the boat with the rod yelling for the capt to grab the net. Handed Brian back the pole. He looked at me confused again and i whispered to him "you got a mamba jamba on there".

He smiles pulled back on the rod and everyone got excited. Kid fought the fish in and pulled up a nice 381/2" fish.

Love saving the day for the kids. Even the adults too.

speedy

06-07-2010, 04:39 PM

What do I get for washing your car?
wet hands:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::la ugh::laugh::HappyWave::HappyWave::HappyWave::plast ered::plastered::plastered::plastered::plastered:: plastered::plastered::plastered::plastered::plaste red:

rip316

06-07-2010, 10:15 PM

speedy

06-08-2010, 04:10 PM

Speedy. You are a funny guy. Love all the little drunk guys. You been out at all fishing. Me and Cardoc went on a road trip looking for bunker from Nomoco all the way down to your neck of the woods. Found a small pod getting busted up pretty good but, out of our reach. Caught a fluke a two small blues.no going out when i get off work to day :plastered::plastered::plastered::plastered::plast ered::plastered::plastered::plastered::plastered:: plastered::plastered::plastered::plastered::plaste red::plastered::plastered::plastered::naughty:

Pebbles

06-30-2010, 05:54 PM

What happened to all those great stories. The month is over tomorrow any more?

DarkSkies

07-02-2010, 04:03 PM

Hey people, even though I submitted the story for him, I'm gonna declare Cardoc a winner for the month of June. That's the kind of guy he is, not looking for glory, just trying to do his thing. Good people, he and Mrs Cardoc. :HappyWave:

Cardoc helps everyone
Here's the first submission for the story of the month for June, people.

See how easy it is?
I know some others have some stories, let's hear em!

Good mojo to Cardoc for always trying to pass it on. :clapping: :thumbsup:

Quote:

Out again today with a family from PA on board. most of the day was dead. Tried to fish every kind of current we could find and nothing.

Decided to make a move and but up agains a lighthouse.

All of a sudden 14 y/o Brian looks over at me kinda confused and says he has a fish on. The confused look was not knowing whether it was a fish or stuck in the rocks. I stood and watched and saw a couple pumps on the rod. Everyone on board swore it was stuck. But I watched to see if we were getting moved around and we were not.

Then the line heads for the anchor and the capt thought he had the anchor line. Finally i said heck with this. I grabbed the pole and started towards the bow of the boat.

Pumping the rod and feeling a fish. It did wrap once around the anchor line, but somehow i was able to turn its head and get it to go the opposite way and get untangled.

Everyone on the boat sorta forgot i was there since they thought i was getting the thing un stuck. LOL Then the line starts heading towards my left and i give a big pull back and it was like the angels sang AAAAHHHHHHHHHH. Ran back down the other side of the boat with the rod yelling for the capt to grab the net. Handed Brian back the pole. He looked at me confused again and i whispered to him "you got a mamba jamba on there".

He smiles pulled back on the rod and everyone got excited. Kid fought the fish in and pulled up a nice 381/2" fish.

Love saving the day for the kids. Even the adults too.

So I'm gonna try to meet up with ya this weekend Cardoc, and bring you that plug when I see ya, or send me your mailing address and I'll get it out. Good mojo on ya for helping the newbies. And helping a kid catch is a way to get them on a great path for life, wtg. :clapping: :thumbsup:

For all the others, like Cardoc says, don't be shy give it a try. And like Pebbles says, what do ya have to lose by submitting a story? We won't laugh at ya, or not too much anyway. ;)

In the future, I'll give out plugs monthly as long as 4 or more stories get submitted, otherwise I'll just roll them together until we get 4 cumulative or more stories, and Pebbles will pick the winner.

I know there's plenty of stories out there, people. It doesn't have to be 100% focused on fishin, it can be something that happened to you when you were out there. It's gonna be a long hot summer... :eek:

Give it a shot, let's hear some stories! :fishing:

rip316

07-02-2010, 07:42 PM

That's my buddy. Way to go Cardoc. See you soon bro.

cardoc765

07-03-2010, 12:00 PM

Last week i ran a trip with 8 guys on the boat. All were around 38 - 57 years old. Headed for the striper grounds. They started havin a few beers as usual. We were clammin and didn't have a bite for a while. They started to chat and make jokes having a great time on the water. As we waited for the tide to turn around, they got bored and decided it was margarita time. We never allow hard liquor on the boat, but they were behavin so the capt didn't say much. Finally the 57 year old guy decides he wanted to hit what he called "mother's milk'. A burben that he brought along. They sat in the cabin enjoying themselves and all was fine for a while. Then they headed out to the back of the boat to bs. The older guy apparently had quite a few drinks of his mother's milk. He was holding on to the rail and the boat listed to the starboard side. He lost his grip, his feet flew from underneath him. He flew backwards and slammed his head on the rear cleat and mouth on the gunwell. Then splat, he landed on the deck. I was like OMFG. I could not believe my eyes. I ran over to him and asked if he was ok. BLood coming from his mouth in a drunken stuper and dazed as hell he said he was ok. HIs buddies came over to check on him too. I could totally see the birdies circling around his head. He sat there for 15 minutes and then his friends got him into the cabin. The rest of the night we managed 4 nice bass and 6 that came unbuttoned. In the meantime, thier drunken friend puked on the floor of the cabin , then fell in it. He laid in his puddle of puke all the rest of the trip and puked all over himself.

I have not seen anyone get like that since i was 19. Very irresponsible and stupid of him. Captains butt is covered since contracts were signed not to bring hard liquor and fishing is at your own risk. His friends were pissed at him as well and could not believe what had happened. I know he was hurting for days after. No one will ever be allowed again no matter who they are or how well they act to have hard liquor on the boat or the trip will end and they will have to pay for the full trip. EFFF that.

stripercrazy

07-03-2010, 12:45 PM

. He lost his grip, his feet flew from underneath him. He flew backwards and slammed his head on the rear cleat and mouth on the gunwell. Then splat, he landed on the deck. I was like OMFG. I could not believe my eyes. I ran over to him and asked if he was ok. BLood coming from his mouth in a drunken stuper and dazed as hell he said he was ok. HIs buddies came over to check on him too. I could totally see the birdies circling around his head. He sat there for 15 minutes and then his friends got him into the cabin. The rest of the night we managed 4 nice bass and 6 that came unbuttoned. In the meantime, thier drunken friend puked on the floor of the cabin , then fell in it. He laid in his puddle of puke all the rest of the trip and puked all over himself.

I'm sorry I was reading that and pictured the way you described it, including the birdies circling around. I thought that was comical, lol.:ROFLMAO
You're right, that's dangerous, if you get into a spot where you are laying in your own puke you have no business drinking.

cardoc765

07-03-2010, 02:46 PM

Dark check your pm's

DarkSkies

12-10-2010, 11:10 PM

There are a lot of good stories out there. I know you people have it in ya's. :thumbsup:
Maybe some of ya's are shy, and wonder whether your story will be worthy or not. I can assure you it will, and no one will make fun of ya (unless you're the main topic of the story and you're makin fun of yourself. Then we'll gladly join in. :) )

To jumpstart this thread a bit, I'll lay out some of the things that happened to me this year. In this one, I was fishin at Sandy Hook and on the way home when I spotted this guy in trouble....

12794

The above pic shows the boat from Sea Tow that was called to the scene where someone with a small sailboat had dumped it onto the flats in the bay behind Sandy Hook.
12793

As I walked over there to help, I saw the Tow Boat had got caught up on the flats as well. There was a 25mph steady W wind blowing. We who fish the surf love that W wind, but on this day in the bay it was creating hazardous conditions for the 2 sea tow guys. They were frantically trying to free their boat, to no avail. They said something about seaweed getting sucked into their impeller. One guy was in the water in the wetsuit, the Capy was soaked trying to rock the boat in and out to get some motion and free his boat.
12792

I asked if I could help. The Capt asked if I would drive his friend the wetsuit guy to the AH Marina.

A friend and fellow member of this site had stopped to help by that time. We had to clear out the front seat of my car as I had been living in it that weekend to "be one with the fish as I followed the striped bass on their migration" :ROFLMAO :kooky:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7132093/

The Capt also asked to borrow my cell phone. Without hesitation I gave it to him. As I did that my friend, who's a cop, turned to me and said, "man you are one trusting emmeffer!" :kooky:

What could I do, they were in trouble and I was the only one there to help.
Then "wetsuit guy" got in my car. He said "I hope you can drive fast! This is a matter of life of death. If we don't get back here soon with another rescue boat, we could lose that one."

So I proceeded to put my hazards on, driving at 80mph, blowing through some aaaaaamber :rolleyes: lights on the way to AH harbor.

12791

We made it there, and the guy jiumped out like he was on fire. I asked him how I would get my cell phone back...he said "Well if you come back here in an hour or so after we do the rescue, we'll have it for ya"

I needed that phone, so raced back to where the boat was. The Capt gave it to me as the wetsuit guy was arriving on another boat to tow him off the flats. In the last pic above, you can see where he's trying to pull him off.

Capt said "thanks, bud", and I was on my way home.

DarkSkies

12-11-2010, 12:15 AM

On this day I was at LBI. The fishin had been great, but a heavy S wind pattern came in and messed up the beach fishin for that morning. Steady S winds of 25mph, with higher gusts. As I took off that day to fish, I wandered down to the docks and inlet jetty looking for action. I decided to blackfish with the older guys there. A friend recognized me and came and joined us.

This is the Alex Marie. I believe she's a commercial fishing boat out of LBI. She was attempting to dock at the fuel dock. The mate was on the deck helping with the mooring lines. For some reason, they secured her from the bow first, starboard side.
12798

The problem was the 25mph winds, which were pushing her stern away from the dock. There was a full moon tide, and it had just started ripping in the same direction as the wind. This caused a normal mooring situation to very quickly get out of hand.

In a matter of a few short minutes....
1. The mate was not able to secure the stern of this heavy boat to the dock.
2. The stern swept out so that it was almost perpendicular to the fuel dock.
3. This put tremendous strain on the bow lines. The dock began to creak and moan under the pressure. :scared:

I took the first pic without realizing the trouble that lay in store for them, just taking scenery pics. We went back to fishin with the old guys on the dock that was 100' away from them. We didn't notice any problems until the fuel dock started creaking and moaning.

It was intense. The Capt frantically tried to manever his boat, while the mate was on the dock. He wisely moved back foot by foot as the dock started to separate. Even the pilings weren't enough to hold with the extreme stress of boat, wind, and current.

At that point I didn't take any pictures. I know a good photojournalist should never stop shooting. However we really felt someone was going to die that day. The mate was in a very dangerous position. My conscience wouldn't allow me to take pics when I thought there was a possibility of someone dying.

We were about 100 feet away, but the driving or walking distance was 1 1/2 blocks. We couldn't get over to them to help, so we just watched as the boat and dock played tug of war for a few adrenaline pounding seconds, maybe as much as a minute...

12801

Eventually the dock let out one last creak, the mate dove backwards for cover, and one of the 300lb pilings popped up about 5 feet in the air like a broken toothpick. In the above pic you see the Alex Marie right after she popped the piling from the dock and was being pushed away from the dock by the wind and current. The action there was so intense we thought we might have to abandon the dock where we were once things started flying through the air.

It definitely looked like the mate's life was in danger. Once we knew the mate was safe I started taking pics again.

Here is the Army Corps of Engineers boat who just happened to be in the area that day. They went chasing after the piling deciding what the best course of action was.

12800

Here's the dock after it almost broke in 2. The damage isn't that apparent. If you look closely you can see the piling missing from the end of the dock, on the inside, 2nd from the end post and the "fuel dock" sign. It was definitely a hair-raising experience for all who were there that morning.

12799

Here's a close-up of the Army Corps of Engineers boat, hovering near the broken piling as the ebb tide washed it out toward the front of the inlet.

12797

I believe that the mate went home after that, and kissed his girlfriend, wife or kids. The dock at one point had split apart so far that it could have swallowed him whole and crushed him as it came back together. He was definitely smart to think quickly that morning. :thumbsup:

bluesdude71

12-12-2010, 11:00 AM

Good of you to help that towboat captain, Dark. Good mojo on you for 2011. Nice story, I enjoy reading them.

bababooey

12-17-2010, 11:27 PM

This guy wasn't exactly fishing, but slaying a trouble-causing shark is ballsy no matter how you look at it.:clapping:

Killer shark slain by flying Serbian drunk

A Serbian man has rescued the Egyptian tourist season by getting himself so drunk he jumped off a high dive and inadvertently killed a shark.

Before it was murdered by the flying Serbian drunk, the shark had injured four tourists and killed another at the famed Egyptian resort Sarm El Sheikh. The besotted leaping Slav was dubbed "Shark El Sheikh" by the Egyptian press. But he also goes by Dragan Stevic, according to the Macedonian International News Agency (http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/17081/48/).

Stevic doesn't remember killing the shark. He was too drunk. He's now in hospital with alcohol poisoning. But the shark slaying was witnessed by Stevic's drinking buddy. After a long night of boozing, Stevic decided he needed a swim. So he walked onto the beach and spotted a diving board.

"Dragan climbed on the jumping board, told me to hold his beer, and simply ran to jump,” the drinking buddy says. “Dragan jumped high and plunged down to the sea, but didn’t make as much splash as we thought he would."
That's because he landed on a shark.

The drunken Serb came down on the shark's head. And the shark died. But the Serb didn't realize this. After swimming to shore, Sevic complained that the water wasn't very soft. And he said his ankle hurt.

As Sevic recovers from his sprained ankle – and the alcohol poisoning – the Sarm El Sheikhh has given him a free vacation. It's a reward for the drunken accidental fish killing exploits he's unable to remember.
Next year, he can come back and do it again

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12...hark_in_egypt/ (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/17/flying_serbian_drunk_kills_shark_in_egypt/)

cardoc765

12-21-2010, 11:02 AM

Mrs. Cardoc and I set out to fish one day in the srping. We decided we would hit the bay and fish the incoming tide. So off we go to one of the spots that I used to fish and we are not doing so well. An hour into it and all we have is skunk. In the mean time, we are watching guys come off the beach that was further out into the bay with nice keeper bass. She and I look at each other and decide lets go to where they are. On the way to the tip of this beach there is a small creek that you have to cross. When we crossed there was only about a foot of water, no biggie. We get to where everyone else is and I am amazed at what the shoreline looks like from that point. We start fishing and still getting skunk. IN the meantime everyone else is getting fish.

So all we are focussed on is getting a fish at this point. At no time did we ever think, the tide is coming in and filling up that creek.

It's late around 9:30 and we decide lets get back. As we start to walk back to the creek, Mrs cardoc says,"oh $hit,!!! what about the creek?". Instantly i froze. I knew we were going to be screwed. I had waders on, but she did not. We had cell phones and our bucket with stuff in it and rods and sand spikes. All i could think was, what the hell am i going to do now. She had not seen the creek yet and I knew it had to have filled in.

We get close to the creek and she looks to the left and can see that the water line came up the beach a lot. Now she is pissed and starts asking me how the f are we going to get across the creek. All of a sudden I am the jerk because I should have left sooner. She yelled at me for having waders and not her. She FREAKED out. There we other guys coming off the beach and one even offered her his waders so she could get across with me. She didn't want to do that. She calls her dad in California to cry to him about what was happening.

I decide, let me try and get across and see how deep it is and slippery since it's nothing but clay and mud. I slowly get in the water and slide on the clay under my feet and right into the water i went. Had to get up real quick and grab our chair and bucket that was floating away and get it across the creek. I come back and grab the rest of the stuff and walk it across too.

At this point, having seen me fall, Mrs cardoc is totally freaking out. I never knew
I had so many aliases. LOL. To top it off, she has flip flops on. I walk her to an area where she can get in the water a lil easier. Still a struggle but she did it. Yelling and screaming, I am totally embarrassed in front of all the other guys. They hung out to watch and make sure we got across. She starts yelling "i can feel bluefish swimming past me and between my legs". I wanted to laugh so hard, but I couldn't.

After a couple slips in the mud and clay, we made it across. She is soaked, I'm soaked and we just sat on the beach to calm down a bit. She swore she would never go fishing with me again. I was the big bad wolf for putting her in that situation. You name it.

I will never forget that moment as long as i live. My grandkids will know of that story.

Couple weeks later, she was back on the horse. Lesson learned for both of us. We will never do that again.

rip316

12-21-2010, 11:13 AM

rip316

12-21-2010, 11:14 AM

Or what about the time Dark made us follow him looking for bunker and we ended up in Linden hahahahahahahahahaha. Just breaking your balls Dark. No more fishing so we gotta do something.

cardoc765

12-21-2010, 11:30 AM

OMG that was so funny. That was a great googan mistake.

Dark gets us together and takes us fishing with him and G. We get to the spot and there are guys getting fish. Dark gets real excited and gets bunks on his hook and needs to get his line out asap. As rip and I walk past him, you hear the whip of his rod and then THRASH. The sound of leaves. We look and end up walking past him laughing our a$$es off as we see his line tangled in a tree and him yanking on it to try and get it un stuck. Yelling and cursing the tree out for all it was worth. RIP and I got fish that night and as I remember it, Dark got skunk. Hey we had a great time and good laughs with him though.

Then, another time we go out the same group and we are in search of bunker. We head out to one spot and scout around finding nothing but run down areas with homeless people in the bushes smoking cigarettes. Then we move to another area and find the homeless people living in trailers and dark is on top of one looking over the water to see where we need to be. At that point we decide to head south and I tell RIP to tell Dark to make a left at the light we were at and instead he makes a right. A ride that should have taken 45 minutes, took almost 2 hours because we ended up heading north to go south.

Just some googan moments we all got to share together and have fun with. We love you Dark. Had some fun times this season. :huh::huh::huh::clapping::clapping::clapping:

DarkSkies

12-21-2010, 09:47 PM

I'm glad ya's love me, ya freaks!:ROFLMAO
If I were you, I'd deny ya know me and cut your losses while ya can. :laugh:
Why do you want to continue to hang wit a mook who takes you on a 2 hour tour to find bunker? :eek: Man I thought we'd never get home that night, must have been goin in a circle. I swear I saw those same refinery tanks 3x before we found a way out of there, kinda like groundhog day.

BTW, you know that in searching for that lost pier we will be there bright and early in March when the deepwater bass wake up from their sluggishness and the bunker come in from the S.

And that swing and a snag of the tree. :bucktooth: What an effin dork-wad I am sometimes. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon11.png
Good thing I don't embarass easily.
When ya live the early part of your life waking up passed out in a pool of puke on the floor of a McDonalds bathroom, ya kind of learn to roll with the punches. :plastered:

Thanks for the memories, guys, you're the greatest. I've been a little down latelyhttp://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png the withdrawal pains from the striped bass are tough this year. In the past I've been able to find small fish till Christmas. This year the extended cold took that away from us. May have to find a WW discharge in another state soon. :d :fishing:

You guys have been a blast. No matter what happened this season, we had fun. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Rip, don't think you get away scot-free. You've motivated me to re-tell the story of you, me and the Hindi chick at the $1.50 UB pork roll egg n cheese place. And even adding in the day I came in and snagged all the hot ones off the shelf before Cardoc got there, man that was pretty selfish of me. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon11.png I'll try to post it up with some graphics over Christmas Holiday.

Happy and healthy is what I wish for you guys for Christmas and the New Year. We have all had our troubles this year, some worse than others. I really don't think it can get much worse for some of us here and in our extended circles of friends.

Here's hoping that friends, fellowship, and fishing can help to lighten the load and make it fun. If ya can't laugh at yourself, then why bother living.

Peace, folks. :HappyWave:

surfstix1963

12-22-2010, 05:56 AM

When it's not fun anymore it becomes harder to drag yourself out there to do it, if I couldn't laugh or talk to myself and have a good time I would be done w/ fishing and let me tell ya I talk to myself alot just ask my wife.

DarkSkies

12-22-2010, 07:37 AM

There's no crime in talking to yourself, bro. I do it all the time. The only time it gets scary is if ya do it and can hear those voices in your head start talking back to you for real. :kooky:Then there's no help, off the deep end... :laugh: :HappyWave:

rip316

12-22-2010, 11:08 AM

It was definitely a very good year. I have had a lot of fun. Thanks to all of the guys on the site for making this year a banner one for me. Can't wait for spring to get here already.

storminsteve

12-23-2010, 12:24 AM

I think it will be a brutally cold winter and spring will take a while to get into gear. jmo.

paco33

12-23-2010, 10:05 AM

I found this on youtube. It's a little corny but I was bored at work today. Christmas party later on and we don't get much work done on days like this. I showed it to some of my co-workers and we had some laughs. The guys name is "off the hook", he has some other videos up there as well.

"One summer night in 2008 while shark fishing from the beach, I and a few friends witnessed an alien ship crash and from it walked out a small alien creature named Qaz.

We became friend and soon he learned how to fish."
kPSAhi9AyHc

lostatsea

12-23-2010, 11:03 AM

Those guys had to be drunk to think of that.

DarkSkies

12-31-2010, 11:28 AM

Good story, Paco. Might be a little corny to some, but ya gotta give those guys credit for trying. It shows creativity. :clapping:

************

There are a few stories around here accusing me of always wearing stinky waders. Unfortunately, they're all true. :embarassed: So on Dec 12 I got a new pair. :bigeyes: Hopefully in 2011 I'll rotate that with 2 other pairs so the stink doesn't builld up again. Since I'm not embarassed to laugh at myself, and the insults are pretty funny, I thought I'd combine them into a condensed version of that story. Enjoy. :HappyWave:

************************

Stage I - the Spring 2010 season - building up the stink...

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?592-Wader-stink/page3

OK it's a little embarassing but who cares, it's all good even my stinky waders. :laugh:

I was fishing with Finchaser last week. We took his van. I knew the waders stunk because I could detect a faint aroma, the kind you get when you go out fishin a lot, don't change out the waders, and the stink of perspiration and other substances lingers longer. :upck:

There was an aura of stink wafting around me. No wonder when we went in the WaWa to get some coffee the people behind us stood 10 feet away. :eek:

Finchaser was too diplomatic to say something at the time, or maybe he's so grouchy because he lost his sense of smell. ;)

Anyway, the morning after his girlfriend gets in the van.

The first words out of her mouth were:
"Whoa, what the heck is that horrible smell? :scared:
Were you guys fishing bait last night?"

Fin:
"Nope, that's Rich and his waders, he was sitting right there where you are..."

At that point I think she forced him to stop the van, and they had to sanitize and put blankets on the seat where I was sitting.

Does that seem embarassing?
Maybe I need to wash those waders soon? http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/smilies/don't%20know%20why.gif :ROFLMAO

Stage II - the Fall 2010 - stink was unbearable, waders fully "seasoned".....

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?7199-more-prayers-for-finchaser/page6

Some folks may or may not know I've been fishin hard the last few days. I have leaky waders, haven't yet brought them back for replacements. My feet get wet, and there's a helluva lotta stink clouds hovering around me.

In fairness to Pebbles, for the weekends I scrub up good, and every day I wash my orifices and remember to change my underwear. :laugh:

But there's a lotta things that I just ain't got time for, changing fresh socks, cleaning the smelly waders, etc. I've been sleeping in my car to get the ability to fish dual tides before work. I'm a real hobo, I tell ya, and smell like one...

So last night I went to see Finchaser to check on his progress from the operation.

I had my waders on, and had to take them and my wet moldy socks off in the garage. :upck:

I saw him gag as the pungent aroma of fish, sweat, assorted stink and foot odors wafted into his field of smell.

We then went into his kitchen to talk, and he had to open 2 windows, and put the super high-speed microwave vent fan on to be able to talk to me without affecting his blood pressure.

His girlfriend walked by us on her way downstairs. I saw her nose and face wrinkle in horror and distinctly heard her gasp for air as she walked past me. :o

So in a way I'm sorry for that Fin and Michelle, sorry for stinkin up your house. I know you probably had to have a cleaning crew in this morning to get rid of the stank. :ROFLMAO

But in a way, it ain't important, the fish are chowing and surf's up. :fishing: :plastered:

Fin is, after all, a ranking officer of the Effumall club, so I thought he would understand.... :don't know why: :HappyWave: :rolleyes:

Had to burn scented candles to kill the foul smell after I asked him to leave.I almost threw up when he came through the door from the smell coming off of him. If any one has ever smelt the bilge of a head boat imagine 2 times worse. I cant even imagine what his car must smell like:upck:Poor Pebbles:(

Stage III - new waders, new beginnings for 2011...

Brand new waders from Cabelas Dec 12.
12950

Good times...
goog times.... :bucktooth:
I enjoyed em all, and bringing stink to wherever I showed up.
Thanks for the laughs, guys and girls. :HappyWave:
Rip and Cardoc, your stories are up next....:cool:

jimmy z

01-10-2011, 07:03 AM

While driving home from New Haven last night, a memory from years gone by entered my head. I often think about dad, and the times we went fishing together, many, many moons ago. It seems like another lifetime, a time when younger and free from the anxieties that one has. Years ago, my dad had a boat in Sheepshead Bay, Bklyn. In the summer dad would take out charters, and i would mate. I loved this opportunity to get out on the ocean and fish. I have developed a strong passion for being by the water and doing what I love to do, that being fishing.
So, last night was no different than other times, thinking about days gone by, and my fishing times. But this night I thought about a cold day in March, with my kid brother Tommy.
During the winter months, dad left the boat in the water, as many at the marina did. Dad would go down to the Parkway Marina every weekend to check on her, it was what was done. It was a decent boat as boats go, a 35' sports fisherman. It fished six comfortably.
On this day though, in March, I wanted to fish, as a I always did. So dad got us some blood worms, a can of corn and a therom of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. We always had the DD coffee on those cold days. Back at that time there weren't many DD's around, but the one on Emmons Ave. was the one we all knew.
It was pre St. Patricks day, the official/unofficial opening of flounder season. A time when there weren't the opening and closing of season's like we have today. One wanted to go fishing and they just went. What a blessing that was, especially for a youngster with the urge to fish!
Dad dropped us off, on the Manhattan Beach side of the walk bridge that spanned the bay. A spot that we knew was productive this time of the year. There were a few locals lined along the rail, all braving the cold. We baited out hooks with the cut up blood worms, and topped the worm off with a couple of corn kernels. And as soon as the bait hit the bottom, it was, tap. tap tap. I thought, this is gonna be a good day. I myself had high hook, with the locals just looking on. A wonderful feeling for a youngster with a passion for fishing. The flounders were fat, with a couple of herring mixed in.
I think back of these times, with less regulations, more fish and just a different feeling about this thing we do. A time when the fish were more abundant than they are today. I thank God for the fond memories, of the days gone by. Carefree times of my youth.

rockhopper

01-14-2011, 02:26 PM

Very nice story jimmy!

storminsteve

01-18-2011, 04:03 PM

Good times spent together. Hey remeber that night we fished by that bridge and Darkskies caught the tree, hahahahahahaha. All you could here was the whip of his rod, then Emmer Effer really loud, and then the sounds of the tree branches every time he pulled in anger saying emmer effer. roflmao.

:bucktooth: :kicknuts: :o :fishing:
This post is useless without pics! How about it rip or dark, I want to see a king googan in action!

rip316

01-18-2011, 07:06 PM

cardoc765

01-19-2011, 10:37 AM

Here are some pics of RIP and his new cell phone case

130281302713026

cardoc765

01-19-2011, 10:40 AM

here is a plug he uses

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cardoc765

01-19-2011, 10:41 AM

All i have to say is !!!!

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rip316

01-19-2011, 12:48 PM

oh, it's on like donkey kong now brudda. lmfao.

DarkSkies

01-19-2011, 11:25 PM

:bucktooth: :kicknuts: :o :fishing:
This post is useless without pics! How about it rip or dark, I want to see a king googan in action!

Soon, Steve soon. I'll write up the one with me and the googan swing/miss into the trees. It's only fair I poke fun of me first. After that, it's gonna be either a....

Cardoc AKA Aquaman, or Cardoc AKA Inspector Clousseau on the long walk at SH story....

or Rip TMB gonzo story (with pics, and videos)

Cardoc, I don't know where ya got those pics, but they're killer. :clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:The banana penis one is a little over the top, but those pics had me rollin on the floor, bro. :ROFLMAO

Pebbles and I were just now at the desk working on our PCs. She saw me freaking out, I looked like a madman I was laughin so much. Insane day today, I really needed those laughs. :thumbsup:

Just remember, after I post the story makin fun of me, you guys are in the crosshairs next. :cool: :p :HappyWave:

jonthepain

01-19-2011, 11:47 PM

Well this isn't a fishing story but a hunting story, but here goes, anyway:

This morning my buddy Chuck left his house at 4:30am pulling his decoy trailer, about 15 minutes from his house he noticed his trailer lights had gone off (if he does not plug the light wire in tight to his truck it will wiggle loose).

So any way he pulls over on the side of the road, puts his truck flashers on, and gets out to reattached the light wire. While he is plugging it he notices two cars pull up behind him and then the flashing lights go on.

Two police cars - one of the officers gets out of his car, walks over to Chuck and asks him what he is doing. He explains about his lights and thinking they are finished starts back to his truck.

The officer then tells him to stop and come back. My buddy complies and asks the officer what's up? The officer says "I want to know what you are doing?"

Chuck says - told you I am fixing my lights

Officer says - no, where are you going and what is in the trailer?

Buddy says - Going goose hunting and the trailer is full of decoys...

Officer says -"You really expect me to believe that your trailer is full of goose decoys?"

Buddy says yep

Officer says I would like to search your trailer.

Buddy says huh?

Officer says if you say no we will wait here until a K9 unit arrives to look for drugs

Chuck is starting to get ****ed

He says to the officer - OK I will open the trailer but if my decoys come spilling out you are going to help me put them back in

Chuck unlocks and opens the trailer - Officer inspects with his flashlight and says, "Wow it is full of decoys, Do you really need so many?"

Chuck says "What are you, my wife?"

Officer sends him on his way.

Strange morning

ps Dark - if you can't write a great fishing book with nutty stories in it I don't know who can...

DarkSkies

01-19-2011, 11:52 PM

Jon, check your PMs.

DarkSkies

01-20-2011, 07:36 AM

Chuck unlocks and opens the trailer - Officer inspects with his flashlight and says, "Wow it is full of decoys, Do you really need so many?"

Chuck says "What are you, my wife?"

Officer sends him on his way.

Funny chit, Jon. If I ever come down there, I would like to meet Chuck some day. He must be a blast to hang out with! :wheeeee: :headbang:

*****************
The night I got stuck in the trees in Red Bank.

There was a good bite of bass and big blues in the river. Bunker were holed up by a bridge, and we were fishing the river banks, Cardoc, G, Rip, and I. :fishing:

We were fishing bunker chunks and heads, and you had to lob it out there. Unfortunately, the spots along the bank where we were had trees in certain areas. Well, those were the areas I wanted to fish. The other guys didn't seem to have problems with the trees as they were casting sidearm, or found an area where there were no trees. Me, always having to be the googan who marches to the different drummer, had to throw overhead.

First cast, I wiffed it and snagged a some leaves from above. You would think I would learn from that, as it wasn't that bad, just a few leaves. I should have moved up or down the river a few feet. But no, googan that I am, I had to repeat the same behavior. :bucktooth:

Got one cast out, got a hit, missed it. Brought it in to re-bait and toss again.

Well, I did it the 2nd time, and this time I got wrapped up in the tree branches. :embarassed:

It was a bad snag, I had to pull down half the branch to get the line out, while Cardoc, Rip, and G sat there laughing their azzes off. I think Joesfishinproblem was there too. There's no getting away from the ball busting when you're fishing a place where lots of other guys are, and you're the only one screwing up. Yup, I definitely deserved that. :beatin:

And yes, I was cursing and yelling at the tree. Not as bad as the guy Dewayne from SH, but probably close to that. When they award for dorkiness, stubbornness, and goog-tastic behavior, I definitely am a contender for the dillydock trophy. :o :laugh:

There was a poem about it in another thread. I copied it and am posting it here.

If you ever see me playing in a baseball game, make sure ya bet against me. :lookhappy:

Just to show ya that no one is immune from ball busting..... :d

DarkSkies at the Bat
By Ernest Lawrence Thayer Taken From the San Francisco Examiner - June 3, 1888

http://ops.tamu.edu/x075bb/poems/casey.jpg The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only DarkSkies could but get a whack at that —
We'd put up even money now, with DarkSkies at the bat."

But Flynn preceded DarkSkies, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat;
For there seemed but little chance of DarkSkies getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For DarkSkies, misguided DarkSkies, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in DarkSkies's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in DarkSkies's bearing and a smile lit DarkSkies's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas DarkSkies at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt.
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in DarkSkies's eye, a sneer curled DS's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And DS stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped —
"That ain't my style," said DS. "Strike one!" the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted some one on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Dark raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great DS's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;
But Dark still ignored it, and the umpire said "Strike two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from DS and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Dark wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer has fled from Dark's's lip, the teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of DS's blow. :eek:

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville — lunatic Dark has struck out. :wow: :embarassed: :ROFLMAO

6rcu8tNPYVE

Cardoc and Rip, you're next!! :laugh: :HappyWave:

cardoc765

01-20-2011, 09:05 AM

Uh Oh, Dark has some dirt on us LOL. Bring it on bring it on brother. I would love to hear your version of aquaman and the long walk at SH. :cool::cool::cool::cool::):):):):):d:d:d

DarkSkies

01-29-2011, 06:46 PM

Cardoc, the first one up will be dedicated to you, Rip, and your Indian and P/E&Cheese sandwich fetishes. :laugh:
The next one, still in development in my head, :kooky: will be about Cardoc and his alter-egoAquaman. :headbang:

******************
First things first....the story you are about to read is fiction (mostly). :rolleyes:
The characters, Cardoc, Darkskies, Rip, and the East Indian women who own and operate the Wilson Ave Deli in Union Beach...are (somewhat) real.

It's the middle of winter.
Guys are bored out of their minds.
We're gonna relax the accuracy requirements for these stories until the striped bass season starts in NJ.
Some of the material in the story may be offensive to folks. If you think you MIGHT be offended, change the channel right now! :) :moon:
And, for brevity, I combined a few of these stories together,,,they all happened at different times.
Annnnddddd.... I stole/borrowed some of the ideas from some of the crazyposts in the past few months. Without giving specific credit, a big "THANKS!" to all the members I borrowed ideas from. Your zaniness helped me put this together, couldn't have done it without you all providing the sparks! :clapping:

We have friends of all races and creeds here,. and so far we're comfortable with the ball bustin and good natured teasing. If ya can roll with it, read on. If ya can't, ya been warned ahead of time. :2flip:
EffumaLL!!!

**************************************

In the beginning..the early days!
Cardoc - grew up on a potato farm in Idaho. He was a simple boy, always helping his Dad in the fields, picking the potatos. His father also grew some spices in those fields, and tofu, and curry. He was a good lad, and did what he was told. The only problem is he had 4 brothers. These brothers were big, could have played linebacker for the Vikings. That created a problem around dinner time. If Cardoc wasn't quick at the dinner table, his brothers would eat all the food, leaving none for poor Cardoc. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png

Also, in isolated Idaho, there weren't many women around. Cardoc and his brothers used to look at the pics of the Indian women in the Bollywood magazines the Indian buyers used to leave behind, as they came to his Dad's farm to buy the curry and tofu. So, as a tot, cardoc fantasized about the glamorous Indian women in the magazines, while under his covers at night. :pig:

He grew up poor, hungry, skinny :laugh: and sad.....
Then one day, he moved to the East Coast. He got a job as a Cardoc, and met his beautiful girlfriend Mrs Cardoc. They eventually got married, and are now a great fishing team. :fishing:

But he never forgot about those Indian women in the Bollywood magazines. He had all these questions in his mind as a youth growing into a man....
Did Indian women actually taste like curry?
Did they shave their private areas and their armpits, or was it the natural smell and odor that only a full growth of hair can bring to the table?
What did they have under all those veils?
Did they have piercings anywhere else but their noses?

To all those questions, Cardoc, even though happily married, lied awake at night, pondering the answers....

Rip -
Rip came from a family of hard core city dwellers, having been born in Detroit, MI (the Motor City) Born into extreme poverty, Rip had several brothers and sisters. As the youngest, he always got the least amount of food to eat.

But Rip was a fighter, and a scrappy one at that. At one time he was the only white kid going to an all-black school. Most kids would have folded under that kind of pressure, but not Rip, no sir!
He learned to fight by fighting every day, down and dirty. :kicknuts:

And that's how he grew to like his women, dirty, dirtier, and dirtiest! :ROFLMAO

To protect himself from the Crips and the Bloods, Rip started hanging out with some of Detroit's most notorious gangs, the 67th street Punjabis, and the South Side Gujrats. They were some crazy dudes. From them he learned some great fighting moves, but also some great dance moves.

All along Rip fancied himself somewhat of a stud. His motto was: "We dive at 5, no muff too tough!"
He had relations with all the female hood rats in his area of Detroit, from 90lbs to 390lbs. :scared:

But the one thing he could never attain, was a Desi chick. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png
The 67st and S Side gangs accepted him as a Ghandi brotha, but the true Desi chicks weren't feelin it when he was doing those dance moves and curry boppin slickness. They didn't accept him as one of their own.

So....Rip moved East to NJ, found a nice girl (Mrs Rip :HappyWave:) settled down, and had some bambinos of his own. Yet....he still laid awake at night and fantasized about the Desi chicks he had never been able to know in the biblical sense. :d

DarkSkies

01-29-2011, 09:44 PM

Cardoc and Rip - Along the Road:
Cardoc and Rip ended up in NJ, and grew to love salt water fishing, any kind of fishin. Through the amazing properties of the Stripersandanglers.com web site, they came to meet each other.

They found out that they had similar, humble backgrounds, and an unfulfilled desire of what it would be like to be with a Desi Indian woman. Their PM messages on stripersandanglers soon grew to a shared friendship, where they would often fish together, had family get-togethers on Holidays, and a few drunken parties in between. :plastered:

Then somehow, through a controversial character, Darkskies, returning his fishing rod, Rip met the infamous Dark. :whoo:

Right away, Rip could tell that there was something wrong with Dark, that he was a little "off". But having grown up with gangs and crazies, Rip was willing to hang with this crazy guy to learn about different places and techniques for night fishin. Rip and Dark had similar backgrounds, they often joked how they were "brothers from another mother"

Dark and Rip went fishing a few times. Rip was into it, but he sometimes felt Dark was like a drill sergeant, marching him on many long walks in search of fish.

Rip much preferred tossing back a few beers and tossing clams while clam fishing for bass with Cardoc. However, they continued to fish with Dark because they had never met such an obsessive fisherman. Also, Dark was good for entertainment value, better than watching Comedy Central on cable. :ROFLMAO

The one thing that Cardoc and Rip shared, was their silent lust for the Desi chicks. They talked of women like these....

DarkSkies

01-29-2011, 09:50 PM

Cardoc and Rip - more Desi chicks they lusted after

DarkSkies

01-29-2011, 09:51 PM

Cardoc and Rip - the Fantasy meets the reality! :scared:

Cardoc, Rip and I were fishin one night. Around 8am, we decided it was time to head for home. We were hungry, and hit the Wilson Ave deli for their delicious :drool: $1.49 pork roll egg and cheese sammiches. Here's their version of what happened...

I went to Wilson Ave deli after fishing with Dark one morning. Well, he beat me there and just to eff with me he bought All of the sammiches they made. I believe there was about 6 and he bought them all.

The lady that owns the store
13125

saw that I wanted a sammich too and offered to make a fresh one for me and ever since Dark has been messing with me about the hot desi chick that made the sammich.

Personally, I think that he is just totally jealous and is living his own desi fetish through me. He has a closet desi fantasy going on. He's a little disturbed if you ask me.

After I bought all the sammiches, Cardoc walked in, and said he was hungry. Typical googan that he is, he's always late to the party. ;)
He grumbled something to the lady behind the counter. He said if she made him a special sammich, he would take her to the Taj Mahal.

13126

She smiled at him, gave him a smooch...
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when he saw her teeth he almost yakked all over the floor!
But, since he grew up on that potato farm, he learned never to say no when someone offers to make him food, no matter how bad their teeth are.

The problem was Rip, who was first in line. The wrinkled desi girl was now focusing her attention on Cardoc. So Rip got up on the counter, took his shirt off, and did his mad banana dance. At the end of it, the girl was swimming in her jeans, and said she would make the sammich for Rip first, and wanted to have his babies.

Cardoc, growing up so deprived of food, really wanted that sammich first, so he started yelling - "Dark it's all your fault! I'm too cool to dance, and I'll never do that dance that Rip does, it's gay!"

At this point, I felt like I was in an alternate reality, and skipped out of the Deli as Rip and Cardoc stood there bickering over the sammiches.

And that's the 100% natural, hairy, desi truth! :rolleyes:

As I left, I heard Rip singing the following music and dancing the banana dance: :laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44IFYB1icx0

DarkSkies

01-29-2011, 09:51 PM

Cardoc and Rip - Secrets from the Darkside.....:laugh:

Here's my advice to these 2 mooks Cardoc and Rip - drink more, and those average desi girls above will eventually look great! :cool: :HappyWave:

13127

dogfish

01-30-2011, 12:48 PM

:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:DS you are sicker than sick. I laughed my *** off, I hope there is some truth somewhere in your story or at least the sandwiches are good. I wish you put up a pic of rip doing the banana dance, youre all totally nutz.
And beer does help ugly people have sex, thats how I met my first girlfriend, she was a real bow wow.

storminsteve

01-30-2011, 01:06 PM

Story of the year!:headbang: :laugh: :clapping:
Brilliant dude, just brilliant. Next time you should bring a video camera. I want to see the real rip banana dance on youtube. You guys have no shame, you're twisted.:kooky:

jigfreak

01-30-2011, 06:36 PM

Cardoc - grew up on a potato farm in Idaho. He was a simple boy, always helping his Dad in the fields, picking the potatos. His father also grew some spices in those fields, and tofu, and curry. He was a good lad, and did what he was told. The only problem is he had 4 brothers. These brothers were big, could have played linebacker for the Vikings. That created a problem around dinner time. If Cardoc wasn't quick at the dinner table, his brothers would eat all the food, leaving none for poor Cardoc. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png

So he grew up poor, hungry, skinny :laugh: and sad.....

Rip -
Rip came from a family of hard core city dwellers, having been born in Detroit, MI (the Motor City) Born into extreme poverty, Rip had several brothers and sisters. He was the youngest, so he always got the least amount of food to eat.

To protect himself from the Crips and the Bloods, Rip started hanging out with some of Detroit's most notorious gangs, the 67th street Punjabis, and the South Side Gujrats. They were some crazy dudes. From them he learned some great fighting moves, but also some great dance moves.

See, all along Rip fancied himself somewhat of a stud. His motto was: "We dive at 5, no muff too tough!"
He had relations with all the female hood rats in his area of Detroit, from 90lbs to 390lbs. :scared:

But the one thing he could never attain, was a Desi chick. The 67st and S Side gangs accepted him as a Ghandi brotha, but the true Desi chicks weren't feelin it when he was doing those dance moves and curry boppin slickness. They didn't accept him as one of their own.

Man I don't know what to make of this. The idaho potato farm? probably bogus. Cardoc, are you still skinny like ds says?
Rip growing up in Detroit? Maybe, but in my whole life I never heard of Indian gangs, you have to be bsing on this one. You guys are off the wall for sure.:huh:
The story sounds like someone smoked a lot of pot before writing it, props for that.

rip316

01-30-2011, 08:12 PM

Man I don't know what to make of this. The idaho potato farm? probably bogus. Cardoc, are you still skinny like ds says?
Rip growing up in Detroit? Maybe, but in my whole life I never heard of Indian gangs, you have to be bsing on this one. You guys are off the wall for sure.:huh:
The story sounds like someone smoked a lot of pot before writing it, props for that.

Something is seriously wrong with Dark. I am totally speechless. :kooky::kooky::kooky:

Monty

01-30-2011, 08:45 PM

Something is seriously wrong with Dark. I am totally speechless. :kooky::kooky::kooky:

After that, well you really can't say anything, he said it all.... and then some. Wow.
:clapping::ROFLMAO:huh: :scared:

After 3 or 4 years of being a member of these fishing sites that is the single craziest post(s) I have ever read. :clapping:

finchaser

01-31-2011, 07:43 AM

Something is seriously wrong with Dark. I am totally speechless. :kooky::kooky::kooky:

What was your first clue ??????????????

surfstix1963

01-31-2011, 09:13 AM

:huh::huh::huh::huh::huh::huh: and I thought I was losing it sitting in my mancave playing with my wood all day:laugh:

cardoc765

01-31-2011, 11:25 PM

I have no idea where that all came from. Dark has a real creative mind I imagine. NONE of that is true by any means nor did RIP or I have anything to do with the writing of it. Confused, speechless, wow, is all i have to say.

rip316

02-01-2011, 12:07 PM

What was your first clue ??????????????

I wouldn't even know where to start.

rip316

02-01-2011, 12:10 PM

Here is my story about Dark.

Once upon a time in a land far far away, lived a little boy named Darkskies. One day his Mom came into the living room to check on little Darky and discovered him eating a whole bowl of paintchips.

The End

DarkSkies

02-01-2011, 07:34 PM

^^ Wow, world's shortest short story. :rolleyes: :) :HappyWave:

Hilarious, Rip!
I've probably eaten or smoked many unusual substances in my early years, paint chips, bong scrapings, bong water, peanut bunker, dead moths in half-empty beer bottles....
Things are pretty crazy in my world lately, too much stress.
I really needed to laugh today, your post filled the bill, bro. Feel free to take shots at me any time, it's all good. :clapping::clapping: :thumbsup:

************

First things first....the story you are about to read is fiction (mostly). :rolleyes:
The characters, Cardoc, Darkskies, Rip, and the East Indian women who own and operate the Wilson Ave Deli in Union Beach...are (somewhat) real.

Guys, I went back and highlighted this part in red. Reading is fundamental. :moon: :HappyWave:

...and I thought I was losing it sitting in my mancave playing with my wood all day:laugh:
Don't give me any ideas, bro. There's a wealth of comic material just in that sentence alone. :laugh: :HappyWave:
I could just as easily create a story about ya.... "Surfstix on the road lookin for bigwood!" ;) :rolleyes:

. Cardoc, are you still skinny like ds says?

Jigfreak, he's a long way from being skinny! :wheeeee:
He wants sympathy cause I swiped those sammiches before he got there, but believe me he eats well.
Truth be told, I ain't so skinny either. :embarassed:

What was your first clue ?????????????? :moon::p

NONE of that is true by any means nor did RIP or I have anything to do with the writing of it.
I highlighted the part above for you and Jigfreak, Cardoc. :) Refer to the quote in red. :HappyWave:

That story took a while to think it all out, so I'm glad ya's were entertained....
Cardoc as Aquaman is next on the plate! :cool:

jonthepain

02-01-2011, 10:26 PM

O

M

G

http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/word/omg.gif

Dark you've outdone yourself. That's frikin hysterical :laugh:

lostatsea

02-02-2011, 04:00 PM

Haha fantastically creative. I kind of wished that story was true. I would like to go there and see some hot Indian girls. Actually, to be honest. I never found an Indian girl that I would consider model quality. Those first sets of pics ds put up had some beauties in it. Keep those stories coming ds I am bored out of my mind today.

BassBuddah

02-02-2011, 08:48 PM

DS your "talents" should be shared with the world. Ever read mad magazine? You would fit right in on the staff there. Good stuff.:HappyWave:

seamonkey

02-04-2011, 11:46 AM

Jigfreak, he's a long way from being skinny! :wheeeee:[/COLOR]
He wants sympathy cause I swiped those sammiches before he got there, but believe me he eats well.
Truth be told, I ain't so skinny either. :embarassed:

You guys are nutz, lmao!:clapping::clapping::kooky::clapping:

cardoc765

02-14-2011, 07:03 PM

Dark, January came and went and there was no winner for the month. What happened? Did we even have a winner for Decemeber?

rip316

02-14-2011, 09:27 PM

I think Dark's story sucked. lmao. It wasn't true. I am not from Detroit and Cardoc was not raised on some potato farm. EFFUMALL. LMAO

bababooey

02-14-2011, 09:47 PM

I am not from Detroit and Cardoc was not raised on some potato farm. EFFUMALL. LMAO
Sorry to hear that. With your online persona, you reminded me of a larger than life character. I kind of thought of you as a rapper the way DS describes you. Something like eminem, but only with a crazy fisherman twist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_HW5MFAwyY&feature=related

I'm sad to see DS is such a bs artist, I'm shocked!:eek: :ROFLMAO Does that mean you grew up in NJ? Like Deal or Allenhurst, or Alpine, or Rumson where the richie riches live? Or LBI where the mansions are? Or did you grow up in a place like Newark or Camden. Inquiring minds want to know,:)

cardoc765

02-14-2011, 09:58 PM

I grew up in Plainfield NJ. Born and raised here. I am the oldest of 7 kids and my parents area still together. We have sunday dinner almost every week. All of us kids are married, we all fish, have kids, and I even have grand kids. Our kids fish as well. I live near the shore now with my wife so we can fish often.

rip316

02-15-2011, 08:58 PM

I am 38 years old, father of four and married. I was born in Elizabeth NJ ( DIRTY WATER CENTRAL) I grew up in Irvington NJ until I was 10 and then moved back to Elizabeth. Graduated HS from Union HS CLASS OF 90. I grew up very poor. My Dad made decent money but he spent it all on drugs and liquor. Both of my parents were druggies and alkies. Not a very good childhood but, I like to think that I have made it. Not a perfect person by no means but then again who is. Pretty strict with my kids, They do not run my house like some do. I don't mind slapping the $hit out of them when they need it. My 12 yr old daughter is the fishermen out of the four kids which the other 3 are boys, go figure. Finchaser actually built her a 7' G LOOMIS custom rod for her to use all because she told him that she was sad that he was sick. Well, that's more to the truth than me being from Detroit. Dark likes to bust our balls which is fine. Have to laugh at life or we will end up crying about it.

jonthepain

02-15-2011, 11:05 PM

Finchaser actually built her a 7' G LOOMIS custom rod for her to use all because she told him that she was sad that he was sick.

I am also sad that he was sick.

speedy

02-16-2011, 06:14 AM

i am sad too but from a little girl at that age it tells you some thing about the mom&dad thats a great thing man... wtg rip

rip316

02-16-2011, 06:33 AM

Go back to bed. To early to be complimenting me. I ususally don't get compliments until 730. hahahaha but seriously, thanks. My 10 yr. old son was sick yesterday afternoon, fever and a little vomiting. Katie called me to tell me what was going on and that I needed to go to CVS to get fever reducer for Aaron. I was at work and Mom had class. When I dropped the medicine off I told her I was going to take the rest of the night off but, she told me not to worry that she would take care of him. I took off anyway. These are the children I have raised. Great kids.

speedy

02-16-2011, 06:48 AM

katie likes purple my house reckers are great too

bababooey

02-16-2011, 07:24 AM

So you guys did kind of grow up in the hood, like eminem. Do any of you rap?;) :HappyWave:

rip316

02-16-2011, 10:00 AM

So you guys did kind of grow up in the hood, like eminem. Do any of you rap?;) :HappyWave:

I am definitely an Eminem fan and that's all ima say. Grew up basically the only white kid in class. Did my share of fighting. Can't let people bully you around or they won't stop ever. Did get my respect though.

jonthepain

02-16-2011, 08:02 PM

honkey

rip316

02-17-2011, 06:14 PM

honkey

LMAO. Honkey with plenty of street sense. My kids have it too. My wife and her two kids don't, they believe everything you tell them. So gullible. It's funny when her 2 try to BS me and get over and they can't and they get so mad. hahahahahahahahaha little Googans.

DarkSkies

02-18-2011, 09:46 PM

I am definitely an Eminem fan and that's all ima say. Grew up basically the only white kid in class. Did my share of fighting. Can't let people bully you around or they won't stop ever. Did get my respect though.
You remind me more of Mike D from the Beastie Boyz. This video was filmed on the SS of Long Island.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PLfjhQG97I&feature=relmfu
Test Question...
How many people were looking at it and after looking at the chick, thought....
Boy I wonder how good those jetties are to fish off at night? :fishing: :kooky: :)

honkey
Add whitebread and cracker to that, Rip wears many hats. :laugh:

LMAO. Honkey with plenty of street sense. My kids have it too. My wife and her two kids don't, they believe everything you tell them. So gullible. It's funny when her 2 try to BS me and get over and they can't and they get so mad. hahahahahahahahaha little Googans.
And you're the top dog in the googan family. Ya even brought your wife into the scam the last time ya played me.
(I can't slam ya any more than that cause you were so helpful last night, thanks again, bro. But you're still a goofy googan.);) :HappyWave:

DarkSkies

02-18-2011, 09:51 PM

I am also sad that he was sick.

We got plug ho's all over this site, is there such a thing as a rod ho?
How does one train for the job? :laugh: :clapping: :HappyWave:

DarkSkies

02-18-2011, 10:08 PM

Dark, January came and went and there was no winner for the month. What happened? Did we even have a winner for Decemeber?

I think Dark's story sucked. lmao. It wasn't true. I am not from Detroit and Cardoc was not raised on some potato farm. EFFUMALL. LMAO

I'm sad to see DS is such a bs artist, I'm shocked!:eek: :ROFLMAO

You guys need to brush up on your reading comprehension a bit. :HappyWave:

1. Read the first page again, it specifies the rules for giving out plugs.

Cardoc, by the time you read this, a plug will be on the way to your house anyway, cause I was feelin happy about you guys quitting smoking. I laid a few on Rip the other day, so I was thinking I might as well give him one for you. Go out and catch some bass or monster bluefish on it, I want to see pics of a beat up plug and a happy Cardoc! :drool:
(And....the next time you're catching small bluefish in the bay, and I call ya and tell ya to get your azz to another spot for the gators, get your azz in gear dude! I'm filming some of the site members this year for candid shots, so get ready!)

2. As for the embellishments in the Rip/Cardoc story, I went with some of the background info I had on them and embellished to make it larger than life. All that was clearly stated in the first paragraph of the story. If anyone doesn't like the way it got written, I'll buy ya a box of kleenex. :laugh:
I know ya's are just busting, ya can bust me all ya want. Don't make any difference, I'll still write the stories when I'm motivated.

Any more questions, or complaints?
Follow the signs to the complaint dept....:2flip: :moon: :headbang: right this way to the EFFUMALL club.

DarkSkies

04-15-2011, 07:13 AM

I wanted to post this answer Steve gave. I found it hilarious. :clapping::clapping: We're a little light on stories lately, so I thought this, albeit short, could qualify.

All you other mooks and googans out there, it doesn't take much to come up with a story. Like Cardos, says, "don't be shy, give it a try" :thumbsup:

And thanks Steve for the laughs! :clapping: :HappyWave:

*********************

Finchaser, I consider you to be one of the great sharpies out there (honestly) so please correct me if I am wrong on this, It's a theory I have developed over the years -

AN ebb tide only happens once every blue moon. It has to be 3 days past the full moon, and the moon has to have just the slightest hint of blue. If it is too white, the ebb will not set up properly and the fish will not know you are looking for them.

How to find it? Go out when you see the moon I described, walk near a river that leads to the sea. When you get to the bay, you might see some unusual things, for example surfstix floating out of his local inlet.:laugh: Continue past surfstix until you hear the bunker slapping at the surface. They will be at the very edge of the ebb tide beginning. Then walk out to the transition where the rocks meet the mud and sand, The king size striped bass will be sitting there waiting to be caught.

But on this night, and this night only, they can't be caught with bait. You can only catch them by putting a milky way bar on the hook, and reeling very slowly. You heard the saying the cows jumped over the moon? Well if you give them a milky way bar they will be jumping all over it, and you will get the fish of a lifetime.

Oh, and one more thing, you will only catch them if you are whistling "Oh Susanna" while you are reeling in.

Try it and let us know how you do, it really works.:thumbsup:

*********************
Cardoc and Rip, I hope you are still doing ok with the not smoking. Good luck and best wishes. Keep up the good work. You'll live longer. :HappyWave:

storminsteve

04-15-2011, 05:43 PM

You'e quite welcome dark. It's the least I can do, for all you do. :headbang:
And I was thinking about checking out an open mike night sometime. It's a little intimidating in front of a live audience. It seems much easier here on the internet. Thanks for the suggestion.

bluesdude71

04-25-2011, 03:00 PM

That was very creative steve, enjoyed it! Picturing surfstix floating down an inlet, I hope at least he knows how to swim, or is not big and fat?:scared: ;)

Here is a story I found called A Fish Story, but it has pics to back it up. Can a catfish be a participant in this thread? Let me know if not appropriate, dark.:HappyWave:

A guy who lives at Lake Conroe (50 miles north of Houston ) saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in the lake and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish that had apparently tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!!
The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to, because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The guy tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish.
You probably wouldn’t have believed this, if you hadn’t seen the following pictures:
http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish1.jpg (http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish1.jpg)
http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish2.jpg (http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish2.jpg)
http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish3.jpg (http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish3.jpg)
http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish4.jpg (http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish4.jpg)
http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish5.jpg (http://www.emailvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fish5.jpg)
Be kinder than necessary because everyone bites off more than they can chew sometime in life…

crosseyedbass

04-25-2011, 03:13 PM

krazy katfish!

DarkSkies

04-29-2011, 10:59 AM

As posted by Finchaser. I thought this was a great example of the positive kinds of things that we want to have here about fishing. Thanks, Fin. :HappyWave:

If you've never caught a Striper before or are perhaps on the fence and waiting for it to get better, it's does not get much better than it is now.
Grab a friend or your kids and get out there!! The fish are all over the place from the rivers and bays to the ocean. Jump on with one of our sponsor boats and create some memories.

Here is an article I dusted off on Spring Striper fishing. Enjoy

I was fishing with Bill Devito on the Destiny II out of Lenoardo on 4/29/06. We started out around 11 and set up on the edge of the Swash channel clamming. No Chum, just fresh clams. Well, sorta fresh. One of the reasons Bill had even considering going in a NE blow was because he had some clams on the boat from earlier in the week and it would have been a shame to let them go to waste.

We fished on the edge of the Swash for an hour or so and only had one Rat to show for it so Bill decided to make a move into shallower water up on the Shoal. Wasn't log before we had a few fish on board. A few in the teens and one that went about 20 pounds. I had a real nice fish on but my knot gave out. I retied everything and caught a few more Rats.

Must have been around 3:30 or 4 or so when I reeled up my line to check the bait. The Rats must have picked the ribbons off the clam bait since all that I had left was the tongue. It was getting late and Bill and I talked about leaving so I didn't even bother to put a new clam on. I just threw it back over and put the pole in the rod holder in free spool with the clicker on. This was my first trip of the year and it was good to be back out on the water after a long winter. I just sat back, enjoyed the sun and nice cold beer and took it all in.

I was screwing around doing something and noticed my pole tip bouncing. You know… the telltale twitch-twitch you get before the clicker starts screaming. I picked up the pole, put it in the 3:00 position and let her take a little more line. Once she started running I set the hook and could feel it was a decent fish. This is the first one of the day that stayed down rather then come to the surface. She was peeling line off the little AVET SX pretty good and I said half joking to Bill "Maybe we should come off the anchor and run this fish down". We both kind of shrugged it off and I continued to gain some line here and there between some long clicker screaming runs. Bill mentions the boat record is 28 pounds and we start to get excited. Must have been 10 minutes or so when she finally came boat side.

I couldn't believe my eyes!! I knew she was big but I had no idea how big. Bill gets the big net and I steer her into it head first. She's bigger then the net so Bill lifts the net up and she folds up into the net. He tries to lift her over the side with the end of the net handle and she's too heavy. I bend over and grab the frame of the net and horse her up over the gunnel and laid her down on the deck. WOW!! This is the biggest Striper I’ve seen…….
Bill gets the Boga grip and the fish buries the scale..... As he goes into the cabin to look for a heavier scale I'm looking down at her think "Do I keep this fish"?? We put her on a heavier spring scale and she weights 40. We put her on the Berkley electronic scale and she's 39. After that I turn to say to Bill "Maybe we should keep her". With out hesitation Bill says "Nah we should really let her go" I thought about it and said " Yep Bill you're right". So now we set her back in the water to try and revive her.

It's not looking real good. She's tired and not really breathing. I have her by the gill plate and can't really get her in the current the way I’d like so we decide to put her in the net. She still does not seem to be recovering so Bill calls Frank Tenore who’s fishing a short distance from us. Frank suggests sticking the salt water wash down hose down her mouth. I try and tilt the net to get her head up so we can hit her with the hose. She flops out of the net and makes one strong swoosh of her broom size tail and swims off.

Man.... I'm so glad we released that fish. We were really bummed when it didn't look like she'd make it. Once the Adrenaline wore off I’m sure the ride back to the dock would have been pretty somber seeing a beautiful fish like that lying dead on the deck.

Once back at the Marinas Bill and I started commiserating…. I probably could have won the annual dock pool with that fish or maybe even had a place in the Fisherman Magazine Dream Boat standings for a month. But you know what? Returning that fish to the sea and seeing her swim off was a more of a rush then catching her.

Man I can’t wait to get back out there. I’ll bet she has a few older sisters

rockhopper

05-19-2011, 12:28 AM

I really liked that catfish story, I bet he was one crabby catfish until that ball got taken out of his mouth!

rockhopper

05-19-2011, 12:33 AM

I read this story last week.Charles Church got a 73lb striped bass from a rowboat off of Cuttyhunk in 1913. I hope you can use it here, Dark.

Massachusetts Striper Record.
13487

Charles Church 1913

Charles B. Church, Gosnold, Massachusetts
Date - August 17, 1913
Weight - 73 lbs. Length - 5 ft. Girth - 30 ½ in.
Where Caught - Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts
Rod - Abbie and Imbrie, 6 ft. 6 in., 11 oz. bamboo
Reel - J.B. Crook Line - 15-thread Hall
Lure - Live eel

The massachusetts striped bass record was matched by Charles Cinto in 1967 and Anton Stetzko Jr. 1981

rockhopper

05-19-2011, 12:37 AM

http://travel.nytimes.com/2004/10/22/travel/escapes/22FISH.html

A little bit about Cuttyhunk

Cuttyhunk was put on the map in the angling world by the Cuttyhunk Island Striped Bass Club, founded by New York and Philadelphia millionaires who bought most of the island in 1864. Their club was originally established on Sakonnet Point, R.I., but then the members discovered the more fertile waters to the east and built the club building that still stands on Cuttyhunk's south shore (it now operates as an inn). One photograph from 1902 shows several members of the club, including President Theodore Roosevelt; William Howard Taft, whose presidency was still ahead of him; and John D. Archibold, heir to the Standard Oil fortune. To communicate with their city offices while on fishing trips, the men used carrier pigeons. Today's visitors find that cellphone service is spotty.

Meals and wines at the club were, as one would imagine, extravagant, but the primary reason for being there was the pursuit of striped bass, a beautiful silvery fish with dark horizontal stripes that extend from the end of the gill plate to the tail.
Long wooden platforms anchored by iron spikes into the large boulders on the shore provided casting "stands" for the club members, who each had a "chummer" — a man with a bucket of lobster tails and chopped up menhaden (a baitfish in the herring family) that he would throw into the water to summon the fish.

The angler who caught the largest striped bass each year was pronounced the "High Hook." The fish that won an angler the position of "High Hook" usually ranged from 50 to 60 pounds, but in 1913 a club member caught an exceptional fish. News of Charles B. Church's 60-inch, 73-pound world record striped bass, caught in Vineyard Sound (actually just off neighboring Nashawena Island) from a small wooden skiff, enhanced Cuttyhunk's reputation as the best striped bass fishing destination in the world.

basshunter

05-19-2011, 05:30 PM

Very cool story, thanks for posting! I want to try fishing at Cuttyhunk someday!

DarkSkies

06-28-2011, 08:50 AM

Thanks Steve, Bluesdude, Fin, Rockhopper, and everyone else for your efforts. :thumbsup:

Time to jump-start this thread a little.
I know there are lots of original stories out there. I believe every one of ya's has a story or 2 inside ya's! :cool:

All it takes is a few sentences, and there ya have it.
Here's an example, look for an even better one the next time I get a chance...I'll be calling it "Jetty Gremlins at night"....:scared: :laugh:

The story of the plug that (almost) got away....
I was fishin one of the jetties last week. The bunker had been around, everyone went home when they slid offshore. I was looking for that stray fish or 2 that could have still been around.

I get out to the end of a rockpile, and I see a guy I've come to know. When I first met him 2 months ago he was bait fishing bunker with wire leader. I kind of yelled at him, asking him what the hell he was using wire leader for. :beatin:

He said: "because there are bluefish!"

"There are no bluefish out here at night!" I barked at him...."That wire leader will stop you from catching fish." :learn:
"Do me a favor", I said..."Get rid of that wire leader, and for 2 weeks, try fishing with just a heavy mono leader. Try it and see if you catch more fish...if you don't, then you can go back to that frikkin wire leader"

That's how I am with people sometimes, I'm blunt and to the point. That may offend some people, but at least I'm honest,,,if people ask for my help, I'll do the best I can to see why they're not catchin, and put them into fish. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.png

The next time I saw him was 2 weeks later. He ran up to me, and excitedly said: "I did what you recommended, took off the wire leader, and I got 2 fish on 2 different nights! One was 45", and one was 46"" :clapping::clapping:

As I said, I may sound a bit harsh sometimes, but if you're doing it wrong, whether it's bait fishing, or fishing with artificials, you'll never know the fish are there.
Glad to see him open to suggestion, and he learned from that too. :thumbsup:

So fast forward to that most recent night. We were both out there, no one else fishin the rocks in either direction.... :)

He lost a brand new yo-zuri big popper because his leader was too light. He had been looking for it, and couldn't find it. I spotted it out there in the swell, about 70' out.
We both started casting for it, but because of the swell (there had been storms earlier), we couldn't get a flat piece of water to snag it. We both tried for about 10 minutes with no success.

(I recalled that the last time someone lost their plug, Pebbles was with me and was able to snag it on the first cast, when we couldn't.) http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon11.png So this situation became ironic, and I knew if she were there she would have been laughing at us. :ROFLMAO

With all respect to her, we would have nailed the plug if the swell weren't so big, as the plug kept moving with the swell.

The end of day was coming soon, we were losing light. Frustrated with the effort, this guy, decided he was going to jump off the rocks and swim for it. :kooky:

I thought about talking him out of it, but before I could say anything he was down to his shorts and jumped out there....it was a few nervous minutes as I pointed the rod to the area of the plug to give him a better idea where it was amongst the rollers.
He maneuvered in the sea for a few minutes :eek: finally grabbed it, and made it back safely to the rocks.

I knew that if he started to drown, it would be my responsibility to jump in and save him, as no one else was around.

As he got back onto the rocks, I was kind of lecturing him....
"Dude, that plug was worth $25 at most. If you drowned getting that plug, that means your life would be worth $25. Don't you have kids and a wife at home? Don't you think your life is worth more than $25?" :beatin:

He answered:
"Rich, I didn't want you to worry about me. I knew exactly what I was doing. I surf sometimes, and I also free-dive in water like that, so I can hold my breath for a few minutes. I have been out in rocks like that before, and know how to get back to shore if I get into trouble, so please don't worry, I did know what I was doing"

That explanation seemed fair enough. He was more advanced than I thought he was. My biggest concern was the swell from the storm, otherwise it wasn't that bad out there. And people skish in that kind of water all the time.

So we had a few laughs, and I took a pic of him with his "trophy" plug. :laugh:
(I'll post a cropped pic here when I get a chance. )

I tell ya, it's always an adventure, out on those rocks... ;)

bababooey

06-30-2011, 01:30 AM

As he got back onto the rocks, I was kind of lecturing him....
"Dude, that plug was worth $25 at most. If you drowned getting that plug, that means your life would be worth $25. Don't you have kids and a wife at home? Don't you think your life is worth more than $25?" :beatin:

I would never jump in off of a jetty to retrieve a plug, that seems way too dangerous to me. If that happens, you just chalk it up to error, and hope whoever finds it gets a nice fish on it. My .02.

DarkSkies

06-30-2011, 10:00 AM

That's what makes this world the great place it is, Bababooey...to each his own. :HappyWave:
As I said, I was nervous watching this guy, but after he explained his level of competence, felt a bit better.

stripermania

06-30-2011, 12:28 PM

I would have swam for it, as long as there was still day light.

wish4fish

06-30-2011, 12:31 PM

i wud jump in too

baitstealer

06-30-2011, 12:53 PM

I thought it was a cool story, that guy definitely has brass balls. Thanks for sharing darkskies.

williehookem

09-16-2011, 12:08 PM

John Skinner got this in Oct 2010. I hope it's ok to post it here. The man writes a heck of a story. I found myself hanging on every word. Congratulations John on a well-deservedf record!:clapping::clapping:

Surf-Caught New York State Record False Albacore - by John Skinner

For a few weeks each October, I forget about stripers to target false albacore on the North Shore beaches. We had a good run in 2009, but the cold shut it down early and we were hampered by one nor'easter after another. The last day I had them was between storms, and it was a tough day that took about an hour of casting for each hit.

I had already landed one, which was enough to keep me casting. When a guy upwind of me lit up a cigar, I moved upwind of him to get out of the smoke. Within a few casts with my green #2 Deadly ****, I connected with a surface explosion that didn't seem larger than usual, but the resulting run felt like I had hooked a speeding boat. I was using a 7-foot, 12-pound class Fin-nor rod, and a Penn 440 spooled with plenty of 20-pound Tuf-Line XP braid.

The main braid was backed by some older braid, and finally some 12-pound mono. I had already landed 72 albies in the preceding weeks without ever coming close to the backing, but this time was different. I felt uneasy as I watched the first backing knot fly through the guides. It was 20-pound braid to 20-pound braid. I wasn't too worried about that knot, but I was scared to death of the next one. A clicking sound indicated that the mono-braid knot was going through the guides, yet the fish still hadn't slowed down. I backed down immediately on the drag to accommodate the 12-pound test line. This was the first time I had ever had a braid/mono splice go off the reel. I knew I was finished at that point. There wasn't much line left, the fish was very far away, still going, and about to cross some rocks to my right that had cut off plenty of screaming albies.

"This one wins." I figured. Then my luck changed. A set of big waves swept in from the east, and as the fish hit them, it turned and started running west and into the current. As the fish crossed in front of me and way out, I carefully began putting some of the mono back on the reel. I followed the fish as it kept going west, gaining line slowly as I went along. I felt better getting all of the mono back on the reel, and in another minute or so, the older braid. Then the fish took off to the northwest. Out went the first backing knot again, but this time the spool stopped spinning a few revolutions short of the mono. I continued to follow west, pumping precious line onto the spool as I carefully maintained a safe amount of pressure. Other anglers stopped casting so I could pass by. I knew there were no more obstructions to deal with as long as the fish stayed its course.

When I was within a hundred feet of the fish, it turned and headed back east. I reeled quickly to keep slack out of the line, and when it crossed in front of me, I could see its fins slicing the water. It looked strange to me because I had never seen an albie with so much space between the dorsal and tail. In a few more pumps I could see the entire silver and green football-shaped form in the wave faces. I couldn't believe the size. It wasn't thrashing the way they usually are, just rhythmically cutting the water. I yelled to my friend Mike (the Astronomer) to get my camera, figuring if he was ready with the camera when I landed it, we could get pictures quickly and then release it.

Sizeable waves were coming in and I timed a horizontal pull on the rod with an approaching roller to surf the fish onto the shore. I hoisted it immediately for a quick picture, and then repositioned it for a horizontal shot. The fish was hooked solidly in the jaw, and it took some effort to get the hook out. I had a Boga scale in my truck, but there was no time to get it and still have a chance to save the fish, so I plunged it back into the water to try to revive it. Then I tried again and again, but it was bleeding and just too spent. I decided to keep the inedible tuna and give it to a friend for shark bait. There were a couple of experienced albie guys there at the time, and all agreed they'd never seen one that big. I definitely hadn't seen anything close. Someone wondered what the state record was.

On the way home I bumped into Rick Girzadis, and he put it on his digital scale. It went 15 pounds 11 ounces. I put it on my digital scale at home and got 16 pounds 6 ounces. I couldn't find a NYS record for false albacore online, but saw that the Connecticut record of 14.7 pounds had stood since 2000. It was too late to hit a tackle shop, so I iced the fish.

The next morning I emailed Fred Golofaro, who oversees the NYS saltwater records. He indicated that there wasn’t a current NYS record albie listed, but if I had one over 15 pounds, one would be initiated. I made a few calls and located a recently county-certified scale at Smiths Point Bait and Tackle. Mike and Craig had the scale ready when I got there, and it registered 16.4 pounds, which was in agreement with my digital. The fish was 33 inches long. They helped me complete the weigh-in sheet. I had it notarized at a bank and sent it off to Fred. The catch was made in mid-October, and the certification arrived in early February.

There was a “teachable moment” in the story of this catch – you need enough line to handle the most unexpected of circumstances. Once I was into the mono backing, my odds of landing the fish decreased substantially. It was due only to the luck of the fish changing directions that I was bailed out of my carelessness. I’m diligent about this when it comes to stripers, and always start with a 300-yard spool of braid. Twice in my life I’ve seen half of a Penn 706 spool empty of braid as a cow striper surged seaward. Knowing there was no backing knot in sight was one less thing to think about in the middle of those dramatic runs. What I always felt was the larger fish of those two encounters won the battle by cutting the leader on a rock. The somewhat lesser powered fish turned out to be a 50-pound plus bass.

The big albie remains in my freezer, while I decide whether I go through the expense of taking it to a taxidermist, or send it off to a piece by piece burial at sea in an offshore chum slick. Thanks go out to Craig and Mike for helping with the weigh-in, and tons of thanks go out to Fred for working with the DEC to complete the certification. Finally, I’d like to thank the guy fishing next to me that day who lit up the smelly cigar. Had I not moved to get out of the smoke cloud, I would probably have never connected with that fish!

jigfreak

09-16-2011, 05:53 PM

That got me pumped. Right on the edge he was with landing that fish. wtg, dude.

Pebbles

09-17-2011, 09:00 PM

This is a reminder to all that these stories are not judged by one's ability to write. It is about the story itself. This way everyone has a fair chance.

DarkSkies

10-17-2011, 11:51 AM

JimmyZ posted this on the site earlier in the year. I thank him for that :HappyWave: and thought this could also be part of our "Story of the Month" thread. Thanks JimmyZ!! :clapping::thumbsup:

********************
While driving home from New Haven last night, a memory from years gone by entered my head. I often think about dad, and the times we went fishing together, many, many moons ago. It seems like another lifetime, a time when younger and free from the anxieties that one has. Years ago, my dad had a boat in Sheepshead Bay, Bklyn. In the summer dad would take out charters, and i would mate. I loved this opportunity to get out on the ocean and fish. I have developed a strong passion for being by the water and doing what I love to do, that being fishing.

So, last night was no different than other times, thinking about days gone by, and my fishing times. But this night I thought about a cold day in March, with my kid brother Tommy.

During the winter months, dad left the boat in the water, as many at the marina did. Dad would go down to the Parkway Marina every weekend to check on her, it was what was done. It was a decent boat as boats go, a 35' sports fisherman. It fished six comfortably.

On this day though, in March, I wanted to fish, as a I always did. So dad got us some blood worms, a can of corn and a therom of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. We always had the DD coffee on those cold days. Back at that time there weren't many DD's around, but the one on Emmons Ave. was the one we all knew.

It was pre St. Patricks day, the official/unofficial opening of flounder season. A time when there weren't the opening and closing of season's like we have today. One wanted to go fishing and they just went. What a blessing that was, especially for a youngster with the urge to fish!

Dad dropped us off, on the Manhattan Beach side of the walk bridge that spanned the bay. A spot that we knew was productive this time of the year. There were a few locals lined along the rail, all braving the cold. We baited out hooks with the cut up blood worms, and topped the worm off with a couple of corn kernels. And as soon as the bait hit the bottom, it was, tap. tap tap. I thought, this is gonna be a good day. I myself had high hook, with the locals just looking on. A wonderful feeling for a youngster with a passion for fishing. The flounders were fat, with a couple of herring mixed in.

I think back of these times, with less regulations, more fish and just a different feeling about this thing we do. A time when the fish were more abundant than they are today. I thank God for the fond memories, of the days gone by. Carefree times of my youth.

DarkSkies

10-17-2011, 11:54 AM

Met an old timer recently, he's the one whose bike I took pics of.
He had a lot of great stories. One of them was being 12 years old, and going out to the jetties at low tide to get lost fishing tackle that he and his buiddies would use to fish with.

The jetties were not notched then, this was back in the 70's.
And they were not as well put-together as they are now.

I'll leave these paragraphs as the intro, and finish this post when I get a chance.

finchaser

10-17-2011, 08:24 PM

I could win this by writing about fishing with AL the Googan but it wouldn't be fair to the others on this site.

DarkSkies

10-18-2011, 08:44 AM

^^ Yup there's never a dull moment when fishing with me. If there was such a thing as googan fishing on TV, I would be rich! :laugh: That's why I mostly fish alone, preventing many of my googan ways from being discovered. ;)

7deadlyplugs

01-05-2012, 08:24 AM

97lb woman catches a goliath grouper 3 times her size!
Dark I know you want original stories here, but I felt this one was too good not to post. Delete it if you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGlofivnVw0&feature=relmfu

DarkSkies

04-06-2012, 07:04 PM

True story..... (complete with ethnic characterizations....:) )

An old Italian guy walks into Castaways B&T in Point.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?5299-NJ-small-business-spotlight-November-2009-Castaways-Bait-amp-Tackle-Point-Pleasant

This happened yesterday....
Just before this, Finchaser and Joe had been talking about what the bunker meeting 4-5-12 could mean to tackle shops....if bunker get to the point where they are being sold for $5 each......what will happen to the older retired folks who like to fish with bunker.....?

He asks Joe for some bunker for crabbing (crabbing has been pretty darn good lately, BTW)

Joe only has some frozen bunker...he throws it at the guy (you know how those Eye-talians can be)....:laugh:

The old man says. "How much?"
Joe says....nah, no charge....I can't charge you for old frozen bunker!

The old man insists...
"But I wanna paya you...how mucha is it?"

Joe says:
"OK, 10c!"

The old Eye-talian man puts 30c on the counter and walks away..
Joe yells at him...
"Hey I tolda you 10c...NOT 30c....now you're a making me mad!"

So the old man takes 2 of his dimes back.....:ROFLMAO

True story.....as could only be told by another Eye-talian, Finchaser, the original OGB.....:cool::cool:

seamonkey

04-07-2012, 07:02 AM

Very nice. There are still some good guys around. You said this guy Joe was an old fart. How old is he?

finchaser

04-07-2012, 10:32 AM

69 he's one of my best friends been fishing together since 73

DarkSkies

05-03-2012, 02:13 PM

Garrett has the trip of a lifetime April 15,2012.
This was sent in by Jim, a guy I know. I beleive he was on this trip.
Courtesy of Jim and Reel Music Sportfishing. I thought it was a great story, thanks for sharing it with us, Jim. :HappyWave:

Raining stripers 4/15

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1qtSVSek6ww/T4uYWeu5kKI/AAAAAAAABQY/RrBoUg1pyAg/s320/013.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1qtSVSek6ww/T4uYWeu5kKI/AAAAAAAABQY/RrBoUg1pyAg/s1600/013.JPG)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wIszzmyvO-c/T4uXoAJqCAI/AAAAAAAABQA/4kXe2L8HWV8/s320/015.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wIszzmyvO-c/T4uXoAJqCAI/AAAAAAAABQA/4kXe2L8HWV8/s1600/015.JPG)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lFabDVA7lZ0/T4uXZsXUyCI/AAAAAAAABP0/Fo3lGhXi7UM/s320/011.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lFabDVA7lZ0/T4uXZsXUyCI/AAAAAAAABP0/Fo3lGhXi7UM/s1600/011.JPG)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vZJEXsiu4UQ/T4uXN6ZSKCI/AAAAAAAABPo/kf9lxKPihlU/s320/009.JPG (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vZJEXsiu4UQ/T4uXN6ZSKCI/AAAAAAAABPo/kf9lxKPihlU/s1600/009.JPG)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0or7gnnl6WQ/T4uW46BtVaI/AAAAAAAABPc/9r4tJZdPH00/s320/010.JPG (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0or7gnnl6WQ/T4uW46BtVaI/AAAAAAAABPc/9r4tJZdPH00/s1600/010.JPG)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vtwoY0TJYKg/T4uWs4lmQWI/AAAAAAAABPQ/94D21MBZkOM/s320/007.JPG (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vtwoY0TJYKg/T4uWs4lmQWI/AAAAAAAABPQ/94D21MBZkOM/s1600/007.JPG)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3hw2lHzDcI4/T4uWaBkMwBI/AAAAAAAABPE/cEENT3L_ot0/s320/005.JPG (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3hw2lHzDcI4/T4uWaBkMwBI/AAAAAAAABPE/cEENT3L_ot0/s1600/005.JPG)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eNBcpuolRIQ/T4uWOnGjH4I/AAAAAAAABO4/qCsB_-4nQuk/s320/004.JPG (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eNBcpuolRIQ/T4uWOnGjH4I/AAAAAAAABO4/qCsB_-4nQuk/s1600/004.JPG)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-35UutrxyxDI/T4uV7c706dI/AAAAAAAABOs/FqFzEkkzIdE/s320/003.JPG (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-35UutrxyxDI/T4uV7c706dI/AAAAAAAABOs/FqFzEkkzIdE/s1600/003.JPG)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xq8omheognE/T4uVvrRRQzI/AAAAAAAABOg/fKAURD4jy8A/s320/001.JPG (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xq8omheognE/T4uVvrRRQzI/AAAAAAAABOg/fKAURD4jy8A/s1600/001.JPG)
Had to be raining stripers tonight , for the boat to fill up so quick.But the night definetly didnt start out that easy for Dave, Garrett, Greg and Jimmy. I knew the area I had wanted to work tonight, but the marks were very scattered and while a few of my friends were picking up some trolling we had only put one striper in the box after a few hours . A few times bird life built and it looked like something was going to happen , only for it to break up quick. The birds had continued to look hard while moving south by the hundreds , making us look even harder for that flurry to start , way too much life for a good chew not to happen . We had just moved south of the area when I got a call to look North where we had all just been . There was the cloud we were looking for , and we ran there as quick as my boat would move. I was determined to get us on

**
Attached is a link to my friend, Capt. Capt. Dan, of Reel Music Sportfishing’s blog. He has photos of our bass trip on Sun night posted there.

The kid pictured in the photos from our trip on Sun 4-15 is an 11-year old child with a severe speech disorder that prevents him from being able to communicate verbally beyond simple words or word pairs. Before the trip, his father cautioned us that he doesn’t smile or show much emotion. According to his Father, he rarely speaks as he has difficulty being able to get the words out in a coherent manner.

When Garrett climbed aboard the boat, he was timid and unsure. However, as he signed with hands toward the water and tried to speak the word “Sha” .. I soon realized that he was trying to ask whether there were sharks in the water around the marina? I reassured him that there were none & we headed out to try to find him a bass. After a couple of hours of searching, we just couldn’t find the fish or bait we needed.

As a last ditch effort, we put out the trolling plugs, and we managed to troll a single 33” fish that Garrett landed. This made him and his Father ecstatic, but we knew we would get better action as the gannets, gulls and other sea birds in the area were starting to gather.

Suddenly the birds gathered en masse to the North of us, and we ran full speed to get into the melee before the feeding frenzy was over. Once we got Garrett into the middle of a full blown striped bass blitz with birds whirling around and stripers rolling around the boat, the kid couldn’t stop smiling. As he reeled in and released fish after fish, he kept signing and telling me “Garrett Happy.”

When you check out the pictures you will see that this fishing trip was almost therapeutic for a child this normally sullen and non-communicative child. He was smiling and effectively talking to his new friends, Capt. Dan & Capt. Jimmy, all night long. His Father was so happy to see his kid react the way that he did, and it was great to see them be able to share some quality time in a way that I am sure they will both remember for a long time as we landed & released well over 80 bass (up to 35 lbs.) in about 2 hours of non-stop action.

What a spectacular night of fishing and what a spectacular kid!

- JC

http://reelmusicsportfishing.blogspot.com/

cowherder

05-03-2012, 04:00 PM

:clapping: What a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing that.

BassBuddah

05-14-2012, 03:50 PM

That was one of the stories that relates to what fishing is all about. Great read.

baitstealer

05-14-2012, 04:10 PM

Thank you for posting. Inspiring!

DarkSkies

05-15-2012, 06:38 PM

Inshore Trifecta....... or Failure?
A Night of Adrenalin.....

A friend of mine from LI went fishing on the South Shore last night. He and a lot of other folks there have been running into slip gut which hampers their fishing. Tom, undeterred, went out anyway. I thought this story was great and so full of action it jumps off the page at you.....

Posted courtesy of TomG....awesome report, Tom. :clapping: :HappyWave:

**********
Got home last night to great looking conditions- had a career decision to make, put together a piece of furniture, then go fishing, or go fishing then put together furniture? Home around 7:00pm with low tide around 9:30pm. Decided to go out right away.

Quick bite and in the surf by 7:30.

Slight S wind, some weeds but not too bad, nice chop and water color and nice rips to fish. Started off with a bomber / teaser. On my second stop as I was just about to pull the bomber out of the water- in a split second I saw a fin coming at it- it happened so fast I couldn't stop myself from pulling the bomber out of the water and as it was almost fully out the fish nailed it! Great site to see. Small but feisty fish. After he grabbed the back of the bomber he danced on his tail for a while- what a blast.

Worked the area for a while for no more hits. Made two more stops for no more hits and decided to change up my plug after my next stop then work my way home with a bottle plug. Next stop, 1st cast in tight to the jetty I get drilled! Nice sized keeper - makes a few jumps straight out then starts peeling line. Get it stopped and turned then it makes another run towards the rocks. I put some pressure on and realize it's actually a little bigger then I first thought. Then the fish does something I've never had happen before -- it starts jumping again- one, two , three jumps- RIGHT ONTO THE JETTY! Thought I'd lose it right away but got him off and he started swimming to shore-- got the line tight again then lost him- pulled the hook.

Nothing to do but tip my hat and smile- it was a great fight and I lost.

Well, not changing the lure now, threw a few more casts in the area not expecting much because of the ruckus but about 5 casts later the I get a BIG hit. The lure wasn't drilled- more just grabbed-- it actually felt like a log at first- then a few big head shakes - I decided to hit it again - set hard again and the fish took off. It felt like one of the bigger fish I've had on . Drag screaming, fish went straight out on a very long run. Finally got it stopped and turned, picked up a bunch of line, getting ready for another run, it takes off again-- line screaming, starting to get it stopped then NOTHING! Spit the hook.

Damn!! Reel in and sharpen up my hooks. Few more casts in the area, nothing doing. Decide to head to one more spot. Get to the next spot, 1st cast, 2 cranks and ENGULFED! Same thing, fish just inhaled the lure - I set the hook hard and it just sat there shaking it's head a few times. This one is,without a doubt in my mind ,the biggest fish I've had - I actually yelled out " OH MY GOD! YEAAAAHHH!!!!" Fish slowly starts to take line, rod fully engaged, then it really starts to peel line -- my heart's racing, I know I've got a good hook set and I'm thinking, "no way I lose this one!" Line's screaming off then POW - it almost sounded like a gun shot. Nothing! At first I thought my rod snapped, then realized my line snapped at my reel! ***! After a few loud curses that scared the hell out of some people walking by, I just stared at my reel in disbelief for a minute. I have no idea what happened? There's some poor fish swimming around with my bomber and rig in it's mouth, along with 50-60 yards of braid. I hope it doesn't get hung up on something.

I re-tied and half-*** cast my way home for no more fish or hits. There were some VERY LARGE fish in my neck of the woods last night- and they kicked my ***!

In about a 10 cast span, I've never been more exhilarated and frustrated. Got home an hour later than I planned and the furniture never got done so I'm in the doghouse, my wife, while sort of sympathetic to my night - didn't quite see things the way I did. I actually had bad dreams about fishing last night. Here's hoping they stick around and I get another shot at them. Wow!

wish4fish

05-16-2012, 10:33 PM

awesome report dark i liked the part about his wife being mad that he wuz fishing she has to kno that the fish are there when they r there and when their not its not on. lol

baitstealer

05-17-2012, 02:05 PM

Worked the area for a while for no more hits. Made two more stops for no more hits and decided to change up my plug after my next stop then work my way home with a bottle plug. Next stop, 1st cast in tight to the jetty I get drilled! Nice sized keeper - makes a few jumps straight out then starts peeling line. Get it stopped and turned then it makes another run towards the rocks. I put some pressure on and realize it's actually a little bigger then I first thought. Then the fish does something I've never had happen before -- it starts jumping again- one, two , three jumps- RIGHT ONTO THE JETTY! Thought I'd lose it right away but got him off and he started swimming to shore-- got the line tight again then lost him- pulled the hook.

Nothing to do but tip my hat and smile- it was a great fight and I lost.

Kind of when you read those reports and they say they had 2 bluefish on one plug. Very cool but mind-boggling at the same time. It's almost like you are scratching your head saying how it's almost impossible to do that. But it did happen. I'm just glad you know this guy, Dark, because otherwise I might not believe it. What are the odds of a fish crashing onto a jetty and back again? Wow, I will say one thing. The way the guy writes,. he is full of excitement. You can tell he really loves what he is doing. :thumbsup:

I see too many reports where the guy is like - "Yeah I went out last night and caught 17 fish to 43". Look at me!" There is no information about the tide, the time, or even a clue as to what the guy used to get the fish. That is more like a bragging report than a fishing report.

The report you posted above, is something that really gets me going. You see what he is using, he describes the catching, so realistic. That's one of the things I like about this site, there is less bragging and more teaching. Thanks for sharing that and congrats to your friend Tom for the great report and sharing the experience.:clapping:

storminsteve

05-17-2012, 03:08 PM

Great read, full of details and excitement. Nice job Tom. I think your big fish is just around the corner.

albiealert

05-17-2012, 03:39 PM

Action packed story, thanks for sharing. Wish I could write like that.

DarkSkies

05-23-2012, 08:04 PM

Great comments, guys, I completely agree. Tom is the kind of guy who fishes because he needs to be out there, no video weigh ins, no tackle shop bragging or chest pounding...and the thing that's inspiring to me is he is a relative newcomer to this thing we do, who doesn't whine or complain...he goes out and takes his licks, skunkings, etc.....and learns from them...all the time trying to decipher the subtle nuances that help you to better dial into the fish...and he has become a better fisherman because it......

And.....
A great story teller (true stories) as well....:clapping:

**********
Here's a story Surfwalker wrote back in 2009...I posted in that thread and wanted to add that here as well......thanks Surfwalker.......

Yes that guy is quite the character.

I had plugged the dark the night before, got home late and went to sleep. About a half hour later I awoke and figured I'd go back down. It was one of those early mornings when the darkness was very thick and the fog had rolled in. Couldn't see anything out the windshield, just followed the lines on the parkway. Took me longer than expected to get to my parking spot, no one here yet (just the way I like it).

Started on the walk north,fog even thicker and the dampness just rolled off the stick. If there wasn't any wave noise, you wouldn't know where to cast. Kept walking/plugging.

Now, I'm tired as hell and the fog was even thicker now, maybe you could see 10 feet in front of you. I was plugging one spot, think I was hitting the water, and out of the corner of my eye, to the north, I sense something moving. Not usually spooked (except for raccoons), I reeled in fast and moved south.

Looking straight at it did no good, but when I looked to the side I made something out with big eyes, moving back and forth, faintly. Three or four times I approached this thing at a distance, but I still couldn't make it out.

It's getting late now and I want to get to a certain productive hole before first light, but it's beyond this thing. So I finally put it in my head to charge it and screamed at it as I approached. When I got very close I finally made out what it was- a f'ing mylar balloon, big eyes drawn on it, ribbon tail stuck in the sand, blowing in the wind.

What an *** I was. Took out my knife and stabbed that thing into a million piecies, good thing no one was around yet.

Happy Trails

rockhopper

06-28-2012, 03:47 PM

Wow surfwalker you sound like a ex-Vet, you know they have counselling for that! Just joshing great story! Thanks for sharing. Here is one of a kid that gets the one that got away back. Not me but I thought it was good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPU_Bl3iSQU&feature=player_embedded

cowherder

06-29-2012, 04:21 PM

Awesome rockhopper thanks for sharing!

voyager35

06-29-2012, 05:09 PM

Great story, enjoyed that.

Monty

08-26-2012, 02:39 PM

As I always say, hey, that's fishing,,,,,,,:fishing:
36 hour marathon, one short bass to show for it.....Woo H00. :rolleyes: :kooky:
Well my report is shorter and makes yours look like a Grand Success....
Started off 2 hours before leaving for the trip with one of my cats trying to jump over my shoulder and missing:huh:, no big deal, 2 scratches down the side of my face, bleeding stopped on 15 minutes:thumbsup:.
Started fishing bay side at 1:30 AM, fished for 30 minutes, saw lightning, headed back to the Honda, moved to the ocean, no lightning :thumbsup: Fished a few areas, worked way down the beach around a mile, was walking around end of a jetty and the sand caves in a foot or 2 :huh:, then 2 seconds later caves in further, I reach out onto rocks, slam reel on rocks, stop free fall. Climb out, fish more, work way back to Honda, no action (bleeding of ankle has stopped:thumbsup:). Decide to go bayside and scout out an area that I have never fished. Walking the shoreline to the area, there was a soccer game going on water side (its 8:30 AM), a guy is running right at me:huh:, I lower my shoulder and when he hits me he crumbles to the ground, gets up and apologizes (no blood :thumbsup:). I get to my spot wade pretty far out, no action but am happy just to be fishing.. I decide to try a different path to get to shore, all is well almost there and the next thing I know I go from a nice sand bottom to sinking in mud, climb out of the mud, retrace original path and get to land. Am finished fishing at 10:30. Bloody skunk for me. But live to fish another day :thumbsup:
I have been in sand that has been very soft, like quick sand. This hole I fell in was completely covered, very dangerous.
Well that's fishing,,,,,,,:fishing:
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2012_8_26_sr1.jpg

http://rocksimpson.com/images/2012_8_26_sr2.jpg

http://rocksimpson.com/images/2012_8_26_sand.jpg

http://rocksimpson.com/images/2012_8_26_hole.jpg

http://rocksimpson.com/images/2012_8_26_ankle.jpg

williehookem

08-28-2012, 11:15 PM

Great story dude!
It seems like you were hell bent on fishing despite all obstacles. Would have been nice if your story ended with a fish but at least you tried.

jigfreak

08-28-2012, 11:29 PM

Good deal Monty at least you tried. Love the bloody leg. Hardcore.:thumbsup:

fishinmission78

08-30-2012, 05:43 PM

:clapping:I liked the story. Even though you got bashed up you didn't give up. Shows you are not a puss, and determination.

storminsteve

08-30-2012, 05:47 PM

Great story monty, hardcore!:headbang:
thanks for sharing.

bababooey

08-30-2012, 06:38 PM

Very entertaining monty, and it didn't even include a hospital trip. You suffered through it. How admirable.:kooky: Be careful there is a lot of bacterial junk on those rockpiles and inlets you loonies fish off of.
Don't you think it would be much nicer to fish from a boat? Much more civilized, and when you cut yourself the antibacterial spray and first aid kit is right there in a handy box.;) :HappyWave:

Monty

08-30-2012, 07:28 PM

bababooey

08-30-2012, 08:06 PM

Hey its all good Monty. They have a saying in life, to each his own. The different things we like to do is what makes the world go around. I can still bust you about it though.:HappyWave: Did you ever think of getting involved in those wrestling matches where a bystander wrestles a pro, or chicks, or something? You could get just as bloody, just saying.:laugh: :thumbsup:
And if you were wrestling a chick it might be a good chance for some rubbing action. I would love to find an excuse to do that.:drool:

jonthepain

08-31-2012, 01:14 PM

Quote Originally Posted by surfwalker View Post
Yes that guy is quite the character.

I had plugged the dark the night before, got home late and went to sleep. About a half hour later I awoke and figured I'd go back down. It was one of those early mornings when the darkness was very thick and the fog had rolled in. Couldn't see anything out the windshield, just followed the lines on the parkway. Took me longer than expected to get to my parking spot, no one here yet (just the way I like it).

Started on the walk north,fog even thicker and the dampness just rolled off the stick. If there wasn't any wave noise, you wouldn't know where to cast. Kept walking/plugging.

Now, I'm tired as hell and the fog was even thicker now, maybe you could see 10 feet in front of you. I was plugging one spot, think I was hitting the water, and out of the corner of my eye, to the north, I sense something moving. Not usually spooked (except for raccoons), I reeled in fast and moved south.

Looking straight at it did no good, but when I looked to the side I made something out with big eyes, moving back and forth, faintly. Three or four times I approached this thing at a distance, but I still couldn't make it out.

It's getting late now and I want to get to a certain productive hole before first light, but it's beyond this thing. So I finally put it in my head to charge it and screamed at it as I approached. When I got very close I finally made out what it was- a f'ing mylar balloon, big eyes drawn on it, ribbon tail stuck in the sand, blowing in the wind.

What an *** I was. Took out my knife and stabbed that thing into a million piecies, good thing no one was around yet.

Happy Trails

rofl great stuff

DarkSkies

09-10-2012, 12:57 PM

I thought I would toss out some ideas for more stories....
I try not to post mine in this thread because I want it to be about you and your experiences....

I posted something today that had me thinking about the "experience" of fishing.....and thought it could give some out there motivation to share their own stories.....:fishing:

*********
BTW, great job on the stories so far, to me this is one of the nicest threads we have here....thanks all...:HappyWave:

*********

I looked at those pics again, Monty, just wanted to thank you for sharing them with us, those sunrises are awesome...

Isn't a Fishing Trip just about the Fish? -
A glimpse into the Stories of the Night....

I wanted to touch on that a bit....
Even though I'm not a "sunrise" type of guy (Monty has the monopoly when it comes to sunrise pics...);) :HappyWave:.....

There is a world of beauty out there at night...
Last night the sky was so clear I could see all the constellations...

A week or so ago, there was an awesome meteor shower...
With less people fishing, I have seen some incredible showings of wildlife......

The saddest was watching a mother deer hang out by the side of the road, about 2 months ago...her fawn had been hit by a car...it must have just happened....and she was kind of hanging out, like a vigil or something...I think she knew it was dead but didn't want to leave it.....

I spooked her,,,she ran into the bushes while I got out and brought her dead offspring to the side of the road so more cars wouldn't hit it....and she watched me from a distance as I did this....

I know this is part of life, things happen, we all move on....
But my point here, is that there is a whole world of things you see as night fisherman, that many folks never get to see,,,,

I may get bored by catching schoolies, but am never bored marveling at the beauty of God and his creations, all around us....and this is a theater I get to see each night.
At times I feel I am in the audience, other times on the very stage of all that is happening.....

I know many guys just focus on the fish caught...
I do as well...usually not happy unless I can at least scare up some action or cause some kind of fish to take a swipe at what I'm throwing....

But the point here....
Is that the world out there,,,,,at night.....is more intense, for me, than much of the world in the daytime.,...and I enjoy every second of it....

I'm also amazed at fishermen who are not willing to fight for that...for me, I would fight for eternity to preserve those kinds of experiences I have out there....and the places I am able to fish....and the fish that I love to fish for......

Food for thought......:learn:

baitstealer

09-17-2012, 11:06 PM

How about this for a crazy fish story?
Amazing story!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/shark-rescues-man-lost-sea-15-weeks-082013711.html

Shark 'Rescues' Man Lost At Sea For 15 Weeks

Print (http://javascript%3cstrong%3e%3c/strong%3E:window.print();)

http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/a5O5oblh4WWYNBhWU2zV5w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MjQwO2NyPTE7Y3c9NDAwO2R4PTA7ZH k9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0xMTQ7cT04NTt3PTE5MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_uk/News/skynews/121225978-1-400x240-20120917-015009-815.jpg (http://stripersandanglers.com/photos/shark-rescues-man-lost-sea-15-weeks-photo-121225978-1-400x240-20120917-015009-815-082013189.html)
View Photo (http://stripersandanglers.com/photos/shark-rescues-man-lost-sea-15-weeks-photo-121225978-1-400x240-20120917-015009-815-082013189.html) Shark 'Rescues' Man Lost At Sea For 15 Weeks

A lost fisherman who drifted at sea for 15 weeks, sleeping next to his dead brother-in-law, was eventually helped to safety - by a shark.

Toakai Teitoi was stuck on a 15ft wooden boat for more than 100 days after he ran out of fuel and the vessel drifted deep into the Pacific.

The 41-year-old Kiribati policeman relived his harrowing voyage after a fishing boat eventually picked him up and took him to Majuro in the Marshall Islands.

The father-of-six told of sleeping with the body of his brother-in-law who died during the ordeal, suffering severe dehydration.

And he said it was only after the intervention of a circling shark that he was eventually rescued.
Mr Teitoi's ordeal began on May 27 after he had flown from his home island of Maiana to the Kiribati capital of Tarawa to be sworn in as a policeman.
Instead of flying home he decided to join his brother-in-law Lelu Falaile, 52, on what was supposed to be a two-hour sea journey back to Maiana.

But after stopping to fish along the way and sleeping overnight, they woke the following day to find they had drifted out of sight of Maiana and ran out of fuel.
"We had food, but the problem was we had nothing to drink," he said.
As dehydration took hold, Mr Teitoi, a Catholic, said he turned to prayer as it gave him strength. But

Mr Falaile's health began failing and he died on July 4.
"I left him there overnight and slept next to him like at a funeral," Mr Teitoi said. He buried his brother-in-law at sea the next morning.

Only a day after Mr Falaile passed away a storm blew into the area and rained for several days allowing Mr Teitoi to fill two five-gallon containers with water.
"There were two choices in my mind at the time. Either someone would find me or I would follow my brother-in-law. It was out of my control."

He continued to pray regularly and on the morning of September 11 caught sight of a fishing boat in the distance but the crew were unable to see him.
Dejected, he did what he had done most days, curling up under a small covered area in the bow to stay out of the tropical sun.

Mr Teitoi said he woke in the afternoon to the sound of scratching and looked overboard to see a six-foot shark circling the boat and bumping the hull.
When the shark had his attention it swam off.
"He was guiding me to a fishing boat. I looked up and there was the stern of a ship and I could see crew with binoculars looking at me."

When the vessel, Marshalls 203, pulled Mr Teitoi on board the first thing he asked for was a cigarette.
"They told me to wait. They took me to meet the captain, and they gave me juice and some food."

With Mr Teitoi in no physical danger, the Marshalls 203 continued fishing for several days before returning to Majuro.
"I'll never go by boat again. I'm taking a plane," Mr Teitoi said.

strikezone31

09-20-2012, 11:15 AM

That has to be some sobering reality in there. Your brother in law dies you survive. Unreal.

clamchucker

09-20-2012, 12:05 PM

Life has a way of putting curves and bends in the road. Great stories.

Monty

09-30-2012, 02:14 PM

Fished ocean side this morning 1:00 - 10:00.
Beautiful night and surf.
Worked a good couple miles of beach.
Around 3:30 with a 14" Hogy I hook into a nice fish. Takes drag and I some how loose it.
5:30 I catch a ~12 inch bass on rubber teaser.
Sun up, lots and lots of bait. See a couple fish go air born.
Around 9:00 while working an area with tons of small bait a bunch of Albies pop up 10-20 yards out, they work the small bait, on my 4th cast, with a fast retrieve of a Pojee I hook up, Strong Fast Run, line coming off spool and then its off after about 20 seconds. No more hook ups.
Was a fun outing, great weather......So I now can't land a fish over 12 inches. Unreal :beatin:
Maybe my drag was to tight on both fish:don't know why:...Googan Move. Dark with the elections coming up and this seasons events, looks like I'm giving you a run for President.....You need to do one of those fall asleep in the porta johns or something to steal my momentum:HappyWave:. Can't believe I lost both those fish...:kicknuts: :)
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2012_9_30_SR.jpg

DarkSkies

09-30-2012, 07:27 PM

The above report IMO was an outstanding story so I copied it here. You guys don't have to be as colorful or Goog-tastic as Monty.....;) :HappyWave: Anyone can post a story here....

I singled this out because to me this epitomizes why we fish....
I know Monty is down on himself for losing those fish...
But at least he found some quality action from fish other than the 22" bass most guys are getting right now....

I really enjoyed reading this, Monty...thanks for all you do..
and your sportsmanship and perseverance is an inspiration to all....:clapping: :HappyWave:

Monty

09-30-2012, 08:08 PM

I really enjoyed reading this, Monty...thanks for all you do..
and your sportsmanship and perseverance is an inspiration to all....:clapping: :HappyWave:

Thanks Dark. Being that I can only fish 1x a week I try to make each outing special. I put a lot into each outing and stuff always seems to happen. It felt awesome hooking into that fish with the Hogy, solid hit and set the hook, Lots of weight and a slow run. Adrenalin pumping, with no one else anywhere in the area (my friend who met me where we started was now a mile a way (I drifted away and there was no one else out there)) I am pretty sure I said an out loud "oh yeah here we go", and then the line is slack. Talk about frustration. Then with the Albie, they were so close. One other guy was near me. He had walked over about fifteen minutes earlier and asked if he could watch me fish (he will be catching 50 lb rays and striped gaboo fish in no time) as it was his second time out. I made three casts and did not hook up. Took an extra few seconds, picked a spot, reeled in faster and hooked up. Again the adrenalin and the roller coaster of the rush of hooking up and the frustration of loosing the fish.
Then the camaraderie of the guys I bump into while out there. At sun rise there was bait all over and a few fish chasing it. One other guy in this area, talked a bit (couple minutes). We fish 50 yards from another, catches a short, yells over (thumbs up). I get hit with a wave, knocked on my *ss (he looks over to see if OK), thumbs up and a few laughs. The other guy where the Albies were, he had one plug, no metal (I gave him a Kastmaster DD type in case they came back in), was another nice guy, talked some fishing. So even though I was EXTREMELY frustrated with loosing the two fish because of my Googan tendencys, it was still a "special" fishing experience, enjoyable, pretty much how they all are in some way.

storminsteve

09-30-2012, 08:35 PM

TSo even though I was EXTREMELY frustrated with loosing the two fish because of my Googan tendencys, it was still a "special" fishing experience, enjoyable, pretty much how they all are in some way.

I would love to lose an albie, Didn't even hook one this year. Nice going Monty and great report!

DarkSkies

10-18-2012, 09:17 PM

Sorry to hear that. With your online persona, you reminded me of a larger than life character. I kind of thought of you as a rapper the way DS describes you. Something like eminem, but only with a crazy fisherman twist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_HW5MFAwyY&feature=related

I'm sad to see DS is such a bs artist, I'm shocked!:eek: :ROFLMAO Does that mean you grew up in NJ? Like Deal or Allenhurst, or Alpine, or Rumson where the richie riches live? Or LBI where the mansions are? Or did you grow up in a place like Newark or Camden. Inquiring minds want to know,:)

I am definitely an Eminem fan and that's all ima say. Grew up basically the only white kid in class. Did my share of fighting. Can't let people bully you around or they won't stop ever. Did get my respect though.

Blast from the past, answered as only Rip316 could.....:thumbsup:

DarkSkies

10-18-2012, 09:53 PM

DarkSkies

10-18-2012, 10:01 PM

The story of cardoc and rip, from page 1 of this thread.....:HappyWave:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?5091-Angler-of-the-Month-Story-of-the-Month-Contest/page11

First things first....the story you are about to read is fiction (mostly). :rolleyes:
The characters, Cardoc, Darkskies, Rip, and the East Indian women who own and operate the Wilson Ave Deli in Union Beach...are (somewhat) real.

It's the middle of winter.
Guys are bored out of their minds.
We're gonna relax the accuracy requirements for these stories until the striped bass season starts in NJ.
Some of the material in the story may be offensive to folks. If you think you MIGHT be offended, change the channel right now! :) :moon:
And, for brevity, I combined a few of these stories together,,,they all happened at different times.
Annnnddddd.... I stole/borrowed some of the ideas from some of the crazyposts in the past few months. Without giving specific credit, a big "THANKS!" to all the members I borrowed ideas from. Your zaniness helped me put this together, couldn't have done it without you all providing the sparks! :clapping:

We have friends of all races and creeds here,. and so far we're comfortable with the ball bustin and good natured teasing. If ya can roll with it, read on. If ya can't, ya been warned ahead of time. :2flip:
EffumaLL!!!

**************************************

In the beginning..the early days!
Cardoc - grew up on a potato farm in Idaho. He was a simple boy, always helping his Dad in the fields, picking the potatos. His father also grew some spices in those fields, and tofu, and curry. He was a good lad, and did what he was told. The only problem is he had 4 brothers. These brothers were big, could have played linebacker for the Vikings. That created a problem around dinner time. If Cardoc wasn't quick at the dinner table, his brothers would eat all the food, leaving none for poor Cardoc. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png

Also, in isolated Idaho, there weren't many women around. Cardoc and his brothers used to look at the pics of the Indian women in the Bollywood magazines the Indian buyers used to leave behind, as they came to his Dad's farm to buy the curry and tofu. So, as a tot, cardoc fantasized about the glamorous Indian women in the magazines, while under his covers at night. :pig:

He grew up poor, hungry, skinny :laugh: and sad.....
Then one day, he moved to the East Coast. He got a job as a Cardoc, and met his beautiful girlfriend Mrs Cardoc. They eventually got married, and are now a great fishing team. :fishing:

But he never forgot about those Indian women in the Bollywood magazines. He had all these questions in his mind as a youth growing into a man....
Did Indian women actually taste like curry?
Did they shave their private areas and their armpits, or was it the natural smell and odor that only a full growth of hair can bring to the table?
What did they have under all those veils?
Did they have piercings anywhere else but their noses?

To all those questions, Cardoc, even though happily married, lied awake at night, pondering the answers....

Rip -
Rip came from a family of hard core city dwellers, having been born in Detroit, MI (the Motor City) Born into extreme poverty, Rip had several brothers and sisters. As the youngest, he always got the least amount of food to eat.

But Rip was a fighter, and a scrappy one at that. At one time he was the only white kid going to an all-black school. Most kids would have folded under that kind of pressure, but not Rip, no sir!
He learned to fight by fighting every day, down and dirty. :kicknuts:

And that's how he grew to like his women, dirty, dirtier, and dirtiest! :ROFLMAO

To protect himself from the Crips and the Bloods, Rip started hanging out with some of Detroit's most notorious gangs, the 67th street Punjabis, and the South Side Gujrats. They were some crazy dudes. From them he learned some great fighting moves, but also some great dance moves.

All along Rip fancied himself somewhat of a stud. His motto was: "We dive at 5, no muff too tough!"
He had relations with all the female hood rats in his area of Detroit, from 90lbs to 390lbs. :scared:

But the one thing he could never attain, was a Desi chick. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png
The 67st and S Side gangs accepted him as a Ghandi brotha, but the true Desi chicks weren't feelin it when he was doing those dance moves and curry boppin slickness. They didn't accept him as one of their own.

So....Rip moved East to NJ, found a nice girl (Mrs Rip :HappyWave:) settled down, and had some bambinos of his own. Yet....he still laid awake at night and fantasized about the Desi chicks he had never been able to know in the biblical sense. :d

DarkSkies

10-18-2012, 10:02 PM

Rip as the Back Bay Banana Boy.......classic.....:thumbsup: :HappyWave:

Here are some pics of RIP and his new cell phone case

130281302713026

here is a plug he uses

13029

storminsteve

10-18-2012, 11:13 PM

Back bay banana boy, I remember that, lots of laughs. rip you should get a t-shirt with that on it, lol.:HappyWave:

Monty

10-19-2012, 07:15 AM

I will have my camera ready in the spring. I will have pics of Cardoc falling to all fours while tripping on small wood stumps, Mrs. Cardoc falling over large wood stumps, Dark well, being DARK. I would love to have Dark in a portapottie by the trail at Sandy Hook in the middle of the night and while he is looking for his weiner so he can **** in the bowl and not on his leg, run up to it and shake the$hit out of it and scare the pi$$ out of him.

hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

It is a blessed thing, to have such a true friend that would do that for you......:moon: :HappyWave:

I almost fell on our recent fishing trip. If I remember correctly Rip warned me at the exact time i was tripping on a rock. It was my incredible cat like balance that kept me from hitting the ground. I did fall later, not sure if he saw me (think a wave knocked me over)

bababooey

10-19-2012, 07:38 PM

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?5091-Angler-of-the-Month-Story-of-the-Month-Contest/page11

I went back to that page 11, and all I can say is wow someone has a fetish for Indian girls. Hot! Rip if you ever run into a girl like that (not the one with the bump on her nose) let me know and I will leave my wife.:laugh:

jigfreak

10-20-2012, 04:23 PM

Yeah but most Indian girls dont look anything like that. Those pics are top shelf models. Not bad though.

bababooey

01-14-2013, 05:17 PM

A long long time ago, when dark was the defender of truth and justice on the internet, there was a fall from grace. Alas, dark was no longer to sit at the table of good and plenty. So he packed his bags, moved to Beverly Hills, struck gold, and that's the story.

I have a better story, here you go:

The action begins with DarkSkies and his fellow rebel angels who are found chained to a lake of fire in Hell.

They quickly free themselves and fly to land, where they discover minerals and construct Pandemonium/ www.stripersandanglers.com (http://www.stripersandanglers.com), which will be their meeting place.

Inside Pandemonium, the rebel angels, who are now devils, debate whether they should begin another war with God.

Dogfish suggests that they attempt to corrupt God’s beloved new creation, humankind.

DarkSkies agrees, and volunteers to go himself.

As he prepares to leave Hell, he is met at the gates by his children, Bunker and Porto-John, who follow him and build a bridge between Hell and Earth.

In Heaven, God orders the angels together for a council of their own.

He tells them of Dark Skies’s intentions, and the Son volunteers himself to make the sacrifice for humankind.

Meanwhile, Dark Skies travels through Night and Chaos and finds Earth.

He disguises himself as a GOOGAN to get past the Archangel Finchaser, who stands guard at the sun.

He tells Finchaser that he wishes to see and praise God’s glorious creation, and Finchasser assents.

Dark Skies then lands on Earth and takes a moment to reflect.

Seeing the splendor of the East Coast Striped Bass, brings him pain rather than pleasure.

Dark Skies leaps over Paradise’s wall, takes the form of a cormorant (a large bird), or a swan, and perches himself atop the Tree of Striped Bass.

Looking down at Dark Skies from his post, Finchaser notices the volatile emotions reflected in the face of this so-called cherub and warns the other angels that an impostor is in their midst.

The other angels agree to search the Garden for intruders - but Dark Skies escapes in a garbage truck. :upck:

Then he roams the land, like Mel Gibson in Road Warrior, a man without a country - :HappyWave:

(as adapted from Paradise Lost) - please remember to tip the bartenders.:laugh:

DarkSkies

03-05-2013, 08:24 AM

Spooky Soul-Less Voices at the Hook....:scared:
An original story by Monty

"Not sure if I mentioned this one, but I it still puts me in second place....

Was bay side fishing a river one evening with Greg (wife's son).

When we started I heard what sounded like a deep voice behind me saying something I could not understand. I looked behind me and there was nobody. Greg came over, heard it looked around and could not find anything, it would come and go, real deep slow voice, I could make out a word every once and a while.

He went back to fishing, I waded out as far as I could go, the voice followed me.

I was looking behind me quickly, looking above me, whichever way I turned it was behind me, it was freaking me out big time. After 20-30 minutes of this I finally thought it was coming from my back pack. Went to shore and took it off and found a tiny tape recorder that I used to use when I tagged fish. It had turned on some how, but was plying in the slow mode, which explained the real deep voices and time lags between when I heard things.

For a while there I was a bit worried..."

*********************

Never heard that one...but as I read it I had trouble typing this I was laughing so hard. Out there is spooky on a new moon. You hear trees rustling on the way out. The way things are set up, and the paths themselves can get eerie in complete darkness on a windy night. Sandy Hook is rich in pirate history as well. With that deep voice it could have sounded like ghosts from pirates past.....classic.

You know I have to post this in Story of the Month to preserve this special story...:laugh: thanks for the laughs

I remember that story,had me crying and I finally just fell out on the floor.
how about the bunker that you couldn't catch story?
hahaaa,heheee,,
R-P

Cmon Monty I never heard this one either....spill it! :thumbsup: :HappyWave:

dogfish

03-05-2013, 09:53 AM

Strange things happen out there in the dark. Funny story lol

madcaster

03-13-2013, 12:06 PM

16691
if I ever make any money ...I will make this into a sticker

finchaser

03-13-2013, 03:29 PM

have it made now so they think your making money doing plugs create a demand

ledhead36

03-13-2013, 09:34 PM

16691
if I ever make any money ...I will make this into a sticker

Really cool sticker madcaster. If you ever make a sticker let me know.

DarkSkies

06-14-2013, 11:58 AM

It is sad that is what striped bass fishing in May and June has come to mean for New Jersey. I remember the days when you just went down and casted hoping to hook into a fish. .
Thanks for your observations buckethead. I remember those days too.

Blind Casting VS Fishing....:fishing: --

I do not mean to down on people who use this term...as I am just as guilty of using it.....:(

Was talking to Jimmy Cousins the other day........
He mentioned how someone came into Giglios (Jim is there on Mondays if ya want to go down, bring him some coffee. and shoot the breeze....)
They said they got a nice fish "blind casting"....this turned into a conversation between me and Jim, about how these terms came to be....

Jim: "I dont understand blind casting. Back when I used to fish the jetties all the time, we didn't call it blind casting....we called it fishing!"

I agree with ya, Jim....:HappyWave:
I think that many things have changed in the game of fishing....one of the things that embarasses me most, is the mentality by some, that you have to see feeding or blitzing fish in the water to catch one......

The Story of the 23 lb bass caught in the worst conditions.....blind casting.....

I was just relating a story how..when I was first making the transition from bait fishing to plugging....I was alone by myself at the beach, one hot morining July 3...it was 75 degrees out....the water was about 70....it was bright sunlight...and it was the end of the ebb tide....we had very low water at that beach at that time.....

Of course, back then I didn't know that the night bite was better..;)...and I merrily set out casting my pencil popper.....for 20 minutes in the bright, sunny, July day......:kooky:
When I was starting to wonder if I would even catch a bluefish in that heat and sun, out of nowhere, a 23# bass (a giant to me, at that time...:drool:) comes lunging out of the water to eat my pencil popper!.....the adrenalin I felt at that moment..:headbang:.was higher than the highest high you could ever experience....it was off the charts,
to see that big head,
the disruption in the water,
feel the weght of the fish,
and realize that although I was an eternal googan, I had hooked the biggest fish, on artificials, in my fishing career, so far.....

My brain was going crazy with the dopamine receptors, flashes of light and excitement.....and the doubts I had in my abilities as a surfcaster....and my ability I would have to land this fish...and it being anything other than a fish story...if I couldn't get it in to prove to my friends and family I had managed to hook that fish.......

Kept telling myself....."Don't screw this up, Rich...keep pressure on the line,......no slack....pay attention...don't screw this up......you'll never forgive yourself if you lose her........don't screw it up you freaking Googan! :bucktooth:"

After a few runs, I managed to drag her up on the beach...and it was a helluva large fish for that day....in fact I later confirmed it was the only bass caught on that entire stretch of beach..for that day......Guys came running from all directions as I dragged her up on the beach.....(and yes I did weigh and eat that fish....at that time I didn't know as much as I do now, about fish conservation)

So what were the odds of finding that bass?....when the pickings were obviously so slim?....with no one else catching bass?...the only thing that seemed available were fluke and skates......

Yet the bass I caught was kind of what is described today as "blind casting".....

1. If I was waiting for a blitz, I would have never known that bass was there...
2. If I was more knowledgable, I would have not thought to fish for bass on July 3, at the bottom of a tide, water as warm as it was,,,,and the air as hot as it was.....
3. If I had the knowledge I have today....I would have been anywhere else but that beach, at that time, in that weather and conditions....but I would not have caught that bass, then..........

**My point to you folks.....as emphasized by the conversation with Jim Cousins....

I can't change the mentality of the new breed of anglers that is out there today...if that's the way they want to fish....and big fish in a blitz are the only thing that is important, or has value to them......so be it....

Even though we like to think we gain more knowledge as the years go by......and know when the optimal times to fish are.....there is something to be said for just going out there....and giving it your all, when you are fishing, instead of just standing around.......ya never know what you might find....on the end of your line.....:thumbsup: :fishing:

*******
I posted the story of that fish to let you folks know there is no story that is not worthy of inclusion here.......any one of ya's is capable of writing something like this.....and it woud be nice entertainment as we are winding down the Striper Bass NJ season and starting to settle into Summer.....

DarkSkies

06-14-2013, 12:12 PM

^^ Also have to thank you people for your creativity..,Bababooey that story was outstanding...:thumbsup::thumbsup:...good to know I'm not the only nutty person around here....:laugh: :HappyWave:

hookedonbass

06-14-2013, 05:20 PM

Great story goes to show you never know where they are lurking.

Mike O

11-17-2013, 09:04 AM

Put in an all nighter with nothing to show for it.

Then finally right before dawn I got a solid hook-up, i was so excited I nearly S**T myself the fish was running up and down the beach! It seemed like forever (it was only about 2or 3 minutes)

I get the fish into the wash it takes another couple of small runs, I finally get it onto the beach!

IT'S A FRIGGIN DOGFISH! Then the sun was coming up and I can start to see shadows in the water moving from the north, birds started working fins slapping just within casting range small bait flurrying in small pods.

I thought this is it! the big blitz I have been working so hard for. At this point the daytime guys started crowding the beach. Everybody is frantically throwing everthing in the surf bag. An yet I myself could not hook-up if my life depended on it.

My only consolation was that every fish that was landed (by other fishermen) was not a keeper from my view. My arm was ready to just fall off, exhausted and tired I put my tail between my legs and went home. A very frustrating night to say the least.

My shoulder is still sore and my ego is damaged. POOR, POOR, me.

Blazin420

11-18-2013, 07:36 AM

Fished ALOT of hours this weekend with very poor results!! Fished IBSP with a group of guys.

Oh the highlight of the day was while me and 3-4 other guys were BSing on the beach we see this lady struggling with her rod,it looked like she was snagged pulling and backing up on the beach we all thought "she is snagged or has a big ole skate"..

Her cast before this could not have gone more than 20ft into the wash..So next thing you no she gets it in wouldnt ya no it was 20lb BASS!!! I was amazed she didnt snap the line..

But here is the kicker......She was DEAD STICKING A PINK FIN S on a fishfinder rig!!!! I wouldnt have belived it but saw it with my own eyes and we even went up and asked her what she was using!! Unreal!!

That was a first for me to see!!! She weighed it in at B&N the video is on his site!! Proves i **** even more lol!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJxDwU0fZlM

bababooey

11-22-2013, 10:09 AM

Nice storys mike and blazin.

DarkSkies

06-08-2014, 12:14 PM

Lost his Favorite Rod in the Deep.....
and Found!

Have been meeting a lot of different people on my travels...lots of accumulated stories....
This is just one of em.....happened to a member here.....I'll keep it anonymous...he can chime in if he wants....:HappyWave:

The old timers were fishing their favorite pier. Every night they would gather around 7pm, do some fishing, shoot the sh**, and swap stories.....
There were some big bass and bluefish around that week...bass up to 30#...bluefish up to 20#.......

One of the old timers really likes to fluke...and wanted a fluke dinner that night....
He brought his favorite fluke rod....a light setup, 7', perfectly matched reel, and limber enough to feel all the fluke action......baited it with 2 big fat killies on one hook,....for that one big fat fluke he hoped would become dinner....

He was BSing with one of his friends, when all of a sudden...the other guy says:
"Hey *** look your rod is bent over in half!!!!" :scared:

The old salt runs to his rod, which he now watches like a slo-mo TV replay as the rod bends, then teeters off the ground, and in a flash it's been dragged into the water....they watch with sadness, and the rod with the 2 live killies disappears in an instant....in the 25' deep water they are fishing.....

The old timer is sad...he tells his friend....
"Damn....that really **sses me off! That was my favorite fluke rod!" :burn:

His friend says:
"Sorry bud, it could have happened to anyone...
Do you want me to try to get it back for ya? I have a snag hook!"

Old timer:
"You'll never get that rod back, it's in 25' of water and probably halfway to China by now!!!!!!! But if you want to try, be my guest!"

Old timer #2....
"OK I will..."

He's at it for about 5 minutes.....wailing out the snag hook attached to his rod......dropping to the bottom, and dredging on his way back in......
When the one old timer who lost the rod is telling him thanks, but forget it.....his snag hook suddenly grabs onto something....
He lets out an excited shout....

"I got something! I got something!"

A few minutes later, his friend presents him with the rod and reel he thought was lost forever, to the deep....
Were the killies still on it?
Nope..........

So what was it, that cleaned those killies off...and had the leverage to pull a rod and reel off a pier that was high over the water..:huh:. (think of the engineering stats here and the leverage coefficient needed....:))

It wasn't a big bluefish...would have sliced right through that line....
It could have been a monster fluke....over 8 lbs.....

Or a bigger bass.....or trophy weakfish....
Or big drum...
whatever the case, we'll never know...what the heck that fish was......

And his buddies are constantly ribbing him....about the rod that (almost) got away.......:ROFLMAO

robmedina

06-08-2014, 12:30 PM

..She was DEAD STICKING A PINK FIN S on a fishfinder rig!!!! I wouldnt have belived it but saw it with my own eyes and we even went up and asked her what she was using!! Unreal!!

That was a first for me to see!!! She weighed it in at B&N the video is on his site!! Proves i **** even more lol!!

As it has been said- " I would rather be lucky than good"

albiealert

06-09-2014, 10:13 PM

Very entertaining, thanks for posting. That gent who got his rod back should have played the lotto that week.

DarkSkies

07-01-2014, 08:11 AM

^ Yep Albie, these are all crazy stories. The kind you would not believe if you did now know the person.

Here's another one.....
The Fish that was Really Hungry.....Copyright Darkskies....2014

2 old timers were fishing a pier.....
They were good friends, fished together almost every night......

On this particular night....the bass were there....it was a slow pick, but steady.........
They were fishing bunker chunks, lots of bunker were around.
After a few hours, one of the old timers says to his friend:

"Hey pal I am gonna need you to help me with the bridge net, I got one!"

He goes to grab the net, and sees the line go out on his baitrunner...
He sets it up, and goes to set the hook, he's in too!

He says to his friend:
"Hey buddy I'm sorry, I'm hooked up too!"

So they are both fighting their fish, trying to maneuver them to the pier without getting stuck below.
No one else is in that area to help them.

The one old timer who was hooked first, gradually sees his fish rise to the surface. It's a striped bass about 14lbs.
He says:
"Hey I see my fish, It's a beaut!

The 2nd guy, looks where his line is, coming out of that fish's mouth as well.
He says:
"Hey that's my fish! We both caught the same fish on different chunks!"

The first old timer and his friend get the fish up together.
They look at it and scratch their heads and laugh. :laugh:

One says to the other....
"Whose fish is it, we should split the fillets!"

The first old timer says:
"Nah...he took my bunker chunk first, he's mine!
If you don't like it, take me to court!":2flip: :moon:

So the first old timer took the fish home....
The bass that ate 2 baits and was caught by 2 old timers at once.

Truth...is stranger than fiction.....people...
(I would have never believed this, if I didn't know the one of the guys who caught the fish..a member here...he fishes there every night, and is a credible source)....story told with his permission...:HappyWave:

This also happened to me about 20 years ago....
with a large mouth bass....
My brother and I had snuck into a protected reservoir.....we used to camp out there on certain weekends....
We were using live shiners for bait....out in the jonboat
Same scenario....he tells me he's hooked up first...."Get the net I have a nice bass!"...

A few secs later I'm hooked up....
Turns out this largemouth, just shy of 6#....had swallowed his shiner first, and then before she realized she was hooked she swallowed mine.....
We both reeled in "our" fish together......we C&R most of the fish we caught in that place because we wanted to keep the fishery robust.....
So whose fish it was...was not an issue....
But if something like that didn't happen to me...I would have not believed this story here, if someone I didn't know, was to tell it to me.....:cool:

There are all kinds of stories out there like that, folks....
Let's hear yours.....:HappyWave:

seamonkey

07-01-2014, 08:26 AM

That was funny right there thanks for sharing. The old guys should of split the fillets but maybe they were like the grumpy old men in that movie.

DarkSkies

09-13-2014, 12:02 PM

maybe they were like the grumpy old men in that movie.

This is more true than you can imagine, seamonkey....
One of them recently got in trouble for his grumpy behavior....that's all I can say without making it too descriptive....he got banned from his favorite area until next year.......he was a good, funny guy too........but some of these fishermen are real characters.....their behavior is definitely outside the norm...:kooky:...
I am so blessed to know old salts like that...I feel right at home.....:fishing:

*********
The Storm that brought in the Big Fish.....(courtesy of Finchaser) :HappyWave:

One of the old salts, finchaser's friend, was "out back" plugging last night.....many are the times when we talk about a rough nasty ocean forcing some big fish to hide where it's calmer, until the seas calm down.......

So his friend, was plugging last night.....hoping to catch a feisty bass.
Things had been dead, as a lot of the bait had cleared out in the last few days......

This guy was just plugging, right time and tide.....hoping for a bend in the rod.....
All of a sudden... "Bang!!!!!!!"...he gets hit by a freight train.......
A fish hits his plug and takes off into the night.....pulling drag steadily......

At first he thought he had a world record bass,
but then it got tired, still a challenge to bring in...he wondered if it could be a bass, or something else :huh:...

He allegedly was fighting this fish for over 10 minutes.,,,,and began to gain ground.....
He finally got close enough to look at it.....

The moment of anticipation....he saw a big form in front of him......wide bodied fish.....
As he shined his headlamp on the beast,,,,he realized it was not striped bass, ray, nor a shark......
If was a freaking giant drum....estimated to be in the 50-60 lb class......

The fish was tired from the fight...but so was he...as his rod was one you would fish for schoolies with...together with a quality reel.....

The fish took one look at him....shining the light....he saw that it was a large black drum...(50-60lb class).:bigeyes:....it then rolled on him as he was trying to maneuver it closer....and with one swipe of its tail was back in the water....swimming away...splashing his face in the process....as if to say..."Eff you pal! Not tonight!" :2flip:

The guy who reported this is a credible source...doesn't exaggerate....although it's highly unusual to catch a large drum on a plug....it's certainly possible....and more so in the middle of the night when fish are less spooky......
Some of you who fish a lot may hear of the story circulated in tackle shops the next few days....
I'm telling ya's...this is a true story....believe it when you hear it.....:thumbsup:
Truth is stranger than fiction....believe it or not....:learn:

nitestrikes

09-15-2014, 02:00 PM

Here is a great story I just read. Surfcaster got a thresher sunday morning fishing the south shore with a needlefish. Unreal.
"I had a very interesting catch plugging for Bass Sunday AM, caught this Thresher along with 2 Bass and a Bluefish. In my 35 years surfcasting, I never hooked a Thresher from the surf plugging! It was an awesome fight and the Shark jumped 3X' and then grey-hounded for the horizon. My stars lined up on this fish. BTW, I released the Thresher who swam away un-harmed!
18860

fishinmission78

10-03-2014, 02:22 PM

*********
The Storm that brought in the Big Fish.....(courtesy of Finchaser) :HappyWave:

The moment of anticipation....he saw a big form in front of him......wide bodied fish.....
As he shined his headlamp on the beast,,,,he realized it was not striped bass, ray, nor a shark......
If was a freaking giant drum....estimated to be in the 50-60 lb class......

The fish was tired from the fight...but so was he...as his rod was one you would fish for schoolies with...together with a quality reel.....

The fish took one look at him....shining the light....he saw that it was a large black drum...(50-60lb class).:bigeyes:....it then rolled on him as he was trying to maneuver it closer....and with one swipe of its tail was back in the water....swimming away...splashing his face in the process....as if to say..."Eff you pal! Not tonight!" :2flip:
Truth is stranger than fiction....believe it or not....:learn:

I would definitely believe that story. They have been catching snowy grouper in the bay and MI. You never know what will turn up.
http://www.app.com/story/sports/outdoors/fishing/hook-line-and-sinker/2014/10/03/fish-snowy-groupers-rivers/16644165/

dogfish

10-06-2014, 01:39 AM

helping a ray tangled up in gear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLww3kCEgrI&list=PLbpi6ZahtOH7h9OULR1AVb4i 8zo0ctwEr&feature=em-bc-148-b

williehookem

05-23-2015, 04:00 AM

Heres a pretty cool one. These guys were fishing in manhasset bay and some beluga whales came by. Must of been feeding on the bunker.

hookedonbass

05-23-2015, 04:35 AM

surfstix1963

05-23-2015, 06:47 AM

I was fishing a SS inlet with a live eel unweighted at my favorite magic hour as I call it.

The eel did its thing swimming down to the bottom.

About 15 minutes in- the eel became very nervous. Then I felt the eel swimming rapidly up to the surface. As it reached the top of the water I saw a huge shadow following.

When the bass came to the surface it whacked the eel with its tail causing it to fly out of the water.

When that eel landed the bass circled in front of it and flared it's gills and sucked that eel in like a piece of spaghetti!
Off it went - so I bowed to the cow and when the line came tight the circle hook did it's job. The bass then realized she was hooked and started ripping line off the reel swimming like hell trying to rid itself of the hook.

When it finally slowed some I started working her back to me. Then that big bass 2nd run started and game on again. Finally I tired it enough to work it to the rocks. When I got her in close I climbed down to my landing perch and grabbed the fish.

A quick weigh and measure revealed 41 lbs. 49"
I popped the hook out and put the big one back to swim again. Off it went and that's my story.

Quite honestly it was a learning lesson on how bass attack an eel. Was great to watch how it played out since this all happened at the surface. It was just the perfect time of the early a.m. Exact part of the magic hour. For the first time everything played out like I had planned it.

That doesn't exactly happen all the time. This was quite a few years ago when we still had a good number of large bass.

lostatsea

05-23-2015, 12:08 PM

Wow awesome stories! Never knew a bass would go after an eel like that! And a sturgeon from the beach is like so rare I never heard of it.

DarkSkies

05-23-2015, 01:12 PM

Love these stories keep em coming! Strange thing that I saw last night-
Fishing nomoco. The craziest thing was one guy was trying for stripers because there were bunker around. He was snagging bunker and all of a sudden we thought he had a big striper. When he reeled it in it was a large sturgeon about 20 lbs! He took a quick video and let it go. Pretty unusual to see something like that.

That was a friend of mine. If you see him again don't crowd him but watch what he does and how he fishes. He lands more 30+ lb bass every year than most people I know....most in solo bites...not in bunker blitzes....fishing in the dead of night in an area somewhere there is a high concentration of bunker.....

He's the one I shared the story about some time earlier...who can smell a blitz way before anyone else knows it's going to happen....
He's been pretty disappointed this year....he mostly targets big fish.....and puts a tremendous amount of time in....

He's been out 6 times in the last 10 nights looking for bass and has been disappointed....I think he has one 25# fish to his credit for all that time spent on the water....and lost sleep....just to give you an idea of how tough it is to target big bass from land.....in the current environment we're living in......very poor fishing overall unless you're in one of the few areas that bass are passing on the migration trail........

It is an interesting story though....thanks for posting it...and the next time you see him.....pay attention to what he's doing....he is a certified fishing lunatic......:clapping: :thumbsup:

I was fishing a SS inlet with a live eel unweighted at my favorite magic hour as I call it.

The eel did its thing swimming down to the bottom.

About 15 minutes in- the eel became very nervous. Then I felt the eel swimming rapidly up to the surface. As it reached the top of the water I saw a huge shadow following.

When the bass came to the surface it whacked the eel with its tail causing it to fly out of the water.

When that eel landed the bass circled in front of it and flared it's gills and sucked that eel in like a piece of spaghetti!
Off it went - so I bowed to the cow and when the line came tight the circle hook did it's job. The bass then realized she was hooked and started ripping line off the reel swimming like hell trying to rid itself of the hook.

When it finally slowed some I started working her back to me. Then that big bass 2nd run started and game on again. Finally I tired it enough to work it to the rocks. When I got her in close I climbed down to my landing perch and grabbed the fish.

A quick weigh and measure revealed 41 lbs. 49"
I popped the hook out and put the big one back to swim again. Off it went and that's my story.

Quite honestly it was a learning lesson on how bass attack an eel. Was great to watch how it played out since this all happened at the surface. It was just the perfect time of the early a.m. Exact part of the magic hour. For the first time everything played out like I had planned it.

That doesn't exactly happen all the time. This was quite a few years ago when we still had a good number of large bass.

Wow awesome stories! Never knew a bass would go after an eel like that! And a sturgeon from the beach is like so rare I never heard of it.

Great story Rich.....

I heard you tell that before but I didn't know the exact size of the bass....seeing a fish that big come out of the water is an adrenaline-filled moment that will last forever in your head.....:bigeyes:
Nice work on the release as well.....:thumbsup: :HappyWave:

baitstealer

05-23-2015, 02:30 PM

Nice going. That story about the eel was good. I could picture the striper coming up and whacking it! Good job.

surfstix1963

05-24-2015, 03:42 AM

That was the second time that happened to me same exact scenario that one was a 35 lb.bass same inlet same time frame same tide.They seem to react like that with unweighted eels.

porgy75

05-28-2015, 12:06 PM

Awesome catch dude. Would love to catch a giant striper on a eel. Tried one time and the eel got all tangled up.

porgy75

05-28-2015, 12:07 PM

Check this out a marlin beaches itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9Xkwa5X2NE&feature=player_embedded

surfrob

05-29-2015, 01:26 PM

Don't think I've shared these, and they don't compare to many of the fine stories in this thread, but here goes:

1. late September, "Albie Alley", daybreak - fishing a 11' Tsunami AirWave, 30lb braid, 50 lb leader, 5" storm shad. Cast, retrieve, repeat. I had been fishing from dark thirty, the sun came up, beautiful morning on the beach. All of a sudden I'm snagged. I am fishing near some rocks, after all, so I wasn't too surprised. Getting ready to tighten down and break off, but before I do, the "snag" moves. Hmmm. Starts slowly heading downbeach and I walk down with it, keeping steady pressure, but not getting any line in at all. The "snag" stops for a while, then starts heading to England. ZZZ ZZZ ZZZ then stop, my rod is bent over, steady pressure, but unable to get any line back at all. Not an inch. ZZZ ZZZ ZZZ more line out, then stop. This goes on for the next half hour. I never feel a bump, head shake or anything, just the steady ZZZ ZZZ ZZZ of line going out then stopping for a few minutes. Finally, after the half hour I give up and start tightening the drag down. ZZZ ZZZ ZZZ again, tighten more, ZZZ ZZZ ZZZ again, tighten more. This happens until I'm just about 100% tightened down then, of course, BOINK! I'm off. Retrieve in, and there is my shad with a straightened hook. So who knows? A turtle? A ray, didn't fight like any ray I had caught til that time or since then.

2. Last year, May, backbays. Fishing 10lb braid, 15lb leader. Bucktail with minnie, teaser/gulp. Not doing much, some short flundies, skates, sharks. Finally moved into a shallow channel and my offering gets slammed, and the fish starts running. This is a good fish. This is not a flounder. Water was way off color so never got to see it. Fought for 15 minutes. Almost had it within netting distance and it took off again. In the middle of the fight got waked by a deep V cruising by... must have thrown a 5 ft wake, I had to go down on my knees and tried my best to not let up on this fish. Finally, the fish made a run out away from the boat, and that's death knell after fighting for so long, especially as it was 99% likely a weakie. A g o o d weakie. Gulp came back intact (not a blue), was definitely grabbed and the slam and head shake was telltale. Anyhow, who knows?

3. Last year, June, backbays. Fishing a variety of rods, most had 10-15lb braid / leader combos like above. But I was fishing with my son, who is not experienced in this type of fishing. It was blowing 20+ knots and we were going to call it, but he's from out of town, and this was his chance during the summer for getting out anywhere. So, he did his best while I power drifted, but it was tough, even if I had been fishing it would have been tough to hold. Hit prime areas and he got some hits, but a lot of snags as well. Broke off 3 rigs, so I finally made a move to the same area where I lost the weakie in #2. It's protected and in fact was the only protected spot from that wind, that day. There were a few other boats there, but definitely fishable. Set up tight to a bank with a dropoff and picked up a pre-rigged rod, my brother in law's... which I'll NEVER do again. Must have had 30 year old mono on it (after testing it later). First drop I made, in 5 ft of water (back of the boat was in 12... steep bank), I get a tick-tick. I lift and set... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, head shake, head shake and I know I'm *into* a good fish. It's big, no doubt. Work it, work it, finally I see a halibut surface. My hands start shaking, I'm standing in the bow holding pressure, and some of you will realize flounder are kind of "stupified" for a brief time when they surface and you have a good shot at netting them. I knew we had *one* shot. "GET THE NET", "DONT STAB AT IT", "GET BELOW AND COME UP" I'm yelling in rapid succession.
Sadly, my son (my fault I know... I'm a bad dad) was not experienced enough and missed it. In fact, anyone could have missed it. I saw it go down, and a tail bigger than my hand flip at me and BOINK! gone.

yes, fish seem bigger in the water but this was way beyond my personal best.