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Last decade or so, met up with an old friend from my Mass days for a middle of the night tide at the canal. It was the first year we used the plastic nb bottle darters. It was the early part of a noreaster and it was pretty nasty. Didn't see another person, or car for that matter. We almost bailed after the first couple hours of the tide were dead, but we knew that would be bad form for the particular spot. About 2 1/2 hours in we both hooked up on the same drift. The next 3 hours of the tide we had fish on practically every drift with the northbars. I don't think there was one fish between us under 38" and most were well into the 40's.
I chased those conditions a few seasons after, thinking I could get to the canal, fish the good part of the tide and get home before bad winds of the impending storm arrived. Canal was dead and things were getting eerie so we ended up bailing around 2 and I started to drive back to CT. That put me in south county area between 3-4 am as early bands of Irene started to hammer the area. There were periods of time where I not only thought I wouldn't get home, but wasn't sure I would be able to get to the next exit. Definition of white knuckle for sure. I was thinking of my wife at home with two kids under five and how pissed she was going to be with me if I ended up abandoning her over something rather foolish. Luckily, there was a break between bands and I made it New Haven within the hour of reprieve. New Haven looked like a war zone with downed trees and power lines to dodge. Learned an important lesson that night about priorities.
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