Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Every Cast

Friday, June 6, 2008

I just couldn’t resist the tides this week. I left the mooring at 2:30 and cruised out to spot #1. As I approached I noticed another boat there (was that guy anchored in the rip?). Typically I would avoid doubling up on someone and would go elsewhere. But today I had this destination in mind and I didn’t really care if someone else was there first. I arrived and lined myself up for the drift. The other guy, who was in an old boat (with windshield), wasn’t too happy with me. His cigarette hung loosely from his long face. I waved over to him, he waved back, and then I thought I saw some sign of lightening up on his end.

My first cast provided a 31 inch bass. I knew it was going to be a good afternoon. I continued on with a couple more drifts, hooking a few more fish between 27 and 32 inches on some of Joel’s double-rigged Sluggos. The other guy seemed to be doing well too and we got into a good drifting pattern, staying out of each other’s way. This was until the jackass in the oversized, decal-covered sports boat decided to troll umbrella rigs right up through the middle of the rip. This screwed everything up. The faces of the passengers all aimed at me and Mr. Longface, attempted to catch signals of fishing success at this spot. I decided to move on to avoid attracting them to the area. Mr. Longface did the same and we were both gone within a minute. He went west and I went south.

My next spot was also on fire. Every cast produced amazing action. The drift was quick and this allowed for only one hookup before having to move the boat out and around to an upstream location. One or two casts was about all there would be time for. I landed dozens of fish here. Since I already had a fish on the boat I decided to release all the additional big ones, which were plentiful. I cycled through all patterns of Sluggo: white, black, pink, and “squid-colored”. They all worked, but the white ones did best. After some time the rip began to fade and the big fish moved on. I returned to spot #1 and found Mr. Longface there too. We waved again, lined up in an efficient drift pattern, and began landing fish. A waft of his cigarette smoke briefly brought memories of fishing with my dad way back when. Then he left and soon after I packed it in and returned to shore. On the way in I figured that the afternoon was about a 95% hookup rate. I wish I had brought along my fly rod. Next time.

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