So I got about 4 hours of sleep before the alarm went off at 5 am. I could hear the raining pelting the skylight and I thought about rolling over and going back to bed. But, I am now a striper fisherman, not striper hunter, and hunt I will do. When I got to Deal, it was just snotty. NE wind, heavy rain, yuk. The waves were crashing up high on the beach and jetty. As soon as I got down to the bowl I could see Rich hooked up to a keeper. Nicely, and knowing my plight for a keeper, he offers my the fish...mmmmm. I was tempted, but it wouldn't taste as good as my own. And with that he released it and went back to fishing. I worked my way onto whatever was left of the jetty, where I hooked up laast night, and gave it a shot. Again, I lost my cast. My set up, a 9ft 9wt, seemed way too short and light, especially in high winds-with weighted clousers. And, I didn't tell, but yesterday I was in line at Effinger's to buy an 9ft 10wt Orvis Helios- the lightest fly rod around, maybe just too light for me.
So I gave it a college try, only able to cast sideways and about 25 feet with my nice supple striper line. Of course, nothing. I gave up there after I wrapped the fly line around my head three times. Luckily the fly caught into my hat, and not my head. I grabbed a shot of Rich as he headed out. Then I went down to Allenhurst and fished the bowl behind the L-jetty, where it was a bit calmer and had the wind at my back. Good lookin' water, good casts, but no hookups.
I'll be off to the Adirondacks tonight, so I'll give the ol' linesides a greak. But hopefully won't go easy on the landlocked salmon up in Plattsburgh!
