Take my 5 year old daughter to the beach this spring and see if I can get her hooked up with her first striper.
Last summer she patiently and calmly told me that she understood my telling her that learning to cast a spinning rod (I do NOT like spincast rigs) may take a lot of time and patience, so I started her on my 5 ft trout rig with a plastic practice slug.......
.......and she then proceeded to send the slug 40 ft on the second cast. After that she showed that it was not a co-incidence, and increased the distance on the following casts. I was well chuffed.
Ten minutes later she was doing the same with my 7ft schoolie rod.
Slow Eddie - I think that I might start her off at your stomping grounds this spring.
Both her and her younger sister have already been asking for their own rods..........
Some of the most enjoyable times I have had fishing these last few seasons have been when I helped friends and family catch their first stripers, and also when I have had the pleasure of fishing alongside (and learning from!) some of the real gentlemen that we have on our coast. I hope to be able to do more of both this season.
cheers all.