ruge13
06-26-2003, 11:13 AM
Ran out of work and headed to Bob's in Winthrop. Picked up a dozen herring, chopped up 8 or 9 for chum and the rest were cut in half for bait. By 9pm I was standing on the Bass river rocks. Fond a nice dark non lit access to the beach side and started to unload. The trip down from Boston went really quick with visions of 3-4 foot brownies with smiled on there faces skipping in on my line. By 9:30pm, fully dark, I was out well past the no boating buoys off the beach just west of the outflow. Wrong tide I thought, but I am here so lets give it a shot. I took a couple hand fulls of chum and tossed them over, threw out half a herring on a 7/0 gamatsu octopus and a 3 foot 80lb wire leader straight to 50lb powerpro. I did my best to hide the big swivel end and the hook deep in the bait since sharks are sensitive to metal.
Every 15 minutes or so I threw out another handful of chum. After sitting there in the dark, drifting alone for 45 minutes y thoughts wondered. With the haze the lights from shore were dim and the kids playing on the beach in front of the Best Western were haunting, not welcomed. They seemed to come from every direction. There is something about being in a kayak at night. With wave action during the day you can anticipate the rocking and soften it with your body weight. At night, there is no anticipation, just reaction to the waves and the boat rock is exaggerated. This added to my wondering thoughts, that and the chum oil dripping down my hands along the paddle into the water didn;t help. So that little brown shark smiling turned into a 6+ foot beast with gnarly teeth and one eye gouged out that I swear was circling me when I heard every white cap curl. Most that know me would agree, I do stupid things some times and I would go out in anything short of the perfect storm to look for 1 lb bluefish 3 miles out, but get me a couple yds off shore at night, alone in the dark, fishing for the unknown and I am a trembling little wuss. I know its the same when fishing for stripers at night, but this feels different. Fish for stripers and you think about stripers. Fish for sharks and you think about the pictures of seals flying through the air on the discovery channel. Remember the scene from Jaws wit the 2 guys on the dock abnd the side of beef the hurl out into the water on a tire? Thats what it felt like. I could hear the music.
I have never been fishing and wanted so badly not to catch a thing.
An hour into the drift and a few handfuls of chum later, my thoughts were rattled by what at this point I hoped didn't happen. I had set the drag really light thinking I could get settled after the take, set the drag and then set the hook. I heard it, click click click click...so I picked up the rod, tightened let out some line, tightened the drag and reared back, big no no in a kayak. Anyway, the clicking turned out to be wave action and the drift acting on a bottom snag but it was enough to get my heart racing. After calming down I went back to chumming and drifted out another half herring. It was now bout 10:30pm. Thoughts wandered. I was ready knife on the deck, big pliers in my lap, camera, flares, ready and thoughts of the now 8+ft gnarly teeth scared up shark following me. 30 minutes later, click click click click...
I repeated the line, set, hook, drill and this time no bottom. I was waiting for the quick fast first run, with big jumps and 200yds melting off my reel like some had described. That I didn't get. What I did get was a fast first run, in one direction, maybe 50 yds. When it slowed and my boat had turned and was being dragged, I tightened down the drag thinking it was a smaller one and I could horse it in and wear it out. Again, another kayak no no. It didn't like that very much and quickened its pace in the same direction, fortunately towards the islands and not towards the outflow of the river. What seemed like an eternity later, lights were really dim off in the distance and I just sat there, line slowly pealing off, nothing I could do but sit there being dragged. I tried a few times to gain line, but it seams instead of slowing the fish I just pulled my boat closer to it. Total elapsed time was maybe 10 minutes. I couldn't have had more than 50 yards of line left on the reel since I only had about 250 to begin with. The fish began to slow and then changed directions to be parallel with the shore, but still heading west. A minute or two later the line parted. I reeled it in as fast as I could, turned around, and paddled like I have never paddled before back to drop point. I hit the beach out of breath and still shaking. I have never been so scared in my life. I never did see what I was hooked into but upon further inspection of the 3 feet or so of frayed 50lb line shredded above the 3 foot wire there is no doubt in my mind what it was. There are not too many rocks on the bottom in that area to fray line like that, just skin. I will still do stupid things, go out in rough water, where I shouldn't be. I will still try to catch a shark out of my kayak, but I can guarantee you it will NEVER be alone again. I wish I had a picture of whatever it was, but Martin Brody I am not, I lost 10 years off my life.
Every 15 minutes or so I threw out another handful of chum. After sitting there in the dark, drifting alone for 45 minutes y thoughts wondered. With the haze the lights from shore were dim and the kids playing on the beach in front of the Best Western were haunting, not welcomed. They seemed to come from every direction. There is something about being in a kayak at night. With wave action during the day you can anticipate the rocking and soften it with your body weight. At night, there is no anticipation, just reaction to the waves and the boat rock is exaggerated. This added to my wondering thoughts, that and the chum oil dripping down my hands along the paddle into the water didn;t help. So that little brown shark smiling turned into a 6+ foot beast with gnarly teeth and one eye gouged out that I swear was circling me when I heard every white cap curl. Most that know me would agree, I do stupid things some times and I would go out in anything short of the perfect storm to look for 1 lb bluefish 3 miles out, but get me a couple yds off shore at night, alone in the dark, fishing for the unknown and I am a trembling little wuss. I know its the same when fishing for stripers at night, but this feels different. Fish for stripers and you think about stripers. Fish for sharks and you think about the pictures of seals flying through the air on the discovery channel. Remember the scene from Jaws wit the 2 guys on the dock abnd the side of beef the hurl out into the water on a tire? Thats what it felt like. I could hear the music.
I have never been fishing and wanted so badly not to catch a thing.
An hour into the drift and a few handfuls of chum later, my thoughts were rattled by what at this point I hoped didn't happen. I had set the drag really light thinking I could get settled after the take, set the drag and then set the hook. I heard it, click click click click...so I picked up the rod, tightened let out some line, tightened the drag and reared back, big no no in a kayak. Anyway, the clicking turned out to be wave action and the drift acting on a bottom snag but it was enough to get my heart racing. After calming down I went back to chumming and drifted out another half herring. It was now bout 10:30pm. Thoughts wandered. I was ready knife on the deck, big pliers in my lap, camera, flares, ready and thoughts of the now 8+ft gnarly teeth scared up shark following me. 30 minutes later, click click click click...
I repeated the line, set, hook, drill and this time no bottom. I was waiting for the quick fast first run, with big jumps and 200yds melting off my reel like some had described. That I didn't get. What I did get was a fast first run, in one direction, maybe 50 yds. When it slowed and my boat had turned and was being dragged, I tightened down the drag thinking it was a smaller one and I could horse it in and wear it out. Again, another kayak no no. It didn't like that very much and quickened its pace in the same direction, fortunately towards the islands and not towards the outflow of the river. What seemed like an eternity later, lights were really dim off in the distance and I just sat there, line slowly pealing off, nothing I could do but sit there being dragged. I tried a few times to gain line, but it seams instead of slowing the fish I just pulled my boat closer to it. Total elapsed time was maybe 10 minutes. I couldn't have had more than 50 yards of line left on the reel since I only had about 250 to begin with. The fish began to slow and then changed directions to be parallel with the shore, but still heading west. A minute or two later the line parted. I reeled it in as fast as I could, turned around, and paddled like I have never paddled before back to drop point. I hit the beach out of breath and still shaking. I have never been so scared in my life. I never did see what I was hooked into but upon further inspection of the 3 feet or so of frayed 50lb line shredded above the 3 foot wire there is no doubt in my mind what it was. There are not too many rocks on the bottom in that area to fray line like that, just skin. I will still do stupid things, go out in rough water, where I shouldn't be. I will still try to catch a shark out of my kayak, but I can guarantee you it will NEVER be alone again. I wish I had a picture of whatever it was, but Martin Brody I am not, I lost 10 years off my life.