If yesterday's striper fishing was rated a 10, then today's was a 1. Made the long steam east to where they had lights out fishing yesterday only to find very few fish. There was a nice little fleet already there soon joined by party boats from as far south as Pt. Pleasant. Jason & I both started with a hammered silver A47. Boat's first bass was on the second drift. Another bass, 2 blues, a short fluke and a skate came on the next drift. I caught the next next bass on the subsequent drift and Jason took a bass a few drifts later. Moved back west and made 2 drops clamming that yielded a nice #6 sea bass (released-out of season) and skates. So @ 35 fares accounted for just 4 bass (all keepers) & 2 bluefish. Jason and I each had 1 bass with Jason's just being beat out for the pool.
Interesting side note; As some of you know my sister passed away in September 2009, today she would have become 46. About 11:15, I gave my mother a call to make sure she wasn't feeling too low and we both wished Amy a Happy Birthday and shared a story or 2 about her.We both said that she is looking down over us. I went inside the cabin and told Jason to get ready as his grandmother & I just wished Amy a Happy Birthday & that she was going to thank us for doing so. I then told him that she'll probably F with me by making me miss a bite and have you catch a nice fish. Now I'm fishing in the bow & Jason in the stern-port corner. About 5 minutes into the drift I had a strike that I missed, it hit again and i was hooked up for about 5-7 seconds before losing it. In that time period, I hear Jason yell fish on. Sure enough, he's hooked up and working the fish up the rail. Mate sticks a gaff in it and after it's in the cooler we both know at that point it's a pool contender (he lost by about 2-3 ounces). We then both look skyward, thank my sister and then realized that my prediction before the drift came true.
Thanks Amy.
