Another great canal memory

[rickhern]

I golfed with an old buddy Jay on Monday after fishing all night. The fishing was great, the golf not so much. Jay was never much of a fisherman but apparently his son Tom, 19, has the bug. He had never fished the salt so I asked if he would like to hit the canal with me one of these nights. His son called me all excited and we decided to head to the canal tues night. The way the fishing had been, I figured it should not be hard to hook up a fish for him at worst.

Throwing 5oz jigs off slippery rocks isnt easy during the daytime, but at night, on your first attempt, it can be pretty demoralizing. But he hung with it and by the end of the outing was coming close to hitting the rip. Problem was, the fish moved on, no love for either of us. I felt terrible but he was happy just to have the experience.

The next day he calls and asks if I am going again and could he tag along? Absolutely.

We meet at midnite and jig for almost 4 hours, several different spots with nothing to show for it.

Just as I am about to tell him to pack it in, I hear "Hey, I think I have something" followed by "Zzzzzzzzz.......Zzzzz.......ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZ..........." Oh boy, here we go.

He fought it well, stopping every so often to shake his arms out.

How many people can claim that there very first striper, on their very first hit, weighed 32#? Yup, he is hooked. Couldn't have worked out better.