Tell me your fish story

[ledhead36]

Attachment 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]

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.... --

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....
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......
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...) comes lunging out of the water to eat my pencil popper!.....the adrenalin I felt at that moment...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! "

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.....
















*******
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]

^^ Also have to thank you people for your creativity..,Bababooey that story was outstanding......good to know I'm not the only nutty person around here....

[hookedonbass]

Great story goes to show you never know where they are lurking.

[Mike O]

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]

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!!

[bababooey]

Nice storys mike and blazin.

[DarkSkies]

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....


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!!!!"

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!"


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... (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.......

[robmedina]

..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]

Very entertaining, thanks for posting. That gent who got his rod back should have played the lotto that week.

[DarkSkies]

^ 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.

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!"

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...








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.....






There are all kinds of stories out there like that, folks....
Let's hear yours.....

[seamonkey]

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]

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......
I am so blessed to know old salts like that...I feel right at home.....








*********
The Storm that brought in the Big Fish.....(courtesy of Finchaser)

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 ...

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).....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!"








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.....
Truth is stranger than fiction....believe it or not....

[nitestrikes]

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!

[fishinmission78]

*********
The Storm that brought in the Big Fish.....(courtesy of Finchaser)


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).....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!"
Truth is stranger than fiction....believe it or not....

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/outd...vers/16644165/

[dogfish]

helping a ray tangled up in gear

[williehookem]

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]

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.

[surfstix1963]

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]

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.