Does everyone remember thier first day at the "ditch"

[gone fishin]

I do - About 1950 or so. I spent a night there trying to figure out where the fish were and how the hell do I keep from loosing my eel skin rigs. I must have left 3 pounds of lead on the bottom. A veteran ditch fisherman showed up and landed a huge bass and I asked him questions about the ditch. He filled me in and I learned from him about tides etc. After meeting him a few times I found out he was Stan Gibbs.

[tattoobob]

Originally Posted by gone fishin

I do - About 1950 or so. I spent a night there trying to figure out where the fish were and how the hell do I keep from loosing my eel skin rigs. I must have left 3 pounds of lead on the bottom. A veteran ditch fisherman showed up and landed a huge bass and I asked him questions about the ditch. He filled me in and I learned from him about tides etc. After meeting him a few times I found out he was Stan Gibbs.

That's awesome Don

[tattoobob]

I remember mine I went there for a night tide, got half way down the the rocks on the east end my Korker got stuck I went down hard, Got a good sprained ancle, fished that tide then drove to Quonnie and caught a tide there by the time I got home I could barely put weight on my right foot

[macojoe]

Some time in the early 70's My dad would take me to fish the tracks behind Maco's I use to catch Flounder there all day!! We also use to rent one of them Maco boats from time to time and fish, again I always use to flounder fish, I guess it kept me from getting in trouble? Today you would not know what a Flounder was if you saw one there!
Then I got out of fishing for a number of years, but in the 80'smy father in law use to fish there all the time,I went with him a few times with a Kmart rod combo, caught tons of Mac's and small pollock, the boats at night use to just give us big sea clams for bait!! Caught my first Cod there.
Then kids came and had to work all the time, father in law died and just did not go.
Then 90's came and a older friend was a huge fisherman and I started fishing with him, and this time it stuck!! I bought a boat and it just went nuts, caught my first Bass in Chatham, I had no idea what I was doing and got so excited I drove right thur a school of fish, what a site to see them in the wave of the boat swimming right along side me!! I will never forget it! now I am boatless again

[bloocrab]

Well over 30 years ago my father, a few uncles and I would hit the Scusset Pier for (what was then considered KING mackerel), much larger than the sizes I see come out of there today...(including boat caught), I remember breaking a K-Mart special rod using a home-made Xmas tree and not leaving an empty hook behind ..with apparently strong enough line that the rod would break before the line

Also remember walking back off that jetty with loads of mackerel and seeing the Bass-boyz bragging about their moo-cows lying on the sand while they were waist deep in the rip...I was a chunker at heart, and soon started chunking the ditch in the wee hours several years later, back when shot-gunning a few warm beers at the end of the long walk to the tip of the jetty started what was normally a long laugh-filled night......Got spooled by a slow and steady school-bus off that jetty too,,, back in the late 80's, never forget that night. What ever it was, just wasn't stopping (figuring now, it must have been a large shark...she just kept on swimming, no head-shakes no runs...like she couldn't even feel my hook. ...I've met women like that too, so humility is nothing new to me......also miss the herring, just not the work involved.