John, so I'm a little overgunned? It might take a little play out of my fish down here but as I go to other places, I'll still be undergunned. CT does have some big fish in it and as a former boyscout, always be prepared is still my motto.
I can forsee when we get settled and have some more money, taking day trips to places like the race and rhode island is only an hour from me as it is. I'm about 10 minutes from the Port Jeff ferry over to long island. North shore, south shore, and even Montauk isn't out of the question for a day trip. I have a brother that lives in Brooklyn that I can crash with so Staten Island, Brooklyn, also have their places. New Jersey is just a short hop from brooklyn. And there are still oppurtunities to nail some decent fish around here. Spring run offers us times to throw out and alewive, eels are good bait. In the fall, we have bunker sometimes. (hopefully more and more in the coming years). We do have some big fish but they aren't as consistent as you guys have. Remember, just about 10 years ago, a man hooked the current striper record for CT about 100 yards from shore in New Haven Harbor.
And if I ever decide to do the party boat thing, I have a good reel that I can throw on a rod. I heard that dude Crazy Al used either a 7000 or a 7500 to land a good tuna on a boat.
My parents, as soon as my dad can retire, are selling this house and moving to Maryland. They are in love with the bay. As you can ask Tony Hill, there are good fish in the bay (good crabs too
). Ocean City is an hour or two away. Good sharks, red drum, blues, stripers all hang out down there. Deleware is just up the coast.
All I need to do is get my brother to settle in hatteras and I'll bust my territory wide open.
Mindi's parents are moving to Florida and I might have a chance at tarpon, permit, big jacks, sharks, and god knows what else when we go to visit.
I'm not saying the allstar 1208/Abu 7000C3 will be my main weapon. I'll always have the lighter rods and until I get my license and a car, I'll just have to plan carefully on what I can expect to catch.
This is going to be my rod when I need a very light heaver down here(A chunk with an oz-4 oz weight), when I want to sling larger lures or some eels. Even down here, I've had times when I couldn't get bit on anything but a very large krocodile. This thing must weigh in at 4 oz. When the fish go deep in the channel. That's my number one producer. The channel isn't too wide but we have sailboats in there that have very large masts. I'm thinking the keel must be at least 8 feet and they don't get stuck really, only at the neep tide if at all. So that's about 9 feet deep at normal low. Plus 6 feet for the tide, that's 15 feet at the shallowest point.
Also, there will be times when there is a hard blow coming in my face and I won't be able to cast the lighter stuff. I've run into it a few times. It'll be handy just to fish a teaser.
I believe that if I limited my options, I could face a scenario of people catching around me and me getting skunked.
Imagine if cops just limited their weapons to the 9mm. No pepperspray, no other non lethals, no shotguns, no HKMP5s, no Colt AR-15s. Well you've seen what happens, look at the N. Hollywood shootout. This isn't life or death but it's fishing. Almost as important
.