Those are great memories Gary. I still cringe at the thought of missing that great night you three experienced and although I've yet to have a night like that, I enjoy every minute I'm on that island. Block is truly a special place, but to experience it with good fishermen and be put on hot spots right off the bat, jeez. All I can say is good luck bidders.
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Ballards Beach, Sept 1990 2 AM and I'm throwing a BI green needle. I hooked up and never stopped the fish. 11' white lami, Penn 704z loaded with 20# (that was the norm then) Ande. Not a screaming run, just a bulldozer that swam away.

Larry Tremblay (coaches Hockey for Moses Brown now) was 20' away and both of us just stood there for a couple of minutes and stared straight out to sea toward the main land. The Block is a special place.
I went the 2nd week of Nov last year. All alone for 3 days. Met one other fisherman. A very special place.

with any luck i will get to add some memories to my fishing experiences. $ 875.00

Bump for wonderful love!

I'll throw in a couple plugs too ;)

Block!
 

When I went to Block for the first time in the early 80's I was fortunate to hook up with a bunch of guys that had been fishing the Island for ten years with the locals. They showed me all the spots, sometimes you thought you were driving down somebody's driveway and all of a sudden you were at the water. Spots you would never find on your own. Plus years of scouting myself. I have been chased right down to the water by homeowners and chased out of driveways. Only shot at once:uhuh:! Years later I was talking to a guy that had been fishing the Island for 6 yrs. We were comparing notes and he didn't know half the places I had been to. That is just me, the other two guest guides have been fishing the Island longer than me. You also have Tom, Pete and their crew, nobody fishes harder than they do. Tom spent so much time on the Island last year they made him a local! That is just some of the experience that you will be privy to if you win this trip! Gary

I wish I could afford to bid higher, but I have a cruise to Alaska booked a couple weeks after this and the money would just be too tight. Whoever wins this is getting a once in a lifetime fishing experience.

Edited for prominence, ya know ;)

After reading these posts and stories I realize two things.

1) We have the absolute best community. I am always shocked at the incredible reception we have to help others out, and the people participating this are providing quite the experience. I can not thank everyone enough.

2) I need to make it to Block this year!

I've had a few questions about this , so I will answer this here and I have also updated the original post.
The bidding will end on April 30th at 6PM.

I like the time that way no one has to stay up until midnight.

I hope guys don't wait until the last minute for the bid.

Sorry for the Delay announcing this... Friday night June 15th. Dinner will be served by Guest Cook Frank Capone. He is great cook so prepare to put on the feed bag.

He is also a hell of a fisherman and last time he was on the island took a 40.... Maybe he will chime in and give us the menu.

Tom:

Thanks for the kind works and I look forward to helping out with this worthy cause. In regards to the menu, I'm considering

1. Ritz crackers and cheese whiz; or
2. Italian food and lots of espresso with sambuca afterwards.

I even think DZ survived one of my meals on Block a few years ago (and we didn't need to rush him to the hospital either).

All kidding aside, I'll make something good to eat, and plenty of it, for all

Several years ago on BI we had DZ over for some food and I brought out a nicely braised beef stew over polenta with 4 different types of cheese to melt on top. Good times and I'm still surprised nobody killed me in my sleep on that trip :buds:

-spence

:drool:

That's the 7th gayest thing you've ever posted on this site.
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A Capone meal - yummy. Just don't give me kitchen clean-up duty afterwards ;)

DZ

We thought about it, and had to talk the one we can't mention here out of it...

Hysterical!!
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Don't worry DZ your not coming out for dish duty... lol,,,,,:fishin::fishin:

Don't forget this is still an auction :humpty:

Looks like the bidding is at $875. Someone should push it over a grand and get the extra day...seems like a good value :hihi:

-spence

Thanks Spence.... Good to keep this right up there,,, we are getting closer,,, Only a couple more days....

Dig deep guys this is a GREAT cause.... I personally have over $1000 invested in this and hope the bidding makes at least $1001.00..

Don't wait until the end to bid or you might not win this auction....

100% tax deductible for the winning bidder.......

ULTIMATE BLOCK TRIP.....

NO ONE can share with you what these guys have ALREADY accomplished on Block ALREADY....

EVERY GUIDE has fish OVER 40# from the surf on Block ALREADY.... more than a few have 50#'s.... A couple with fish even bigger....

Hi Gary.. That is some good fishin man!!!! This trip will be worth very penny and then some for someone!!!!!
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Hey Bill... Thanks for the kind words.... and recognizing how great an opportunity this trip of a lifetime really is.....

Also shoot me an email when you get that bag... Thanks again..

Tom @ commando......
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Block!
 

I got this story second-hand from John at Twin Maples. Two locals were fishing a sandy spit one night on a good bite. The spit has a good current running along the ocean side and it is narrow and drops off pretty quickly on both sides. It is shallow on the bar and you can wade out in the water quite a ways. The bite died and the two fisherman headed to to dry land. Halfway back they can see this big shape blocking their path (remember it is night)! They inched closer and one shined his light on the shape. They both screamed like thirteen year old girls (my interpretation, that is what I would do!). An estimated 1000 pound Mako had beached itself tying to swim over the bar. It's big tail was sweeping back and forth and it didn't seem to like the light so they shut it off. The bar is narrow and it is a big fish, so there is no way around it, plus the tide is coming in and pushing them closer to the shark. Needless to say they are both scared s--tless and trapped. Worst case scenario they get washed off the bar same time as the shark and they all end up in the water together. In this case (a happy ending) the shark got enough water underneath to slide off the bar and the two fisherman raced to shore. And as John says, "Never to fish there again!"

If you win this trip you will be fishing this bar, good news is I think it will be a little too cold for big Mako's in early June (I think? :confused:) Gary

LOL!!!!!
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Gary... The seals on this bar have a strong tendancy to draw those big toothy critters in close to block especially on that side of the island.....

And wearing a wetsuit makes us look a lot like our furry little friends.....

FYI... Not far from that area I had something big grab my eel bag last year while swimming..... Just saying....
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And you still skish? That's pretty close to the edge of being certifiable! I would see a mako in every wave.


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I wasn't skishing.... I was swimming to a rock in fairly shallow water not far from shore....
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This opportunity is killing me as I know all of the guys incuding the guest chef and would die to fish with you guys-especially Pat- but the week before I am going to another island and will be fishing all night for 5 straight nights. That usually takes me 3 weeks to recover. Also don't think I could take that Wednesday -Friday off the week after a week off.

I will second that. My boss would kill me if my back didn't. Still can't quite let go though. Keep comin' back to the thread.

Got it. I would like to bid on this, just don't know if my elbow can make it...

I posted this story before so I will not go into details but I was on the same bar and almost got swept off back in the 80s. Took me a good 20 minutes using a big heavy rod as a wading staff to get back in. Very dangerous place and quite a few good surfmen have died there. 5 knt current sweeping across a bar of soft sand with deep water on both sides. The bar tend to slide away from you.

Can be a VERY dangerous place... Not for the inexperienced.... or when its foggy....

Bid
 

I'm happy to place a bid to support the Home Base Program. We can't do enough to support the warfighters, IMO.

My bid is $1,001.00.

Though not counting towards the bid, it will be 100% company matched.

Thank you for your service GregW.
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And if the trip and the extras weren't already enough.....
The Lajoie family is going to cover the winning bidder's ferry cost from Pt Judith.

Props :cheers:

-spence

Big Thanks....
 

Pete's dad made it clear from when I first pitched this idea to them that he would cover the Ferry Cost for the winner. The Lajoie family could not be happier to help.

Pete Lajoie has also spent an incredible amount of his personal time planning this and is as dedicated to making this a TRIP OF A LIFETIME for the winner as I am.

Pete is no stranger to Block. Last year alone we spent over 8 weeks fishing together over there not including Commandos..... There are not many rocks out there that don't have his footprints on them.

Sucessful fishing,,, well here are some of the DOCUMENTED results from Petes fishing last year and this is only a portion since I witnessed his biggest fish of the season they are not on the list.

PeterLajoie 43.70
PeterLajoie 42.80
PeterLajoie 38.00
PeterLajoie 35.00
PeterLajoie 33.50
PeterLajoie 33.00
PeterLajoie 32.03
PeterLajoie 31.25
PeterLajoie 30.25

Good luck to the bidders.....

Block!
 

There are famous fishing spots on the Island and then there are rocks, only reached by deep wading or a short or long swim. You don't need a wetsuit on Block, but as in any place it opens up new possibilities. If you haven't wetsuited before this is a great opportunity to experience it. You can take it as slow as you want, no pressure. With all that said, I have also been on Block for a week and have fished from shore because of the big waves on the south side. If you are concerned about sharks there is the wetsuiter's motto: "You don't have to be the fastest swimmer, you just have to be faster than one other guy in the group! :jump1:" Good Luck with the bids!!. Both Pete and Tom had some really nice fish last year!!

To potential bidders: The wetsuit swimming method may sound intimidating to some. If you're not comfortable with that type of extreme fishing be advised some good fishing can still be had by more traditional surfcasting. I specialize in catching shallow water stripers and do not swim to any rocks - if this is more your style you'll have great access to some proven areas.

Nice bid RI Bass!

DZ