Beginners Luck?
Beginners Luck?
November 1986
A surfcasting trip to Block Island for three friends – two are accomplished casters – the third has never caught a striped bass. The beginning of the night is slow and cold – no fish. They think of quitting but eventually decide to fish the tide out. After awhile the guy who has never caught a bass yells through the darkness that he’s got one on. He’s using what can best be described as a “Kmart special”. A rubber rod with matching reel loaded with 15 pound line. The rig is stressed to the limit but everything holds together. After 20 minutes he lands his first striped bass - a monster - when weighed a day and a half later it pulls the scale to 62.5 pounds. They bury her with sand and seaweed so that no other fishermen will see her as they walk by. Other casters unknowingly walk right by the fish as sand and weed twitch occasionally as she slowly expires.
A short time later the new guy hooks up again – his two friends have not yet had a strike.
He lands another bass – another 50 pound fish. They decide to put this one back. As they’re releasing it an unknown surfcaster happens upon them and says: "Geez, if I'd knowed you wuz gonna throw it back I'da axed yuh for it..."
True story – I’m working on a more detailed version of it for the future.
Happy New Year
DZ
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