Rockfish > Steelhead (pics)
Decided this year that I wouldn't make the annual trip mup to Erie, so instead I decided to go chasing after striped bass on the eastern shore. Had a very productive weekend, landing somewhere around 30 fish. Biggest was only 26", so no keepers, but still an absolute blast fishing with some good friends and taking in the scenery.
Here's the good stuff:
Late Thursday night, 2nd cast after arriving:
Friday morning, lots of fish landed, lots of bites. 20-25 mph winds out of NE but that didn't slow me down..
Yes, that's a fly below. Was not using a fly rod.
Gorgeous sunset:
Saturday morning/early afternoon. Winds were still steady holding around 20 mph with gusts up to 30+ mph. Not many people out and ending up catching the majority of fish I caught all weekend during this time frame including the 26"er...
Rod porn for Dnymph. Couldn't have picked a better rod to be custom made...
Fly tied by capcityTim. Most of the fish I caught all weekend were on flies he tied for me.
Smaller one pulled in by a younger boy that was vacationing nearby and not catching anything. The smile on his face while he was reeling it in was priceless. He was having a great time.
A few casts after he reeled in the fish above, I hooked up with another bigger fish. I handed the rod off to him and was helping coach him to bring it in properly and fast enough so it wouldn't get hung up on the tax rocks that line the bottom of the inlet. He was doing a great job! I wasnt paying attention at the time but apparently his mom was up the hill behind us watching. As soon as I handed the rod off to him to fight the fish, she jumped up, camera in hand, and started running down the hill to get a picture. She was so excited to get a picture of him reeling it in that she stumbled and fell down the hill in the sand!!
The fish was mid-20's, but his arm's ended up getting tired and it got stuck on the tax rocks right in front of us so we didn't get it landed for him to get a picture. It sure did make his day tho and said thank you almost 5 times as I was leaving.
Great weekend of fishing, no doubt about that!!!!