My name is Jay and I'm a bassaholic.
I grew up in Plymouth, and began fishing as a kid with my grandfather, who was, and still is in my opinion, the greatest fisherman there ever was. Despite this, I never fished for striped bass until this season. As a kid, we fished for trout and bass primarily, but it really wasn't the fish that was so great, but the fishing. I have a great picture of the old man taken in Chatam in '49, ( When there was some serious bass around.) In it he's holding a giant striper on one side, and my 5-year old mother is on the other. The bass is substantialy bigger than mom. If any of you Chatam old-timers are out there, his name was John Menowsky, and he used to run the bakery in Chatam.
I began fishing comercially on the draggers in Plymouth in '76. In '78 when I graduated high school, I moved to Ketchum, Idaho to be a ski bum. It didn't snow that year, and somehow I got lured into going to Kodiak Alaska, and commercial fishing again. I spent two years in Kodiak, primarily dragging groundfish in Shelikof Straits. I spent a little time on crab boats, and a lot of time working the docks, etc..While in Alaska I did the hippie/subsistence thing, and a lot of hunting and fishing, living off the land as much as possible on things like salmon, ptarmigan,and Sitka Blacktail deer.
When I came back to Massachussetts, the hunting and fishing was so bleak compared to Alaska, that I basicaly hung up my gear for twenty years till I heard about fly fishing for striped bass. Igot rid of my golf gear and replaced it all with fishing gear, and have never regretted it.
I lurked on the board for about a month, began posting tentatively, and now they can't get rid of me! Believe me guys, posting is way better than lurking, as it opens up a world of opportunities to meet great people, and learn new fishing tricks. Armed with nothing but my copy of Tabory's, " Inshore Fly Fishing," and the info gleaned from the board, I went out and began catching fish immediately. My second day on the water was a fifty-fish day, and I used to brag that I had only been skunked once this year, until I began my quixotic, " Assault On Giant Bass Rock."
I now live in Hingham, MA where I sell engineering and imaging software and hardware, ( Boring,) but being a telecommuter, (I don't have to be in the office till 9:00 AM,) I find it easy to get out for pre-dawn fishing. You probably won't meet me on the water during the weekend/daytime thing, at least till after Labor Day. There is nothing more fun than being on the water on a desolated beach at sunrise. Even better if you're catching fish.
My dream is to catch a world record bass at sunrise on a deserted beach, snap a photo and slip it back into the water....
I can be reached at: jhorton@openarchive.com