The Last Cast

[DZ]

Many of you have taken or will take your last cast of the season in the near future. It's always a sad event for me. Recently I penned a small story after my annual trip to Block. I can't seem to get the photo to display but the story says it all. Hopefully it strikes a cord with some of you.



The Last Cast

By DZ

Al and I continued to cast our plugs into the smooth sea on this, our last night on the island. We had a very slow pick of small bass going; about one fish a spot, ”resident bass" as we refer to them. We worked our way past Cat Rock Cove as the solar wind created a magnificent show of Northern Lights. What a great way to spend a night: casting plugs and watching the heavens flash hues of green, yellow and an occasional red corona that just blew us away with its beauty. Al hooked up just 20 yards to my left. I wandered over to him as he slid a plump 15 pound bass onto the cobble beach. His "clown pattern" Mambo Minnow scored again as it had for most of the week we've been on the island. "Each bass may be your last" I told him. Al understood the meaning of my statement as our time on the island was growing shorter by the cast. Soon we would reach that melancholy moment when we'd take our last cast on the island until the next season.
Two hours later we had reached the end, I announced to Al that my next cast was indeed my last cast of the season. He agreed and let fly with his last cast, both were unproductive but for the significance of the event which ended our season. We then took what live eels we had left and "released the eels" and watched them swim away.
There comes a moment in every surfcaster's season when they take their "last cast". Some may take it on their last planned outing of the season, others try and end their season with a cast producing a striper and call it over at that point. I, for one, hate letting the fickle November weather dictate when my last cast will be. I'd rather quit on my terms than let the elements beat me. Many of my seasons end on Block Island in mid-November. Over the years I've taken a "last cast" on Grove Point in a hard northwest blow with temps in the upper 20's, off Southwest Bar on a calm overcast night while snow flurries fell silently in the water around me, Thanksgiving Turkey just a day away. I still remember those casts, not for what they caught – which was nothing – but for how they made me feel as I reached the end of another season of chasing Roccus. It is a feeling of sadness as I begin to contemplate the next 6 months or so of pursuing great stripers in magazines, books and sometimes, my dreams.

[Clammer]

DZ = awesome

[Crafty Angler]

Very nicely done, Dennis

[RIROCKHOUND]

Amen..
BTW havent made my last cast yet
B

[milo]

[JohnR]

Excellent Dennis!

I have not given up yet but I fear my last cast for this year has already occured...

It is interesting, my last keeper (barely) was caught across from you that night. What an incredible solar display

[chawk20]

nice story

[reelecstasy]

Very nice DZ... I think we all know that feeling and can empathize...is it spring yet

[rizzo]

nice DZ, thanks

[kippy]

Great story Dennis. I have taken my last cast of the season..

[fishweewee]

Over! It's not over until we say it's over!!!!

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!!!!

[Saltheart]

Nice story Dennis.

Any cast is just one heartbeat away from maybe being your last cast ever!! Enjoy each one and make every one count. You never know which might really be your Last... Last Cast.

[Nebe]

ahh the last cast... I think I've had about 12 of those moments this falll... then after a few days i grab my gear in a huff and go out and catch a few fish to quench the fever

DZ if your hard up for a striper fix I would be happy to take you on a top secret south county holdover safari

[Mr. Sandman]

Nice read DZ. You know your last cast can't ever have a fish hit it...If it did you would just have to take one more cast...and so on, and so on...

[DZ]

Thanks Eben - but my days of trying to catch every last striper are in my past. Not as "hungry" anymore. But I admire the guys who hate the word "quit". I used to be that way.

How true sandman! But it makes it easier if you announce it to someone and he holds you to it.

[jbapinoy]

awesome !!!

[kippy]

Originally posted by Eben
ahh the last cast... I think I've had about 12 of those moments this falll... then after a few days i grab my gear in a huff and go out and catch a few fish to quench the fever

DZ if your hard up for a striper fix I would be happy to take you on a top secret south county holdover safari

I am always game for an Eben Safari...

[Nebe]

DZ did you ever have any luck with that needle I gave you? Over the season I fished the style i gave you and took notes on what i liked and didnt like about them and have come out with one I like alot better... casts like a bullet and does all the right things...proper sink rate, swim angle and wiggle. I will bring one to Newport for you next time

[Flaptail]

I feel that way each year on the last trip to the Elizabeths. I catch myself looking back into the wake of the boat as Cuttyhunk, Nashawena, Pasque and the western end of Naushon sink into the horizon. I know I won't see those shores again til' May and I am also aware I might never see them again if the good Lord chooses. As we follow the bass north in the spring we follow them likewise south in the late fall. Each area has it's own long goodbyes. Late October on the outer cape, The Falmouth shore in early November then the Elizabeths and occasionally Fisher's Island the day after Thanksgiving if the weather holds. Finally you can go no farther and can only look out to sea and wish them well and pray you survive to feel that pulse come April that signals the renewal of the odyssey. In my column in OTW I wrote of that this past fall. I was with my good friend Dave LaPorte on Nauset in November a couple years ago and we were still catching them albeit they were getting samller each night. The week before Thanksgiving, which was unusual to say the least, we were still catching them and had seen no one for a week or better on the beach. The fish were thick and feeding in the light of a November halfmoon. Suddenly we both stopped casting and I walked over to Dave and I told him I was done for the year. He replied he was too and that we should leave them to themselves, there at that moment under the November Moon. While they were still breaking in the first wave we turned and left and walked up to the truck and put the rods on the rack and called it a year. I know what you mean.

[DZ]

Eben,
Best casting needle in my bag - just don't tell Hab
Caught a few smaller fish at "needle island" on it. Don't mess with it too much - it's unique.

Now, if I can only get the photo of The Last Cast to post. Says its not in jpeg format - it most certainly is. Any suggestions out there?

[Nebe]

Best casting in the bag?? yowzas, thats a mighty nice compliment That needle is light cedar and I loaded, I mean loaded the thing with lead. New ones are maple and need less lead, but still cast like a bomb.

To get your photo to load make sure that the title of the photo says .jpg at the end of it. I have a hunch your using a Mac becuase my mac here at work does that to me when i post pictures of herring to taunt bassmaster

[DZ]

photo

presto

Flap,
We sound like the same surfcaster in different bodies.

[tynan19]

Nice read. Nice picture and thanks for the memories.

[justplugit]

These beautiful pictures and stories of "the last cast' remind me of something i read once,"Memories are not made of days,but of moments."

[Bill L]

Dennis, thanks for the story and the picture is absolutely awesome. I saw the lights that week at dawn one morning fishing from the mainland, but they were weak and as it got light they faded.

I thought of this post this Monday night while out fishing the pond in a kayak. I didnt know until I got out there that the meteor shower (Geminid?) was in full blast --- it was the absolute best shower I've ever seen. A couple of times it looked like the sky was raining stars. I laid back and watched, the milky way glowing, meteors streaking, coyotes howling in the woods and the surf pounding in the distance. I didnt make my last cast that night, I have to go back