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05-06-2007, 10:16 AM
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Hit the island around 3:00 after stops in Cambridge and at Harbor Tackle. Picked up 100lbs of fresh for Sam and I figuring we’d be fishing mostly heads with the recent skate reports, Sam grabbed 100 clams to combat the skates as well. Pulled on after airing down to find everyone on the way down the beach hooked up, not every rod but every person. BLUES!!!!!! Pulled up in a nice spot with Sam, Dave, and Coop and started feeding the pirannas for the next 6 hours, hard to hook them on big ol tuna hooks but a couple were especially aggressive and got landed, about 13 that night I think. If I switched to octopus hooks I could have caught hundreds this trip, both days. Fishing 4-5 rods you just don’t have the energy for it especially fishing nearly straight through, hell I was tired of the blues in the first 30 minutes. I was sweating and getting worn out. Called the wife about 9:00 and sure enough for the 4th time straight had a hit while on the phone with her, got over and pulled tight but this time took some line. I fooled around with the phone too long and didn’t really pop the hook in after coming tight. Got sam over and pop…came loose right in the wash. Probably a 30”s striper judging by the fight. Then I realized I had no experience with these hooks and it just cost me a fish so I decided to make sure once they came tight I would give the rod a few pops to make sure the barb is through. Kept the skate, doggie, and blue battle up all night until around 2:00 when I found some huge heads and chucked them out and rested my eyes until around 4:30 then packed it up and headed for another spot able to read the water in the moon light. Drove pack and forth on the last couple miles on the incoming and set up Fished it hard from sun up to about 10:00 and dozed off a little while til about 12:00. Then rejuvenated I geared up, ditched the hip boots and put on the chest waders and kayak top so I could go deep to cast. The kayak top has gaskets at the openings that effectively make your waders full body. I took some over the head for my efforts but I was dry and the baits were WAY out over the trash I was getting in close and were coming back in good condition so I knew I was in the right water. About 12:00 Poppy got a 47” about 500 yards up the beach. So threw 3 heads and 2 clams from 12:00 to 6:00 and got a wind knot on a spinning rod and just put it in the truck and pulled the spike. I grabbed the first beer of the trip figuring it would change things up, poured some in the wash as is customary to wake the fish up. About 15 minutes later at 6:30 got a good pull down but no clicker noise on my far left rod so I ran over to the rod, started reeling and tightened the drag but only felt my sinker dragging so thought it could have been anything that knocked it down. I was about waist deep and about 30-40 yards out I see a 4ft striper in the face of a wave looking eye level with me…it’s got my line in its mouth…and the line of the rod next to me wrapped up as well. A moment of total panic because I don’t think the fish even knew what was going on, it was just dragging something (2 sinkers). I fumbled around the wash trying to figure out my tangle and did just about the time she figured out what was going on, by then it was too late for her, I was right at the shock leader, that had the sinker ridden up over it and was stuck on the knot (2 beads from here out). Grabbed the shock leader by hand and surfed her in with only some minor arguing, what a huge fish on the beach! As mentioned my first 40# on the beach! The formula says 39 but since I let her go and didn’t weigh her I get 40# IMO. Got only a few crappy shots lying on the beach and sent her on her way picking up some fish karma! I’m picking up a small tripod today for just such an occasion.
Sam arrived about 30 minutes after and I chewed his ear off for the next hour about the lack of fight and the size of the fish and where they are running in the slough and yada, yada, yada. I was hopped up on mountain dew and no one to talk to for about 10 hours at that point, I would have told a pony if not for him. About 9:00 the tide was in full force so I had to move my far left rod spike back, as I picked it up I felt WEIGHT on it and pulled back up the beach to move whatever it was, then some movement on the other end but not much. Didn’t even yell to Sam but he saw the horizontal glow stick and it gave me away. I think I said it was a sand tiger or the world record striper. Everything but water temp and the condition of my line says Sand Tiger but we’ll never know. I laid all my weight into that thing and could barely move it, 220+ lbs on a heaver and no budging until it got in the wash and then was coming in easier. That “fish” never pulled hard enough to give me any pressure to really sink the hook, in about 2 ft of water 20 yards out…POP hook out with only a trace of a thin white membrane on it. If it were light out we would have landed it knowing what we were dealing with but at night Sam didn’t want to be in the wash and get wrapped up and lose the fish or try to lip a sand tiger…What ever it was had to be over 80 lbs. Temps were 60 during the day so ST is possible without the leader condition. CG mailed me and to make me feel better said it was a huge striper that I lost. So while debating how much money a world record striper is worth and how I’m crazy for saying I would release a state record as long as I had a witness my rod takes a few bounces and I was ON it this time. Backed up the beach and the clicker started screaming off…ah ha, popped this one a few times to get through the jaw as well. Got a really good fight from this one, I even told Sam that it felt drummy after the first two runs, then in true striper fashion it conceded its fate and came in on a string with only some minor complaining once she hit the wash but a very good fight over all, my best from a striper. Got her on the beach and some good shots of the release etc and she was off. Math puts her at 29#’s-n-change so I get to claim 30# with a release and no scale! Nothing after that but a few unlucky skates that bounced the rod tip and got their lips ripped off by me making sure I got the hook set on whatever it was on the line. What a great trip, conditions turned out near perfect with the wind shifting out of the east and the fish actually showing up. Every time I had a significant fish the sinker had ridden up over the knot requiring me to hand line the shock leader in. I'll be putting a bead above the fish finder now for sure, I also think it will help to get the hook into position while the fish is moving. I think the Stripers this weekend were just running the slough like vacuum cleaners eating the whole time and not really moving fast at all. All fish on heads BTW, small ones or big ones with the jaw cut off for distance. I came about an inch from hitting a pony on the way out, there were about 6 out on the beach and another coming from my left that stopped and let me pass, as I was looking out the driver window at the pony another one didn’t stop for me and was right in my path about 20 feet ahead, slammed the brakes on and buried the truck in the sand but he got to keep his legs. A collision with that rack would surely have been messy and resulted in the pony being put down so I can’t stress how glad I am I looked up at the right time. This was about 5 minutes from where we fished. Also busted my Reynolds rack, I broke the mount on the way down, actually the frame where the mount was welded. Pay attention to your straps on the racks out there, judging by the look of one of my ratchet straps, it went under my right front tire and pulled the front of the rack down hard breaking the weld and the remainder of the strap. Don’t know what I’m going to do to fix it but it needs to happen this week. I need to pull it off first and straighten out the bracket and then think about getting the weld straightened out for next week and vacation the following. I’ll be busy this week!
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Ben Last edited by Charkbait; 05-06-2007 at 10:30 AM. 
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05-06-2007, 10:59 AM
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Good read, Ben. Fun times.
Yup, I'm thinking that was an old striper too.
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~Sam - Pray for East Wind!
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05-06-2007, 11:07 AM
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Awesome report Ben and to think we were all getting the big skunk not far up from you guys. Ben BTW after you left I hooked a huge pod of group mating horseshoe craps all intertwined and they felt like dead weight of over 100 lbs and once I got them over the lip in the wash they moved around all fishy like. Had I not seen them I would have guessed ray or sandtiger so now wondering if maybe thats what you had. Hooked up same kind of thing last week end but came unbuttoned so now I realize what it was. When I would wind in they would flip over sideways offering big resistance and really had me fooled.
Last edited by Critter Gitter; 05-06-2007 at 05:07 PM.
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05-06-2007, 02:42 PM
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Great story guys glad to hear somebody can catch fish while i'm stuck at work
 Thinking about heading down on Friday anybody going to be down haven't decided on early or late yet. hey ben where did you pick up your bait in Cambridge
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_______________________________________________ Tony
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05-06-2007, 05:45 PM
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I'm about three hours away....and will be until this Friday a.m.......so its really killing me reading all this. I got some good viualations through your stories. It was like I was almost there man!!! Great job.
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05-06-2007, 06:58 PM
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Great stuff there Ben!!!! Congratulations on a great trip.
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05-06-2007, 08:10 PM
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rack update
got the rack mount fixed this afternoon, took about 2 hours. A big vise, a torch, a hammer, a grinder and a lot of anger to get out and it was off. A neighbor with a welder doesn't hurt either...got it straight and slides in better then originally. Need to get some paint on it this week and that'll do it.
Counting the minutes til I'm back. Preliminary forevast looks good...of course anything looks good compared to the next few days.
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Ben
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05-06-2007, 08:53 PM
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Quote:
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Jim Cambridge Maryland Click Click Click..........Fish On!
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05-06-2007, 09:25 PM
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Quote:
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Ben
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05-07-2007, 12:05 AM
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Quote:
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_______________________________________________ Tony
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05-07-2007, 07:45 AM
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Nice job Ben and Sam! Hopefully they'll stick around for da fling.......
How far out were you casting for 'em?
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Ъøhïcâ - So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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