What's your Favorite Flavor?
We all knew we were pushing the season. It was now late November, Thanksgiving Turkey just a recent memory. Bass were still to be had on these island shores although we had yet to see any on this our last weekend trip of the year. Very few casters were on island now, just the hard core, the shadows in the night.
Zeke, Al and I worked the rock bar with needlefish plugs in the 35-degree night. Very cold but at least the wind was calm. We waded the bar gingerly so as not to get our hands wet, as they would then become useless appendages. We cast for an hour with no action save for the occasional 8-inch sand eel we would snag on our plugs. At least the bait was present.
Then it started. Zeke was the first to hook-up when we heard him mutter, "I'm on". Before Zeke could land his fish Al and I also hooked-up. These fish fought differently and when we beached them we knew why. They were all dogfish. Not an uncommon occurrence in the surf this time of year with the cooler water temps, but usually caught by the bait guys, not plugging. We continued to catch these doggies for the next half-hour. As we landed them they would spit up sand eels. By now we were somewhat resigned to the fact that we might not catch any bass. So we started to have some fun with our "dogfish blitz". We began a contest to see who could land the largest doggie, the winner would lay claim to a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream back at the cottage. As one of us would hook-up we would lean into the rod and yell "This is the pool winner" or "Bet you can't beat this one". We just couldn't believe we had all this bait but no bass. Must have passed by the island early this year.
Al had the lead with a nice 7-8 pound doggie. He said that the ice cream back at the cottage was already starting to taste good. I had another hook-up. Al and Zeke being the jokers they are started barking at me like dogs. But this hook-up was different; it was taking some line and heading up the bar with me in tow. Al and Zeke thought I was playing it up and followed me as I chased my ice cream winning doggie, the guys barking and laughing at me the whole time. When I finally had this hook-up in the wash I put my neck light on it to reveal a plump 20-pound bass. I lifted her up, turned and faced the guys who were still barking. Talk about two guys shutting up quick and running back to continue casting. I'd say I had the last laugh of the night (as well as what was the last bass of the season).
Al won the ice cream that night as my bass was ruled an ineligible species in the dogfish contest. He did share it with us. Since that night the three of us now refer "Chunky Monkey" as "Dandy Dogfish".
DZ
