The Enderlin family produces another thriller… Three friends flew down to Patagonia in February of 2008 to fish the famous trout streams, spending two weeks camping outside of Junin de los Andes, fishing the Rios Chimehuin, Malleo, and Alumine. The trout were wild, big, and hungry for huge dry fly patterns! The area was beautiful, the people were friendly, and lots of red meat and red wine was enjoyed around every fire ring. Season starts when snow hits the North East, so book your flights to San Martin de los Andes after watching!

Patagonia Trout Fishing Trip, February 2008 from Peter Enderlin on Vimeo.

Being a known plug nut, I decided to take them up on the offer one afternoon early this summer when I was in Rhode Island on business. I’m appreciative that Dan and his son Matt (who handles sales) took the time to show me around.

Logically we started the tour around a pile of raw wood stock, which for most of the Gibbs plugs is sugar pine. There are a couple of exceptions (notably the darter), which are made of harder and tighter grained birch. Birch is easier to turn and holds screw eyes better I am told. All Gibbs plugs are made from one of the two woods.

These wood blanks are first ripped from larger pieces and then loaded into a very impressive automated lathe. The lathe, in just a couple of seconds spits out what more or less looks like an unpainted surf plug. The tooling used with the lathe controls the shaping of the plug. This machine, as well as some of their other customized equipment, allows for high volume production (60,000 + plugs per year) with a great level of consistency. The blanks are hand inspected for quality before and after milling. I’m told any blanks that make it into the lathe with significant knots tend to explode pretty spectacularly so its rather important that the blanks are visibly knot free right out of the gate.

Next the plugs are drilled. A customized drilling machine is used to drill through for the through wire and custom jigs are used to locate the other holes needed such as for the belly hook(s), for weights, etc. After drilling, the plugs are sanded with two different grits to get a smooth surface. The insert weights are made to specification for each plug.

The plugs then travel next door to be finished. The first step in finishing is to seal the plugs, which is done using a proprietary process. Weights are glued into place. Next they receive another sanding and then are painted in either one of the trademark Gibbs patterns or one of a few newer patterns including a cool silver/black/orange, blue mackerel and a nice new pogy pattern. I’m told our man Steve Cook had a hand in the latter (and also that his dad cooked up the design of the Stan Gibbs popper way back when!). Final assembly includes items such as installation of the metal lip (if there is to be one), installation of grommets, hooks, through wiring (for those plugs that are through wired) and quality inspection. In all there are 50 to 55 steps depending on the plug from the blank until the plug is stapled inside a Gibbs plug bag.

I was very impressed with how professional the operation is. I had developed a mental image of wood plug making as basically a garage industry but the Gibbs operation is serious industry. Despite being “tucked” away within a plastics plant it occupies a significant amount of floor space in two factory buildings. To give you a sense of their manufacturing volume, they are stocking between twenty and thirty thousand plugs in their warehouse at a given time! They claim they are able to ship 90% of orders within a day thanks to this large inventory.

Dan and Matt tell me that they have continually improved the manufacturing operation over time since taking ownership both to facilitate their high production volume but also to increase the quality of the product. Improvements over the past several years include thicker and stronger metal lips, improved sealing, new paint colors, wiring closed eye hooks into the plug when possible rather than using open eye hooks, through wiring on more plugs (like the 3oz darter) and more. The commitment to quality is obvious when you tour the facility and see how the plugs are made.

Some plugs are intentionally not through wired, though, in those cases the reason is to stay true to the original Stan Gibbs designs. Through wiring plugs like the small and medium sized darters would require a significant re-design of a plug that has been a fish catcher for longer than I’ve walked the earth. The angles of the plug do not lend themselves to a through wire (I’m told). I can’t say I argue with that logic.

Like many of you I sometimes anxiously wait around the Edge website for a tiny delivery of the hottest low volume custom plugs, but one of the best things about a large operation like Gibbs is that you don’t have to. They are selling into nearly 400 tackle shops from the Carolinas to Maine. The best part about this is if you’re on Martha’s Vineyard or in Montauk and you smack your darter on a rock and take a chip out of the lip there are several shops nearby that are very likely stocking its replacement. I like rare custom plugs as much as the next guy but I know the pain of having your only specimen snap off thanks to a wind knot or having it clipped off by a blue when the bite is on and it can be rough. The pain is even more acute because you know you likely aren’t going to be getting another without scouring the earth and paying way too much or trading some of your other choice items. I do have bins of very expensive custom wood but do a good chunk of my fishing with a handful of bread and butter plugs including several of the Gibbs models like the Polaris popper, the stubby needlefish and their darters.

I was also pleased to learn that the company, founded way back in 1946, has a clutch of new lures just out of the oven. A few years ago they brought out a “Pro Series” that included improvements such as VMC hooks, split rings and more intricate paint patterns but that is mostly stuff I’d characterize as incremental improvement. This year, however, they have some truly “new” stuff including a line of tuna lures that are very impressive and a new round nose Danny plug for those of us that would rather chase linesiders than Charlie Tuna.

In the “Tuna Candy” line there is a 3oz plug that looks to me like a “spook” type lure but lacking a belly hook. Its actually a stubbed off pencil popper flipped around backward. Eyes have been added, its loaded and built for long casts and a fast, frantic retrieve. I REALLY like the new blue mackerel pattern, I think its a better pattern than their traditional green mackerel and would like to see it regularly on store shelves on some of the non tune plugs. Maybe the Gibbs guys will whip up a blue mackerel batch for the guys at the Edge. Put me down for a few. I also suggested they produce a squid patterned darter (and maybe a popper), if you’re interested in seeing them I’d suggest you drop the Gibbs guys a line as they do respond to the feedback they get from the fishing community.

The second in the Tuna Candy line is a 2oz stubby needle. This plug also has eyes unlike the traditional Gibbs stubby needle (although the pro series does) however it sinks unlike the existing Gibbs needles. While this is a new development, I think its a desirable one.

Both share heavy (600 pound test) through wire and come rigged with 300 pound test triple split rings and very expensive 7/0 Owner big game hooks. They are seriously heavy duty plugs!

Although the stubby tuna needle was not intended as a surf plug, I was licking my chops as soon as I got my hands on one. A quick pit stop at the Saltwater Edge on the way to the rocks in Newport and I had re-rigged it with a little smaller split ring and a 5/0 VMC siwash tied with green hackle. As luck would have it the weather that afternoon was gusty and the water choppy and loaded with weed. The loaded needle was just what I needed to punch through the wind, to get down under the chop and mostly slip the weeds. The fish were kind enough to cooperate with my little experiment and I think its safe to say this plug is more than suitable for surf duty. This bluefish (seen below), for example, didn’t care that the plug was designed with tuna in mind. I expect this could be a go-to plug in the early stages of a Nor’Easter, kind of along the lines of the Hab’s Night N’ Gale of years gone by. I know this isn’t precisely the sales pitch the Gibbs guys would give you for the plug, but its putting bass and blues on the beach for me. I’m sure it will put Charlie in the boat as well.

The new round nose Danny plug is big wood at 3.5oz and comes rigged with VMC hooks on Wolverine split rings and has an extra heavy metal lip. I expect it will be handy when bass are on large bait like pogies, shad, scup or snapper blues. I’m told this plug is new in some respects but also borrows from some of the older Stan Gibbs plugs in its design and that a number of surf sharpies weighed in on the design.

Speaking of the old standbys, I was not aware that they actually hold patents on many of the plugs they make, including ones that many other plug makers knock off. Its true! they have over time generally chosen not to defend those rights but they own them all the same. The Gibbs company has a very rich history and they’ve inherited a pile of relics. This includes the biggest pencil poppers I’ve ever seen (north of 5oz), an archive of photos of tremendous catches on the Gibbs plugs, articles, prototypes and more.

The Gibbs plugs are entirely assembled in the US, of US made components, with the exception of the hooks. I’m told they’ve at least given some consideration to switching totally to VMC hooks but that there are fans of the Mustads out there (I know Don Musso is from having spoken with him and he’s pretty astute). That and the availability of open eye hooks and longer shanks are advantages that the Mustads offer. I personally cut them all off and replace them with VMC’s, I just don’t trust the Mustads and find them to be brittle. While the VMC’s will bend a little at times, the Mustads have broken on me in the past and it has cost me fish. I don’t really mind changing the hooks, though, I probably wind up doing it with half of the plugs I buy.

The Gibbs company is keeping a piece of saltwater fishing and surfcasting history alive and you can tell that its a labor of love for them. It would obviously be easier to outsource the manufacturing overseas or produce the plugs out of plastic, but it just wouldn’t be the same and they understand that and intend to keep things just as they are. They understand because they fish their product and enjoy fishing it as much as we all do. I’m glad for that, as otherwise the bluefish would eventually destroy my stash!

We planned to meet 2:30am in Bourne so we could launch for first light down cape. We arrived at the ramp just before 4am. The tide was getting close to slack low and this would prove to be troublesome. I had to back my SUV far into the water just to get it off the trailer. Then I realized that my GPS didn’t have the Harbor bathymetry or channel mapped out. Most of the Harbor is extremely shallow at low tide, 2-3ft or less in many areas, and this made things difficult. The channel was poorly marked and zigzagged throughout the length of the harbor. We took it slow knowing full well we had several miles to go in poor light before reaching the inlet. I followed my GPS towards the inlet trying to stay within the channel. As we came around the bend we looked hard for the inlet, however, we could not see it! We realized the water wasn’t moving here as well. At that point it dawned on us that the inlet could have moved some time ago and my GPS had an old map! After making a phone call confirmed that and found out that we needed to backtrack and follow tight to the markers.

We finally started making headway downstream the current picked up. Then inlet appeared along with the breakers at the mouth of the inlet. This was going to be an interesting. As we headed through the inlet we looked down and noticed the stripers, some pushing 30lbs, stacked up in the skinny water! It was very tempting to stop but today was not about bass. Unfortunately we got caught in the wrong part of the inlet and the current dragged us in the shallows. I tried turning the boat around but the lower unit was stuck in the sand! Breakers started rocking the boat violently and everyone was shouting. I knew I had one chance and put it in full reverse and my new prop tearing through the sand giving us momentum. We pulled back into the channel and regrouped, barely. Just then we noticed a small whaler come flying through from the inlet and crash through the breakers, and we all lowered our heads a little bit. We decided we had to do the same thing and once a set of waves to passed we charged wide open towards the surf! We pounded through the first wave and rode over the second wave to free us from an hour and a half of misery.

We headed over some gorgeous water as the wind was SW at 5-10knots. We soon began seeing signs of life as the birds and whales showed themselves. Then we saw the scattered splashes of tuna! Initially the fish were scattered and were not staying on top long enough to get a cast out. Finally, we got on a group of fish that were raging on the surface. I had never seen tuna crashing the surface and it is a sight to behold. The fish were immense, anywhere from 4-6ft long and over 200 lbs, and many were porpoising completely out of the water. I felt like I was at Sea World! Almost right way Arden’s popper gets nailed in the middle of melee and the drag starts screaming. He goes to work on this fish without a harness and fishing 20lbs of drag on his van staal. His rod was doubled over but he worked the fish to the boat in about 7 minutes or so.

We thought the fish was small because Arden had tamed the fish so quickly, but it turned out that it was tail wrapped! I leadered the fish and tried to bring it boatside but we missed the gaff shot. Just then the fish became untangled and takes off. Angler #2, Kevin, takes over and the fish gets a second wind after being freed from entanglement.

Eventually Kevin started gaining line on the fish slowly as it began the infamous death circles. We brought the fish boat side and secured him about 20 minutes after missing the first time. It was a large fish and reminded more of a dolphin or marine mammal than a fish. The tape read 69″ and unfortunately NOAA NMFS had changed the regulations earlier in the week so that fish from 59-72″ were off limits. Sadly, we had to revive the fish boatside and released it. The regulations had gone into effect on Saturday, and if we had gone out on Friday we would have had fresh sashimi! The popper that Arden had used, which was in the package that morning, was devastated after that on fish! A large section of wood splintered off and the hooks were bent. The day was ours though as we had accomplished what we had set out to do and I was still in disbelief… still in disbelief that we had made it out of the inlet alive!

We continued to run n gun for the surface feeding tuna and the sings of life were all over in the form of birds and whales, and tuna on their heels. After seeing several fish break in the area, we cut the motors and staked the area out. Shortly thereafter another pod of fish began to feed close by and we rushed over to meet them. We tossed our poppers into the mayhem and on my second cast a tuna exploded on my popper coming halfway out of the water! The rod loaded under weight of the fish and I set the hook only too feel the rod go limp. The fish was off. Oh well, so she goes.

We searched around a bit more and found another pod, but the fish were becoming increasingly finicky. Arden had a boil behind his popper and I had a massive boil about 20ft from the boat on my plug but I never saw the fish, just a huge hole in the water. We chased tuna the rest of the day but the tuna became more evasive and finicky due to the high sun, calm conditions, and pressure from boats. And there were tons of bass feeding on the surface closer to shore all day but we ignored them to chase tuna! I had never left breaking bass before. On the way in we did stop to take a few bass on topwater, which was an great end to a an epic day!

I was fortunate to acquire a piece of angling history recently. A wonderful curiosity from the sport of fishing past which precedes slightly the publishing of the best known old edition of “The Compleat Angler” by J Major (2nd ed., 1824).

We have fished and hunted for sport and for sustenance for quite some time and during that time, in various cultures, we’ve developed odd and interesting was to celebrate the hunt and the enjoyment of the spoils. In Merry Old England, at the turn of the 18th century from 1780 to 1820 it was popular to carry small vessels fashioned from pottery and silver that resembled your quarry and your trusty hounds. These were referred to as “stirrup cups”, used to drink a toast at the start, at the end…and likely during a fox, hare or deer hunt or angling adventure.

These cups remain much sought after by collectors because of their whimsical nature as well as their relative rarity, which is probably the result of the function in which they were employed.

I’ve been sent a few examples of the hunting variety for restoration but had not seen nor handled a fishing related stirrup cup during my last 20 years in the antique business. The hounds and fox in the above picture are pearlware pottery examples made in the Staffordshire district of England ca. 1800. The trout is the example that I recently purchased which was made at Derby, an English porcelain manufacturer of note and also ca. 1800.

The detail of these little cups is really amazing. Sizes vary and this particular example is 5 ¼” overall length. Below is another beautifully painted example that was offered by British dealer Delmosne and Son, Ltd., Wiltshire, London and about which specialist Tim Osborne commented that he’s only seen two examples in twenty years.

Just as military battles and historical events, social and political commentary and the style of the times have been recorded on pottery and porcelain throughout the ages, so too has our enjoyment of the water and what lies below the surface.

I don’t live all that close to the ocean (I’m about 45 minutes west) but if I were pressed to name my “home” waters I would say Plum Island, MA without hesitation. Its where I learned to saltwater fish and likely still where I fish more than anywhere else in a given season. In my opinion, Plum Island is to Massachusetts what Montauk is to New York. Its well known, has great public access and the fishing is very good. These factors mean that it also can be very, very crowded. I’ve been hooked a number of times, have had lines cast over my head, have had my spot mugged so many times I can’t remember, have had lines cast across mine as I fought a fish and had many, many other fishing insults perpetrated against me. I’m not the only one. Just yesterday I was fishing in the river and stopped casting to allow a fellow room to fight a fish, he was so pleased and surprised that he offered me a plug when he landed the fish. I took a pass since I don’t think I should be rewarded for doing what I’m supposed to do anyway, but that gives you an idea of the usual state of affairs around prime time.

All that said, if you fish at the right times it can also be as peaceful a place as you will find. I’ve walked the beach front at Plum Island numerous times at sun rise in total solitude, not another person in sight for miles in either direction while casting to bluefish. Its a great feeling fighting an angry blue all alone on a wide open beach with the dunes rising behind you, the roar of the breaking waves and the sea spray in the air. Fish the wee hours of the morning if you like peace and quiet. The same spots that you couldn’t elbow your way into at 9pm are generally deserted at 4am.

Plum Island is an 11 mile long barrier beach located seaward of Newburyport, Newbury, Ipswich and Rowley MA. It was formed by the outflow of silt from the Merrimack River pushed southward by the north to south Labrador Current. The Merrimack is the drainage of much of the White Mountains, the northern border of Plum Island and it is a dangerous river that is to be respected. Every year it seems several people drown in the Merrimack and most of them are down here at the mouth of the river. One poor young woman drowned just this past week. There is a large, shifting sandbar in the river mouth (it can move from day to day) that has very strong currents and uneven footing. Heavy boat traffic will throw large wakes across the bar at times. The first time you wade onto the bar I’d advise you do it with someone knowledgeable and to exit at slack tide or very early in the rise. The tides in this part of New England are much larger than in southern New England and move fast. The bar attracts attention, though, because its a great place to fish. Most of Plum Island is soft structure so your beach water reading skills can be put to the test. Look at the structure of the bar and you’ll get an idea of where the fish will hold to feed and what kind of lures you should be using to get into those holes and crevices. Work the bottom and you’ll find keeper sized fish among the schoolies and if you’re lucky like this regular you’ll find an even bigger fish.

The mouth of the river is also home to two large jetties, north and south (see picture above). The north jetty (left in the photo) rises from Salisbury Beach and is completely off limits to fishermen. It is regularly swept over by even moderate seas. The south jetty rises on the Plum Island side and is open to fishermen but is one of the more treacherous places I’ve ever fished. I only occasionally venture on to it and with some trepidation. Its only accessible during the bottom stages of the tide (the jetty is seriously degraded and has many low spots that are underwater when the tide is up or in heavier seas with even the tide down). The rocks are covered with the slickest sorts of snot and are jagged, with many holes large enough to swallow a fisherman whole and deep enough that you might not ever wake up if you fell in. Again, though, the fishing is good out here. Use extreme caution if you venture out, don’t even consider it without Korkers and tag along with someone knowledgeable the first time. I have seen many, many people have to be rescued from the jetty over the years and the Coast Guard and Marine Patrol are not going to be very happy with you if they have to pluck yet another fisherman from those rocks.

The northern perhaps quarter of the island is densely developed with cottages, park either at the northern end of the island in the large town lot (at the river mouth) or in the old church lot near Surfland and you can access the beach in front of these homes on foot. The remainder of the island is undeveloped public land that is accessible for a nominal fee (unless you drive through all the way to Sandy Point, which is free) and has a string of parking lots that enable access to the length of the beach (expect some stretches of beach to be closed for piping plover nesting in spring and early summer, however). In the fall months, generally from September 1st to October 31st there is beach buggy access in the reservation for a modest (by beach buggy standards) $50 fee. To the best of my knowledge this is the only oversand vehicle access remaining in New England north of Boston.

The island’s southern terminus is the Ipswich River and the Sandy Point State Reservation, a large sand flat with many tidal pools and a great spot to spin or fly fish and the sand bars can be waded with sight casting to fish possible at times. Although the current isn’t as strong on this end as it is in the Merrimack and the water isn’t as deep, the sand is soft and the bar structure can mean crossing deeper water to get back to shore so wade very carefully. Crane Beach looks back at you from the opposite side of the Ipswich with Cape Ann beyond. There’s only one road in and out of the reservation, a road that is paved for its northern one third or so and then dirt for the remaining two thirds. The one thing you absolutely do not want to do is speed on this road. Believe me, I’ve learned the hard way, the speed limit is rabidly enforced. Save your money and spend it at the Saltwater Edge instead. The only real hard structure other than the jetties is located down here, near the southern end of the island, Emerson Rocks. An excellent place to wet a line when the tide is up a bit.

The conventional wisdom is to fish the rivers on the dropping tide and the beach on the rise. This usually holds true but remember that the rules of fishing are more like very loosely enforced guidelines so don’t be afraid to experiment, particularly at night. During the spring months relatively more attention is focused on the Merrimack while in the fall months most of the attention is on the beach. Any part of the long beach front will produce at times, read the water and find the bait and you will find the fish. The river will produce all the way up to the first dam which is in Lawrence. I’ve never been one for urban fishing but if that’s your cup of tea there are trophy bass taken every year far upriver as they chase spawning herring and shad. Sand eels are always a common bait so your sand eel imitators are a good bet but keep an eye on the bait as all kinds will move through at different times and you’ll have to change your strategies as the season progresses. Every year these waters give up 50lb striped bass and there are even a couple of pictures of 60lb fish hanging on the rafters at Surfland from years gone by. While school sized bass are very common and easy to catch here remember that the ocean is full of surprises and consider leaving the schoolie rod at home even if you’ve been on a run of schoolies of late.

As I was leaving West Falmouth Harbor I could hear my fathers words in the back of my head “Mitchell, what the heck are you doing out in this weather!” and I smirked a bit. It was 5 am and lightning was making itself known on the far shore of Buzzards Bay, but it was close enough to make me cautious. My two friends, John and Justin, were concerned as well, but we decided to push ahead and find the cure for our cabin fever. I had heard that the surface action was good the previous Saturday in upper buzzards bay, however, when I had made my way to that area the next day, Sunday, I was too late. This storm had been forecast and I knew it would be a double edged sword. I have had some of my best fishing just before storms push through, however, there is a danger associated with the lightning, rain and winds. But there were schools of migrating bass in the area and I thought that I had good chance of finding actively feeding fish. This proposition had me very excited the night before as even my girlfriend could attest to and roll her eyes.

As we headed north there was a break in the clouds heading back to West Falmouth, which was our escape route. The lightning was focused on the South Shore. We arrived on location to find a few birds and quickly put a schoolie and bluefish on deck, however, in that time the storm had flanked us. The two boats in the area had already high tailed it out of there. We could see the rain coming across the surface of water towards us with lightning on its heels. We decided to head towards the canal to seek safety. Instead of rain, the heavens decided to unleash a round of hail on us! My father words echoing in the back of my head as hail stung my face. Buzzards Bay in May!

As we headed north a little ways the hail abated some and I noticed several gulls on the surface. I immediately stopped the boat to investigate. Then we saw several splashes underneath them. We started casting topwater and I hooked up immediately. The first fish was a keeper. Little did we know what would happen next. The surface began to erupt all around us in an all out blitz of stripers! We started bailing stripers in the 26″ to 34″ class all on topwaters. It did not seem to matter what we threw as they were hungry. There were many double and triple headers. At times the surface looked liked a washing machine. The best part of all was there were no other boats around!

I fished hard knowing that this activity could die at any minute but the activity ended up lasting for several hours. Later in the day the bruiser bluefish showed up and we landed several to 30″. The action was so good we started trying different lures to see what we could catch them on. John remarked as he tied on a plug that had previously shown him no love “if this lure can’t catch here, its going in the trash”. Today that lure still remains in his tackle box. We had the fish all to ourselves for almost 2 hours before we saw another boat, and by the end of the day there were only a handful of boats on the water and plenty of fish for all.

It was a tremendous day on the water, like nothing that I had ever seen before. Some days you play your cards high and reap the rewards. After telling my father about the day on the water including the fishing and the storm, his response was “So what were you doing out in that weather?”.

Baitfish were moving through and we could see the bigger ones right behind them chasing them around. About 15 minutes after we had the bait in the water, my balloon, which was 10 feet off the port stern, was crushed! I started to get a bit freaked out when I noticed the balloon still attached to the line and close to being hauled in through my top eye. The inevitable happened and my line jammed at the top. Holy $&%t! I knew it! Here it comes, I going to be broken off by a dadgum balloon, under the boat it went, around the motor, back out and under the boat. Finally after missing a few heart beats, Russ managed to get a solid hold on the first Snook I have ever caught and the largest one that I have ever personally seen. With high fives flying on our boat, the boat next to us got in on the action acting as our personal cheering section “thanks guys, once in a while everyone needs a cheering section.” It was awesome to catch such a huge fish like that and I will remember it forever, but the afternoon was not over, nor was the truly amazing stuff that will affect my fishing addiction down here for a long time.

Just after we landed the Snook, we realized that all of the remaining baits were dead and what we had out were the last of the good ones. Russ has two spinning reels; the first is the Penn 9500ss paired with an 8 ft, heavy action Ugly Stick and the other one is the Penn Sargus 6000 with a Penn Slammer 20-30 class rod. He had the Sargus out about 30 yards when it went from quiet, peaceful, poetry reading-like calm to a hectic rod-folding screaming run. He grabbed the rod, put on some pressure and just yards beyond where his balloon was sitting jumped the largest Tarpon ever. This is a big statement, but being the Tarpon catcher that I am with just over zero landed (that’s 1 for those that are processing it) I am comfortable stating the previous. The Tarpon was in our estimation at least 6 to 7 feet long. All my amazing Tarpon catching skills aside, it was no doubt pushing 200 pounds and every bit as tall as or taller than me. This thing had us awe struck and screaming like kids. A quick jump here a thrash there and two more massive completely air born leaps and the monster Tarpon parted the 80 lbs fluorocarbon leader an inch below the top knot with out missing a stride (any help here would be great if anyone would know why a knot would break there).

With the only remaining live baits already being out on balloons, I reeled one of the rods in and pitched it on the other side of the boat, down wind. As long as it took me to look over at Russ and look back at the balloon, three huge Tarpon were rolling over my bait fighting for it. Poor Herring never had a chance. My reel is not a 9500ss or a Sargus 600, but what it is, is a field tested, fish catching and completely outclassed Penn 5500 with about 250 yards of 40 braid on it. The balloon instantly disappeared and I knew I had a problem. Fighting a 20-pound snook is one thing, but a 100+ pound tarpon anchored in 10 feet of water is another.

A Tarpon Gradie landed in the past. The ones they saw on this day were MUCH larger

Granted, given a perfect scenario this Tarpon and, I am sure, even larger could be landed on my reel, I mean after all people do it with fly rods all the time, so I am sure that a 5500 under good circumstances could do it. However, as many of my fishing tales down here in good old GTMO go, this was not what you’d call “good circumstances”. The Tarpon, although not as big as Russ’, was still at least 100 pounds and 5 to 6 feet long. When it came out of the water it was within 2 ft of the boat off the port transom, it snagged one of the rods that had a Sabiki rig attached, jumped completely over the two other lines sitting in the transom rod holders and tangled everything up in one swift leap. Craziness people, craziness found it’s way on to our boat yesterday and putting it into words is tough to do, but stay with me.

We tried to figure out what we were going to do, but honestly it didn’t really matter, because by the time Russ got the rod cleared from the mess, I had maybe 60 yards of line left, then 50 then 40… you get the picture. Being anchored number one, with no hopes of clearing the lines number two and getting underway in time number three, I applied a bit of pressure and the Tarpon unceremoniously straightened both my J hook and the stinger treble. I clearly went to a gunfight with a short stick.

Yesterday afternoon was the best that I have seen down here. We have, in the past, caught more for grill and bigger on the scale (350 pound 10 foot Hammerhead), but the action yesterday was constant, unbelievably awesome and definitely the best yet. I hope that this weekend will be just as good. Until then, I have to make some leaders, change some plans, and, of course, tell this story over and over again… Tight lines.

Fishing was good but most of these trout were stocked and they did not fully cure my trout fever. My dad reminded me of his home waters, the Catskills. He told me about the hatches that occur on the Catskill’s rivers, how they become loitered with bugs and large fish that don’t hesitate to chew on a fly. So I prepped and packed my car for another road trip designed for a fisherman. There would be no five star dinners or extravagant lodges. Instead there was only a sleeping bag, handful of Twinkies and Gatorade. The following morning I departed for the six hour trip. While turning on the radio I realized it would be my only entertainment for the next few days other than fishing.

Picturing large trout sipping dry flies made me begin to step on the pedal harder and harder, giving myself a mental high five every time I shaved a minute off my estimated arrival time as displayed on my GPS. By 10 I was in the East Branch of the Delaware River and there were already some bugs coming off the water. The fish were smart and I only caught only a few. Towards the end of the day an inexperienced angler began casting over my line while yelling “any luck!” in frustration I told him “yes on this fly” while I threw over a size 2/0 clouser thinking it would not catch a trout.

That night I went to bed praying that the fishing would pick up. The fishing God’s fulfilled my wish the next day as I caught dozens of wild browns in the 12-15” class, slowly, my trout sickness was cured. I sighed in regret when I saw the man downstream throwing that 2/0 clouser. I watched him for a minute before realizing he had hooked up on the clouser. While laughing hysterically, I made a cast to a likely spot and hooked up to a significant fish. 15 minutes later I brought a 24” brown trout to hand. After releasing the beautiful fish I walked back to my truck knowing my sickness was, for now at least, cured, and that now I must begin my 2010 journey for Striped bass.

Editor’s Note – We’re kicking off Scott Wilson’s Blog entitled “The Saltwater Shower” with his first post. Look for more from Scott and other blogging community members in the community blogs found here.

First Blog Post – 5/2/10

Like Merch, we have moved to a new location this year.  While we are not very far from our old place, dramatically different fishing terrain exists and I’m trying to familiarize myself quickly as the weather warms.   It is a much slower pace up the river and bay compared to the swells and suds of the rocky coast.  I find myself puzzled frequently regarding my approach to this unfamiliar territory.  I continually reach into my bag for slow wiggling metal lips to match the pace of the gentle current.  Slashing and splashing topwater plugs seem oddly out of place to me.  I’m now constantly searching the wide expanses of empty water for signs of underwater structure, observing the track of the current and investigating bottom depth changes that might signal fish friendly accomodations.  The comfort and confidence that I sometimes felt when fishing my familiar spots is noticably absent when staring out at these new stretches of water.

I am counting on a more productive spring as the bait concentrates in the upper reaches and with quick access to both the Sakonnet River and the bay it should allow near daily fishing without much travel time.  When late June and July approach, I’m comforted by the fact that it’s only 12.5 miles to my old stomping ground (yes, I measured) and the BIG WATER that I adore.  Scouting has not been unproductive and my daughters are thoroughly enjoying the new playground.

My nephew was in town recently and was thrilled to try his hand at some surf casting.  He proudly announced to the passers-by as we walked back to the car that “the only thing we caught today was a seagull”.  At least it was a very feisty seagull..

Our oldest has become my most dedicated fishing partner (sorry George).  At 11 years old, she is in her third season of surfcasting.   She has become more confident on the rocks and her first pair of Korker’s are currently on order.   I’ve tried to build her confidence slowly, adding a skill each time out.  Early on, we brought just one rod to share, to keep the focus on safety and learning( for both of us).  This year she has become relatively hands-off and independent and I enjoy watching her lob casts and retrieve her plugs.  Time spent teaching her only reinforces what I know and don’t know and the time that we spend is priceless.  I imagine she will get her chance at big bass this summer and I’m excited to see how she will handle the opportunity and the excitement.