Striper Mania VideoHi Speed Only
There were so many great moments to this day that I am having trouble thinking about which one to post first. I will start it off at the beginning. Pat-m picked me up at my house at 6:00am and we headed out to meet up with Jeremy and then drive to the boat launch and look for blitzing Blue Fish or Striped Bass. We got out to where we saw birds laying and working the water. As we were driving past them Jeremy looks back and sees tons of fish just hammering bait. The birds were going insane and I had trouble keeping my cool. We saw a few birds and a few busting fish and Jeremy started blind casting. He picked up a Blue Fish. We scouted around for a bit and found tons of birds and bait. Just as we started to position ourselves in casting position, two other boats decided to join in and basically run over the busting fish with the engines roaring. It was very frustrating and three boats sight fishing to the same pod of fish was too much. So, we left the other two boats with the fish and took off to find some other fish. The fish began to pop up and nobody was around us. We had all the nice fish to ourselves and the ocean seemed to be ours. The stripers were almost leaping into the boat and I was hooked up instantly. We took turns. One guy fishing on the bow, another guy driving and strategically positioning the boat and another guy on standby. We would figure out which way the fish were gonna head once they popped up and strategically tried to put the boat in perfect alignment with the moving fish so that when the Stripers surfaced they were all around the boat. We all caught so many stripers. I had missed out on lots of fish because of sloppy casting and Jeremy had a bet in mind. “I’m gonna put you right on top of em’ and you won’t catch anything. If you do I will give you $2 and the worlds best ice cream cone.” Pat, took Jeremy’s side and agreed that I would not catch anything. “Bring em’ on,” I said! Jeremy had been driving the boat for a while and was getting cranky. He grabs the rod from me, hops on the bow and has a fish on his second cast. “See Fisherboy, you just can’t catch fish!” he said. I grab another rod and cast from the stern of the boat. I make one perfect double haul cast and a nice striper comes up and hammers my fly. I am all smiles and now he owes me $2 and an ice cream. After a while all the birds around us decided to head way out. We followed and soon were rewarded with Gigantic Stripers at our feet. Honestly, it seemed like they were biting the boat. Second cast a monster took my fly. He was ripping and I couldn’t wait to see the fish. “This one is definitely 30+” said Jeremy and Pat. I was so excited. The fish is almost tired enough to land and he is almost at the boat and good bye! Slack line. I was so mad and couldn’t wait to hook another giant. I think I was hallucinating the entire time. I spot a few fish and we all were hooked up at the same time. That’s the way it went the entire day. It’s hard to describe how much fun it was. To say we found the fish is an understatement. Pat, you are the man. Thanks for taking us out on your great boat. I loved it and you are a great fishing partner.What a day!
“HE RIPPED!” —– nice work out there austin…tough to beet a day like that…strong ocean fish – thousands of them – sight casting – it is good practice for when you go to the salmon river this year.
whippa already said – that he can’t wait to get you into your first steelhead….they “RIP” too….but you got much less room to work with (its a river not an ocean) and you certainly won’t be able to use the 20 pound straight fluorocarbon.
pat and i had a blast…like i always say — it makes it twice as fun to take you fly fishing because you obviously have an unmatched passion for fly fishing and you appreciate the opportunities and the water and the fish…
i just can’t wait for the salmon river guys to take you under their wing in october and help you tie into some steel —- we are gonna be on the ground laughing as the chrome teaches you a lesson.
Great work Austin. I think your unbridled enthusiasm will be a breath of fresh air down here in our neck of the woods. Hopefully we will have favorable conditions when your in town, if we don’t it doesn’t really matter we will find fish anyway. You need a couple sticks of dynamite in the bow for the vultures that follow you around.
I can’t wait for the salmon river! I can’t wait to see you guys on the ground laughing hystericly.
Thanks for a great time and great video!
Austin
Hi whippa’, I want the most miserable conditions you can find. It will only make the fish even more worth it.
Thanks for the compliment, it was a great time and thats why I was so excited. I have never seen so many fish in my life so I guess I overreacted.
Austin
OVERREACTED! No way! you were having a blast – no such thing – that’s what its all about – unfortunately as many people get older they lose the passion and excitement that you have – hang on to it – as long as you can – cuz there are certainly enough people in the world who are just going through the motions – in a fly fishing sense and an overall life sense. so – like waterwhippa said – its a breath of fresh air to see you get totally excited when the fish are busting all around you. if you weren’t excited and acted like it was just second nature – well then – it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun fly fishing with you.
Alright just covering up for my crazyness!!!
Austin
Great story, you are certainly blessed to have Jeremy and Pat as your palls.
When I see diving gulls around I will get as insane as those birds. I always want to take pictures of breaking fish but the urge to cast a fly to them always gets the overhand. So my first reaction is to run as hell into the water and get as close as possible to the fish.
Losing big fish is always heartbreaking, but there will be always a second chance as I found out. When I was in Naples FL I have stood weeks at pond X trying to get a baby Tarpon. I had hooked and lost several fish and desperately wanted to catch one. I would fish untill midnight for these tough fish and finally managed to hook one and stay connected. I felt on top of the world, still got a scale of the fish to remind me of that day.