Setting Out From Sheepshead Bay
UFF DA!
October has featured all kinds of bloggable fun, but between Inktober and winding things up at work for a vacation nothing's getting posted!
I'm still at work tonight, I had my work all planned out for a reasonable day today and then a bunch more stuff came in (I've said on FB now and then that my job can be like being in a baseball game with too many pitchers, and that's especially true when I'm getting ready for vacation, as I am this week) - I have one more fairly chunky report that's the last item on the to-do list that was on my desk when I started the day, and I'm inclined to just power through that and then have an easy day tomorrow - but I am taking a quick blog break here before I tackle that final item. I have a lovely and not too enormous Flickr album from a fishing trip I went on on Saturday and I figured I would just share that. Click here to view (but read the rest of my trip report here to have the whole story).
A couple of nice folks from the Sebago fishing committee know that I'm interested in fishing and have been trying to get me out - I haven't been able to get out with either of them on Jamaica Bay, but J. also likes to go out on bigger boats. His favorite one in the Sheepshead Bay fleet (which I've eyed with interest for years because it's really easy for me to get there) is the Brooklyn VI, and last Sunday he was taking a neighbor out and invited some of his fishing friends - plus me, woohoo! I was already signed up for whalewatching on Sunday (no whales, but a whole bunch of dolphins came through at the end) and had been thinking of a longer paddle on Sunday, since conditions were looking nice, but it didn't take me too long to decide on the fishing.
Early start, of course - glorious sunrise, as you can see above (the boats all head out around the same time). I'm not a morning person so I don't see a lot of sunrises - the ones I do catch I have to say are pretty nice, though.
This was a full day out, and we headed all the way out to Fire Island. Captain was after striped bass for us and he found some!
Unfortunately, not for me. My spotless record of never having caught a fish in NY waters remains unblemished. I'm ready for a blemish but nope, once again not my day. However, it was still a pretty great day. I did rent a perfectly serviceable rod and reel from the boat and it was fine, but J. had brought along an extra spinning rod. I'd never used one of those so he showed me how to cast with it (not an overhead cast of course, one with the rod held low off the side of the boat), so there was that to practice and get better at (with occasional utter botches), and it was beautiful, and there were monarch butterflies going by, and other people were catching fish, and great big ones, so that was fun to watch, and best of all was that J's friend caught his first striped bass - and it was ENORMOUS. It was in fact one of the 2 biggest fish caught that day and when they both put on the scale that decides the matter for the pool, the mate could BARELY hold them in the air! It was the other fish by a hair, but wow it was close.
Oh, yeah - and we saw a whale! We went by it pretty fast but I saw it come up and spout very clearly. So I did get to see a whale this weekend!
And then the best part was that when J. organizes a trip like this, one of his rules to keep people happy is that the group shares the catch. He'd tried to explain this to me early in the day, but I somehow was picturing that only working if there were multiple fish. Watching the fish being cleaned, I got my heart just set on eating fresh fish for dinner, I'd started asking the crew if there was a chance of buying one of the fish they'd caught (and that was looking like a possibility although other people had asked earlier so it was a matter of whether they had any left) - fortunately J. re-explained, while they were cleaning the fish, that when he said we share the fish, that meant even if it was just one. And at that point it was finally dawning on me how much meat there is on a fish that size.
So, yeah, I ended up coming home with this enormous filet, which I cut up into 5 pieces, each suitable for a meal for 2. First 2 I cooked this week, the other 3 went straight into the freezer. AWESOME.
winnah winnah fish fo dinner!
Maybe next time I'll catch my 1st fish in NY waters - but this was pretty darned good.
4 comments:
Love that you saw a whale (even a glimpse) and dolphins. Sorry about your fishing record, but that just means you need to go out more often until you catch one!
I haven't given up yet!
Gorgeous sunrise pictures and I enjoyed all the pix except, I must admit, the ones with the fish getting cut up. Yes, I know. But I am as squeamish as they come, which is also why I never succeeded in fishing (I tried the grand total of twice). But striped bass, yum! I just won't do what it takes to get one. My son, on the other hand, has loved to fish since an early age. (was he switched at birth?) He also got introduced to sailboating while in high school (lake type) and loved it and his instructor told me he was a natural. Yet, he never pursued it as an adult.
Sounds like such a fun day! I love being out at sea. I bet the bass was delicious!
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