Mark had drove down separately and work obligations only allotted him a day and a half. We unpacked, ate, and scouted the tiny bay area next to the condo. Sure enough it produced MICROS. For those not familiar, because I don't catch them often, micros are essentially "minnows", we target them the same way you would target any other fish just with REALLY REALLY REALLY tiny hooks.
I knew that the hard realities of any family vacation would be that micro fishing would be fast, efficient, and would cause my wife to unleash the least amount of rage. Mark and I quickly got to work. Mark easily bested his lifer Mummichog. I in turn caught my lifer Striped Killifish and Atlantic Silverside. There was a little bayside drama about what my Striped Killi actually was, we referenced photos online and most had upward striped (being male), we found out that my fish was a female. A very rare female at that....I fished this spot at least 5 more times in the given week and no more striped killi's were located despite landing hundreds of mummichogs.
A few days later Madelyn stepped up to the plate and caught her lifer Mummichog.
Mummichog
Mummichogs
Striped Killifish (Female)
Madelyn's lifer Mummichog
Atlantic Silverside
Bucket O' Mummi's
There were various fishy looking locations I passed in my family related ventures and some given to me by good my good friend from Roughfish.com, PMK. However I could only fish during opportune times one of these times presented itself in the form of the Oceanic Fishing Pier, my mortal enemy. I knew the drill here. I got a few Black Sea Bass and left.
I was dedicated to the idea of catching an average sized lifer. Me and the sea don't get along, especially the Northern half of the ocean, fish are harder to come by and require some knowledge, knowledge I simply just don't have.
However...I woke up knowing what I wanted to target thanks to amazingly informative articles atwww.oysterbaytackle.com. (who may I add are far less helpful in the store). It was raining!!! CHECK. That means the shoobies wouldn't be at the beach. I use the term shoobies because it's an awesome throwback to the kids tv show rocket power and I detest the term googans.
However I knew this not to be true I walked over to the surf and began casting and more casting and more casting. It's at this time that I realized how much I hate ocean fishing. The scenery was breathtaking, the sands were empty, the Dolphins were cresting in their pods, the birds flew gliding in perfectly held formations. I just don't have my normal confidence ocean fishing it's still pretty foreign to me . Still you'll usually hear me quip that I hate the beach. I don't. I hate 90 degree touristy beach. Stick me on a nice cold shore and I'm golden, even enthralled.
The first batch of kiddos jumped into the water I looked to my left and then I looked at the lifeguard he looked at me and I knew to start walking. Alas, empty space. But wait more swimmers. I jammed myself perfectly in between the two and hoped that no more would come. My bait started to dwindle, however I was feeling fish at the end of my rod. The sea has a rhythm and it took me 10 casts to differentiate the sea from a bite but once you get a bite it's unmistakable. At this point I was really running out of bait. The bait stealers were having their way with me.The sun was peaking it's eyes out, threatening to ruin my cool calm dip in the surf.
Just when it was looking bleak I got a heavy weight on my rod. This was a lot heavier than before however it didn't have the typical fish bite movement I set the hook anyways and it still held that heavy weight. The reeling became more frantic, and eventually I realized that it was gonna continue to hold its weight and that it was a fish. I brought it to the shoreline and words can't express my happiness. A dude stopped by and asked me what I caught. I informed him and he kept walking. Wow that dude knew exactly how to handle that he must be a fisherman I pondered. He had two small kids so I knew what to expect. I tried to photo the fish, but taking any sort of picture with a fish by yourself is an unmitigated disaster. The dude must of saw and came back, he took an awesome picture the way I would have and even asked me if I needed to look and have him take a better one. He told his kids to back up so he could he could get the surf in the background for me. At this point I was more excited to find a good human being than I was catching the fish, wish I shook the dudes hand...but he probably didn't I had fish slime caking them. I claimed my prize and started walking today is going to be a good day.
The Family
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