Yes, that's seventy years ago today that Al got his first bass. I know you've seen that on this blog before. So, what more fitting than to go out and try and catch a bass on Al's anniversary, on a spinning rod, and on his favorite lure, the Creek Chub.
Al got his first at 7 am in Spring Lake on August 8th, 1952, 16 years before I was born. If we figure he stopped fishing 7 years ago, that means he fished, and caught, for 63 years. I thought about going back to Spring Lake but found Phillips Avenue to be more appealing as that is where we spent a lot of our time fishing. What was more fitting was having some of "The Phillips Avenue Gang", Leif, Richie and I, there on the beach this morning.
So just before 6am I stepped onto the beach with a SPINNING ROD in my hand, but don't worry I had a fly rod and stripping basket in tow as well. I had the Creek Chub tied on and soon I was letting it fly. I'm not much of a spin angler and it took awhile to figure out the action, and how to cast it without getting the front treble hooked into the clip on each cast. Richie was working the tip and Leif on the beach. Interestingly I looked up the weather for that day back in 1952. It was a tad cooler
around 70 degrees in the morning and getting cooler throughout that Friday. Well we've been in a oven here in the northeast, well the United States, as of late, with feel like temps over 100 the last few days. The big thing this morning and most of the summer was the upwelling which has a freezer like effect on the water. Now the internet tells me the temps are 75, to me, it felt more like 60.
After a bit I switched over to the fly rod and using a two fly set-up managed to pull a short fluke out from along the rocks. It wasn't what I was looking for, the goal was a bass on the Creek Chub. The
water on the north side was off color and just ugly and Leif took the first walk south and connected with a nice little bass, probably not too far off in size than Al's. From then on I was determined to
get one so I made sure I covered a lot of water both near and far. Amazingly the below pictures are us stepping amongst the rocks on the tips of the groin, which are usually all exposed and tough to get out to with the way the rocks sit in the sand. We moved south and I was sure The Hump would give up a fish. Al loved it there, and as he got older he started working spots closer to his car which was always parked at the Stanley Conover Beach Pavilion on Phillips Avenue. Once there I worked
that stupid, sorry Al, plug without a tap, but it was all good. Three of us fishing on Al's 70th, a fluke and bass to hand, and getting that Creek Chub salty again. On the way home I made my way up Spier Avenue and looked over at their house. It looked the same but someone had removed the copper tuna Al had up there for years. I thought about asking for it before they moved but it went with the sale. What I always wondered was why he had a tuna and not a striped bass. He fished for bass for 63 years and I never really heard him talk of tuna fishing.
After todays trip I can picture Al saying in that low and slow Al voice, "Now Colin, I want you to stick to the fly rod, because, you know, you suck with the spinning rod", and then breaking into a smile and that Al chuckle.
Al's son Mike sent me some more pics that he found as he went through his collection and logs. If you click on some of the pics you can read about the locations and conditions Al had when he caught. Below is a great picture taken on September 23, 1952 at Nausett Beach, Massachusetts. The picture below that is one I would have had a field day breaking Al's chops about, look at that fine
stringer full of trout, oh, they're striped bass that Al is proudly holding. Sorry Al, but c'mon man!
