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Sounds like a lot of great memories were filed away under 2001.
For me, my personal high came from directing and producing a video featuring Lefty Kreh. It had taken over two years to plan. When it finally unfolded, it was nothing short of fantastic. There I was setting the stage for one of the world’s greatest anglers to ply his skills against one of my favorite fish, in one of the most hallowed spots in all the striper surf – Cuttyhunk.
For four days I tried to capture how Lefty approaches fishing every possible type of structure, in every possible type of weather and sea condition. We caught fish on the legendary Sow and Pigs reef. We caught fish in deep water drop offs, on shallow flats, in boulder fields, at the mouth of a pond, in calm water, in heavy seas, in just about every condition an angler would have to cope with.
It was a great experience learning how Lefty would: analyze the situation and then makes his decisions on lure or fly selection, how he would animate his fly, how he would count down as his offering sank to depth and then alter the depth until he connected, how he would choose color, size and profile of a fly to match the bait in the area, how he would make 80 foot casts, all day long, even with wind, and how every fish caught seemed to be as exciting as Lefty’s first.
The soon to be released videos will reveal, not only a treasure trove of useful information, lots of great underwater seascapes and schooling fish, but it will also capture the jovial and gregarious personality of a truly wonderful human being.
There were many other 2001 highlights: videotaping sailfish as they worked balls of bait 20 miles off Costa Rica, filming a mako shark devour a bluefish after rocketing up out of the cobalt-blue ocean, watching a 400 pound mako jump 10 times with leaps over 15 high and 30 feet wide, descending through schools of bass on Sow and Pigs Reef, spotting 40 and even 50+ stripers in shallow water, even chasing schools of mullet in the wash.
I’m also grateful for all the new friends that I have met both in the virtual world of the Internet and on the water. I’m grateful for every sunrise and every sunset, and as good a year as it was, I can’t wait for next season.
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