The Glory Daze,,

[Rip-Plugger]

That Jitter bug brings up great memories of casting along shore banks for large mouth bass. Throwing it around lily pads, seeing the the water explode.
Loved fishing that way in the evenings.

oh yeah, used to go into reservoirs armed with musky jitterbugs to catch only the biggest bass,worked great as I always got one 5 pounds or more.
I once caught a 21 inch Calico bass on one,that thing was a monster.
I also caught an 18 inch yellow perch on one too.
can't beat them for night topwater action.

R-P

[williehookem]

Rip Pluggers old daiwa gold series GS-30,totally rebuilt by him years ago right before the bottom fell out of fishing for choppers.
The slump lasted 2 seasons then bass and small choppers came back! 1984.
Attachment 6815
Attachment 6816

Classic old school, great stories and pics.

[dogfish]

Great classic pics guys keep em comin.

[CharlieTuna]

I once caught a 21 inch Calico bass on one,that thing was a monster.
I also caught an 18 inch yellow perch on one too.
can't beat them for night topwater action.

R-P

A 21", calico, at least 4lbs or close?
18" yellow perch had to be close to that also, those are some very big freshwater fish you're talking about.

[Monty]

I lived in a lake (big pond) development. Had a great time fishing for perch and large mouth. Rubber worms, those jitter bugs. I remember my father catching a big bass on a jitter bug when I was about 9 or 10. Getting up early with him, trps to Wawayanda and swartswood. They were the glory days for sure.

oh yeah, used to go into reservoirs armed with musky jitterbugs to catch only the biggest bass,worked great as I always got one 5 pounds or more.
I once caught a 21 inch Calico bass on one,that thing was a monster.
I also caught an 18 inch yellow perch on one too.
can't beat them for night topwater action.

R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

A 21", calico, at least 4lbs or close?
18" yellow perch had to be close to that also, those are some very big freshwater fish you're talking about.

oh yeah,every bit of that.
both came from Lake Saltonstall in branford/east haven Ct.
it is open to fishing now but when those fish were caught was years before that.

ya know,sometimes we would catch calicoes on spinnerbaits at night too and they were 17-18 inches on a regular basis.that was one of the reasons we switched to the musky jitterbugs was to keep them off it.
funny thing was most of the largest bass were just 5 pounds,some more but I know there has to be 10 pounders there.
funny,,,,

R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

it was september,late september 1981,tide was ebbing just 1 hour.
1-am,cool temps,perhaps nearbout 55 degrees.
a southeast wind was raging about 20 knots steady,gusting up to 40 at times.
Dark cloud[me],Malibu Kenny,Big Steve Franco,his brother mike and perhaps 2 others were ther as well.
there we stood on the west shore of New Haven Harbor[wyatt oil company],the rocks are sort of large there,several oil storage tanks are behind us.the water level is right at our feet.

we are facing dead east with waves entering the harbor at near dead south,tide is bucking the wind .
the waves are more like swells at near 5 feet,unheard of around here.

there we stand like warriors ready to attack,waiting for battle to begin.
we are all drooling,breathing heavy,aching to begin.

wedged in the rocks in front of me stands a custon 8 foot white lamiglass fiberglass rod[magnum series] built from a heavy,9 or 11 foot blank cut down.
on my line,a 3 foot wire leader 3 feet long with black nylon coating and big daddy mackeal goo-goo eyes swimmer.
most of the others have similar sticks but they are all honey lamis.

on my stick is taped a daiwa gold series GS-3 full of JT 25 pound mono[florescent blue/white].most others are using ande.
Malibu Kenny has an 8 footer with a daiwa Gold series GS-6 taped on,Big steve Franco has a 7 footer with a Gold series GS-20 on it,his brother Mike Franco has an 9 footer with a daiwa silver series 4000-C taped on.

we stand silent,then begin to chatter.
Big Steve decides to sling out his L.Cooper goo-goo eyes Hustler out into the swells.
after about 20 seconds he gets hammered by a chopper that looks like a submarine with teeth.
as you retrieve your plug,it would go up and waay down,crazy.

the chatter stops and that is replaced by screeching drags and big splashes.
I pick up my stick,sling out a mackeral big dady goo-goo eyes swimmer and get slammed hard,I lean back on it and it takes line.
as I handle my fish I look at the others we are all into a fish.
I grab my leader and slide the fish up,it has only the front hook in it's mouth.
I grab the tail and unhook it,then it's released.
this fish is around 16 pounds.

I tell you,it was true carnage and we all were bashing them.fish after fish was landed and we kept on going.
lines began to snap sounding like 32 slugs going of on a saturday night.

I stopped,cut off about 20 feet of line and retied.slung out a big daddy rudolph plug and BAM,I was into a very heavy fish,it dove,thrashed,took line and I finally land it.
this chopper was HUGE,nearly 44 inches,light green top with very silver sides,maybe it was an albino or something.Big Steve gave them the nic"Cape Cod Runners"

more than several of these odd looking choppers were caught and all were big.
Steves brother mike got 2 of them like that.

as I stated before,there were 2 other guys there but I don't remember who they were.
one of them got one too,it was 46 inches and later found to be 25 pounds.
at the same time I find that mine was 22-1/2 pounds.

3 hours of action that was never duplicated,bad weather,crappy wind and no bunkers around that we could see and the choppers moved in and stacked up there.
that spot was and still holds fish at times but access is now tough unless you want to get dirty.

an interesting discovery was when I dressed my fish[I only kept that one] it had several tommy cod inside along with 2 front halfs of nice sized flounder.
I must tell you,that night was one to remember,noting like it has happened since.
SO,between all of us the total caught was 63 fish.
my take was 14 in that 3 hours.
what a grand time we had,so many fish and extreme action,,,I doubt I could do that today,,,,,

It is great sharing,remembering and I am happy to have a place to do so.
stay well and remember,,keep your drag tight!

Hooks Up,,
R-P

[Monty]

Wow, great story, those are some huge blues.
That must have been a great workout!

It is great sharing,remembering and I am happy to have a place to do so.
stay well and remember,,keep your drag tight!

Hooks Up,,
R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

A 21", calico, at least 4lbs or close?
18" yellow perch had to be close to that also, those are some very big freshwater fish you're talking about.

CT,

ya know candlewood lake in Ct. also has yellows that size,I have caught them through the ice like that too.
R-P

[Monty]

Some day todays fishing experiences will become the glory days of present days (I think I said that correctly). Here are a few action shots (R-P hook ups)

[DarkSkies]

R-P, some great stuff you and others are throwing up here. This is turning out to be an amazing thread.

I lived in a lake (big pond) development. Had a great time fishing for perch and large mouth. Rubber worms, those jitter bugs. I remember my father catching a big bass on a jitter bug when I was about 9 or 10. Getting up early with him, trps to Wawayanda and swartswood. They were the glory days for sure.

Sometimes our best memories dont have to include larger than life or colorful characters. I have very few early memories of fishin with my Dad because he was always too busy or he got seasick. The ones I have are later in life when I took him fishin, instead of him takin me.

But these are all priceless, including the memories you have of your Dad, Monty. Whey they're gone, that's all we have left of them.

[Monty]

Smalish chopper taken on a super rip-runner [9 inches slim design],the
fish was all of about 6 pounds and still slammed this monster
swimmer,,,,

[Rip-Plugger]

I have to thank Monty for all his help,if it were not for him this thread would not be.
thanks Monty,you duh man!

Now,we all must put some friendly pressure on him to show his pix,he has a ton of them.
so,lets gently squeeze him for his shotz.
we know you are busy Monty but we are still gonna squeeze you anyway.


R-P

[Monty]

A blitz and a pic of a bass with the rubber teaser.

[Rip-Plugger]

C'mon Monty,I know you have much more.
this is just a friendly reminder!

R-P

[Monty]

[Rip-Plugger]

thats what I'm talkin' 'bout Monty,making more glory daze for future reference!
nice shotz!

R-P

[Monty]

Here are a few more from R-P recently, last one I took this weekend of a Blue.

[surferman]

Monty those are some incredible pictures! The detail of the fish being brought in and the blitz makes me cryout for more fishin' time.

[DarkSkies]

Monty, every one of those pics tells a story. Road trip to R-P's waters? I'm gonna mug the guy sooner or later, might as well be sooner. You in?