When did you realize that Fishing turned you into a Captain Ahab??

[Roccus7]

It's no longer "Call me Ishmael" on my boat, as I've definitely devolved into a crazed, striper-obsessed Ahab. This metamorphosis probably began 5-7 years ago when my consulting obligations petered off, allowing me to fish just about every day.

To be fair, I've always been obsessed with stripers and have passionately fished for them, at the expense of sleep, health and wealth. However, I've entered a new level of insanity, as yesterday's trip highlighted.

I had taken a relatively inexperienced striper fisherman out in search of his first ever slot fish. Three years ago I was catching striped bass while drifting past his dock in the hood, when he saw me and asked, "Are you catching stripers?" Normally, I'd lie and say "Been fishing all morning and you watched me catch the only striper I've caught in 2 weeks. Ooppps, time to get home.", and taken off for my dock. In a moment of pity, I said, "Yes, been doing well today. I assume that you've been catching." His response floored me, "I've been here for 20 years and have yet to catch one!"

I'm a sucker for "Sacrificial Virgins" so I said, "Well, let's fix that up right now, hop on board!" and took him out to catch his first, giving him some lures and pointers. Since then we've fished a few times and he's one of the few people I text when there are local blitzes. Even with the influx of larger fish the past 2 years, John had yet to catch a slot fish, so once again, pity motivated me to take him to my fail safe Keepah Korner yesterday.

Well during our trip yesterday, which was successful in that he finally got his first keeper, while we were fishing I watched in incredulous horror when he swatted a mosquito. Now you're probably wondering what's wrong with that? It was HORRIBLY WRONG in my opinion because while swatting, there was a bass swirling at his popper and he had to STOP his retrieve to swat at the bug at the expense of catching a fish!! Doesn't that qualify as a "hanging crime" or have I just gone off the deep end and may find myself yelling things like, Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering fish; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee!!

What do you think, is all hope lost for me???

 

[cany]

Very cool of you to take him out to catch

 

[captmike28]

It's no longer "Call me Ishmael" on my boat, as I've definitely devolved into a crazed, striper-obsessed Ahab. This metamorphosis probably began 5-7 years ago when my consulting obligations petered off, allowing me to fish just about every day.

To be fair, I've always been obsessed with stripers and have passionately fished for them, at the expense of sleep, health and wealth. However, I've entered a new level of insanity, as yesterday's trip highlighted.

I had taken a relatively inexperienced striper fisherman out in search of his first ever slot fish. Three years ago I was catching striped bass while drifting past his dock in the hood, when he saw me and asked, "Are you catching stripers?" Normally, I'd lie and say "Been fishing all morning and you watched me catch the only striper I've caught in 2 weeks. Ooppps, time to get home.", and taken off for my dock. In a moment of pity, I said, "Yes, been doing well today. I assume that you've been catching." His response floored me, "I've been here for 20 years and have yet to catch one!"

I'm a sucker for "Sacrificial Virgins" so I said, "Well, let's fix that up right now, hop on board!" and took him out to catch his first, giving him some lures and pointers. Since then we've fished a few times and he's one of the few people I text when there are local blitzes. Even with the influx of larger fish the past 2 years, John had yet to catch a slot fish, so once again, pity motivated me to take him to my fail safe Keepah Korner yesterday.

Well during our trip yesterday, which was successful in that he finally got his first keeper, while we were fishing I watched in incredulous horror when he swatted a mosquito. Now you're probably wondering what's wrong with that? It was HORRIBLY WRONG in my opinion because while swatting, there was a bass swirling at his popper and he had to STOP his retrieve to swat at the bug at the expense of catching a fish!! Doesn't that qualify as a "hanging crime" or have I just gone off the deep end and may find myself yelling things like, Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering fish; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee!!

What do you think, is all hope lost for me???

I do know the feeling Roccus and will relate a similar experience I had about 3 years ago.

In my 20+ years of running charters I sometimes get upset with myself at folks who don't follow my instructions and help themselves to catch the fish I know they are capable of hooking. However, on this Ione occasion I actually allowed my displeasure to show openly.

The crew were relatively experienced fisherman but working the 3-way bucktail in Plum Gut can still be challenging. Anyone who has done this technique knows it requires intense concentration and constant adjustment of your rig to keep the bucktail in the strike zone while avoiding hanging up in the many snags in the area. What disturbed me much more than losing tackle is the lost fishing time it takes to re-rig and get folks back into the action when I know the fish will only be active for a short window in the tidal flow.

On this particular day 2 of the anglers just got into a bad mindset and began losing rig after rig on nearly every drift while a third fisherman who had a better command was hooking up with regularity. I actually told the 2 folks who were constantly losing rigs that they needed to gain better control of their situation if they hoped to catch any Bass that day, I never felt so bad in my life after I had basically scolded some paying customers. My own desire to put them into fish overcame my sense of respect for them as individuals who were just having a tough day. I can't even count how many times I apologized to these folks afterwards as I usually have pretty good control of my emotions.

I will never forget that scenario and always work hard at remembering it is not always about just catching fish that brings people back to the sport we love time and time again.

 

[Roccus7]

The crew were relatively experienced fisherman but working the 3-way bucktail in Plum Gut can still be challenging. Anyone who has done this technique knows it requires intense concentration and constant adjustment of your rig to keep the bucktail in the strike zone while avoiding hanging up in the many snags in the area.

In my experience, nothing completely drains a person, both physically and emotionally, more than properly fishing an October Ebb Plum Gut Tide under the Full Moon. This fishery is the foundation for one of my maxims, "When done correctly, fishing is a FULL CONTACT SPORT!!"

Your story is the reason that I immediately reject the notion of getting my CG license to set up a charter business; I know I would not be diplomatic enough to silently watch people fumble around making mistakes, inadvertently wrecking my fishing gear. Suffering fools in silence has never been one of my strong suits...

That being said, I'd hazard a guess that the motivation for those like myself to help others be able to enjoy the sport as much as we do drives our passion. Regardless, we do need to understand that our level of concentration may be too intense to allow others to relax and enjoy fishing, and we could end up ruining their experience, mea culpa...

Oh, look at that it's just after 04:00. Got to suit up and go fishing...

 

[Old Mud]

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[george]

.View attachment 51874

I will never forget that part of the movie.

 

[george]

@Roccus7 In my earlier days I even had a problem fishing with myself let alone a newbie. Everything would frustrate me. In short, I was not a fun guy to fish with. But over time I realized that everyone has their own thing and in many cases fishing isn't one of them. I found enjoyment in their excitement unless, of course, they hated it. At which point it would quickly turn into a beach day.

It took a while but I never get like that anymore. Life is too short and no matter what the newbie is doing is a lot better than sitting at home. I've found myself in many situations where I wanted to throw people overboard as they're drinking beer and I'm reaching for a net. But for the most part the Quint, Ahab thing is no more.

There's one instance I can't get out of my head though. There was a guy at the dock I used to keep my boat at in Great South Bay. At the time I was on some big bass when they were tough to find. He kept asking me to take him out but I just knew he wasn't my type of fisherman. But I couldn't keep up with excuses so we went on a perfect night in perfect conditions. I had little doubt that we had a shot at a big fish.

He had an old rusty Penn spinner that he was fishing upsidedown and it was annoying the hell out of me. I tied him up an eel rig and he hooks up on the first drift. Being he was reeling upside down and it seemed like a good fish, I told him to turn the rod over. At that point, he tells me "don't tell me how to fish"

Well, about 10-15 minutes later, and a bunch of screaming and yelling I lipped the fish halfway into FI inlet at this point. It was a 54-pound monster. At this point, we weren't talking to each other and I have no clue how we landed that fish. I'm fishing for a 50 forever and he ends up with it.

We never spoke again and I'm still waiting on my first 50!

 

[pequa1]

Not obsessed. The answer: having multiple hobbies and activities-
Deer hunting, target shooting, archery, kayak fishing, surfcasting, "maintenance" exercise, warship modelling, vacations and their planning, as well as the ever present "to do" list of gardening, pool, etc.

 

[captmike28]

In my experience, nothing completely drains a person, both physically and emotionally, more than properly fishing an October Ebb Plum Gut Tide under the Full Moon. This fishery is the foundation for one of my maxims, "When done correctly, fishing is a FULL CONTACT SPORT!!"

Your story is the reason that I immediately reject the notion of getting my CG license to set up a charter business; I know I would not be diplomatic enough to silently watch people fumble around making mistakes, inadvertently wrecking my fishing gear. Suffering fools in silence has never been one of my strong suits...

That being said, I'd hazard a guess that the motivation for those like myself to help others be able to enjoy the sport as much as we do drives our passion. Regardless, we do need to understand that our level of concentration may be too intense to allow others to relax and enjoy fishing, and we could end up ruining their experience, mea culpa...

Oh, look at that it's just after 04:00. Got to suit up and go fishing...

How right you are, Roccus. Fishing the ebb full moon tide at either the Gut or the Race is truly a "full Contact Sport". When I can barely keep the rig close to the strike zone with a 20 oz. slab of lead, I should know better and just go home. Actually, in recent years I find I just can't physically stand up to that kind of punishment any longer. Hence, I usually only fish the best 2–3-hour stage of a given tide in those spots at best!

As far as having the right temperament for working with people of all levels of fishing skills, I have had that conversation with many friends and it's quite true, Running a charter boat is not for everyone, regardless of how good you might be at putting people on fish. No doubt, I have bitten my tongue so many times over the years it is a miracle I have any taste buds left!!

 

[Chinacat]

As far as having the right temperament for working with people of all levels of fishing skills, I have had that conversation with many friends and it's quite true, Running a charter boat is not for everyone, regardless of how good you might be at putting people on fish. No doubt, I have bitten my tongue so many times over the years it is a miracle I have any taste buds left!!

Uh Oh
I might as well as go ahead and apologize to you Capt Mike for the scars you must have on your tongue from having me out with you LOL
??????

 

[captmike28]

No scars from you or your family/friends Mitch. You guys are all good fisherman and great sports! Hope to see you out with me again this fall for a Tog trip.

 

[BoatGuy]

On this particular day 2 of the anglers just got into a bad mindset and began losing rig after rig on nearly every drift while a third fisherman who had a better command was hooking up with regularity. I actually told the 2 folks who were constantly losing rigs that they needed to gain better control of their situation if they hoped to catch any Bass that day, I never felt so bad in my life after I had basically scolded some paying customers. My own desire to put them into fish overcame my sense of respect for them as individuals who were just having a tough day. I can't even count how many times I apologized to these folks afterwards as I usually have pretty good control of my emotions.

Don't worry. Sometimes guys who fish just want to have a good time and need a kick in the butt to get us focused.

One time we were on a charter and the Captain said: "I want to you to line up on the right side of the boat." Of course, being us, one guy went right, one guy fished of the left and 2 went off the stern.

The Captain looked at us and said “Guys, I said to line up on the RIGHT side of the boat.” So we did. He went for another drift and again, one went right, one left and 2 off the stern.

The Captain looked at us again puzzled and said “Guys, I said to line up on the RIGHT side of the boat.” So we did. He went for another drift and again, one went right, one left and 2 off the stern.

The Captain said “Are you guys F*cking stupid?”

That was all it took. We got focused and fished.

 

[george]

I have to admit that I was close to be that guy yesterday and had I not recently read this thread I might have gotten awfully salty. The story is in the fishing reports, but in the end it was a great day.

One I will never forget.

 

[Chinacat]

No scars from you or your family/friends Mitch. You guys are all good fisherman and great sports! Hope to see you out with me again this fall for a Tog trip.

Thanks Mike