Striped Bass Full Story

Last week my work schedule was different because my co-worker was off and Friday I had the late shift. So I got up early to chase striped bass again. Since starting at Bass Pro I have been met a lot of great fishermen and they have been helping me with plugs and tides. Friday I got it right. I hit the river on an out going tide, overcast sky's and a lot of luck. After about 45 minutes of fishing I had my first missed hook set and had the plug figured out.

Then it happened I caught my first striped bass ever! It was on my 7 foot medium spinning rod with a 3 1/2 inch topwater plug. Then after a little longer I had a few more missed hooksets and started moving around a little.

I crossed under a bridge that was near by and took a couple casts. There it was number two, three, four, five and six! Six striped bass on a spinning rod and a plug but something was missing. On one if my last casts I saw a striper come up and turn back to the bottom. So I quickly grabbed my fly rod and hit that same spot and bang! My first striped bass on a fly rod.

Now the hard core striper guys will say oh those are just schoolies but I was thrilled. These fish hit hard and pulled hard for their size! If you are a fly or spin fisher and you have access to a striper fishery you need to try it. I think I am hooked and truthfully I can not wait to get back and fish for schoolies again.

The first!!!!!

I told Sarah the other day I was not going to post till I finished the fly box I am planning on giving away but I did not really plan on this!!!!!

First striped bass ever! Full story to come later, because I am off to work now...

The Bright Side

So, even though it cuts into my fishing time, I guess I don't mind having a full time job if I get to talk about fishing all day.

I have learned something new almost everyday I have worked here.  Last week my co-worker Bob taught me to use the reel winder and I am feeling more confident on it every day.  It really is not hard to use, but I was still glad when Bob left me some combos to set up.   

The process of putting line on a reel.  Just take your time and tie good knots.

My most recent fishing trip was yesterday.  I decided to hit the salt and try to catch a blue or a stripped bass.  I fished a river in the morning, but after a couple hours of nothing decided to switch gears and spots.  After driving to a park about a half hour away, I grabbed my spinning rod and a snapper blue popper.  I fished from some rock and did okay.

View from the rocks.

Here is one of the snapper blues(one of about six).  I really would love to catch something a little bigger in the saltwater because truth be told I have caught bass and trout that would eat this fish.  Saltwater fishing is a different monster.  I know I need to put my time in but honestly I would be more willing to put in my time if I knew how big these things really get.

Go back into the bay and grow little one (try not to get eaten).

That is it for now friends.  I will be bringing the details of my give away by the end of the week.  

-Bruce

Two Weeks In Photos

Well everyone I am still here!  That should be enough but if you need some specifics I can give them.  How about some photos showing what the last two weeks have thrown at me?

So Bass Pro has been good and bad, I have a list a mile long of fishing gear I want but on the plus side I have been getting ideas for new fly patterns to tie. 

So after my first week was over a storm rolled in and they closed the store.

This is what we thought was the reasons we had no power for a week. 

It turns out it was not the reason but did I mention we had no power for a week (okay a work week '5 days')

So I bought some materials I have never worked with and some that I just didn't want to send money on before and started tying flies by candle light.

While I was at work(with electricity)  and it was slow I was leaning about some new fishing spots near where we live.

Then on about day 3 or 4 of no power Sarah was so sick of hearing out neighbors generators that she came to work and shopped in Patriot place, and we went out for dinner.  I had a beer and felt smelly and stinky but refreshed.

There is my wife in front of Gillette stadium.

I found another pattern that I wanted to tie. 

Then in the candle light I tied a couple along with another bass bug. 

This is the other bass bug.  It latched onto this candle (Oh and check out Sarah''s puzzle in the background it's the Atlanta skyline)

Then we got new furniture (because what else do you do with no power but move furniture).

Somewhere around here we got power back and I finally unpacked my glass collection into our new hutch.  This was rounding out the second week of my new job and I had remembered how hard it was to fish when you have a full time job.  It is a funny trade working somewhere that I enjoy what I am doing versus actually fishing.  So Sunday after church I borrowed John's kayak and hit the pond to chase bass.

I did okay scoring two large mouths on a home made foam popper. 

This was my good one.  I caught it while standing on a rock near an island.  It was really windy and with no anchor I was having a hard time setting up on fish. 

Proof that it was a good fish.

Another short coming from working a full time job again is that fact that I now see my wife even less then when I was home all day.  Our lives do not  match up any more so Monday we both had a day off and jumped at the opportunity to see some more sites we live near.  So this past Monday we when to Plymouth to hang out and sight see a little. 

Thought this was cool.

We walked out on a jetty.

Saw lots of people using their boats

Walked in a cool historic section of town (by historic I am talking 1600's).

Sarah took a lot of great pictures and some of them can be seen on her blog (The Strength of Faith).

Well that is what I have been up too these couple weeks.  Sorry it was a lot of pictures but I thought that would be better then me babbling on for a couple internet pages. So I am going to try to be better about writing on my blog, and about fishing a little more.  Lastly look for a give away very soon. 

Thanks for reading
-Bruce