Hi all; Great thread, describe your self/passion in so many words or less. Here goes. I'm a 45 year old rod rat. Married for almost 16 years to a semi-understanding woman and father of two daughters ages 14 and almost 13. I say semi because sometimes she still can't understand why I would sanely leave a comfortable bed at 2 in the morning and go fishing, but at least she knows where I am. I was born and raised in northeast NJ, not the hotbed of fishing back then but I had grandparents who lived right across the state marina in Leonardo. I spent my summers there from the day after school was out to about a week before. My grandfather used to take me out on his boat after he came home from work and we'd fish, mostly for fluke but sometimes blues or stripers. I fell in love with trout fishing in the mid sixties and did that for a long time eventually getting my father involved. Fished mostly the Norht and South branch of the Raritan, the Lamingington, Muscanetcong, Black, Big/Little Flat
brook. The army called in '71 and after a short tour in the 'Nam and 13 months in Korea I was stationed at ft. Hood, Tx. I did a fair amount af bassin' there but I still longed for my 'bows and brookies! Got out in 76, spent a couple of years back in Jersey and an abortive attempt in construction in Saud-Arabia before I got my act together. Moved to New England in '79 (MA) and went to work at computervision in field service. field service gave me the opportunity to travel the world and have someone else pay for it. I bought one of the first LL Bean fly/spin pack rod combos and took it with me on many a trip. Mendosa, Argentina, Japan, Taiwon, Sweden, and my favorite, the Nile in Egypt. Subsequent jobs with Kodak and Cabletron took me other places in both the US and abroad and I always brought that little rod. I'm now a Network Management Engineer with Ascend Communications and live in Newmarket, NH about 400 yards from the bay side of the Lamprey river. My youngest brother turned me
on to striper's for the second time about 3 year's ago. While I still go out and fish for trout in the early spring, and do the steelie thing on the salmon river in Pulaski, NY come late May I've got nothing but striper's on my mind. I'm usually shore bound but sometimes I take my 13 foot coleman canoe out onto Little Bay. I finally caught my first legal fish on 7/3 off the Isle of Shoals. 34 inches and 22lbs. Thank you RT'er Steve Moore for your excellent and informative article. I'm not worthy :') BTW I did not canoe out there, it was my neighbors boat. I lurk, I post, I fish. I use this forum to augment what knowledge I posess. It helps me be a better fisherman and has also made me aware of of our changing times. Sometimes conroversial, sometimes silly, but always informative. I noticed that some of the really long time RT'ers have not posted to this thread as yet. I would like to read more about them. I thought that the "Time Management" round was a good one. One more thing, has
Jay finally caught one of those bass at the rock yet? Reading about his escapades has been hillarious. May I suggest 10lb test, no swivel, no leader, no weight and squid? Thanx for letting me speak/write. Tight Lines. Paul H.