Boat christened - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

schoolie monster · 05-20-2002, 02:16 PM

The combination of tides, fish, and weather have kept me fishing the cape from the surf so far this season, but I decided that come "hell or highwater" I was taking the boat out in the harbor this past weekend.

How about near freezing temps, pouring rain, 25-30 knot winds and a small craft advisory...

Screw it, I launched early am from Wessagusset and figured I could stick to the rivers and Hingham Bay where reports had fish everywhere last weekend. I figured the week's weather might slow things down, but I also knew I'd be about the only idiot out on the water, so any fish would belong to me.

I cruised out and checked out the Back and Fore river mouths and was able to swing out into Quincy Bay. I took a long loop around Hangman's and along Wollaston Beach... nothin' doing. The wind kicked up, the rain felt like hail and I was cold so I headed back into the river and went to check out some areas I really liked on the charts.

I finally picked up a rod and started fishing. On about my third cast, I whacked a decent schoolie and after a nice fight, I had the first fish in my new boat. I sat there... in the rain and wind, freezing... and was happy as I could be. Just lookin' at the fish. I caught about 10 between 18-24".

In 2 decades and countless April trout trips in the mountains of PA and many, many late October days up in Ontario, this had to be about the worst weather I'd ever fished in... and I wouldn't call 10 schoolies a great day, but I am such a dork, I'm still happy.

Mission accomplished, the boat has been christened and is now a fishing boat

JohnR · 05-20-2002, 02:42 PM

Grat's - did you "champagne" over the side for a real Christening?

Got Stripers · 05-20-2002, 03:08 PM

What no invite, you afraid of my bad boat karma? Glad you got the big hole into the water, no you can start throwing money into it, hopefully not at the same rate I do

.

TheSpecialist · 05-20-2002, 03:24 PM

Congrats, Schoolie.

Clammer · 05-20-2002, 04:45 PM

Congrats & good Luck////////////////////////////

GBOUTDOORS · 05-21-2002, 06:01 AM

Congrats and hope the weather gets better soon

Mr. Kav · 05-21-2002, 07:06 AM

well done schoolie, i did the same thing on a friends boat on sunday. my friend asked for help because it is his first saltwater boat so went took it out around the harbor, back river, hangman's, wallaston ( bait check). we ended up trolling around long bridge and got a nice 33" and about 5 schoolies to 28" on umbrella rigs. i added a trolling weight to it and went down deeper with the rig and caught a 32" cod fish. ( that was a shock )any way it was a great first day for him on his new boat.

schoolie monster · 05-21-2002, 10:19 AM

Thanks guys.

GB, you ain't kidding. My daughter is in daycare in Quincy and every day I drive down Quincy Shore Drive and Wollaston Beach is a calm and quiet. Then the weekend comes and we have 20+knot winds...

I'm sorry everybody, I think I put the hex on all of us by buying the boat! Looks like it will continue this weekend according to long range forecasts... at least they say it will be raining. Dunno 'bout the wind.

John, I didn't do the champagne thing, but once when I was peeing the wind kicked up and... well, that was the one time I was glad it was raining.

Mr. Kav, looks like we'll probably bump into one another out there... I'm in a 17' Logic center console with a honda and a bow mount riptide... doubt there's too many others out there with that combo. If you see me, say "hey"...

Striper1 · 05-21-2002, 06:49 PM

SM good job on the bass sounds like you worked for them

Me I winped out sat.

I have also been into bass in the low 30" size.

When the Herring come out from the runs the large bass should move in (sounds good to me)

Still no bait up close in the bay.

I'm in a 97 proline 20 W/A

hope to see you guys out there this year.

THE FLOUNDER ARE IN

schoolie monster · 05-22-2002, 08:39 AM

Thanks Striper1, but most of my work was just searchin' and being cold and wet. I didn't pick up a rod for a couple hours.

Looks like we will have a pretty good network of Boston Harbor boaters this season. We should be able to keep pretty good track of those fish.

I'm looking forward to meeting some of you folks too.

Slipknot · 05-22-2002, 05:32 PM

Congrats S.M.
I know how you feel, the weather wouldn't have mattered if it was me either. If I ever buy another boat it will be new also, well atleast the motor.
Glad to hear you caught some fish and didn't christen it with a bluefish or something.

How is it launching and retrieving by yourself?

nor-easter · 05-23-2002, 09:22 AM

Congrats schooly ...Now go get the Monster!
Have lots of enjoyment in your new boat!
Hope your fishing is always fun, and the catching gets better!

schoolie monster · 05-23-2002, 10:06 AM

Yah, I could go for a big fish... I generally am happy with catchin' schoolies on light stuff but this spring at the Cape was many many very small fish... really small. It was nice to get a few better quality schoolies, but....

I could go for a drag screamer. Hope to search out some mackerel on Saturday and find some nicer fish.

Slip, its 5 minutes including the walk to and from the car. Its a breeze. That's one of the reasons I went a little smaller... They had an even better deal on an 18 1/2 footer with 90hp honda, but I fish by myself alot, so it will mostly be a one man operation. It would have been a much bigger production to get a bigger boat in and out of my garage (I would have had inches of clearance on each side) and to launch/retrieve, plus my driveway is positioned kinda ackwardly. All in all, I think I saved myself alot of aggrevation.

I sacrificed some range and I'll lose some boat days, but I love the surf, so its not exactly a big deal if the weather gets too sporty and I have to fish the beach.

Hopefully, at the end of the season, I'll be able to say that I made the right call... we'll see. I've been happy so far (I've launched 4 times

).

One thing I can say... I've already seen some benefits from the plastic hull. I bounced the boat off some pilings in a laughable attempt to jig up some herring and I bumped the 3A bridge trying to turn around after hooking a fish.