The Ones That Didn't Get Away

Today was a fantastic day! I woke up at 3:30 to get ready to go to Barnegat light to go fishing. Yes, 3:30 AM! It was a little painful but, in retrospect, well worth the bleary eyes. As you can see, I brought home two Stripers (Striped Bass), which were feeding on (hitting on) Bunker fish. I caught one and Dick caught the other. Bunkers are bait fish that jump in the water as they move from place to place. Under normal circumstances they are unhurried and are seen by the leisurely splashes they make as they travel. When they are being chased by fish, however, their splashing looks entirely different. As my friend Dick said, they look like they are being chased by something. So that's what were looking for, stressed fish.

We got on the water at 5:10, motored out through the inlet, and by 6:15 we were out into the ocean. It was an incredible morning - crisp, light breeze, and the sunrise was pink and orange, as the sunsets were in NZ. (A side note, anyone who knows me knows that I love NJ. It's not NZ, which is much more beautiful from top to bottom, but NJ has mountains [they just happen to be part of the Appalachians which are millions of years older than many of the mountain chains of the world], beaches, and an internationally known pine forest, known as the Pine Barrens. I know, I know it also has Newark, Camden, and Trenton, as well as the industrial port complexes in Elizabeth and other difficult scenery to observe, but it is still a place to be proud of. The not so nice places are here so those of you who are not serious about NJ will see them, turn around, and leave.) Not until we were getting off the water at noon or so did we see clouds. It was a good day to be alive.

So anyway, when we saw the schools of Bunkers, we would take the boat to them, cast out a line with only a hook on it and then yank that hook through the water. At first, I was not pulling hard enough. I got the idea when Dick said I should not be afraid of pulling their lips off. That made sense. I didn't pull any lips off, but I was then able to catch my own bait to attract Stripers. Pretty simple, really, but not always successful. Still cool to do.

So when we hit our first Bunker school, I yanked the line, hooked a Bunker and then 30 seconds later I caught my first Striper ever. I'm thinking, I'll go back home with five years worth of fish at this rate. I didn't really, but it was amazing how fast it all happened. It turned out to be 40 pounds and 44" long. That's a lot of fish. It also turns out to be my only keeper, but there is more to tell in a minute. A few minutes later, Dick got a hit, but it came off the line (called a run-off because the fish runs with the bait and then comes off the line). He then got another run-off not long after and it wasn't even 7:30 AM yet. At about 9:00 AM Dick hooked a Striper that turned out to be 35 lbs. and 42" long.

Then we stopped getting hits from the Bunker, as did most of the other fishermen in the area, and decided to troll for awhile. This is when you put line out behind the boat and let the boat move the line through the water (as opposed to casting the line out and waiting for the fish with the engine off as we had been doing) and in a short time I caught an estimated 6.5 foot, 125 pound Thresher Shark. We wanted to throw it back from the beginning, but almost had to keep it because we couldn't get the hook out (in this case a Bunker spoon, which is like a huge spinner if you do lake fishing), which, if left in, would kill it. As we were pulling the shark up the hook popped out of its mouth and it went free. It was an awesome sight, unfortunately we don't have any pictures. No, this is not one of those fish stories. If you look at a picture of a Thresher Shark you will see that it has a really long tail. It uses that tail to bash its prey. When we were bringing it up we had to be cognizant of that tail or it would have bashed us. Three or four times it bashed the side of the boat and it sounded like a gun going off. It made for an especially exciting experience.

Finally, and most importantly, you see a picture of my friend Dick. He was a chemistry teacher at Hightstown High for 30+ years, retired from there and then worked at Peddie for a couple of years. In my life, he is one of those people who, when I met him, felt like a life long friend and compatriot. He is one of the nicest guys I know, he is also a great teacher, a great friend, a great husband, and great person. He is one of the people I missed the most while I was gone. I am really glad I had the chance to catch up and go fishing on his boat with him. This was an awesome day!!