no way in hell I could walk away, but that's just me, I'm still relatively green to the sport and have never experienced a night like Flap is describing here, so I would milk it for all that it's worth. I guess if you've had your fun in the past and are really bent on a trophy, I could see moving on and looking for bigger. Fisherman are an obsessive bunch.

Hey, fish4striper!

Not trying to stir the pot, just aiming for a different target than you are. BTW, RIHound, I caught one fish from the 30# class last year, and like you feeshed me arse off! However, last year I waz not size specific in my quests....................I would pull over anywhere, anytime, anytide and be happy with anyfeesh!! I had my spots and considered last year a productive year, but this year will be different for me aside from the occassional belly-fillers for me and my family.

Not guaranteeing that I'll be able to pull it off, but Crazy Al is Crazy Al for a reason...................prolly one of the most successful surfcasters on our waters today...............and this is his philosophy. Just thought I would give it a shot this year. Difference is not always wrong, just different.

To assume that I don't like to feesh, simply cuz my focus has changed, or because it seems foreign to your methods seems somewhat narrowminded, brah? Whaddya think, the fiddies are just gonna wave their dorsals at me and shout "Hey Tracker, we're ovah heeah!! Come and LAND us..............PLZZZZ?"

If anything I'll be doing twice the homework I did last year, which in turn means many moons on the water, more specific pursuit, and a whole new approach from a tackle perspective as well. It ain't gonna be easy! Just some thoughts, gents, tryin' to chase this chill from me bonz....................

I ran into a situation similar to Flap's scenario 2 seasons ago on a rocky little island. Found the fish about 1 am, tide topped off around midnight. Sunrise was somewhere around 6 am or so and the action turned right off the moment you could make out a glimmer of light on the horizon. In this time frame the bass were all 25 - 35 pounds that were landed. Conservatively, I had 25 fish beached in that size range. Lost another 15 - 20 fish. Sometimes you would hook a fish, fight it for a minute, drop her, and another would slip right in and get hooked before you could even realize what happened. This was in a very rocky bowl, dropping tide, and 50# braid. So I guess in a 2 hour time frame, in this situation, I could pull 12 - 13 fish on to the beach. Put me on a sissy sand beach :bo: and I would have to say the number would be a little bit higher. This was all needlefish tossing with bass busting mullet. Several true hogs were lost in the battle, and the other 5 guys fishing with me had similar results. One of the many nights I will never forget.

Sometimes it is harder(takes longer) to land a fish on a sandy beach than from a rock.Any kinda of surf making undertow an u have alot of give an take till the job is done..

Bingo...
especially shallow water on the drop.. other side of the bar a strong possibility.. light 9 foot rod 20 pound braid, that sand bar is gonna be a factor... you can't have the drag locked.. 30 pound plus class fish.. even if you hook up in close.. it will make a vigorous run right off..you might have to cover some sand, in a hurry during the fight, as well... a lot of factors if you read Steve's original question and limit youself to those parameters, and stay true to them...

all of um....

I will let ya know after this summer. :laugha:

I did not read it closely enough....I also thought that it was 20# fish.....I'm not too familar with the Cape and conditions pertaining to the the bars and strength of tide...those are valid points.

But anyways - I guess we need to be very skeptical when people claim to have 500# nights or better....

I would in noway walk away, the way the outer beach has been the last few years, I would be happy to catch stripers up to 30 pounds for 2 hours never mind over 30 pounds.

2 fish over 30 pounds last year, but I fished my butt off, and I had 6 months off.

skeptical I guess is just part of being a fisherman I guess. I have a poor memory so I don't have to worry about remembering my lies since I tell the truth. Speaking of 500 pound nights, I and a good friend have had 500 pound nights in about 3-4 hours of a tide a couple of falls ago. fish from 15 to 30 pounds, the average was between 20 and 25 lbs, we each had almost 3 dozen fish a piece. Fished till our arms ached, put them all back too. It was a night I'll not ever forget. 600 pounds of fish each was a lot of fish. We had a good week or 2 and that night was the peak. You can believe it or not.
I bet if our other friend K was there, he would have done just as well too :)


Flap, I hope that scenario happens this year and I am there, because I'd be happy with just 1 30 on a needle.:ss:

On needles 5. Too many other sand eels if they are slurpin

Slip.. I just did the math.. figured... 4 hours, 36 fish (each) that was a cast, a hookup, a fish reeled in, (cranked, no time for a fight) and released every 6 and a half minutes!!!! Yikes......no time to retie, or even take a sip of water! :) and averaged in the mid twenty #'s.. :kewl:

yeah until u came up whine in mah ear
that week a few years back another time when i had to drag them fish all that week up that hill sucked big time

I wasn't the one whining that night, it was Jim :p
Atleast 30 fish Karl, I stopped counting at 25
A fish on most every cast at the peak, we'd go 1 cast without a fish and say hey, where'd they go?:D 20 pound was average, the fish were mostly around the 40 inch mark, easy to winch in at 12 lbs of drag, give them nothing, land them in a couple minutes tops, the 30's took a little more time, then a moment to rest. Twinkees surf in across the top. When you're used to doing it every day, it's easier. 10 fish per hour is not that hard to do the way we did it. Ya drive yourself to cast again because they aren't there for long and winter is a long time.

I hope I am lucky enough to have that happen to me once or twice in my life . I can't imagine anyone actually walk away from that :eek5: ... I think for most fishers, especially those of us who have only been serious at this in the recent decades, a 2 hour solid bite by 30lb plus bass would be a night of a lifetime. Maybe if they were mostly 10-20 lbs you might leave after a bit, but 30lbers?

I would be interested to know how many people have had a night of legitimate 2 solid hours of 30lbers (say 6-10 fish @ 30lbs+) in the last 15 or 20 years from shore. Man that just seems like an unusual event these days. But maybe I just don't fish enough and the right places :cool: .

zimmy
decksweeper and i got into 25-30 lb class for 3 hours straight last year. A night i will NEVER forget. He was picking up fish cast after cast, I was into 2 fish to his 6, and i was 50 yards south of him.
He calls me over to get to the rock he was on, which put me in a sticky situation going neck deep to get there for about 20 feet. I knew it was worth it, had to get there. When i finally got to the rock, a helping hand got me out of the water and the games begun

these fish were in front of us for A SOLID 3 HOURS, cast after cast. It got to the point where we were laughing like school children.

end of the night, exhausted, we enjoyed a couple of cold ones reminicing.





sorry to bring this night up again Joe figliuolo, I know hearing this makes you go back to therapy

FU!!!! i had banished that from my mind. Now I'm REALLY gonna come over there and Kick your @$$

Not going to go into detail (sorta already did twice in the last week).
Timing is everything, being at the right place the right time early season when these classes of fish make the push through is incredible. In my case it was back to back nights at the same place while fishing solo.

10 - 15 depending on conditions

Slipknot - quote:

" I wasn't the one whining that night, it was Jim."

Hey!!!!!! I wasn't whining..... and Dave wasn't even there that night.

We each had at least a 500# ( more like 600#s) that night. I do remember how bloody my hands and clothes were.

who in their right mind would walk away from a blitz of 30# fish? :doh:

sorry Jim :hidin: you're right, he was not there, we were the only 2 maniacs. Let me re-phrase that , uhhh I wasn't the one making comments about how beat and tired I was, that was Jim, but he is much smaller than I but in great fishing shape for an accountant ;) I was just glad you did not have any technical difficulties that night. We need another of those some time soon, but maybe at another location:faga:

Slip,

Yep. I'm an accountant ( sit at desk all damn day). However....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I can keep up with the Neanderthals. :btu: :rotf2:

And.... for the record. I figured that night was more like 800#s

avrg fish 22.5# X 36+ fish = 800#s ( plus/minus)

Would anybody be willing to take me with them this summer and show me a situation like this? Seriously.

you can't pick night like this...only dream of them and hope they come true

decksweeper and I were lucky enough one night, as was slipnot and jim

although they are rare nowadays, I guess they were the norm in the golden years

[QUOTE=jim sylvester;468798]zimmy
decksweeper and i got into 25-30 lb class for 3 hours straight last year. A night i will NEVER forget. He was picking up fish cast after cast, I was into 2 fish to his 6, and i was 50 yards south of him.
He calls me over to get to the rock he was on, which put me in a sticky situation going neck deep to get there for about 20 feet. I knew it was worth it, had to get there. When i finally got to the rock, a helping hand got me out of the water and the games begun

these fish were in front of us for A SOLID 3 HOURS, cast after cast. It got to the point where we were laughing like school children.

end of the night, exhausted, we enjoyed a couple of cold ones reminicing.


Its so sweet same thing happened to myself and Jim D in late november 2005 3 hours of fish in the 30lb range. I landed about 15 fish Jim 18 and it could have been more but i spent a bit of time changing crushed VMCs. :beat:

and we also had a few victory sodas:cheers:

It happens occasionally. I had several nights last year where it happened. Three on the outer Cape in the fall, one on the shores of CC Bay late fall and one on a rocky island south of Woods Hole in the dead of summer.

Being on the water as much as possible and being willing to explore new areas and do the leg work ( and believe me it takes leg work)

If you are serious about your fishing, who you with fish is serious and committed and study the area in depth that going to fish and youre willing to put up with endless fishless or almost fishless nights, the aches and pains and stay focused it will happen to you eventually.

Thank you all for contributing to this thread,

Flap

Flap - quote:

"...... and youre willing to put up with endless fishless or almost fishless nights, the aches and pains and stay focused it will happen to you eventually. "


Well said and absolutely accurate.