On May 20th 2003, I drove
up to Cape Cod with my cousin Josh to visit a child hood friend who was
spending the summer on the cape. We were going to be there for two full
days and I had an urge to go fishing on the second day. I woke up early
that Thursday and jumped in the car and started to head down Rt. 6 for
the nearest bait shop. I stopped by a boat dealer and he directed me down
the road to the Black Duck a small fishing shop. I walked into the store
and told the man behind the counter that I wanted to rent a fishing rod
and try out the fishing from the nearest beach. He told me to give LeCounts
National Sea Shore a try at noon because of the tides. I went back to
my friends house had breakfast and waited for my cousin to get up. We
went back to the Black duck rented two rods, a piece of frozen mackerel
and headed to the beach.
It was a beautifully sunny day and as we arrived and gather the rods the
hooks and the piece of mackerel. I knew we were not prepared for what
was going to happened that day. I asked a couple of fisherman who were
heading home if they had any luck and they said earlier they had a bite
but nothing since.
Josh and I headed directly to a spot close to where we parked. I cut up
the mackerel tied on the hooks attached a 3 weight sink and we both casted
out our rods. We set the rods in a rod holder and no more than 10 minutes
later I got a strike. I lifted up my rod, set the hook and the fish took
off, taking out hundreds of feet of line. I battled the fish for over
20 minutes and soon I landed the biggest fish of my life a 30 Ib striper.
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That was only the beginning. My cousin headed
out to get a cooler and ice for the fish and to call our friend and
tell her to come to the beach. While he was gone I was not paying attention
and my rod starting heading toward the ocean, being dragged on the sand.
I picked up the rod, reeled in the slack and set the hook- Whatever
was on my line immediately started heading down the beach. I was running
with my rod down the beach. The surfers and other fisherman were cheering
me on. What seemed like an eternity I was lighting a fish of a life
time.
The fish was not budging. It took well over 45
minutes to get the fish to an area were we could see him. Finally I
got the fish close enough and me and two surfers dove into the water
on top of the, 50 inch 42lb monster striper. There was a crowd gathering
around me.
I soon realized that in my first time surf fishing, I had out fished
cape coders that have been fishing these shores for 30-40 years. WOW!
It was a Penn reel and rod that I rented. Thank You Penn Reels for creating
such a great reel.
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