It Doesn't Get Any Better (w/ pics)

[Gr8ful Fish]

On Sat. am, we got the word that our league's soccer games were cancelled. My son immediately knew this meant that if the weather would clear a bit, we were going to at least give the opening day of fluke season a shot.

We headed out late afternoon on Sat., and we had fluke on as soon as we started dropping our squid/spearing combos to the bottom. We had a half dozen shorts on the first drift. We were deadsticking them for him to see the action of the rods on the strike, and the fish were striking hard and aggressively.

In a couple of drifts near Officer's Row & the coast guard ledge, we found a dozen sublegal fluke, and a single keeper at 18.75" that we released. Adam was catching fluke like a sharpie, and he quickly learned to watch for the telltale bounce of the rod tip to know when the flatties were hitting.

My son kept pestering me to try some bassing, so we pulled up stakes and ran out the Northeast to see if we could find any decent marks on the sounder. When I marked a few bass on the Knoll after our third set, I knew we were gonna get into them.

The bass starting taking our clam baits fast and furious in the incoming tide as the water temps starting dropping. They would knock the bait once or twice before coming back and absolutely crushing the bait. Adam struggled
with the first few before he mastered the technique of lifting the rod and cranking furriously on the drop.

After his 5th of 6th bass in a row, he knew the drill, and he was bringing them to the boat like a champ. We ended up with over a dozen bass landed to 24 lbs. with plenty of other "long arm releases" ... mostly, when Dad was trying to horse some fish to the boat in the heavy current.

Headed back before dark, and my son was ecstatic about having his first ever striper trip with Dad! I have never felt so proud, satisfied, or happy in alll my life.

We went back out with friends on Sunday and caught more fluke and bass, but Saturday was a day that I will never forget!!!

- Gr8ful