The Striper Hunt Continues...
Yesterday evening did not look promising at the outset. If I raced home after worked and clawed my way through NYC traffic, I would catch the last two hours of the incoming tide. Not ideal for these small south shore jetties.
I have a diligent intern working with me and part of the duties I've put on his plate include spur of the moment checks of NOAA weather buoys around NY harbour. Since the quick check showed wind speed was relatively low, favorably out of the SSE and wave height was trending down, the jetties during the rising tide should be fishable...so the race was on.
Within 10 minutes of hitting the beach, and already wet from the waves and mist, I get the first hit, very close to the rocks on the retrieve...this guy was hiding out literally six feet from my feet. The surpise of the close hit led to a weak hook set and a lost fish...oh well, it's still early.
10 minutes later and virtually the same scenario, but this time this little guy didn't get away. At 26.5", he was oh so close to landing on the dinner table, but instead got to live another day.
The slightly concerned smile on my face is for the safety of the camera which I'm praying doesn't get washed off the rock...
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...g?t=1184770397
I had decided after fishing this area many times that only a few fish will hang out by each jetty for any period of time and that if I caught one (or lost one) I would give the spot 20 more casts before walking to the next. So farther down the beach I went.
At the next jetty some terns worked beyond casting distance, but when I saw a fish role slightly closer I switched from the Storm shad to the highly launchable Kastmaster. Three casts later another fish on. This one was hooked directly in the line of the mostly submerged jetty so I had to hope he'd come around to one side or the other. After a nice little fight I see the young striper emerge by the rocks at my feet. Unfortunely, one last twitch set himself free before he could be immortalized on digital memory.
With a few more long distance casts I switched back to the 3" bunker pattern and two casts short of the 20 mark another sucker inhales the plastic. This little guy was not much of a fight, but it still felt nice. With the tide generally higher and the light fading, I didn't feel like putting the camera at risk, so this guy made the trip back to the beach.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...g?t=1184770916
All fish released with only slightly bruised egos.
