BugChucka
09-09-2006, 09:23 PM
My cell phone started making noises around 3:00 this morning but I suppose I was dreaming of beautiful women and fish because I didn’t wake up until it was approximately 5:00. I’m not a punctual person. A couple friends did stop by last night and 1 drink turned into 2...etc. In any case, I was on the road at quarter past five destined to do some football fishing!
I arrived at my destination armed with my trusty Albright 10wt and a Teton reel stuffed with backing and an integrated shooting sink/running intermediate line. The leader is no more than a 9ft. length of 25lb flourocarbon. 25 lb tippet for bonito/false albacore fishing is overkill to some, but I’d rather go heavy for a couple of reasons. The first being that I like to fight fish as fast as possible and the second being the possibility of that tippet scraping along obstructions during battle. All things being equal, I’ve never watched any light tippet angler in the salt out fish anyone to a point that would change my position on the matter. Fishing light tippet is risky business if you ask me, but I suppose like everything, that’s debatable.
The weather today was ideal for this type of fishing. A nice chop, a head wind, and sunny skies. Ideal conditions aren’t necessarily conducive to leisurely casting, but it’s a trade off we’ll gladly accept!
I’ve spent some time at the vice during the past few weeks tying an assortment of baitfish imitations. Today I decided to fish the silverside/spearing. This pattern is a Surf Candy/ Bob Pop. Epoxy fly. It matches the natural quite well in size, shape, and color.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies001.jpg
I saw a few faces that looked very familiar. Faces of folks I met while fishing Cape Lookout, NC. These are guys that literally chase the Albies down to North Carolina. It is pretty awesome to run into people you meet that far away. After saying hello and discussing the current happenings I made a cast into some water that just looked suspicious to me. Within seconds my drag was letting off painful sounds. Short pulls of line, hard violent shakes, bouncing rod tip, I knew this was no football but what could it be? Sure enough, it was another very decent Striped Bass. The more I try to target other species, the better the bass fishing gets. I swear I’ve caught at least one sweet striper on every non-striper trip I’ve taken in the last month. This guy might have only been 28 inches but that’s a little better than anything I was getting into this summer on a regular basis (shore fishing), and I was at it every other day/night. But striper fishing wasn’t the plan, so I went back into the wind and began observing.
Sporadic “busting” took place most of the morning but nothing was within casting range . This is often the case. When this type of scenario plays out one is faced with the decision of either strategically anticipating where the fish will pop up next and setting up there, or staying put, while continuing to blind cast. Depending on where one is, one or the other may be a better option. I stayed put and continued to cast as much line as I could somewhat efficiently in the wind. Knots will continue to plague saltwater anglers using today’s lines, you can either limit the amount of line you throw, or plan on some knots. Personally, I opt to throw more line and curse under my breath when knots occur. I feel that distance far exceeds the value of throwing a shorter line without tangles. The knots were a true nuisance in the wind today but every so often I’d really zing a bomb cast out there tangle free. I have an erratic, somewhat erotic, fast paced, one handed retrieve. Most football anglers go with the 2 handed stripping method but I feel I can get a more assertive hookset with a one handed tug and I can also make my fly jerk and then stop far more definitively. I think a 2 handed strip is very close to the action a streamer pattern receives when it is simply being reeled in. Sure, it is constantly moving, and yes, it is far less tiring, but does it truly work more effectively?
These types of things pass through my mind when I repetitiously cast. And then you realize you just launched your full line into a direct headwind, your stripping is interrupted by what feels like a log, and before you can comprehend anything, line is ripping out of your basket and nothing is stopping it. You see a fish thrash, and yes, he’s on the end of your line, but now your backing is unloading and he’s heading directly out to sea at a rate so fast that your legs start shaking. Before you have time to think about what you need to do correctly, you see the yellow 30lb Dacron turn into the white 30lb gel spun…. “Expletive,” he seriously already took 50 yards of backing, a full line, and a leader?! That’s when it hits you, and you realize your into a football! But the white backing keeps unloading and your reel is violently cracking your knuckles, you suddenly make sense of those blurred voices in the background, “you gotta stop her…give her some…. There ya go….keep pressure!” At this point you have a second to truly appreciate the force of this creature you have on the end of your line as you pump and reel. And then the fish decides to make a run directly towards you and you do your best to compensate, you back up, you run over slick rocks and bang your knees, and you reel but even still, you can‘t regain tension…it is too fast… you reel with everything you have because if you don’t, your fish is gone. The battle continues and you manage to gain ground, the white backing turns yellow, and then you see the intermediate running line, but before you see that black sink tip she takes off one more time and again your knuckles get pounded. And your reeling arm is numb at this point, it’s as though you’re a child again when reeling seemed very awkward, like a dream where you can not throw a punch. But then, when you think something is bound to go entirely wrong you realize you have the girl where you need to have her, you try to run along and keep tension as you bring her in closer but you fall into a rock crevice 10 ft. down after slipping on seaweed. And when you get up you fall again, but this time almost into the water which here would spell disaster. But you have done well, you regained tension, you raise her head up and realize it is time to bring her in. You pass your camera to the gentlemen standing by while the fish is in the water still, allow an incoming wave to wash her into you, tail your girl, look into her eyes, and launch her like a missile back into the blue. You stumble back shaking to where you left you assault pack because fisherman always return to their bag. You high five Jim because he’s the man, light up a smoke, and try hard, try very hard to take in everything that just happened. You fought her fast, you fought her hard, you fought her well.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies009.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies008.jpg
Your reeling arm is numb. Your still shaking and your speech is slurred. You relish it, you really, truly, honestly do. You somehow managed to be in that right spot at the right time and things somehow managed to actually go right. They really did… and 15 minutes later on maybee your first or second cast you do it all over again… this time a knot slams through your guides so hard it sounds like gunshots, but it all go’s right again.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies010.jpg
You might fish for a little while longer, but you don’t mean it. Your just going through the motions at this point. You are fulfilled and you know it. You could catch more but your not a fish glutton, and you want to get home, get home now, get home to complete the Albie trip. You spared yourself a night passed out in the sand, you don’t need to anymore. You walked into the woods on opening day and got that trophy buck. Your real work is done, from here on out you just have to soak up the glory…. You have an Albie tale on Sept. 9th.
I arrived at my destination armed with my trusty Albright 10wt and a Teton reel stuffed with backing and an integrated shooting sink/running intermediate line. The leader is no more than a 9ft. length of 25lb flourocarbon. 25 lb tippet for bonito/false albacore fishing is overkill to some, but I’d rather go heavy for a couple of reasons. The first being that I like to fight fish as fast as possible and the second being the possibility of that tippet scraping along obstructions during battle. All things being equal, I’ve never watched any light tippet angler in the salt out fish anyone to a point that would change my position on the matter. Fishing light tippet is risky business if you ask me, but I suppose like everything, that’s debatable.
The weather today was ideal for this type of fishing. A nice chop, a head wind, and sunny skies. Ideal conditions aren’t necessarily conducive to leisurely casting, but it’s a trade off we’ll gladly accept!
I’ve spent some time at the vice during the past few weeks tying an assortment of baitfish imitations. Today I decided to fish the silverside/spearing. This pattern is a Surf Candy/ Bob Pop. Epoxy fly. It matches the natural quite well in size, shape, and color.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies001.jpg
I saw a few faces that looked very familiar. Faces of folks I met while fishing Cape Lookout, NC. These are guys that literally chase the Albies down to North Carolina. It is pretty awesome to run into people you meet that far away. After saying hello and discussing the current happenings I made a cast into some water that just looked suspicious to me. Within seconds my drag was letting off painful sounds. Short pulls of line, hard violent shakes, bouncing rod tip, I knew this was no football but what could it be? Sure enough, it was another very decent Striped Bass. The more I try to target other species, the better the bass fishing gets. I swear I’ve caught at least one sweet striper on every non-striper trip I’ve taken in the last month. This guy might have only been 28 inches but that’s a little better than anything I was getting into this summer on a regular basis (shore fishing), and I was at it every other day/night. But striper fishing wasn’t the plan, so I went back into the wind and began observing.
Sporadic “busting” took place most of the morning but nothing was within casting range . This is often the case. When this type of scenario plays out one is faced with the decision of either strategically anticipating where the fish will pop up next and setting up there, or staying put, while continuing to blind cast. Depending on where one is, one or the other may be a better option. I stayed put and continued to cast as much line as I could somewhat efficiently in the wind. Knots will continue to plague saltwater anglers using today’s lines, you can either limit the amount of line you throw, or plan on some knots. Personally, I opt to throw more line and curse under my breath when knots occur. I feel that distance far exceeds the value of throwing a shorter line without tangles. The knots were a true nuisance in the wind today but every so often I’d really zing a bomb cast out there tangle free. I have an erratic, somewhat erotic, fast paced, one handed retrieve. Most football anglers go with the 2 handed stripping method but I feel I can get a more assertive hookset with a one handed tug and I can also make my fly jerk and then stop far more definitively. I think a 2 handed strip is very close to the action a streamer pattern receives when it is simply being reeled in. Sure, it is constantly moving, and yes, it is far less tiring, but does it truly work more effectively?
These types of things pass through my mind when I repetitiously cast. And then you realize you just launched your full line into a direct headwind, your stripping is interrupted by what feels like a log, and before you can comprehend anything, line is ripping out of your basket and nothing is stopping it. You see a fish thrash, and yes, he’s on the end of your line, but now your backing is unloading and he’s heading directly out to sea at a rate so fast that your legs start shaking. Before you have time to think about what you need to do correctly, you see the yellow 30lb Dacron turn into the white 30lb gel spun…. “Expletive,” he seriously already took 50 yards of backing, a full line, and a leader?! That’s when it hits you, and you realize your into a football! But the white backing keeps unloading and your reel is violently cracking your knuckles, you suddenly make sense of those blurred voices in the background, “you gotta stop her…give her some…. There ya go….keep pressure!” At this point you have a second to truly appreciate the force of this creature you have on the end of your line as you pump and reel. And then the fish decides to make a run directly towards you and you do your best to compensate, you back up, you run over slick rocks and bang your knees, and you reel but even still, you can‘t regain tension…it is too fast… you reel with everything you have because if you don’t, your fish is gone. The battle continues and you manage to gain ground, the white backing turns yellow, and then you see the intermediate running line, but before you see that black sink tip she takes off one more time and again your knuckles get pounded. And your reeling arm is numb at this point, it’s as though you’re a child again when reeling seemed very awkward, like a dream where you can not throw a punch. But then, when you think something is bound to go entirely wrong you realize you have the girl where you need to have her, you try to run along and keep tension as you bring her in closer but you fall into a rock crevice 10 ft. down after slipping on seaweed. And when you get up you fall again, but this time almost into the water which here would spell disaster. But you have done well, you regained tension, you raise her head up and realize it is time to bring her in. You pass your camera to the gentlemen standing by while the fish is in the water still, allow an incoming wave to wash her into you, tail your girl, look into her eyes, and launch her like a missile back into the blue. You stumble back shaking to where you left you assault pack because fisherman always return to their bag. You high five Jim because he’s the man, light up a smoke, and try hard, try very hard to take in everything that just happened. You fought her fast, you fought her hard, you fought her well.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies009.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies008.jpg
Your reeling arm is numb. Your still shaking and your speech is slurred. You relish it, you really, truly, honestly do. You somehow managed to be in that right spot at the right time and things somehow managed to actually go right. They really did… and 15 minutes later on maybee your first or second cast you do it all over again… this time a knot slams through your guides so hard it sounds like gunshots, but it all go’s right again.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/vfsholdover/2006-09-09Albies010.jpg
You might fish for a little while longer, but you don’t mean it. Your just going through the motions at this point. You are fulfilled and you know it. You could catch more but your not a fish glutton, and you want to get home, get home now, get home to complete the Albie trip. You spared yourself a night passed out in the sand, you don’t need to anymore. You walked into the woods on opening day and got that trophy buck. Your real work is done, from here on out you just have to soak up the glory…. You have an Albie tale on Sept. 9th.