old friend,

[ragman]

Bob,
You tease.That is pretty cool looking,but I dont know how the fish would like it...

[saltybugger]

I'd like to see you try to throw that ragman...that lure weighs 3 lbs and is 2' long...15/0 trebles

quote:

Originally posted by ragman:
Bob,
You tease.That is pretty cool looking,but I dont know how the fish would like it...

[ragman]

Saltybugger,
Yep,sounds damn near impossible! Still pretty neat looking though...

[fishinglsister]

Al (and/or Frank) ,
After Marty Gross died (1979), I was given his rigged eel rod (a Harnell 542 with old Black Squidder) and I wonder where I can donate it so it can be put on display for people to see the "tools of the trade" of "real rigged eel fishermen"....JC

PS-Frank, did you know Marty?

[ALB31]

In this thread I have told stories of all the big ones that got away. Now I thought I would tell you about a good tip I got from my friend Charlie Leigh.

It was October 21,1959. The phone rang when I got home from work and my friend Charlie who was finishing up his vacation in cape cod was on the phone. He said Dick Samms and he just got off the beach and they caught some cows at sunset before dark. The fish were in an area from the traps to the second rip with tons of bait. They were being held there by a 50 mph south east wind. They had to leave the beach after dark because the fire in the water killed the fishing but they were going out at midnight on the moon rise when the fire died. I told him if the wind was going to hold I would be up there at 4pm the next day, which was Saturday. I called the weather bureau and the storm was going to last through Saturday night.

I lived in Brooklyn so the one night fishing trip was a drive 320 miles long in the storm and through every small town between Providence and the cape. We didn't have the roads that we have today. At best a seven hour trip. I left home at 8am that morning and arrived about 4pm.

Charlie and Dick were waiting for me when I got there. I jumped into my waders and we went to the beach. When we rolled down the hill at the Coast guard station. The sight I saw was unbelievable gaint whales were off shore crashing the bait,ganets were hitting the water like machine gun bullets. The wind was blowing close to hurricane strength. We drove to a spot between the 2nd rip and the traps. We got there just in time it was just starting to get dark.

You almost had to hold back on your cast the wind was right on your back and you felt the length of every cast was a world record. I had a hit on the first cast when when the eel hit the water and missed it. I missed the second hit on the next cast. Something was wrong, my only thought was to drop back on the hit and then set the hook. When your instinct is to set on every bump thats hard to do. On my next hit I dropped back and then set I was in, the fish I landed was in the low 40,s. After a few more casts I got another one the same way. He was a twin to the first about 42 pounds. With the overcast and the setting sun it got dark quickly and the fire drove us back to sleep till moonrise. Back at the cottage Charlies landlady Fran had cooked us a wild roast duck dinner with a pie and everything. It doesn,t get any better then that.

We got up around 1am dressed and hit the beach. Conditions were the same and as the moon rose the fire died. It took a while but we started to hit the fish again, one here one there. Charlie went to the right of me and said he would give me the light if anything happened. About 30 minutes later I saw a dim glow to my right. Dick and I drove there and found Charlie unhooking his third big fish. He had nailed 3 in a row. We had action the rest of the night till daybreak. The wind died and the migration continued the fish moved out. I finished the night with 8 big ones and Charlie and Dick had 5 each.

When Fran saw the fish she called her customers in New York they raced up to the Cape but it was over. Some of the same guys I called before I left Brooklyn.

We just started to help build a good old days catagory for the "striper surf club.com"web site. I just found that Dick had taken a picture of our catch that morning and Charlie had it put on that web site. The picture is the 4x4 with fish in the back and nobody in the picture. Its under good old days. We havent been in that clubs for many years but it good to give them a history. They couldn,t go back past 1980. Charlie, Dick and I were charter members in 1951.

[ragman]

Al,
A question on the fire.Does the moon make it less visible,due to the extra light,or do the plankton just stop giving off light,when there is more natural light available?

[ALB31]

Ragman the moon make it less visible.

[ragman]

Thanks Al,
Thats what I was thinking.Down here I havent seen it too often,but then again,I dont get to do a lot of night fishing with my work schedule.

[The Striper Consultant]

This was some great reading.
Thanks to all.

[Frank Daignault]

Great story, Al. You have really turned out to be a resource here. Just look at the hits on this thread which says it all.

[joeaugeri]

great reading al,did u fish breezy or belong to any local clubs? i am a former brooklyn boy my self, just wondering if would remember u from the local beaches.tight lines.

[ALB31]

Joe I fished Breezy point and fort tilden in the late 1940,s and early 50,s. After that I fished Rockaway,atlantic beach,Long beach and west end jetty. I was a charter member in the striper surf club for a number of years. I only fished at night. We could have met at Breezy, it depends on when you were fishing there. Im running out of people that I knew back then.

[fishinglsister]

I guess what I was trying to ask Al and Frank the last time I wrote on this thread (in simpler terms) is "Do you guys know of a Surfcasters Hall of Fame"??????? It would be great to honor guys like Marty, Nat, Gus, Vinny,Paulie, Etc., Etc..................

JC

[John_P]

Jason,

FWIW, there now a "sportfishing education center" by cedar beach. I've never been there, but I think they have some of that kind of stuff there.

would be nice to have a hall of fame, but I would imagine there might be some nasty fights in the selection process - might make any club BS feel downright civil.

Isnt there a fly fishng hall of fame somewhere in upstate NY? I would wonder how that is funded and run.

[DeeJay]

quote:

Originally posted by John_P:

Isnt there a fly fishng hall of fame somewhere in upstate NY? I would wonder how that is funded and run.

It's in Livingston Manor, near Roscoe, on the Willowemoc.