Over Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday I endured the horror of a Pepe LePew Hat Trick, 3 consecutive skunkings, something that hasn't happened in probably 10 seasons or more. The most frustrating thing about this trial, was the fact that fish were around and toying with my offerings, but only yielding a single hookup on Thursday, which was dropped after a while. Yesterday Poseidon intervened and allowed me to land a 22" fish at 05:45 before the fishing shut down totally.
So today what's a Bass Idiot like me supposed to do, just say screw it and sleep in, or get my sorry azz on the boat by 04:35 to be down at THE spot by 05:00? Well it wouldn't take 3 guesses for you to get the correct answer, there I was in a pitch black morning crawling out of the harbor through the moored boats and lobster traps to satisfy my obsession.
Once at the spot the SOP of the past few mornings ruled and my first drift yielded nothing, but then it was time for the all-important second drift. I moved the boat to be closer to an area that I thought I had heard a fish breaking. Guess I was correct, as the first cast resulted in my plug getting slapped. OK, time to launch that second cast, which went so far I couldn't see where it was in the pre-light gloom. WOW, there's a fish breaking right in my plug's path! What a minute that swirl was at my popper!" Time to activate the Extreme Joe Cocker Strike Inducing Protocol!!!! I get high with a little help from my BAM!!!!!! FISH ON!!
There was no doubt as to the size of this fish as it took off on a screaming run. I knew I had a good one on and a Battle ROY-ALE had begun. After a couple additional runs, and two frantic dives to the helm to fire up the engine and coax the boat off the lee shore with one arm, while keeping tension on the fish with the other, I netted a very nice, fat fish. My initial reaction was that she was an over, but "with the tail pinch" she measured out at a JUST RIGHT 30". No worries for her, as the home menu for the next few days had no room for striped bass, and she was returned to the water. I repositioned the boat and my very next cast was crashed, but without a hookup. That worried me as past history was telling me that my time was running out, and that was correct as the next 20 minutes only resulted with a single swirl around the popper. No worries, I had avoided the skunk with a very nice fish so it was a happy Roccus about to head home before 06:00, or so I thought.
On the way home from this drift was another spot that has cooled as of late, and the predominate wind from yesterday probably meant the small cove I wanted to fish was full of weeds. But still, hope springs eternal, so I went over and yup, the cove was full of weeds, but the easternmost point, which can be productive, was fishable so I figured, Why not? and decided to give it the old 3 cast rule...
Cast one was ignored, but the next cast did spark some interest with a fish swirling around the popper. Well guess I'll have to take a few more and the next cast had a swirl as soon as it hit the water, but nothing after until it was 10' from the boat when the water exploded, and the plug disappeared as a very large, and unhappy striped bass took off on an extreme run away from the boat. The away part didn't last more the 3 seconds as the fish did a 180 and took off directly under the boat on a blistering run of a good 100'. I buried the rod vertically down so the line didn't chafe on the bottom of the hull and then walked the line around the engine still with most of rod under water to avoid getting cutting off on the skeg or prop.
Well that potential disaster was averted, only for me to realize I was heading towards the rocky lee shore engine first so I had to make a beeline to the helm, fire up the engine and kick the boat out, while still keeping tension on the fish. Good thing I had practiced this earlier in the day, and I got the boat a very safe distance from shore and settled down to go mano a mano with this fish. After a protracted battle sprinkled with multiple, long and determined runs, she was alongside and netted, a beautiful 33" TOO BIG. After a quick photo, she was immediately returned to spawn another time.
Well now I was hot on a Goldilocks Adventure and it wasn't long before I had a 21" TOO SMALL fish measured and returned to the water. I decided that it was now time to head back to the barn for a well-earned coffee and breakfast...
So today what's a Bass Idiot like me supposed to do, just say screw it and sleep in, or get my sorry azz on the boat by 04:35 to be down at THE spot by 05:00? Well it wouldn't take 3 guesses for you to get the correct answer, there I was in a pitch black morning crawling out of the harbor through the moored boats and lobster traps to satisfy my obsession.
Once at the spot the SOP of the past few mornings ruled and my first drift yielded nothing, but then it was time for the all-important second drift. I moved the boat to be closer to an area that I thought I had heard a fish breaking. Guess I was correct, as the first cast resulted in my plug getting slapped. OK, time to launch that second cast, which went so far I couldn't see where it was in the pre-light gloom. WOW, there's a fish breaking right in my plug's path! What a minute that swirl was at my popper!" Time to activate the Extreme Joe Cocker Strike Inducing Protocol!!!! I get high with a little help from my BAM!!!!!! FISH ON!!
There was no doubt as to the size of this fish as it took off on a screaming run. I knew I had a good one on and a Battle ROY-ALE had begun. After a couple additional runs, and two frantic dives to the helm to fire up the engine and coax the boat off the lee shore with one arm, while keeping tension on the fish with the other, I netted a very nice, fat fish. My initial reaction was that she was an over, but "with the tail pinch" she measured out at a JUST RIGHT 30". No worries for her, as the home menu for the next few days had no room for striped bass, and she was returned to the water. I repositioned the boat and my very next cast was crashed, but without a hookup. That worried me as past history was telling me that my time was running out, and that was correct as the next 20 minutes only resulted with a single swirl around the popper. No worries, I had avoided the skunk with a very nice fish so it was a happy Roccus about to head home before 06:00, or so I thought.
On the way home from this drift was another spot that has cooled as of late, and the predominate wind from yesterday probably meant the small cove I wanted to fish was full of weeds. But still, hope springs eternal, so I went over and yup, the cove was full of weeds, but the easternmost point, which can be productive, was fishable so I figured, Why not? and decided to give it the old 3 cast rule...
Cast one was ignored, but the next cast did spark some interest with a fish swirling around the popper. Well guess I'll have to take a few more and the next cast had a swirl as soon as it hit the water, but nothing after until it was 10' from the boat when the water exploded, and the plug disappeared as a very large, and unhappy striped bass took off on an extreme run away from the boat. The away part didn't last more the 3 seconds as the fish did a 180 and took off directly under the boat on a blistering run of a good 100'. I buried the rod vertically down so the line didn't chafe on the bottom of the hull and then walked the line around the engine still with most of rod under water to avoid getting cutting off on the skeg or prop.
Well that potential disaster was averted, only for me to realize I was heading towards the rocky lee shore engine first so I had to make a beeline to the helm, fire up the engine and kick the boat out, while still keeping tension on the fish. Good thing I had practiced this earlier in the day, and I got the boat a very safe distance from shore and settled down to go mano a mano with this fish. After a protracted battle sprinkled with multiple, long and determined runs, she was alongside and netted, a beautiful 33" TOO BIG. After a quick photo, she was immediately returned to spawn another time.
Well now I was hot on a Goldilocks Adventure and it wasn't long before I had a 21" TOO SMALL fish measured and returned to the water. I decided that it was now time to head back to the barn for a well-earned coffee and breakfast...
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