The canal last night....
 

Did anyone have the fortune of fishing along the east end last night?
I had a blast casting while doing a balancing act on a 10" rock face!
The fish were there, although there was very little surface action.
I only fished a couple of hours, up to around the turn of the tide. Managed to land 4 fish, 2 which were definite keepers, all of which were released. I did lose 2 fish, one freed itself, the other broke me off.
Th one that broke me off was helped by me, as it was running out to the bay like a freight train with no brakes! Since there were a few others fishing about 50' to my left, I really couldn't expect them to hold off on fishing while I fought this beast. I couldn't tell how long it would take, so I did the only thing I could think of: I cinched down the drag and held onto the spool until the fish and I parted company.

Other than that I would say it was a good night, reminding me of one of my REALLY GOOD fall-run nights (think Columbus Day Massacre).

I would have given way to you to fight it....I think alot of anglers would do that for someone...at least I'd like to think so.

If I were standing in the water, I don't think it would have been an issue, but standing on the rocks, your line covers a lot more ground.

The fish was strong, REAL strong, and I figured that if I couldn't turn the fish quickly enough it was going to pretty much spool me if I didn't end the battle when I did.

Keep in mind that I have battled some serious fish in the past while wading the waters, but I didn't have other lines to contend with either.
I'll chock this up as a learning experience for future reference, preferably this coming fall!

There were three guys(idiots) fishing to my right and catching pretty well, but all 30" class fish and under. They had the fish strewn all over the access road. Whether they were trying to high grade the schoolies they were catching or were just aholes I don't know, but the spot they were fishing was littered with at least 5 whole stripers this morning at daybreak, possibly fish they felt uncomfortable keeping because they were all over their bag limits so they simply threw them into the rocks above the high water line. Twas the biggest disgrace I've seen in a long time...:doh:

I knew they were up to no good, but couldn't get close enough to them in the dark to see what was up. Once they left I walked over and was just sick.

Can't the EPO just deputize a bunch of us and give us cool jackets, so we can do a little " explaining ".

Yeah, I know how you feel. I fished next to some pathetic loser last night who seemed unhappily adept at using a skin plug to cull bluefish out of a sea full of bass. :uhuh:

What a disgrace.

Sorry to hear, Mike.

We fished next to a guy one time who caught a fish maybe 25 inches long. (limit 28 inches). He holds up the fish and asks "Keeper"? I say no too short. He syarts with , "I don't know , I think its OK , looks good , etc". I say no way , too short. He then says he's going to take it back to his truck in the parking lot to measure it! :) He never came back.

I see this situation all the time , especially by the newer less experienced. I think they fish so long without anything that when they get one , they immediately start rationalizing a way to keep it , no matter what size.

Now a guy who is high grading , who leaves the shorts dead on the shore should get his hands cut off. To me , that guy catches enough , knows the rules , knows enough to do the high grade routine. He is conciously making the decision that he will kill excess fish , not to finally get one at all or to get something for maybe his poor hungry family , but to just eek out a couple more pounds. That guy needs an a$$ kicking to wake him up.

Disgusting to say the least.

I'd rather see someone keep too many fish and have them be used to feed a family, rather than having some guy kill 5 fish, but only keep 2.

If you are "caught" high-grading bass, then you should be keel-hauled by a freighter over a mussel bed!:smash:
If you live, you'll have learned something.

Couldn't have said it any better!