The Glory Daze,,

[Rip-Plugger]

I'm coming up there this Spring Roddy....Spent 4 hours fishing last night in brutal conditions..managed 3 fish....
5 hours the night before, 7 stops, only one fish to show for it.

I was thinking of the conditions and opportunities that you guys have, and all the dead water we have down here......it has been real tough for me to catch from land so far since the season opened. I know I haven't had the time to put the usual effort into it but if you want fish on artificials the opportunities have been limited where I fish....

The spawning areas aren't that much better, lots of grumbling from guys who normally catch large bass every year. I keep telling folks there are less bass but few seem to want to listen.....
With that said, congrats on you getting there out and catching...don't be surprised if ya look over your shoulder and see me...(or smell me first)....

I would think you guys have the same thing down there with your large backwater areas.I wonder why the fish don't stay in the back spots.the thames river for example has ten tons of bass in the dead of winter the only thing I can think of as to why is because they were/are born there?.I also believe that open beaches don'thold fish because of the vast open/shallow space.fish simply move through and do the same thing on the opposite tide. one catches them whilst they are moving back/forth. find structure and shallow water offshore or even inshore with deeper water close by and you will find fish.I dunno,it could even be a toss-up.R-P

[DarkSkies]

Roddy, things have gotten a lil better since I posted that....
Maybe I was just feeling a little sorry for myself....with the Drag Island and other involvements, it's been tough for me to get started this season.
Never used to be this hard for me to catch fish....and I'm probably crabby that as the fish numbers seem to be dwindling in our area, less people seem to care, about this reality, and the access issues that we should be fighting for........

I'm in a better frame of mind after last night...
May still come up there one night soon....
Before I die, I have to finally meet this icon of CT salt water fishing, by the name of Heavy Hooksetter....ever heard of the guy?....

[Rip-Plugger]

well Dark,it's all a game and sometimes you win,sometimes you don't.I know you are aware of that fact,I think that's why we love doing it so much.it is good to see you are in better spirits now and that's a good thing. I remember when there were no stripers that we saw at all. there were only very large gators and fluke in our area.the only striper I saw back then was on a an atom swimmer package and it was not until 1984 that we started catching schoolies on sandworms by accident.one night under the bridge next to shiners cove one april night for tommy cod and we were getting them good too up to a foot long.my heavy duty LMB rod doubled over and I hooked the fish and it was a good fight.when I saw it I freaked out.stripers are in town! after that,it was a big quest that continues to this day.myself and our click were catching them by the hundreds and the size limit was 16 inches.it was a wonderful thing.after that every year the sizes became bigger and we had to upgrade our gear to land them.from then till now,I am looking to hook that monster,the one that will be over the top! R-P

[ledhead36]

Great pics ripplugger thanks for sharing the memories too

[Rip-Plugger]

sure thing ledhead-36,mind all here,this thread is for all of us,seems that I am the only one along with monty that's adding to it.it will be for all of us to remind us of the fun we had and shared.we need more guys to add to it,I know I am not the only one catching a fish. R-P

[hookset]

.it will be for all of us to remind us of the fun we had and shared.we need more guys to add to it,I know I am not the only one catching a fish. R-P

ripplugger you do a great job withi thread but there are a lot of us catching fish. Just look in the nj fishing forum. I don't post pics of my fish because if I catch a small fish I'm not impressed, why would you be?

As for bigger fish too much trouble to edit out the details.
Lately ds has been posting pics of pieces of the fish or just the heads. Sadly it seems that is what is has come to you need to edit out every freaking detail so the lurkers won't come running.
Must be way different up where you fish. Having all those rivers close by would be paradise to me.
Good luck and thanks for sharing, brother.

[Rip-Plugger]

ya know what Hookset,I think it is the area I am in.most guys around here would never pay 15 dollars for a plug and most are chunk slingers.i believe you are right in the fact that guys here[locally]are not real fishermen,they go fishing to take home something,I don't.i do take a fish every now/then but, that's all.sometimes one has to almost fight if you release a fish,they want it so I tell them give me 10 bucks and you take it.they decline after that. I fish in the night so,I am almost always alone,one can hear the pops better that way. R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

Malibu Kenny with a 29 incher,,,,,

[storminsteve]

Nice! on big wood?

[Rip-Plugger]

Nice! on big wood?

naw,MK likes to use small lures,that one was on a 3/4 oz charteruse smiling bill.

[Rip-Plugger]

a couple on big wood. first one took a 9 inch fatcat and the second one slammed an old slim rip-runner. R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

2 nice gators,first one was on a the old slim rip-runner and the second was on a new rip-splitter.#2 was very fat. R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

2 good bass taken on wood,first one was on a fat 7 inch rip-runner[black/white] and the second was taken on a 9 inch rip-splitter[pink chocolate frosted yellow. R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

nice fattie taken on an 8 inch wedgehead swimmer.

[Rip-Plugger]

gator taken on a gibbs goo-goo eyes big daddy/gator taken on my 7 inch hound dog[blue over yellow]

[Rip-Plugger]

action shots of a gator taken on my rip-runner[yellow over blue]

[Rip-Plugger]

gator on my rip-runner

[Rip-Plugger]

[Rip-Plugger]

gator on my rip-runner/gator on a RI popper Pikie[green mackerel]

[Rip-Plugger]

gator taken on my rip-runner[yellow/grey stripe after it shook the plug]