At one point in the early 70's I could have made living selling the cod i caught from Nauset Beach. george at Olde Harbor fish in Chatham would save me all the broken SeaClams that came in to the market. My secret was to fish the roughest water I could, I would use elastic thread to hold the clam meat on the hook sometimes I would get a cod on the thread, (Always dyed it red) The fish would come into the beach as the light level dropped, (A night fishing thing) Didnt no that at first, would be leaving at dark when I should have been just getting there. It was cold out there so I had this old army antenna box Like a fish box with a hinged lid, found a coleman heater at a yard sale, would light it puit it in the box and sit my butt on it. Great way to stay warm and still be able to hold the rod, never used a sand spike. if I didnt catch any fish I came home with a burned Butt. Anyway as soon as it would get dark, the fish would be there, Most nights I could catch anywhere from 1 to 3 bo
xes of Cod, a fish box would hold about 125 pounds. On the nights when the surf was heavy I caught my biggest Fish, 40 pounds was my biggest cod from the surf. There was a small crew of us there almost everynite, (until I saw the UFO) but that is another story! I really miss that fishing!!!! When the surf was too heavy to fish by the Gorilla Hole I would fish the marsh side, Priscilla Landing produced tons of Cod.
THEM GILL NETS CAME!!!! Guys used to set right in the Gorilla Hole, The following years are history now, every year I hear rumors of a few caught off nauset but cant confirm them. The year I caught the 73# bass there were so many cod you would get them on deceivers. They would be busting in the wash chasing bait. that was 1981, I havent caught a Cod off the beach since! Did alot on jigging off nauset and did verygood, now its a different story. The Cod we have off our coast seems to be some of the last fair amount of fish around, look further north there gone. With electronics and modern day boats and gear it just aint the same.
I got into smallmouth fishing, great fish! Got a bass pro Panfish Special boat, by Bass tacker, Kids waiting for the school bus one morning got creative and taped over the B, now it is an Ass Tracker. To make a long story short, a lake is a lake when u fish it with a god machine it didnt take long to start knowing the smallies by name, After a while it became too easy to catch them, I guess its like the progression one makes in the way they fish. Once something becomes easy for u u start to watch TV again. (going to go catch a few stripers now sea ya)