Fishing Forum

I got up this morning and decided that I knew what day it is - fishing day! Whoot whoot! No rush, eat breakfast and glance at the paper, load the boat, and I am gone by the crack of 9:30. Warm(ish), good flow, no rain, no wind, no one at my favorite spot. I pull out my fairy wand with the 6 lb. test and bait up with skipjack.<br /><br />Ha! First fish and it's a good one. Best part of 15 minutes later and I boat an 18 lb. blue cat. Another chunk of skipjack and the second fish comes in at 17 lb. Great start! I catch a whole flock of 8 to 12 lb. cats, all on the 6 lb. line. Uh-oh. This one is a big fish! 30 minutes or so of war and I emerge victorious, having whupped a beautiful 35 pound cat. I'm getting a bit worn out, because the vast majority of the time is spent on relatively long fights. I have one last piece of skippie and move over to try a different seam to end the day.<br /><br />Whoa, big fish running hard. Really hard. I have to chase it to try to keep nearby. Obviously not a cat, and I'm pretty sure what it is. Completely different fight from the earlier fish. Yup, there it is! Striper! And a nice one too! It took a fairly long time to get it to the boat on that 6 lb. line, and even with a hurry-up weight and photo, I couldn't revive the fish. So now there are a couple of really nice fillets from a 37-1/2 inch, 20 pound striper in my freezer. I wish I could feel bad about it...........<br /><br />Lots of "refresher" time working those fish on light line, and there were no break-offs or other man-made disasters today. I guess I'd best cut off 50 or 60 feet of line though. It got a good workout and deserves to be properly retired. Great day!!! emoBig emoBig <br /><br />