Snuck out early before todays boat trip. Down on the beach before first light and started to work the end of the ebb tide. Didn't take long to see some life and after a short walk while casting a nice striped bass blew up on the fly.
It was a standard nice fish fight making sure I didn't allow slack with the barbless hook. Once I started to beach the fish on a wave exiting the trough....the rod snapped. It wasn't a lift-snap. I'm not sure what it was. I got this rod back from Orvis yesterday and applied ferrule wax and put it together right by the book.
I was sick....and wanted to throw up. In a pinch I saw a friend on the beach who had an extra rod in his car that I was able to use today as a backup backup rod. After my boat trip today I ran to UPS to get the rod on a plane, train, or truck back to Manchester.
Don't want to take away from the fish because it was a beauty, but, gotta keep it real.