OK, maybe gusts of wind 50-60MPH if your face isn't a hurricane, but being out on a jetty, facing into steady 40MPH wind, seeing 3' rollers crashing over the jetty on the far side of a channel is as close as I want to be to fishing a 'cane.
No doubt at 4:30 yesterday I was the only person on a jetty anywhere in Falmouth; believe it or not; on the west jetty of my pond, wind out of the east, risk was minimal as the wind and surge was pushing me back onto the beach, not towards water.
Just being out on the rocks in wind and rain like this was a thrill. I had lugged the big rod with 20 pound test as I figured I needed all the hrosepower I could find to cut through the wind. It was quickly apparent that anything less than 1 oz. in weight wasn't going more than 10 feet into the wind. I settled on my most
condensed and heavy jig I had, a 3" long 1.5 oz. ball head jig. Using a short
snapping sidearm whip I was able to fire the jig 15 yards, perhaps 2/3 of the way across the channel before the wind grabbed it.
The channel was a mass of fury, waves surging over the far jetty, waves coming on from the sea, outgoing tide, wall of white. The wind on my line was enough to make the heavy jig float in the whitecaps as if it were a fly; truly an amazing sight to drift a jig like a fly.
Even more amazing was on my first drifted retrieve was the sight of something
crashing out of the water, up onto the whitewater at the base of the rocks to slap at the jig.
Wow! They are here!
Second cast, same slow drifted retrieve of a storm tossed jig and I saw a schoolie come up right at rockside and eat the jig. Dealing with the fish with heavy tackle was nothing, but the sheer thrill of taking a fish in such vicious elements, so close, and so visible was far more exciting than a titanic battle.
I took 3 more fish, same circumstances, all the classic 16-18" schoolie striper, all seemingly hitting the jig while surfing up the rocks on the jetty base. Releases of each fish were made by lying on my belly and reaching down to place the fish into a boiling gap in the jetty base. It was far too dangerous to either reach or bend down.
After the 4th it was almost dark, and having pity on my wife, who assumed I was dead, called it night.
Its not the size of the fish, or the fight. The surroundings and elements sometimes make the moment...
L.