Well, she did it in grand style last nite and this morning.
She told me she wanted me to teach her how to fish this year so I bought her a nice 9' Tica for a starter just to see if she'd like it - welll....apparently she does
We went out together Wednesday nite for a while and there wasn't much going on, but she got in her casting practice from the rocks anyway - and she's got a helluva an arm (she's a former Hoosier softball player). So Thursday nite she says to give her a call if I see any blues anywhere for a smoker load to send to her brother at the family reunion in the Midwest - and I ran into 'em on a recon and called her to get ready. We ended up getting into them in the harbor and she hooked and landed 3 (to my 1) in the 6-7 lb range, perfect for the smoker. She hooked probably another half dozen that got off but she was pretty jazzed.
I was up at 5 AM today (Friday) and woke her ("My arms are sore - I'm fished out" she said, half-awake - "Not yet you're not", I told her)
We went out front and hit the rocks, the water was great - her first 3 casts, 3 bass. I didn't even get to
fish for the first half hour because I had to keep scrambling down the rocks to release her fish - she really did a helluva job, then all hell broke loose. The fish started to blitz and it lasted for the next five hours from 6:30 AM til 11:30 until we got chased off the rocks by lightening from a line squall.
It was pretty amazing, nothing huge but we finally just lost count on how many fish we caught - the bass and blues - but mostly bass - were tearing up schools of small pogies in the pre-storm swell. She likes her Storm shads - she calls them Gummy Bears
- and they worked well for her.
She hooked and landed bass to 27" and lost another larger fish that stopped her dead in her tracks. I sure am proud of my bride - not bad for a rookie!
I was using Surf Howdies and the bass went ballistic on them, blowing up on 'em, swatting them in the air and then cartwheeling and swapping ends when hooked. Lost a lime/copper Howdy on a gorilla bloofish
, then picked up a real good bass on a pogie pattern that ran me into the rocks and got off.
It was a helluva a morning but watching her catch was at least as much fun as catching myself. I can't believe she got into them so well, what a great way to start - and the sights alone with fish busting in the white water non-stop and cruising thru the waves all morning was mesmerizing.
But the best part was after we left the rocks - I told her, see, you don't need a boat -
And she said "Who wants to sit in a smelly old boat anyway?"
Hey, old Crafty sure can pick 'em...
Yup, that's my girl!
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