Maine Striper fishing has been challenging the past couple of years. There are still fish to be found, but they are few in number and scattered throughout Casco Bay Islands where I live in the summer. The days of hook ups number 20 plus fish have been on existent for me. I was hoping for a better year this year as I had a nephew coming up from Tennessee and I assured him I would get him hooked on flyfishing instead of the bait casting he was used to. So when he arrived and the stripers hadn’t shown much cooperation I told him the only thing we could do was fish blind for them. They sure weren’t showing off with any surface action. We positioned my center console off some ledges I’ve had success from in the past. I rigged up a 7 weight rod with a depth charged line for Jon and tied on a clouser pattern. After a couple of cast he seemed to be getting the rythym down so I grabbed my 9 weight and joined him in casting to the ledge, wait for the fly to sink, strip, stop briefly for the fly to sink and strip again. We had been at this for about a half hour. Other then some rock weed, and one 10 inch mackerel we were pretty much shut out. I told Jon one more cast and we move on. I laid out as much line as I could and let waited while the fly sank to the bottom. I must have go lazy because as I recall the fly layed there for as much as a minute before I began to strip. Suddenly the line went tight and I was sure I had hooked into more rock weed. However, this rock weed began to pull line off the deck of the boat. If this is a striper it is acting different then any striper I ever hooked before. This thing would not come off the bottom. It would go short distances and just stop. I would reel and the rod would just bend without moving this creature from the bottom. When I relaxed tension on the rod the line would inch out off the reel. And I mean inch out. It felt like whatever I had was taking a step, stopping then taking another step. I was totally baffled but what was going on. In the end I pulled anchor and manuvered the boat closer to whatever the hell was attached to my fly. I put the rod down and began hand lining. I couldn’t believe the strengh it was taking to win this battle. For awhile I was afraid to learn what waited for me when this thing finally came to an end.When I finally saw my catch I could not believe it. There was the largest Maine lobster I have ever seen. Being careful not to harm him we landed him with a net. A quick trip to shore for some photos and a weigh in. Our friend weighed 22 pounds. We quickly returned him to the ocean, as Maine law has a size limit that does not allow you to take breeder size lobster. I have been told that this lobster is between 75 and 90 years old. Another good reason to give him a reprieve from the lobster pot. I can only guess that he was happily feeding on baitfish and my fly got in his path. No matter what the reason he chose to hook up with me this made for an interesting outing for a boy from Tennessee and Mainer who’s lobsters come from the fish market. Now this would be a terrific Flies And Fins story except lobsters don’t have fins and none of this really happened. This lobster was caught in the traditonal manner (lobster pot) and released unharmed. So, I guess its somewhat fliesandfins’ish, in the sense that the lobster was caught and released and a little humor every now and then is a good thing. Hope you enjoyed this “lobster tale.”