[Bruce Litton]

Rockies & gills seem the way to go & all my reading has underscored live bait for flatheads, rather than chicken livers & such for channels. But years ago, we came for night stripers, lots of big eels & surf rods. One of these eels died on the way, and just before sunset, as I had to rig other rods, I said what the heck and baited up with the dead one. Let it sit on bottom--not long. Line peeled off & I dug into a nine-pound flathead. Towards midnight, I did get to fight a nice striper, but once it got near us--with lantern blazing--it took off on such a terrific run the hook pulled. Told this story to a night striper vet, and he knowingly told me whenever they hook up, the fire gets put out, the lanterns turned off.