Learned a quick lesson today. Just because you're fishing a dead low tide doesn't mean you can't find one willing to eat. I had the tank and bucket in place but didn't fill it so it was a mad dash when I went tight with the below small, but well built, striped bass. Yes, the images of fish has and will continue to saturate social media. It's just what fishermen and women do. It used to be images of anglers with dead
fish were mostly of ones that were being harvested. Then it became big fish, in all kinds of odd angles making them look enormous, to any fish caught was going to be posted somewhere. In the anglers hands, covered in sand on the beach, flopping on the deck, and bleeding out or not. You don't know why we take pics? Would no one believe us? Is it really a good picture? Does it make us a better angler? Or is just for the memory of a great outing? Or, and it leans this way, is it just for an ego trip.
The tank, holding big or small fish, does a few things. It gives the fish time to rehab after being caught. It also provides a fish-friendly place to snap a few photos or run some video. This winter I'm going to make more tanks and look into buying a an aerator to keep the fish happy.
Just as the river is starting to settle down and clear up it looks like there's more rain ahead the upcoming days. That'll keep it cooler but most likely will blow it out again. I was surprised I didn't find more fish in the last few days, just ones and dones. I wonder if weather events that occur just at the right or wrong time can have the fish, who were planning on staying, hightail it to different parts of the river or out into the salt.
It's kind of like planning that vacation spot and having to change it up due to the weather. We'll see.
