Westport

[Guppy]

Nice going Dom and Chris!!!
I'm pulling the traps out,,, changing to gold fish...

[bloocrab]

Thinking on making another run at it tomorrow....hope the wind controls itself.

[niko]

SCA up thru saturday

[bloocrab]

Sorry, it took a bit of time to type this up….but I felt I needed to revisit this post…..

So Yeah Paul, once out front I was reminded that I'M in a small craft and probably should have heeded the warning..........fear not though, we quickly retreated back into the river.

But there’s more to the story…..Let me start by saying, our God is an Awesome God, and I am humbly thankful!...........Not to mention, this site is due for a decent story. Hope you all enjoy!

Happy Veterans Day!

Title: Dad's Hay-day
Morning Log: November 11, 2016 – Time: 5:30am
Veteran’s Day …Undisclosed River in Massachusetts

Having had checked the forecast the night before, it was painfully obvious that we wouldn’t be making it out to the preferred ledge that morning. Being that my soon-to-be 77 year old father had his heart set on catching some Tautog to fill that last empty shelf in his basement's full-sized freezer, I didn’t have it in me to bail out on him.

I had the boat hitched and ready to go from the night before… so after checking the forecast one last time, I sadly headed down my driveway. Although it was very dark and I could barely see them…I could hear my neighbor’s pair of flags violently wailing in the wind. Coincidentally, he’s a war veteran and has both the American and POW flags proudly hanging on his flag pole. Of course that was just one more reason to head out on this incredibly windy Veteran’s day.

My wife’s warning about the missing boat that launched from Sandwich with three missing fishermen coupled with the fact that today’s accompanying winds were to be much worse, kept echoing through my mind. As I made my way to his house, I kept second guessing my decision to head out. When I pulled up to his house he was eagerly waiting outside with all his gear and of course, the customary tray from Dunkin’ Donuts.

“Good morning boy!”…he cheerfully said as he opened the passenger door, while at the same time handing me the tray so that he could go and load his gear into the back of the truck. Since buying the boat, he’s assumed the responsibility of bringing the bait, beverages and snacks, which is great because he feels like he’s contributing and it’s a few less things that I need to worry about. I may not always agree with his choice of “snacks” or beverages but once you’re out there long enough, everything tastes good.

After loading up, we hopped on the highway and began heading south, all the while talking about the white-chinners that we’d be boating later on that morning (I still didn’t have the heart to mention anything). Thirty minutes later, as we approached the boat ramp…it abruptly hit him. The lot was completely empty…what was once a child-like smile quickly turned into a nervously confused look. There was a chop at the dock and we were nowhere near the mouth of the river. Few words were exchanged while I fired up the Bay-boat …and although I think he knew it, he said nothing. While letting it warm up, I headed to the post to pay my dues and figure out the best way to break it to him.
When I hopped on board I immediately said, “Ok, here’s the plan…We’ll head out of the river, if it doesn’t look good…we’ll come back in and play with the schoolies.” He agreed and off we went, banging our way out against the chop and tide while coming to the realization that today was going to be a bust.
As we made our way around the last bend, I could see the waves smashing against the parallel beach just outside the river. The mouth looked like a ginormous washing machine just waiting to send us into the rinse cycle. Being that this apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I throttled up and stubbornly pushed our way through the slop. Once outside, it was evident that it wasn’t going to happen, we needed to head back in…and fast. It was too risky to head far out and the fishing would be so uncomfortable…and to try fishing in tight would be an even greater risk with the wind direction, water conditions and any possibility of engine failure. Like a couple of kids who got their ball taken away, we were humbled by the conditions and knew we had wasted a few hours of good sleep by being stubborn.

Once back in the river, we started looking around for signs of fish. As we’d seen the last few times out, fish had been breaking just about everywhere. However, with the water and wind combination, there would be no visible aides today. Not even the birds could find them, and believe me...they were trying. None the less, I felt we’d at least dial in on some river-schoolies…so off we went…trying near the docks, the now empty mooring fields, the channel…every retrieve brought in weeds but no fish. After about an hour of fishless weed-cleaning, dad took a seat on the fish-box and began with the negative comments; “What a waste of time,… we should have stayed home!”, etc, etc…My father has grown incredibly impatient as he’s aged and when he’s not catching fish…he’s not happy and he’s going to let everyone know about it! I tried calming him down and getting him to laugh by reminding him of the pictures he had texted me earlier that week of the micro-bass he had caught while I was at work. He likes to get my “mouth watering”, as he puts it… by sending me pictures of fish he’s caught while I’m at work. Of course I always play along and tell him how jealous I am, although sometimes or actually most times…I’m not playing along, I am jealous, very jealous! Friends and family alike, shake their heads in disbelief when I tell them that I can’t wait to retire. It’s not because I’m lazy, it’s just the opposite…I can’t sit still. One of my selfish prayers at night is that God give me health and longevity so that I can follow in my father’s footsteps and fish my stinking butt off!

After getting a smile out of him, I remind him that “you can’t catch fish if you’re not fishing”… I even go a step further and say… “Somewhere out here, there’s a fish…a big fish, waiting to fill his belly before heading south”. He then gives me that look; you know…the look you give someone when you think they’re telling you a fish story and then grunt-fully reaches into the cooler and grabs a Portuguese chourico roll.

About a minute later, my Tsunami shad gets disrupted. Unsure if what I felt was a hit or not…I crouch over and concentrate on my retrieve...Slowly turning the handle ever so gently, feeling the contours of the bottom below when suddenly, Bang!...I get hit again, this time I set up tight… it’s Game On!!! I’m tight to a good fish…the schoolie rod I brought with me now has a McDonald’s arch to it and my little Fin-nor’s drag is being put to the test. It didn’t take too long to get him boat-side because I had been casting up-river on an out-going tide…this fish must have been coming my way and in doing so…shaved some distance off on getting him to the boat. Meanwhile, my dad is in a panic state, yelling out…”Watch out for the buoy over there!...Don’t let him head towards the can!”...Seeing as how the original plan was to fill that last shelf in his freezer, this fish was going in the box… IF I could get it in the boat. After a couple of minutes of drag-racing in and around the boat, we had a gorgeous 28lb. striper hanging from the Chatillon. High Fives got shared, smiles and “yahoos” got shouted and dad was happy. However, I was not…..After getting the fish into the boat I was disappointed in myself…I should have handed him the rod after setting up on that fish. Dad’s yet to catch anything big from our boat and this would have been the first.
After cleaning up the chourico sandwich that he had dropped while scrambling for the net we hosed things down and both starting casting again. Not two minutes had passed when suddenly dad was bent over with an unprepared drag setting. Seeing that something was wrong I leaned over and un-tightened the drag knob.
”ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”…she screamed for what seemed to be forever, …I had loosened it too much! With all the moorings surrounding us, once again I slowly caressed the drag and did my best to set it correctly. Dad was speechless, his eyes darting toward the water while at the same time, mumbling to himself, “oh boy, oh boy, oh boy”…..”Relax”, I said…”take your time, stay tight to the fish…you’re going to do fine”. It was difficult for me to determine the size of this fish because I wasn't very familiar with the rod, and obviously, I wasn’t the one fighting it. You’ll have to remember, we were supposed to be targeting Tautog this morning with a fall-back plan of targeting schoolies….so as Bob (GotStripers) noted…we were using our “trout rods” for schoolies...LOL.

Luckily we were tied off to a vacant mooring on the edge of the channel. With the direction that this fish was heading in, the only hazard was the channel marker. Dad did an awesome job in battling the fish and soon he was close to the boat. Three yards out from the boat, he introduced himself to us…he came up toward the surface and showed us his stripes before taking more drag and heading back down toward the bottom. Realizing now that this fish was much larger than mine, I quietly prepared myself in guiding my father to the corner of the boat and placing the net nearby, (of course the gaff had stayed home because we were Tog-hunting, remember?)

Due to an injury my father had sustained a few years back, he was struggling a bit. His entire bicep muscle had torn away and was never properly taken care of. He tried handing me the rod but I refused…I had faith in him but more importantly, I knew how much this would mean to him if he did it alone. I offered some guidance, but more importantly, encouragement that he could do this… After a brief struggle, he was a rod’s length away from the boat. I gave my father the direction he needed to carefully guide the fish my way as I struggled to get him half way into the net. The swim shad was barely hanging on so I didn’t want to take any chances with lipping him. Once I knew I had enough of him in the net, I grabbed the rim on both sides and lifted what had now become dad's largest Striped Bass ever.

I swear I saw tears in his eyes as he reached over and embraced me. “Thank you son!, Thank you so much”….”I never caught a fish this big…and you never gave up that there were fish out here”… Of course we shared numerous high-fives and probably didn’t fish for the next 10 minutes due to this excitement. I couldn’t ruin this moment by returning to fish…and honestly I didn’t want to….this was much better to me. Having been able to share this moment with my father…the man who when I was a child helped me with reeling in my first scup… and now at 76, to be able to help him with his biggest fish, was a dream-come-true for me.

As I knew dad had no plans on releasing his biggest fish, I made every effort to revive the 28-lber that was already in the box. Unfortunately, it was too late. None the less, coming from a big family, I knew nothing would go to waste. Twenty minutes of half-hearted casts later, I could tell he was ready to go home. Smiling from ear to ear, we made our way back in toward the dock. After strapping everything down, we began our voyage back home, recounting the events of the day. As we approached closer to home, dad started calling people….lots of people! My father has nine other siblings, ten in all and I’d a swore he called all of them. By the time we reached his driveway, four of his siblings were awaiting the excitement. Many pictures were taken, stories told without exaggeration and smiles shared. This day would be a day to remember, not only for him…but more importantly, for me.

I learned later on that day, that dad spent the afternoon driving around to the home of his siblings delivering freshly dressed striper to all who welcomed it. Being truly old-school, dad doesn’t believe in filleting nor do most of his siblings, nothing goes to waste short of the fins and the innards. Both heads were also prepared so as to make a fish-stew which was shared by many later on that evening.

If you can take anything away from my story, take this…..Don’t let any time go to waste. Enjoy your moments with your family as one never knows which will be the last. I am forever grateful that God allowed this to happen for us.

Stay tight everyone…not only to the fish, but to your loved ones as well!

God Bless ~

Gilly

[Slipknot]

AWESOME Gilly! Great for him and good for you too.
Always good to read a happy ending

[Clammer]

awesome //// I knew there was/is a reasom I love you guys /thanks Gilly I really needed that ><><><>

[Guppy]

Great read , thanks

Saturday might work out of westport... Fingers crossed,,,

[fishgolf]

I'm the dad. I hope that happens with my son and me Great story, and glad you took the safer route!

We were out on Napatree Point a couple weeks ago in the middle of the night with strong north winds. We're out on the rocks, and I had that sudden "I should not be here" feeling. I moved back to safety. My son stayed on a rock. I kept my eye on him just in case. He finally came back in (no fish by the way).
We took a quick breather and within a few minutes a fox was sitting at our feet. I think he smelled the food in our back packs. Always great great hanging out with family (not the fox). We walked back down the beach and he caught one fish... so not officially skunked.
Thanks for sharing.

[Jimbo]

Hey, thanks for that. I'm the son, too, and while mine isn't so much the fisherman, he knows fishing, also a vet (Korean Conflict) most importantly my best friend and Best Man at my wedding. I am fortunate to be there for him now that he's into a chemo regimen (Myeloma) and slowly let him accept my help...he needs the help, but like many like him won't ask, ya just gotta say, "Dad, I'm doing this!" And then his stubborn, Yankee, Washashore SOB self bundles up and attempts to come out and help just rake his damn leaves, and I say, "Dad! I got this, trust me, your yard's going to be the envy of the neighborhood." And then he gave me that look like when I was 17 and wanted to go to the high school football game on a Fall Saturday, but had to rake the yard first (my chore). Sort of a, "Why are you doing this to me," moment, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and someday if you're lucky, you realize the old man wasn't so hardass, the was just prepping you for the day he couldn't do it himself. In another week I'm going to be thankful for those who do for those that have difficulty doing for themselves, and for those who still take them fishing.

[Rmarsh]

Great story Gilly........that would be a great way to finish the season..but also motivation not to. You've got me reconsidering winterizing my boat this weekend to give it one more try.

[niko]

that worked out pretty well. putting old guys on fish is almost as good as getting kids tight. sat looks good

[Steve K]

Great story and thanks for sharing. I try to fish with my dad at least once a year and it is a day I never forget. Enjoy every moment.

[RickBomba]

That's an awesome story, Gilly.

[bloocrab]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

...that would be a great way to finish the season..but also motivation not to...

Funny you say that Bob...no one wants to end the season on a skunk, so yeah....it would have been perfect if that was our last time out.
Un/Fortunately (depending on how you look at it) me and someone I'll call jinxy for now, headed out again that weekend...we landed one 16" striper. ........still better than a great day at work.

I think my father wants to target mackerel on Friday, he heard rumors from the greens driving around selling max out of the backs of their boats that they were in close to the Sandwich area... hopefully we can lasso a couple of few dozens.
Saturday is a strong possibility for tog though...I'll look for youze guys out there iffin' we head that way Gup

[piemma]

Great story Gilly. Happy for you and your dad.

[bloocrab]

Thanks guys...tried to sound like a reel author....

So today was a bust....I was behind a boat heading toward the mouth of the east end....tossed it into neutral when I saw the boat quickly turn around and head back into the marina...........I did a few donuts just inside the canal while I thought about it, I could see big white water cresting across the bay.......slammed a few waves when the Garmin started flashing and then went black on me....wouldn't turn back on, just blinked and turned off again.......God said "go home"........so I did.

Now I get to spend the morning troubleshooting that and my garage door opener. Always a positive side to things.

[Rmarsh]

Good call Gilly....not worth taking a chance. Could be a fuse or loose wire with the Garmin? Overhead doors have those sensors ..sometime they move and dont point directly at each other.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

Thanks guys...tried to sound like a reel author....

So today was a bust....I was behind a boat heading toward the mouth of the east end....tossed it into neutral when I saw the boat quickly turn around and head back into the marina...........I did a few donuts just inside the canal while I thought about it, I could see big white water cresting across the bay.......slammed a few waves when the Garmin started flashing and then went black on me....wouldn't turn back on, just blinked and turned off again.......God said "go home"........so I did.

Now I get to spend the morning troubleshooting that and my garage door opener. Always a positive side to things.

Garmin cable connector end suck IMO

[niko]

were going tomorrow out of fairhaven. whose going tomorrow

[bloocrab]

I was really hoping to head out there tomorrow (weather/water should be pretty decent in that area)...but with today being a washout....my partner still wants to chase max tomorrow........says he's got enough Tog on ice for the winter, but no max.

Good Luck fellas....was hoping to share ugliness with you all. Some other time I guess...

[Guppy]

I'll be out there with Wayne aboard.... Loading up bait, gold fish and cheese crackers
Ask Dom if gummy bears will work

Be safe

[Got Stripers]

Sorry I had to cancel, I got roped into moving some stuff and it had to be done Saturday. Part of me wants to know how you two did, the other part doesn't want to hear what I missed.

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Got Stripers

Sorry I had to cancel, I got roped into moving some stuff and it had to be done Saturday. Part of me wants to know how you two did, the other part doesn't want to hear what I missed.

Slacker :-)

Slow until prime time, 2 hrs. B 4 tide change, then limit in a short time

Not as good as it has been but they're still there

Bob Marsh was coming out when we where going in,,, that boat he built is over the top!!!!

Nice meeting u Bob, apologize for the senior moment not realizing who u were at first.... If I had known I'd of invited u Along

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by niko

were going tomorrow out of fairhaven. whose going tomorrow

Didn't see you!

[niko]

We ended up going to the cod grounds. Sea bass were thick but a decent cod bite
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[bloocrab]

Glad to hear you all found some fish.....all we found was high winds and churny seas.....how were the conditions in BB?

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

Slacker :-)

Slow until prime time, 2 hrs. B 4 tide change, then limit in a short time

Not as good as it has been but they're still there

Bob Marsh was coming out when we where going in,,, that boat he built is over the top!!!!

Nice meeting u Bob, apologize for the senior moment not realizing who u were at first.... If I had known I'd of invited u Along

No problem Ray. My "senior moment" was leaving home at 5:30 am without my backpack full of essential gear.
Then at the ramp finding out my power tilt problem has not gone away, had to hang off the transom to get at the manual release screw to lower it.

I did take a cruise out to the cement barge wreck off of Gooseberry. It would have been torture to see any fish breaking, had two rods with me but not rigged and no other gear.

Glad I finally got a chance to meet you and Wayne. Thanks Wayne for offering me some of your tins, but by then I was feeling like it just wasn't meant to be.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

Thanks guys...tried to sound like a reel author....

So today was a bust....I was behind a boat heading toward the mouth of the east end....tossed it into neutral when I saw the boat quickly turn around and head back into the marina...........I did a few donuts just inside the canal while I thought about it, I could see big white water cresting across the bay.......slammed a few waves when the Garmin started flashing and then went black on me....wouldn't turn back on, just blinked and turned off again.......God said "go home"........so I did.

Now I get to spend the morning troubleshooting that and my garage door opener. Always a positive side to things.

Mine will turn off if I really SLAM a wave. Use to happen a lot until I took a rag and jammed it tight under the unit . This past year only happened once.

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

No problem Ray. My "senior moment" was leaving home at 5:30 am without my backpack full of essential gear.
Then at the ramp finding out my power tilt problem has not gone away, had to hang off the transom to get at the manual release screw to lower it.

I did take a cruise out to the cement barge wreck off of Gooseberry. It would have been torture to see any fish breaking, had two rods with me but not rigged and no other gear.

Glad I finally got a chance to meet you and Wayne. Thanks Wayne for offering me some of your tins, but by then I was feeling like it just wasn't meant to be.

Forgetting stuff is my specialty !

See ya Bob

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

Glad to hear you all found some fish.....all we found was high winds and churny seas.....how were the conditions in BB?

Little bumpy at first then laid down pretty good...