Something crazy on the river - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Rappin Mikey · 08-21-2003, 09:04 AM

I was driving across the bridge over the Conn into South Hadley the other day. When I saw this guy I know fishing for cats. I stopped to shoot the breeze with him and all of a sudden his line starts peeling away. It was screaming. I sat there for an hour (no exageration) watching him fight the fish. This guy had an audience. Cars were stopping, walkers were standing around cheering him on, but I just kept peering over the edge hoping to catch a sneak peek. He could not budge the thing! He was backing up all the way across the bridge to try and gain line on it. He eventually started to try and guide it to the shore, and then it was gone. Just like that. The thing that sucks is that we never even got a glimpse. He was fishing with Pepridge farms Summer Sausage and using 20 lb mono. I'm guessing it was a monstriper. He thought it could have been a Sturgeon (spelling??), what ever it was it was huge!!. Anyway, I ran home and grabbed my rod ant went to the store for Summer Sausage. I spent the rest of the day and well into the night on that bridge. All I came home with though was that story. I know, I never heard of anyone fishing sausage either, I tried some plugs as well, but nothing.

The Iceman 6 · 08-21-2003, 09:08 AM

RM -

You gotta respect you're effort....

Ice

fishweewee · 08-21-2003, 09:33 AM

I used to go trolling in S. Hadley and Northampton with "spring, fall, winter, and summer sausage." Ahhhh, the memories...

tlapinski · 08-21-2003, 09:39 AM

mikey, it was either a carp or a sturgeon. a bass would not have fought that long. the state record carp, just over 44#'s, was caught below that bridge. i have caught carp into the high 20# range there before, too.

by the way, it is ILLEGAL (and stupid) to fish from that bridge! i wouldn't advise it.

Rappin Mikey · 08-21-2003, 10:06 AM

I never knew it was illegal. Why would you say that it was stupid? I have to admit that was the first time I ever went off of a bridge, and thought it would be tough to land a good fish. There is enough room on the sidewalk to have a picnic. I am talking about the lower bridge. How do you know that it is illegal???? I know people that fish there all of the time, and I actually had two S.Hadley cops drive by me and not even give me a glance. Please let me know where you got that information and clarify your stupid remark

I have never heard of a carp hitting anything like a piece of sausage. But those things put up an awesome fight??? I never knew until this year. They look like they would be like fighting a log. But those things break water and don't stop till you get um in.

Rappin Mikey · 08-21-2003, 10:19 AM

Just got off the phone with South Hadley police. It is fine to fish off of the bridge. Maybe, it was illegal before they worked on it. But it is fine now. But I still want to know why you think that it is stupid. Dangerous? No fish? There was no way I could stay away after I saw that fish hit. Legal or not anyway. Come on, come on, tell me why I'm so dumb.

Rappin Mikey · 08-21-2003, 10:26 AM

Hello my name is mister obsessive

MountainBreeze · 08-21-2003, 10:58 AM

Hey RM... Can't help ya' w/ the "stupid" remark but I got to thinkin' about that Pepridge farms Summer Sausage ...

I came to the conclusion that if you were tie a nice chunk on some mono and wave it in front of me, I'd bite too!

Hmmm... Wonder how that would work on a tube???

Jenn · 08-21-2003, 11:20 AM

well my first thought even before you mentioned sturgeon....was sturgeon!

The fact that you'll never know is what makes it a great story right???

I believe summer sausage only because people use just about anything and everything for cats!!!!o if you see this thing send it on down the river my way will ya???

RickBomba · 08-21-2003, 05:14 PM

Mikey,
Be nice...I'm supposed to be the sensitive one, remember.
PS I am very depressed, and sorry I didn't call you back.
I'll be home all nite.
Later,
Rick

JohnR · 08-21-2003, 05:20 PM

Hey Rick - cheer up bubba. As you and RM are the Founding Father's of Team KnuckleHead, you are expected to set examples for Team SeaMonkey, Team Ave Maria, and the greater umbrella of Team S-B - head high Bubba... On the other hand, now that the Zakim bridge is near finnished, we have two excellent Boston area bridges from which to Jump

I was thinking Sturgeon too until he mentioned carp... I had a large sturgeon, longer than 5 ft on once, off Sherman Island in the Sacramento River Delta

- lasted 5 minutes

RickBomba · 08-21-2003, 05:33 PM

Hear that Mikey, you're a daddy!
Bet you didn't think it would happen this way.

Forget jumpin of Lenny's Bridge...Maybe Mikey's gonna wanna fish there. He'd just use his fancy Psycotherapy techniques on me to get me to stop.
I'm around so much gas all day, I'll just stick my head in the oven.

Bob Senior · 08-21-2003, 07:07 PM

In the '60s, I lived in Sunderland. My landlord pulled up in his pickup one day with a sturgeon in the back. It's tail was sticking up above the tailgate, and its nose was wedged into a corner just aft of the cab--honest. He used to run clothesline tied to glass milk bottles sealed with wax with huge hooks hanging down, and his grandmother's blood sausage for bait. This was just below the Sunderland bridge, as it flowed down toward Northamption--asparagas and Hubbard squash country!! (If you've ever attended a hog slaughter, then you'll know about grandmothers and blood sausage--gag a maggot!!) He used to get big snapping turtles and yellow-bellied catfish, too.

Recognize that all this is tempered by forty years of living with the brain cells I killed off during the '60s!!

The big advantage of using sausage for bait is that you can eat your bait if the fish don't.

Buzz-erd · 08-21-2003, 07:31 PM

When I lived in TX. I caught many a channel,flathead and blue cats over 20lbs.Some of the oldtimers caught cats between 60 and 80lbs.No lie some cats can get that big,especially channel cats.