Good Stories.

[Goose]

Growing up my Uncle Manny showed me everything I knew. Through most of my childhood he took me under his wing, picking me up after school to go fishing, he showed me spots from Newport to the canal. We targeted everything accept bass. He was a fanatic.
Every once in a while we'd fish with one of his buddies. This was an older guy named Mr. Martins. He didn't work and didn't have a ride so he was always ready to fish. In our eyes this guy knew his stuff and my uncle and I listened he talked fish. He had been fishing much longer then my Uncle had. Both my uncle and Mr. martins had they're 2 piece rods held together neatly with red rubber bands and everything was always organized.

One day we head down to Sakonnet pt to do some scupping and night blue fishing. It was a calm early evening and the wind had died down. At the time the jetty rocks where very gaped, there where lots of stretching and zigzagging as you walked. About a quarter of the way down the jetty we spot some bubbles on the surface about 30 yrs out. Mr. Martins insisted that's a big fish. So what does he do, he ties on a big snag... to them going fishing without a snag would be like bringing no hooks at all. Now the bubbles are moving parallel with the jetty moving between the pots and about walking speed. He begins casting past the bubbles and ripping through. There's a lot of excitement at first but he's sticking nothing. After a short while my uncle and I are in doubt its a fish and if it was it wasn't snaggable, but, prideful Mr.Martins insists it a big fish and he was gonna snag it. He lets the snag drop deeper and deeper with each cast. Now we're probably about 3/4 the way down the jetty and there are few people around watching when all of a sudden, yup, this diver breaks the surface. I think I found a gap between the rocks to crawl into. Even though know one got hurt there was a lot of apologizing.. yes he did have a flag out. I don't remember fishing with Mr.Martins after that.

[DJ Muller]

Here is one of the collection...
Bang for a Buck
Mike D.

It was October 1981 on Cape Cod. It has been stated by some as the best year ever for catching striped bass, especially big bass from the surf. There were a lot of big fish taken that year a year perhaps that will never be repeated; it was the year Tony Stetzko got a his first 60 and then shortly there after his the World Record 73 pounder. Long Islander Steve Petri had a 69, Cape local Branny Higgins had a 67, another handful of lesser known 60’s, and then countless 50’s. Tony Chiarappo had one of his 60’s along with many 50’s taken that year.
This night was another for the record books as these guys were hitting big stripers at Pochet, heading back towards the Orleans bathing beach. They hid their trucks up in the dunes out of view so as not to be seen by anyone. Stealth was very important as to not give away your spot to the throngs of people that sought the big bass in the day. On this particular night there was a group of about 8 guys working the surf and the big bass were active. A hundred trucks rode up and down the beach that night with headlights occasionally blinding the guys casting as well as shining lights on their spot, an action widely frowned upon in surf fishing.
There was a huge swell rolling in that night from the east, perhaps the remnants of an offshore storm. It was a calm night, there was no wind, flat water accompanied this huge ground swell and it was causing huge ten foot waves to crash upon the beach. This had no impact on the fishing what-so-ever.

As the guys fished away into the evening, the night’s silence and concentration was suddenly broken by an unbelievable commotion. A huge 8-point buck comes running out of the dunes and the deer is going berserk! B#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g like a bronco, running crazy all over the place, in between trucks, up and down the beach. The guys were scared to death, yelling and screaming with no place to run, they are pressed against the edge of the water wondering if they would have to jump in to save themselves from this out of control beast.
Suddenly the lunatic buck makes a turn and heads straight into the surf and smacks head-on into one of these huge cresting waves that are breaking on the beach. The wave and the buck collide and the huge deer falls lifeless into the wash as it broke it’s neck and was killed instantly. The wave then washed the deer up onto the beach.
It was the weirdest night ever for a surfcaster, now instead of guys yelling and screaming in panic, everyone stands in dead silence and disbelief in what they just witnessed.

Well after this these two guys from Orleans, one the son of a well known tackle shop owner Mac Reed, that were there fishing, immediately recognized an opportunity. As far as they were concerned they were just handed two hundred pounds of venison steaks. So although the fish were “in” and big fish were being taken, these guys opted for the venison, leaving several 50’s and 40’s that were caught by those there, on the beach that night. They loaded the deer into the back of their truck and off they went to dress out the deer. Everyone else went back to the good fishing that the night offered, like nothing had happened.