After reviewing my fishing journal, I concluded that based on tide, time of year, and moon phase, July 9th 2005 looked like a good night to go fishing at hot spot “x” for striped bass. I arrived at hot spot “x”, the rain started falling from the heavens as if gravity’s force tripled. The thunder and lighting lit up the dark sky. If I was not a surfcaster, I would have gone home. Ten minutes later, in typical New England fashion, the isolated thunder storm shower passed and a rainbow appeared in the sky, which proved to be a good omen.

I read the beach and hypothesized where a linesider would enter the surf zone. Not wanting to waste time, I treked to the water’s edge and cast my custom Hi-Lo rig hung with Owner SSW in-line circular hooks dressed with clams and pulled vertically via 3 oz pyramid sinker. It was another nice Pendulum cast….until the spool slipped; I forgot to tighten the main drag. The tide was incoming, so I let it sit on the bottom.

While my bait rod was in a sand spike, I prepared my plugging rod. I waded into the water until I was knee deep. I made a cast and stared a slow retrieve. Out of curiosity, I looked back….Holy Poseidon! My Med-Heavy 10 footer was bent over and the spool was spinning so fast that there was almost smoke! Have you ever seen an Olympic athlete sprint in waders? I picked up my bait rod and negotiated with the fish. She pulled and pulled. Once she got in less than 5 feet of water, she traversed 30+ feet to my left. I finally landed her: a 37 inches Striped bass that pulled the scale down to 18 lbs. Beautiful fish! Classic circular hook penetration: right in the corner of the mouth. Beautiful! I examined my rig…there was a hook missing. What ‘da! I must have hand two biggies on at the same time. So I thought. Not! I examined my specimen more closely. Aha! The missing hook was in her tail! So, at one point, I had her fish hooked on both ends. No wonder she was so irate.

Remember my plug? My plug drifted into my friends line. He uses mono. I use braid. Guess who won? In short, I got spooled. Go figure, the reel that got spooled did not even catch the fish.

During the next six hours, I pulled in schoolie after schoolie (13 – 19”). And I started thinking: Are we as Surfcasters trying to to accomplish too much in too little time? I was trying to bait fish and plug at the same time. I know keep it simple, travel light, and only fish one method at a time: bait, eels, plugs, or flies.

Journal Entry
Date: 07/09/2005
Location: “x”
Rod: 10 ft EC Medium Heavy
Reel: Penn 5600 Live Liner
Line: FireLine 20 lb smoke
Rig: Custom Hi-Low made from Ande 50 lb clear mono
Hook: SSW In-Line Circular 8/0 hook
Bait: Clam
Species: Striped bass
Length: 37 inches
Weight: 18 lbs