35 fish
It's striper time.
John and I put the boat in at Rye Harbor yesterday. It was his one day home this week. First saltwater trip since late July/ early August.
Sun shone through warm haze and the air had a good fishy smell. The bell buoy rocked and clanged. Light winds– no breakers, just silky smooth swells. Water temp was 58. Half tide, ebbing.
Just outside the harbor breakwater small striped bass were feeding at the surface. Baitfish jumped and scattered like silver confetti. We both caught a striper on our first cast. (This never happens.)
We cast and reeled, cast and reeled surface plugs designed to look like small swimming fish. Mine had two treble hooks and John mostly used the rubbery one with a single large hook.
After 20 minutes or so we moved south to the rocky crescent of Bass Beach (North Hampton), which lived up to its name. They were everywhere! And the birds were workin', gulls and cormorants galore.
"Here we go... That makes 11."
"Got one on, 12 for for me."
"Doesn't count til you get it in the boat."
In a couple of hours, I caught 16 stripers and 1 lone mackerel, John caught 18. No keepers as the largest was about 19 inches.
To conserve and manage the striper population, regulations allow for an angler to keep two fish per day, but the fish must be a minimum length of 28 inches, and only one fish may exceed 40 inches.
We stopped at a little store in Rye on the way home and learned someone had caught a 50-inch striper the day before surfcasting a plug off Bass Beach.
Wish I had my camera, but I was in one of my bare essentials moods and didn't bring anything except a sweatshirt and a Fresca. And the dog.
He doesn't care much about the fish, but he alertly follows the cast and watches where the plug lands on the water. But we have taught him this is the one instance when he is not called on to retrieve.
There was a guy fishing (and catching) from a kayak near us.
Radiant foliage colors as seen from the boat. But the trip was a little bittersweet. Will this be the last of the season? Sawing holes in the ice of Great Bay in search of smelt just doesn't hold the same allure.
Striped bass, one of the most avidly pursued of all sport fish.
Oh, it makes me jealous to hear (but good for you guys!). I haven't got in much good striper fishing since we moved up from Cape May (and I got to go nearly every day in season)!
Posted by: Ernesto | 06 October 2006 at 06:55 AM
Cape May is a great spot!
Posted by: Amy | 06 October 2006 at 07:19 AM