Bruce jigged up a nearly 32 pound bass that was 45 inches long (43.5 fork) for the yearlong tourney - pictures and details will likely follow (after he goes, uh, gets back from work :P )... All I know was it was jigged at the ditch - nice job Slip...

I saw a picture of the behemoth :O I guess I need to take an excursion to the Great Canali Friday night.

[pictures] are posted on SOL in the main forum titled finally . he had a real good night but ill let him tell about it . hes never going to leave the ditch now . I hope he had a slip and a witness .

A yah, work what is that? It pays to get up early. I rang my fathers bell at 5:30 this AM to show him my trophy. He took some pics for me and when I get a chance or should I say when the wife gets home , I'll get her to try and post a picture. In the meantime I was able to upload a couple shots on SOL http://www.stripersonline.com/ubb547/Forum1/HTML/007645.html

But the shot I like was too large to put up.I'll get it.

I was up at 3:25 and at the ditch by 4, 1st fish - 29" then the trophy. The fish is on ice now and weighed in at 31.5 lbs. and measured 45" and about 43.5" fork. She inhaled a 5 oz Saltheart Smillin bill. I got some more in the 20's and one more short and left after releasing another close to 30 . The last fish was 42" w/ a 26" girth and was measured in the water while it rested on the weeds, I never had to take from the water and released her in good shape.

Thanks everyone for the help and advice given and shared here.
I showed my 7 year old daughter and she was afraid of it :) almost as big as her. This one was definately dragging.

Yep Ed, you better get to the ditch soon.
Chris, I got a signed slip from Angler. When John emails his address I will mail it in.

Congrats Slip! Looks like you will never go on that boat again. The Ditch has definetly having its best year in a long time. Guys are scoring useing alot of differant baits and lures.

good i would hate to see that fish not get into the year long . now what the next goal 40# or are you jumping in for a 50# ? angler is the man ! I bet your glad you picked up that scale this weekend !

Slip,
Congrats on the nice fish and a great morning. Hope you have as much good fortune when you head south for the Kings.

Carl

Just saw the trophy on SOL. SWEET!!! Nice effort Slip! And nice reward!

Way to go, slip!!! Caught from your aquarium, or maybe a half-mile west of there?

I'm getting the "book" now on your aquarium, I fished there briefly during the Fling but towards the end of the tide. I did discover why it produces ;) As far as the other place goes, where JP likes to fish, it's such an obvious place but after the first week of June, no one fishes it the right way.

What the heck are "breaking tides", anyway ? ;D;D;D;D

Tim, Dubs and I chanced on another place that we think has some great potential, east of the granite house of worship. From the looks of it, might be another "either tide" spot. We just scratched it a little, didn't have the time to really plumb it. At high tide, you can pretty much visualize the structure below it just by the way the water moves.

I'll shoot you a PM on SOL and maybe you can scope it out if and when your aquarium gets dry.

Thanks Canalratt, boat? what boat. oh that boat, right.

Chris, that scales rules! Carlput a pic up on the board at CCC

Carl,thanks , I'm hoping for some luck down there.

nightfighter, thanks I will enjoy the milestone for a while. It will feed quite a few people I know.

Mike , Thanks again for all your advice. You really help give a guy confidence with all that encyclopedia-like knowledge of yours that you willingly share. Good luck with your fishing and don't break any more darters ok

Thats a great fish Slipknot. 43.5 to the fork is gonna be a contender overall and for the canal biggest.

That fish is what I would call a "racer". At 45 inches overall , it could have been much heavier , easily over 35 pounds. However since our tourney is based on fork length , its going to be a tough fish to beat.

Congratulations.

I got to comment though that a good deed is often followed by a good furtune.

Slipknot got the jig by bidding for 6 of them on an auction on FFSW to raise some funds for the site earlier this year. He didn't try to get a bargain which he could have but instead bid higher than he had to in the fundraising spirit of the auction.

Who knows how things get intertwined and maybe one thing has nothing to do with the other. Hard work and time on the water account for 95% but I can't help but think that his good deed that day in a round about way may have contributed a little towards his good fortune this morning.

Anyway ,enough about nice guys and good deeds. Lets get our butts in gear and catch a fish bigger than Slipknot's! :)

Congrats Bruce, nice fish buddy. There are some slobs swimming around now, seems like everyone you talk to is getting into some big ones now. I've got to get away from the office :( again before the weekend, but I'm also pumped to get my brother in law out. He's coming Friday and will be looking forward to getting his yearly striper fix.

Now youv'e got to go for the 40, which is going to be a little tougher to hook and also land down at that ditch place :). This would be the year though, based on what I've seen swimming around.

Sweet! Another guy has a breakout day... I'm thinkin' I must be next. I may have to check the tides and sneak out with some eels asap.

That's a great fish Bruce and definitely wipes saturday off the boards. I think we may have been in the wrong state this past weekend after GS's and Slip's monster days.

Congrats.

Good going Slip, youv;e paid your dues and now a taste of reward, nice going//

Hey Mike if you let me in on where this Aquarium is, I'll tell you about that area you mentioned. It has been my best spot this year and you can fish it on west tides. Some of our old spots are producing large on Poppers on the East turns when no fish are showing around dusk! What a year!

Slip, you also got the front page on the site...again, congrats.

Like I said in the the e-mail, send me a copy of the weigh slip you're going to use for the MSBA tourney and fill out the tourney slip from this site with the noted fork lenght of 43.5 with it. The angler (no pun...) that signs the regular slip does need to be a member here for that to really count (have him do the necessary here too so if he gets one he can put it in too)...

As for the MSBA tourney, my 32 pounder last year was 3rd largest from shore entered into the club's yearlong...

Later

A ya didn't have to put it on the front page, Thanks John. I was in Wareham just awhile ago and hadn't cleaned the fish yet so I stopped off at Mikes' so I'll get the slip to you.

Sounds good Slip...

Nice fish! sometimes I find it easier to visualize the real size of the fish by comparing the fish to the person holding it.......and if a remember correctly, you're a pretty tall dude!WOW!

Congradulations! I am sure you have MANY of us a little envious! hee...hee...hee....but not me of course :*

Bruce nice fish, bested mine by 1lb 11oz. Now you are gonna have to teach me how to jig that place. You are on fire, forget the eels, stick with the jigs.