USA today eat your heart out, wow. and I even got to hear a bit, thanks Byard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Byard Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "The Fish Barrel..." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Scott Bullock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 12:40 PM Subject: [VFB] How I spent my first day of summer...
> > The alarm went off at 1:15 AM. In a sleep deprived mode I made a pot > of coffee, gathered up a few last minute items and was on the road by > 2. You know what?...it's still dark then! > > At 3:30 (it's still dark) I pulled into the driveway of my new "best > friend" and most gracious host of the day, Scott Bullock. We loaded > up assorted paraphernalia into his van and were back on the road with > one fine fishing craft in tow...The Saltybugger. > > We arrived at our intended launch point and were on the water by just > after 5. Somebody finally turned on the lights...;^) The sea was dead > calm and the forecast called for clear skies, temps in the 70's and > light winds of 5-10 knots. A perfect day to be out searching for > stripers. > > The tide was coming in with an expected high at 8 AM. A short ride > brought us to the rip...and what a rip it was. And there were > birds...diving in the water...and there was bait...and there were > FISH! The surface was alive...big stripers jumping straight out of > the water. Blues cutting the bait to shreds. > > We quickly set up to drift over the rip and it wasn't long before we > were in the zone. Scott was the first to holler "FISH ON"! After a > heck of a battle a beauty of a legal sized striper was boated and > quickly revived and released. The next drift through and I had my > turn...another hefty striper came into the boat. After a quick photo > shoot, she was again racing through the Sound in search of the > abundant dinner entrees. Wow, do these fish know how to fight. They > have obviously learned how to use the tidal rips to their advantage. > > The decision was made to anchor up at the edge of the rip. We should > have continued with the drifting technique as making a decent fly > presentation with that current was near impossible. Scott did manage > to hook up with a hefty blue. Being anchored really increased the > fish's advantage as she used that current to take more and more line. > But Scott was not to be denied and after a long battle, the toothy > critter succumbed to the Boga. 28 inches of pure muscle came to hand. > As she neared the boat, a perfect, opal colored 6-7" squid was > coughed up, "get out the big white flies". > > Going back to the drifting method we made a number of additional > passes. Both stripers and blues were landed, but the tide was near > it's slack by now and they were suddenly off the bite. Time to chase > the birds...and we did, but the blitz was over. At one time Scoot had > a nice blue attached to the end of his line and as he was getting it > closer and closer to the boat, I noticed it had an entourage of > another 5 or 6 siblings. A quick flip of the fly rod and we were now > both into gear busting battles. > > As the tide went out, the called for light winds turned into 20+ > knoters and the seas started to take on a new image. It was real hard > to set up on the rips now and the fish no longer churned the surface. > We did manage to catch a few more stripers and blues throughout the > afternoon, but they were few and far between. We finally called it > quits about 2:30 and headed back to the launch. Total tally for the > day was around a dozen fish, mostly stripers and not one of them > under 28 inches. Scott out-fished me by a long shot...my inexperience > takes the blame. I had the opportunities...plenty of them...but kept > pulling the flies right out of their mouths before they managed to > close them...:-( > > Arrived home at 7 PM...sunburned, wind whipped, wave pounded and > exhausted...but very, very happy. Thank you Scott, for a most > enjoyable and memorable start to the summer. I anxiously await your > next invite! > > Photos at...<http://www.virtualflybox.com/photos/first_summer.shtml> > > keep tyin'...byard > > Byard Miller > Line's End Inc <http://www.linesend.com> > Virtual Flybox <http://www.virtualflybox.com> >
