Well,
Its really hard to know where to begin. I spent a week with great people
fishing a beautiful island. Truly a dream vacation for a surfcaster. I am
forever grateful to all those who contributed to the trip, both in the
spotlight and behind the scenes. A special thanks goes out to Tom White
and Greg Walsh for organizing this whole event.
I really had a blast, it is really hard to quantify the impact of my
experience during this trip. I learned so much and met so many
incredible people.
The crazy thing is, I didn’t take many photos, I was too busy having fun
and trying to keep all my newly acquired information straight.
As some background...I have not been a serious surfcaster on this coast
very long. Only for about 5 years, during which time I pretty much have
focused on fishing artificial lures. This is my second season
wetsuiting and am still attempting to get comfortable moving beyond
wading. All the guys I fished with during this week were so supportive and
helpful. A really amazing group of guys.
Tom and I met on Sunday night and rode the ferry over to Block Island.
We didn’t waste any time, unpacked and hit the surf with Chuck Duval and Julio Pereira.
It didn’t take long for Tom to get into a couple of nice fish on a darter.
After a few minutes he switched over to bunker chunks, to give me my
first lessons in chunking.
I have nearly zero experience with fishing bait, but found chunking with
Tom not only productive, but extremely enjoyable. It really surprised me
how much the technique was like fishing unweighed plastics for large
mouth bass. He was a great and supportive coach. I only landed one fish,
but had a few heavy pullers on, that I dropped due to some novice errors.
We repeated the approach the following night and landed some more fish.
Pretty cool stuff.
Pat Abate and Pete Lajoie came in on Tuesday. Pat immediately got down
to business showing me how to rig eels. I have never rigged eels before
and had fun learning. After the trip, on my way home, I stopped into
River’s End and picked up all the supplies to rig my own. Yeeeeeaaaaah!
Pat and I fished Tuesday night. I had the opportunity to try out
the new riggies in some of the fishiest looking waters on this coast.
Although we didn’t connect with any bass, we did hit a variety of spots
that will be keeping in my memory for future outings. It was a lot of fun.
On Wednesday Dennis Zambrotta arrived on the island. Pat and I actually
intercepted his arrival in town, and we met up at a local diner and had
breakfast and a coffee. It was a real treat to sit in and listen to the
experience of these skilled anglers. Just wonderful stories and history.
For Lunch we all hit Al Lemiere’s place for a delicious lunch at the
Narragansett Inn. Oh my.....it was so good. For anyone visiting the
island, I highly recommend going there for a feast. After lunch he
presented me with an arsenal of some of his beautiful lures. For those
who don’t know Al, he is such a multi-talented and generous person.
Thank you Al!
Dennis and I hit a bunch of spots and were able to pick off a fish a piece.
Mine was a micro, his was a teen. The fish were definitely around as we
saw them rising before the lights went out. They were just picky and we
didn’t get any other action. We hit a bunch of spots he outlined in his book.
Threaded Mode