A Season's Reflection...

[Big Vern]

Reflections on a Season

As I sat in my office peering out the window watching the wind whip up whitecaps inside Boston Harbor, I came to the realization that I probably won’t be chasing stripers anymore this season. Yesterday’s storm and the ongoing blow have surely pushed the stripers further south than I’m willing to drive in November. Furthermore, checks of weather.com feature a Nor’Easter steaming our way to spell a certain switch from my surf rig to my snowboard. I knew all of this was inevitable, but this was my first “real” season hunting the wily and elusive linesiders, and I’m hooked in a bad way.

Frankly, May can’t come soon enough. It really hurts to rinse the plugs, clean the reels, and stow the whole lot away for the winter. My prospective forays into custom rod building and plug making represent a meager substitute for the feeling of a cow tugging at the end of my line. Nevertheless, I know that all of the fish that I put back this year are going to venture south, feast along the way, breed, and swim back bigger and stronger than when we last met. I will be right here waiting. Only, this time, I’ll be better equipped and more knowledgeable, thanks in large part to the good anglers here at striped-bass.com.

Learning has resulted in an obsession bordering on feverish. Well…my fiancé would probably say that it’s a little more than bordering, but I like to think I’ve got my life very much in check. I’ve been catching stripers for years, but I’ve never hunted stripers in the way that I do now.

I spent every summer of my life until I was twenty-three living on Cape Cod. My folks have a place steps away from a private marina that I’ll confidently nominate as one of the best schoolie spots in the world. When I was about ten years old, an old-timer from the neighborhood showed me how to fish for the stripers you could see bathing in the security lights. After that, all I can remember is walking down there anytime after dark and landing a few eighteen inchers before they spooked. Keepers rarely, if ever, came, and I never really caught anything beyond a schoolie before this season.

Sure, I saw some big fish on a few boat trips with a family friend who was a passionate angler, but my strategy never really radiated beyond the docks. However, in one summer, I went from clueless to taking twenty-five pounders from both the boat and surf on nothing but my own knowledge and skill. I can’t believe the metamorphosis myself. Yet, I know it all stems from the research, reading, and practice of the previous months. A swivel and leader replaced tying direct. Big, funky, wooden plugs and strange looking pieces of rubber flooded a newly acquired plug bag, and all of a sudden I couldn’t have enough rods and reels. Consequently, I think I financed an addition on the local tackle shop. I passed many hours standing waist deep in the coastal waters of the cold Atlantic eagerly tracking my plug as it swept over the edge of a bar. Even more time ticked by as I steadied myself dangling sand eels during another boat drift in some striper rich waters. Out of all this, I came away with a fundamental understanding of the striped bass, its habits, the techniques employed to take them.

Practice blossomed into rabid success with the complement of unrelenting research. The books Striper Surf and Reading the Water were perhaps the single best helps I’ve had yet, but striped-bass.com ranks a close second. Between them and a subscription to On the Water, I feel that any aspiring angler with some resolve can be in the position to haul in a trophy.

Even still, as far as I’ve come this year, next year can only be better. I’ve already set goals of breaking the thirty pound mark and bettering my 14th place bluefish run at the MSBA tournament. Aside from that, I just want to throw myself into my new obsession, and grow from another season casting my bait. I started from scratch, and became a striper fisherman between July and today. I can only imagine what the coming seasons and tides will bring me.

[Duke41]

Well said, it is a magnificant obession and we are all brothers of the Striper Surf.

[MountainBreeze]

I agree w/ Duke41... "well said!"

I've only been at it for a few months and have yet to catch a single striper. But... I have high hopes of landing a schoolie this weekend.

I will probably only venture out a few more times this year, even though I called it quits a week or so ago , but I have really enjoyed my time standing in the surf, looking at all the creatures, watching the sun and moon rise and set, and landing a few blues and hickory shad.

I'm not looking forward to the long off-season but I have a few books on the way and I'll be purchasing a new rod and reel as the spring gets closer.

Thanks to all of you who provided guidance and I'm looking forward to meeting up with you, in the surf, in the spring.

Good luck and best regards,
Rob

[TheSpecialist]

I have been fishing all of my life. Surf fishing for about 7years. This is the first year I put in a solid effort. I started building my own plugs. I caught my first fish on one of my homemade plugs on Cuttyhunk, while fishing with JohnR. That was a thrill. I learned a few new spots to fish. I fished almost a whole week on vacation this spring, with my wife right next to me. We had a blast catching schoolies, and fluke together. Two awsome trips to Cuttyhunk, with great friends, thanks GB . My first striper ever on an eel, while fishing with JohnR. I caught my largest shore caught fishin September on one of my homemade pikies- 16lbs. In October I eclipsed that with a 37.5lb fish taken from the canal, on a Canalratt jighead with a Ledgerunner 13" bigjerk. I had an awsome trip on a charter with Capt. Gary Corsetti, catching between 12-20 fish from 25-30lbs. I had a great night fishing with Redcrabber on Gooseberry All in all the year was a most memorable one for me. I can't wait for next year.

[Jenn]

what a great post!

I have to say this year has been pretty darn good for me! I feel I learned...rather "discovered" a lot this year....to the point where I felt like I was finally starting to "get it"....I also fished the hardest this year....including freshwater...which I also learned some things that helped me in the surf!!!!! I fished so much that I actually started to feel burnt out on fishing by the time october rolled around (which I kinda regret...)........but although I too will soon be switching from casting to snowmobiling......its hard to think about the long months before spring comes again!!!!!

MTN BRZ....

I've only been at it for a few months and have yet to catch a single striper. But... I have high hopes of landing a schoolie this weekend.

I know what it feels like.....but for you to have the patience to stick it out this long without a striper..........just WAIT until you do!...What a nut you will be then! HA!HA!

[Bernzy]

Life is good Friends, Life is good!!


Bernzy

[fishweewee]

Originally posted by Don Corleone
I think I financed an addition on the local tackle shop...

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[hispeedskier]

It was a good year. I'm still learning the "trade" but each year I get better. Up in Maine we've been seeing some large fish off the ledges on the islands. The thrill of seeing a 3-4 foot fish smashing a live lined mackeral is priceless. May will come again, and my season opens mothers day. "Fish long and prosper."

[HESH2]

WELL SAID BY EVERYONE.FISHED ALMOST EVERY DAY AND CAUGHT SCHOOLIES.MY LITTLE WOMAN HAD A BRAIN OPERATION IN JUNE AND JUST LAST WEEK HAD A SECOND ONE.SHE IS DOING GREAT-PROBABLY BETTER THAN I AM.I SHUT DOWN MY FISHING DURING HER RECOVERY AND COULD'NT MAKE ANY OF THE LEGS.LOOKING FOREWARD FOR THE SPRING AND FISHING ALL THE LEGS NEXT YEAR.IT SEEMS LIKE NOW WATCHING THE RAIN AND WEATHER IT WOULD BE NICE TO DREAM OF WARM WEATHER ON THE SURF CASTING FOR FISH.

[Joe]

Just think – that was just one afternoon’s reflection!
The off-season - as hated and long as it is – is an integral part of being a fisherman. Cleaning the plugs and stowing the gear becomes as natural as the migration and just as necessary.
The off-season forces us to move on - and away from fishing - in ways that are healthy. It forces at least some degree of balance upon those who have a predisposition towards compulsive behavior.
It is a good thing - enjoy it.
Joe

[JohnR]

Don - I must admit that I've avoided reading this thread because at first the name suggested to me an end of season that I still am not or was not willing to say was over - I'm still hoping for one last shot or two at the migrating monster bass before hitting the occasional schoolie trip.

But now, after reading your post, I'm sorry for not looking at it sooner. What I see is an excellent case of picking up some hints, tips, & tricks - then applying those at the water's edge. It is a truly amazing feeling when you bundle what you've learned and drawn success from that knowledge by the severe bending of a graphite stick and the quickly vaporizing line fronm your spool. I love the feeling of learning an area and finding fish just as much as the catching. Keep up the good work!

Hey Specialist - maybe you'll be there when I get a FIFTY!!!

[Striper1]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by specialist
[B] This is the first year I put in a solid effort.

Bill,
I know your not talkin about the trip with me this year
We had fun that's all I'm saying


My best bass this year in the habba was a 24 pounder

One cool time out there this year was in the spring drifting in the bay the FOG was thick as ever !!
Bass all around the boat the thing was with the fog I had the school to myself. Then there was the time with the bluefish and the light stuff.

Oh yaa then theres 14th bass in the MSBA and I did not lose any sleep
maybe next year I will fish at night
Fifty maybe next year

[TheSpecialist]

I hope I am there when you both get your fifty lbders.

Frank I had a great time that day even though the big fish did'nt quite cooperate.