{"id":2496,"date":"2013-12-15T09:01:41","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T16:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2014-09-08T08:10:58","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T15:10:58","slug":"the-timely-casting-of-california-chris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=2496","title":{"rendered":"The Timely Casting of California Chris"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 15 is the closing day of the 2013 Striped Bass fishing season.\u00a0 But before I get to a season wrap up and move on to the annual holiday \u201cFishmas Card\u201d, I have one more fall tale to tell.\u00a0 This one of my remarkable nephew and his uncanny sense of timing who proved that s<\/i><\/b>ometimes once is just enough.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"Napeague2\"<\/a>

Surfcasters stretched for a mile along \u00a0Napeague beach in pursuit of stripers.<\/p><\/div>\n

First light on a chilly late October morning revealed a picket fence of surf fishermen, spaced 20 yards apart and stretched for a mile east and west of the sandy entrance through the dunes to Napeague State Park, west of Montauk. This army of anglers had swarmed to this normally deserted idyllic beach in pursuit of striped bass which had been feasting on sand eels since Columbus Day.<\/p>\n

\"Bucktailin'<\/a>

Bucktailin’ Billy: Sunrise striper.<\/p><\/div>\n

By the time the sun poked through the low clouds on the eastern horizon, Bucktailing Blliy S. had a fat 31-inch keeper bass in the cooler. Big Brother Frank had caught and released a schoolie just shy of the 28-inch minimum.<\/p>\n

My nephew, California Chris, sat in the truck…and waited.<\/p>\n

Allow me to reintroduce you to Chris.\u00a0 He last gave us all a fishing lesson on East Hampton’s Main Beach<\/a>, nailing one schoolie bass after another on a sunny day in fall 2010.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t always make the surfcasting season here on the East End, but when he does, he has a knack of making it count.<\/p>\n

Back to the present: A cloud of gulls worked the waters coursing over the very deep bar, far beyond even the most yeoman cast. Here and there along the chorus line of casters, a sweet spot existed, where the fish ventured close enough to where mere mortals could reach them. But mostly it was throw as hard as you can, as far as you can, as often as you can–and hope for the best. A slow but steady pick of bass and blues brought up a quality crop of teen-size fish, with an occasional 20-pound trophy.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Chris continued to sit in the truck…and wait.<\/p>\n

\"SlamminSamBassMan2\"<\/a>

Sam’s 26-plus pounder. Royalty among surfcasters.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, among the copious lies and lore of fishing, there is one adage that is certain:\u00a0 You can\u2019t catch fish from the truck. Indeed, you must<\/strong><\/em> put the line in the water.\u00a0 So I asked Chris:\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s up with you?\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate this kind of fishing”, he replied as I watched four or five rods bend with fish on their lines. “What kind if fishing would you call this that you hate ?” I answered. “Sharpshooting”, said\u00a0 Chris. Hmmm. My definition of sharpshooting is casting blind into a seemingly dead sea with fragile hope that something will swim along to swallow my lure by dumb luck. This morning, conditions were anything but dead.<\/p>\n

Still, Chris remained in the truck…..and waited.<\/p>\n

More poles bent. By 8 am, Slammin\u2019 Sam Doughty, one of the resident royalty of local sandy-beach striper hunters, joined the fray. Sam took 3rd place in this year’s local surfcasting tournament with a 26-plus bass he caught a week earlier. And for a brief moment on this morning,\u00a0as if drawn to Sam himself,\u00a0a pod of fish darted inside the bar producing swirls, splashes and a dozen fish on the hook.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisKeeper\"<\/a>

California Chris nailed this 33-inch striper, his first ever keeper, on a single cast.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now<\/strong><\/em> Chris stepped out of the truck.\u00a0 He walked some 10 paces to the water\u2019s edge.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t bothered to don waders, but took a stance on dry sand. On his first cast, Chris\u2019 line went tight and he leaned back on his heels. In minutes, he dragged ashore a fat, 33-inch bass, his first ever keeper.<\/p>\n

Shooting me a wry grin, Chris lifted his catch and retreated to the truck.\u00a0 Say what you will, but on a fish per minute, or fish per cast basis, Chris had the best season of us all.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t wait to see him here again next season. In the truck, of course.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 15 is the closing day of the 2013 Striped Bass fishing season.\u00a0 But before I get to a season wrap up and move on to the annual holiday \u201cFishmas Card\u201d, I have one more fall tale to tell.\u00a0 This one of my remarkable nephew and his uncanny sense of timing who proved that sometimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2749,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions\/2749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}