Great stories guys! Love reading them! The pics are also great!

Mr. Sandman.....love that childhood pic of you! Priceless!:uhuh:

Rockfish - pass along my thanks and regards for your son please :btu:

2 years ago. Taught my son to cast his spinning reel and my daughter was using her push button. Freshwater fishing. They each caught a 2 lb. bass on their first cast. Best double I will ever be a part of.

I could catch a 40# this year and it wouldn't top that day. Now my daughter is into the girl things, while my son can't wait to fish a beach with me.

And Rockfish, thank your son for me for being one of the brave people who allow my children to sleep safe every night.

My (our)first striped bass ever. My brother and bought a couple surf rods from Benny's and went to the Chatham lighthouse beach 3 nights in a row while on summer vacation in Harwich. We fished with sand eels over on the left near the rocks (back when the water was faster over there). The tackle store gave us the classic 2 hours either side of high - so we fished around 7-11, 8-12 and 9-1. Nothing but crabs. On the 4th night we said forget it - we must be doing something wrong - we basically just chalked it up to being freshwater guys and the big surf was our match. It was 9 or so and my girlfriend who was also there with us and sick of spending nights with my sister and family said why don't we go, there is some bait left and you guys love to fish - I'll even go. So the three of us went - took lawn chairs etc and headed down.
That night at around 1AM one rod started bobbing and it was not the waves. After setting the hook my brother yells "Jim, I think we got one and its heading to England" Well a longer than necessary fight took place. We all took turns reeling it in - I ended up going in the water to literally push it on shore (couldn't figure out how to surf that last wave in...).
We all look and its a keeper. We pack up quickly race home and wake up the whole house, the dog my parents sister and 75 year old grandma. It weighed 22 lbs, taken with the scientific step on the bathroom scale with and without it method. We stayed up and cleaned it and I think the grin did not leave my face for days.
Needless to say I was hooked. I now am married to the girl from this story, and I certainly don't have to explain to her why I go out late at night and come home with a grin on my face the receipts from tackle store are a different story...

2 Best days
 

Number one when I lived on a lake. Giving my stepdaughter a rod and reel and stocked tackle box as a first conmunion gift and seeing her catch a 2lb. large mouth on the first cast from our dock.
Number two taking my grandson (age 7) saltwater fishing for the first time last fall and hitting a bluefish blitz from a breechway. I'll never forget holding his belt so the 13lb. blue wouldn't pull him off the rocks. Must have caught at least 40 fish during that blitz. He's been fresh water fishing since age 3 and now he thinks saltwater fishing is always like this.

A Striper from the Old Days...

This photo is of myself with a 62-pound bass taken in 1971. What you can't see in the photo are the two 45 pounders laying at my feet. We were live-lining menhaden. I’m still around and still chasing that elusive 63 pounder. A boy can dream right?

So…here is my “Fish of a lifetime”…

Al

I could read a whole book of these. I'm not kidding. Great stories, great moments and some super pics.
I've been fishing so long it's impossible for me to pick just one. I can think of 3 in the past 12 months I'll never forget. 1) watching my 16 yr old son fighting large stripers under a pier. The look on his face, the rod bent in two, the drag screaming. So much fun. 2) Hiking into a Vermont stream a mile with little luck...then he hooks into a large trout on ultralight tackle and lands a 20" brown after an amazing fight and many jumps (pretty unusual for a brown). 3) a few weeks ago he and i fishing from a dock on a small island off KeyWest at night. He was hooking monster Tarpon on a rapala floater/diver. Finally landed a smaller one of maybe 30 lbs.
All great memories he and I will never forget. We are never closer than when we are fishing together.

I will do that.. this evening in fact ,he's home (in NJ) until May...

Great Thread! Everyone's stories are very inspiring. My favorite trip occured last year on the South River with my then 3 year old. he caught his first striper on his rod drifting worms off my skiff. his face lit up and he was so proud of himself. But only a fraction of how proud I was of him. It's a powerful and emotional feeling doing these things with people that you are close too. It's hard for me to explain but reading all these posts is really bringing me back to how important family and friends are. Thanks Larry for starting this thread!:kewl:

decksweeper and I with easily a 600+ lb night
laughing like school children every time we hooked up

the first time I took my oldest son James fishing.....sunnies till his arms fell off


oh ya...and this as well

After coming close to death a couple of years back when I fell in @ Hazard Ave.By A rouge wave Everyday is the best. :bl:

Hey Al....Fabulous picture!:kewl:

GREAT Stories----Brings back so many memories of great times fishing with some I still fish with, others that I don't.
For the past 16 years my life has revolved around liitle but fishing for striped bass. A lot of good times with plenty of laughs, a lot of heartbreaks with disappointment. No moment, even as a young kid fishing compares to the night this past season that I caught my first 50lb.
The image of a board member here laying on his back on a rock staring up at me with his redlite on and his arms and legs wrapped around that beauty will forever, ever be burned into my mind.
As striped bass fishermen, a fifty from shore is the Lombardi Trophy. So many nights away from friends, family, activities and the wife in pursuit of that one fish, all the casts into perfect water in perfect conditions and it finally happened.
I have seen the Red Sox win a world series and caught my fifty.....now I can die in peace.
But then again the night behind the Oceanmist with JohnR is a close 2nd............

Thanks Larry,

The fish was caught off Third Beach in Newport in October. In those days we never measured the fish, just the weight. To give you and idea of the length, I was 5'- 8" at the time. Gravity has taken a tole on my height over the years.

Notice the old green Penns in the picture. They were loaded with 20 pound test. I still am useing the Thermos that you see sitting on the boat.

Al

My fondest memory is when I was about 7 or 8, my parents allowed me to walk to the local pond by myself, I caught a small largemouth and the guys that were building something nearby took it off the hook for me, and called it a nice fish. I was beaming, and never stopped fishing after that. I was at that pond every chance I got, catching mostly pickeral, perch and bullheads, but occasionally getting a small bass or trout. Leading out of that pond was a small stream that led to a private hunting and fishing club, and we used to sight fish for trout that made it up the stream out of the fly fishing pond. I couldnt have asked for a better place to grow up. And since it was a girl scout camp, it was private, and I had the place to myself, as long as I didnt bother the girl scouts.

Nice fish . . . . the belt looks like it's about to cut you in half though.

Ya Makai, I was bust'n my gut holding that fish up for the picture. I wear suspenders now...it helps. :hihi:

Thats why I live in sweat pants and shorts.

two moments...
 

First about 10 years ago on Weekapaug Beach, my 13 yr old son (at the time) caught his first striper on his brand new spin caster (though cheap it was). He hooked up with a little popper. He couldn't reel it in...brain lock... he walked backwards until the fish came out of the surf, dropped the new rod/reel into the sand and ran down to tackle the fish...poor thing. Then proceeded to try and pull the lip from 27.5 inches to 28"...poor thing. He released it.

The second about 5 years ago in almost the same spot.
My wife to be had never fished (she is from Colombia, S.A.). She was practicing casting in ankle deep water.
A bluefin came out of the water about 200 feet in front of us. Looked like a car fell into the ocean! I was amazed. I turned to see if she saw it... she was gone.
She was at the back of the beach..."there are things that big in the water?" she exclaimed... It took our honeymoon the next year to get her back in the water (same place again). She caught dozens of schoolies and bluefish and has been hooked ever since. Those memories are the best.
That was very cool.

Okay..I caught my 1st striper in Eastham at the herring run when I was about 13 or 14...I went over to the river empyting into the bay and picked up a herring,put it on the hook and cast it out..Had my brand new waders on from Goose Hummock and a brand new rod and reel I got for my birthday..I put the rod in my 12 inch spike and went roaming the beach..All of a sudden I heard a plop..Look over and my rod was gone..^&&t..Parents are gonna kill me..I waded out in the water and I could the line my rod made while going towards the old target ship..:mad:..Well I made the trek back to the cottage and told my parents what happened..They werent to happy..
We went church (sunday) amd came back home..By them the tide was going out..If you know thye area the tide goes out for about a mile..I went back down to the beach and started walkng out..
I l;ooked out and in one of the tidal pools I saw a splash..Yup..I got my 1st striper and also got my rod..
The looks I got walking down the beach at low tide carrying rod and striper were priceless..

Any time that I got to or get to fish with my daughters.

Greatest almost fishing moment was today when I to Maine to see my 9 1/2 month old grandson and took him to the fish tank at Cabelas. He looked at he fish with his eyes wide open and said his first word in front of Papa it was "fish". I looked at him and the lady next to me looked at him and he pointed and said it again. He is well on his way.

All are good stories guys, thanks for sharing.
My most recent "greatest moment" was fishing last year with my girlfriend on her Birthday. I built her her own 7' rod and she put it to good use. She got the only keeper of the day, and she cleaned it herself when we got home. It's a great memory, she still gloats when she sees the pic.

After many frustrating days in the fall chasing Albies it seemed like they had left. No birds ,little bait . Then motoring slowley along the jetties I kept seeing a little funny water. Every cast to that spot ,boom, albie,with a wind that would push me in the right direction.

I could not come up with only one as I love any time out on the water (fresh or salt). But here are just a few that stand out. The best with my son was the first trip he and I made to a small Maine pond when he was 12 to fish for smallmouths. We put the boat in went across the pond and first cast he makes a nice 6# or better smally jumps on his tinytorpedo and the fight is on. After a few minutes he has the fish coming along side and Dad gets it caught in the trolling motor and cuts him off. Greg looks back at me and says thats ok dad I was going to let him go anyway. The fish gods did help me out as we both caught many smallys that day up to and a few over 5# but not the big one. This pond has blessed us with many very large fish and great times together. Another would be the first trip to Cutty back in 2002 with a few new found friends at a site called striped-bass.com. I found the site in Jan. and asked if some of the guys would like to fish at Cuttyhunk with me in June for a weekend and stay at our house. If you can look up threads that far back see what kind of a reaction I got to that offer. Of all the times I have fished on Cutty and Nashawena islands for more than 50 years that weekend would be the best if only to watch the faces of these new comers as they fished the promised land. And yes John R that night with you and me in my boat and Clammer and Goose in his would have to be the most none stop Fish Catching, Laughter filled night of all it was what I think most true fisherman long for. Good fishing good friends good times!!

"A Kiss"
 

I wrote this story a couple of years ago. I can't believe my oldest son is going to be a teen-ager in two days. Thanks for this thread. It was nice to re-visit, sometimes life moves too fast.

Wow what a great thread!:kewl:
I grew up in NE PA and lived less than a mile from the Susquehanna River. We fished it often, wading or fishing out of my dad's jon boat. On nice weekend days we would take two trucks so we could enjoy a nice 5 mile float trip. We caught mostly smallmouth, but also perch, rock bass, walleye and when we felt like it we'd tangle with the huge carp. Then one day while trolling a panther martin spinner minnow my dad hooked a musky. Quite the battle ensued on fairly light tackle. He landed that fish,a 35 incher and his first musky ever, despite growing up in a house on the bank of the river. He just never targeted them before, probably because he grew up quite poor and any legal fish he caught went to the kitchen so he focused on the smaller fish with the better odds...
One night the following summer, August 14, 1979 to be exact, dad asks me if I want to go down to the river for a few casts one evening after baseball practice, so I say sure, and we end up fishing a nice hole with a back eddy that leads into a riffly narrows. The fish weren't biting and the sun was fading fast. I sensed the end of the outing was near and was losing a little interest (as a nine year old will do from time to time). I had on a yellow quarter ounce jig and I was fishing with a telescopic fiberglass rod with a zebco pushbutton special with 10 or 12 lb. test. I had the rod butt on top of my head and was reeling so fast the jig was just skipping across the water. About ten feet from shore in about 10 inches of water all hell breaks loose. All I can manage is "dad, I got one and it feels big." I can still see the look on his face when he saw the shape of my rod. The fish gave me four or five head shakes and then just started peeling line. A tough and anxious battle took place and it got hairy when the fish started going downstream. I had to follow and nurse him down through the riffles to the next eddy where, with much encouragement from dad I finally put the fish on the rocks. We celebrated and then measured the fish at 40.75 inches. It was not a stocked tiger, but a true muskellunge. We drove it over to the local supermarket and walked in and draped it over the produce scale at one of the registers and it came in at 15.5 pounds, my biggest fish before I found saltwater and a great time with dad.

Great times, great times :btu:

Scotty, you madman

I AM DYING TO GO MUSKIE FISHING! CATCHING THE FISH OF 10,000 CASTS IS A DREAM OF MINE AND ONE I HOPE TO MAKE A REALITY SOON!

Great story BME!:cool:

a minute a cast works out to fishing 24/7. . . . .7 days. . .hope you are a patient man. I fished with the editor of muskie magazine , they are a devoted bunch. He felt that all the pike he caught while waiting out the muskie were like us fighting through dogfish. . .pisses him off.

last year when the pogies were running, a friend and i took my 12ft fiberglass duck hunting boat down to the harbor near my house. we were going into the channel and snagging bait and going back into the marina and casting under a big sailboat that had a huge school of fish under it. cast out, count to five and one would grab it, let it run, count to five again and stick em. there was a big marina party on the dock we were casting toward and everyone was cheering and talkin about how big the fish were. the crowd turned it into a compitition between my buddy and i and after about 2 hours we caught about 15 keepers. let all but two smaller ones go. having the people there made it feel like we were in an arena or something. a pertty cool experience and if the bait comes back like that hopefully ill do it again