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Five years old, 12 ft cedar skiff my father built in the cellar. Outside New Bedford/Fairhaven Harbor, to the East of Fort Pheonix, the Eeg Island Sandbar. Ran out of gas at the North end of the sand bar, both handlines sank to the bottom. filled the gas tank and got the engine going again. Pulled in one line and cleaned the seaweed off the red and white feather with a piece of pork strip and tossed it back out. Started to pull second line and felt a fish pulling on the line. Got the fish in and it was a weird striped thing, I had never seen before. About twenty inches long. Fought good, looked edible so I tossed it in to my basket with the five or six blue fish I had caught.
When father came home from work I had the bluefish already cleaned ready for supper but the weird striped fish I had kept whole so he could identify it for me.
I was so proud that I made the mistake of telling him I caught the fish over at the Egg Island Sandbar, which was off limits for me.
I got grounded for two days but father said "It is a Striped Bass and we will have it for dinner." It was much better than Blue Fish and after that I tried to catch more. I am still catching more, 60 years later. I love to catch them and like to eat them as well.
Oh, the other thing happened when I was twelve, at a beach near the Old Harbor at Block Island. She was a couple years older than me, experienced, from Barrington, R.I. Never can remember her name! Never forget the darn sand fleas!
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