JustEd
09-21-2011, 11:22 AM
I had some work planned but it fell through and found myself with time on my hands.
What to do, what to do...........................
Gear is always in the truck, I had plenty of gas, and the wind was lining up nice with the tide at one of my favorite Man killing reef points. Like it was already a plan,I started the truck and headed south.
As I rounded the point at the lighthouse I was really happy, the surf was up nice, water was white as a cotton ball, sounding like thunder with every crash. The first 2 lots, the ones along the lee shore, had 1 car in each, the point was empty. I stopped and watched the rips as the tide was dropping, and decided to move down a bit. I pulled into and parked at the last lot, where 4 other vehicles were. Walked down to scope things out, and saw 2 guys Toggin from the point in front of me, 2 to the right, and a group of 5 walking back toward the lot.
I started getting changed up, and after pulling my Korkers wading boots onto my feet, the group of 5 began arriving to the vehicle right next to mine.
The first guy went around behind me and used the remote to pop his trunk. I asked how he did, and the response in broken english, was, nutting, fishing no good, weddar too rough. It was then that I noticed the plastic bag in his hand. I said to him, couldnt have been too bad with that bag of fillets in your hand. He said, oooooh yet, we get some boofich. I said Bluefish? Bluefish dont have Stripes! Those are Stripers, and where are the bodies? It is against the law to have only the fillets. He said no, dees not Stiper, dey Boofich! Then I got a little upset, and by now I had all 5 loading rods and tackle into the car, all looking panicked and nervous, so I continued, Look, idiot you know those are Bass, your breaking the law, and I am going to call the wardens. He said, no dese are boofich! I took a picture of the guys Mass license plate, hit the speed dial and got DEM dispatch on the phone. As I stood Talking to the officer on the phone giving the plate number, car description, and its occupants, one of the group that I thought was a small skinny male turned out to be a woman. She grabbed the bag of fillets and headed for the water. When she got back they all piled into the car and got the hell out of there. I informed DEM about that and the officer told me they already had a unit on the Newport side of the bridge waiting. They would be pulled over and checked anyway. I did edit some of the conversation above, and anyone that knows me already knew that. I followed them out of the park keeping back a good distance, until I knew they wee heading for the bridge and would not be turning around to cut my tires.
Back to the lot, I finished gearing up grabbed the rod and walked to my favorite, under these conditions, point and caught a couple of nice fish in the 30 pound range with much effort over 3 hours. Both fish went back, and I moved to another location after an hour of casting without another fish. Location 2 was dead so I went down to the town dock and Marina for a look around.
This was the most interesting part of the night.
I walked toward the dock, where there is a large bright halide light over the water where the ramp goes down to the Fire Departments rescue boat. There was a large school of spearing balled up tight to the wall. I could see dark shadows moving back and forth under a finger pier in front of the bait. The spearing tried to make a break for the opening and 2 Bass of about keeper size came out from under the finger pier and herded the bait back into the shallow cove. I thought they probably had their fill and were just keeping the pantry stocked. I watched this happen several more times.
Then it got really cool........... A school of Snapper Blues around 6 inches long, came swimming in and crashed the bait, but................... the joke was on them. From under the pier came around a dozen Bass, 2 at least 20 pounds,and began targeting the Blues! It appeared to me that the Bass set an ambush! The frenzy lasted maybe 30 seconds and when it was the Spearing had scattered and the Bass were hot on the tail of the Snappers as they tried to escape to deeper water.
So................... that was an interesting night to say the least.
What to do, what to do...........................
Gear is always in the truck, I had plenty of gas, and the wind was lining up nice with the tide at one of my favorite Man killing reef points. Like it was already a plan,I started the truck and headed south.
As I rounded the point at the lighthouse I was really happy, the surf was up nice, water was white as a cotton ball, sounding like thunder with every crash. The first 2 lots, the ones along the lee shore, had 1 car in each, the point was empty. I stopped and watched the rips as the tide was dropping, and decided to move down a bit. I pulled into and parked at the last lot, where 4 other vehicles were. Walked down to scope things out, and saw 2 guys Toggin from the point in front of me, 2 to the right, and a group of 5 walking back toward the lot.
I started getting changed up, and after pulling my Korkers wading boots onto my feet, the group of 5 began arriving to the vehicle right next to mine.
The first guy went around behind me and used the remote to pop his trunk. I asked how he did, and the response in broken english, was, nutting, fishing no good, weddar too rough. It was then that I noticed the plastic bag in his hand. I said to him, couldnt have been too bad with that bag of fillets in your hand. He said, oooooh yet, we get some boofich. I said Bluefish? Bluefish dont have Stripes! Those are Stripers, and where are the bodies? It is against the law to have only the fillets. He said no, dees not Stiper, dey Boofich! Then I got a little upset, and by now I had all 5 loading rods and tackle into the car, all looking panicked and nervous, so I continued, Look, idiot you know those are Bass, your breaking the law, and I am going to call the wardens. He said, no dese are boofich! I took a picture of the guys Mass license plate, hit the speed dial and got DEM dispatch on the phone. As I stood Talking to the officer on the phone giving the plate number, car description, and its occupants, one of the group that I thought was a small skinny male turned out to be a woman. She grabbed the bag of fillets and headed for the water. When she got back they all piled into the car and got the hell out of there. I informed DEM about that and the officer told me they already had a unit on the Newport side of the bridge waiting. They would be pulled over and checked anyway. I did edit some of the conversation above, and anyone that knows me already knew that. I followed them out of the park keeping back a good distance, until I knew they wee heading for the bridge and would not be turning around to cut my tires.
Back to the lot, I finished gearing up grabbed the rod and walked to my favorite, under these conditions, point and caught a couple of nice fish in the 30 pound range with much effort over 3 hours. Both fish went back, and I moved to another location after an hour of casting without another fish. Location 2 was dead so I went down to the town dock and Marina for a look around.
This was the most interesting part of the night.
I walked toward the dock, where there is a large bright halide light over the water where the ramp goes down to the Fire Departments rescue boat. There was a large school of spearing balled up tight to the wall. I could see dark shadows moving back and forth under a finger pier in front of the bait. The spearing tried to make a break for the opening and 2 Bass of about keeper size came out from under the finger pier and herded the bait back into the shallow cove. I thought they probably had their fill and were just keeping the pantry stocked. I watched this happen several more times.
Then it got really cool........... A school of Snapper Blues around 6 inches long, came swimming in and crashed the bait, but................... the joke was on them. From under the pier came around a dozen Bass, 2 at least 20 pounds,and began targeting the Blues! It appeared to me that the Bass set an ambush! The frenzy lasted maybe 30 seconds and when it was the Spearing had scattered and the Bass were hot on the tail of the Snappers as they tried to escape to deeper water.
So................... that was an interesting night to say the least.