Maybe its turning on?

The last couple of nights have been brutal as far as conditions on the bay. The wind last night was blowing so hard that I literally could not keep my hat on.

Tonight I arrived at the lighthouse at 7.30 and found calm seas an a light breeze. Despite the days oppressive heat, it was actually quite pleasant. Worked the icebreaker for about a 1/2 hour with only one 18 inch bluefish. He made several spectacular jumps before breaking my leader at the boat. Headed to the shoal just as the sun was heading down. The white twisty produced a striper of some size or another on every cast. There was a strong incoming tide, so the best technique was to cast up current and let the plastic kind of float along with the current. My 6th fish was a very nice 22 that hit just as the bait was drifting behind the boat. Since the fish had to be pulled against the current and I was using my med-lite rod, it was quite a fight. After another 2o or so shorties, I boated another keeper size 20, pulled anchor and headed in. Nice night.

A sign from God.

When I downloaded my pic's on Sunday, a number a very strange images appeared. The pictures before and after were normal lighting, yet the four images staring back at me were pitch black, except for a pair of triangular eyes with the number 6 as pupils. I was more than a bit unnerved trying to figure out how the hell they got there. My wife and 2 of my 3 daughters were equally perplexed. Oh well....I figured it would eventually come to me.

When I reached the confluence of the river and bay tonight, I noticed a DNR cop just sitting in his boat looking around. It seemed like a strange spot to be sitting, especially with almost a complete lack of boat traffic. As I continued on, it dawned on me that he was turning back smaller boats due to some incredibly big seas on the bay. I guess he figured my trusty Parker could handle it. My buddy John greeted me at the lighthouse with a hearty "can you believe this". I have seen the bay rough before, but nothing like what was slamming the rocks. The wind was blowing from the southeast and creating "ocean like" swells that I estimated to be about 5 or 6 feet. We worked the icebreaker for about a 1/2 hour with one other boat. I was completely drained and fish-less, so I headed to my spot around 8. By that time the bay had laid down to the point where it was fishable, so I anchored up. I spent most of the time working a plug, but did manage 10-15 small stripers on a white twisty. As I was making my 5th "last cast", I got a call from my buddy Dab's who had been watching the action from the comfort of his living room on Thomas Point. Since he had called just as I casted, I left my line in the water as we talked. When we ended the call, I said it was time to head in. Just as I brought the line tight, my pole bent and the drag began to scream. Since the tide was ripping, I had quite a time getting the fish to the boat, but finally landed a nice 22. Nice way to end the night.

As I motored home, I passed marker number 6., and it all came back to me. When I had passed the marker Sunday night, there were fireworks coming from the north shore. I figured it would be cool to capture the the show with the marker in the foreground. When I checked the pictures on my viewfinder, it appeared to be all black, so I adjusted my shutter speed and waited for another shot. The final shot came out normal, sans the fireworks. So my conclusion is that the number six eyes where actually my flash lighting up the reflective numbers on the marker, while everything else just came out black. Ahh..now I can sleep tonight.

2011

I have been debating continuing the blog this year. Fishing has been downright horrible and the weather has not cooperated since early spring, There have been many nights where the action has been non stop, but all of the fish have been "unders". I have even been getting the 16 inch class to hit on top, but it has been very frustrating due to the lack of real fish. Despite the lack of fish, I have made it out to the shoal most nights and have been rewarded with some incredible sunsets.

My buddy John has been telling me that he has picked up several keepers at the lighthouse, so Thursday night I gave it a go. The tide was going out, so I positioned the boat to fish the inside edge of the ice breaker. I was using a white twisty on a 3/8 ounce jig head. It was not long before I was rewarded with my first (believe it or not) keeper of the year...a nice 20. I headed back out to the lighthouse this morning and found a veritable parking lot of anchored boats that reminded me why I rarely fish there. I was able to jockey my way into the same position as Thursday and work both the inside and outside edge of the ice breaker. After several 17's, I had something sizable hit my twisty right up against the breaker as it jig was sinking, As I set the hook, it seemed like I might have been snagged. After a few seconds though, the drag began to scream. It took all my skills to land the fish. The tide was ripping, so I was drifting towards a anchored boat and the wind was blowing me towards the rocks. I was able to back the boat out of harms way while the fish made several runs. Once the fish surfaced, I knew it would require a net..a whole new problem. After straining to get the net down from the rocket launcher while avoiding another collision, I finally boated a "fall like" 24 incher...NICE. After a round of applause from several anchored boats, I hightailed out of there for the quiet of my "spot". Who knows, there may be a blog this year after all.