|
How life was intended to be |
|
|
|
|
Written by Roccus
|
|
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 |
This past week end is what life is SUPPOSED to be like... stress free ( almost) productive and shared with friends and loved ones...
I met Coalman at 8:00 hours for a lobstering run on Great bay...always being the captain wears on you so taking a ride with the Bay Man on his home turf was a treat beyond compare.. the beauty of the bay cannot be put into words.. and you never know what you may see... eagles, ospreys ,great blue herrings.. and even lowly commerants.. but you rarely see another boat.. refreshing!
After the bug traps were checked, baited and located to the best catching advantage... I tossed bucktail with porkrind trailers into the many rips that abound in the bay.. I realy need to get new pork rinds.. age has softend the rind, which tends to foul the hook.. in several instance cost me solid hits... Dave was kind enough to send me home with a couple of lobsters.. these would be for my Sunday dinner when Nancy returned from baby sitting the grand kids..
On my way home, I picked up a flat of herring for use in the morning as I was going to live line and chunk for bass.......
Sunday.. up at 0300... I cleared the North Jetty of the Merrimack as streaks of purple violet and red streaked the Horizon to the east... I took my camera out of the case and snappped a few pictures.. I placed the camera on the dash board so I could take a few more as the sun rose.... there was a fair ground swell in the mouth and I came down hard on one of them.. the camera hit the deck popping open the battery compartment sending the battery into the splashwell.. batteries and water dont mix.... when I retrieve it it was hissing and smoking, turning instantly green...I pointed the bow N/E and kicked it up to 20...
from there things got better... I anchored up on one of my favorite inshore bass spots about 2 1/4 miles off the beach.. the water rises from 120' up to a depth of 58' and the current runs hard here.. after figuring how the boat would lay with wind and tide, I droped anchor on the deep water side alowed the boat to slide up on the edge, I attached the ball to the anchor line 10' from the bitter end and cleated it using a fid.. incase I needed to release it quick...
I cut up some herring and opened a quart of chum and turned the bait pump on.. and began to dispense chunks and chum.. I dropped a sabiki over rthe side and was instanly rewarded with 3 Mackerel... it took about 45 minutes to put 18 baits in the tank, ..I even caught a rock cod 15' below the surface.. never done that before!
I rigged a livie on each rod, the rods are shimao beastmasters with Shimano TLd 20 LD's.. loaded with close to 500 yds of 50lb braid.. I've learned the hard way that this is not over kill out here...the shocker is 15' long, at the knot, I cinch on a thin elastic to act as a stop, then a slide rig is slid on the line followed by a swivel and a two hook adjustable pair of 7/0 circles on an 18" 50lb leader... a ballon is blown up the size of a soft ball and attached to the slider via a rubber band.... one hook goes in the snout.. the other just behind the dorsal fin...
With my bait needs satisfied, I set to keeping my chum slick going... I hooked a pair of baits and let one bait out 100' behind the boat and another about 50', ....shortly after I got my first "customer"( bass) a feisty little guy about 5 lbs... just barely larger that the bait.. several of his bothers/sisters followed suit gulping the 1lb and a half Macs..... then the blue fish showed up, I landed all of them thanks to the circle hooks, but all the leaders were nicked and chewed and needed to be repaired... the blues moved on and I landed a fat bass about 20lbs.... I had a small lull and decided to apply some sun screen ... my fair German skin doesnt like too much sun... then.. I heard the ballon pop.... I snapped my head around to see the rod hit lay flat out and hit the gunnel and the reel started screaming.. TUNA ON!!!!!!!.. this has happend to me several times at this spot in the past, twice destroying or spooling Penn 4/0 in the process( those were much larger fish than this one), hense the reason for the over sized gear and fid at the anchor....I got the engine running and released the anchor.. the fish had already dumped 100 yards off the spool but the TLD's have plenty.. I pushed the lever up to full drag ( 15lbs versus 8 lbs on strike) and gave chase, now clear of the lobster gear and in deeper water, the fight swayed in my favor... after approx. 30 minute battle I had the little speedster boat side and slipped the tailer over it's tail... I dragged the little beast backwards until I was able to gaff him without fear of getting dragged overboard.. once in the boat, I bled it by making a 2" insicion behind the pectoral fin.. tuna have ALOT of blood...but not before putting it on my 100lb Berkly scale.. the fish topped out a touch over 60 lbs( it was still kicking and a little hard to hold up).... this was my first tuna in two years.. an accident.. but I'll take it.. lesson to be learned here for those who dont buy a tuna permit and fish cod or bass on the ocean front.. it can happen at any time.. the price is right.. BUY YOUR PERMITS!
My cooler was too smal to accomodate the fish so I cut the gill plate ( like I would a larger fish I was going to sell) made a circle around the vent and extracted the entrails through the gill plate, I then rinsed the fish with water and packed ice from the cooler in the body cavity... I took several shirts from my dry storage, soaked them in cold salt water and covered the fish then retrieved my anchor and headed in..the best part of this post IMHO is yet to come stay tuned:
break is over..I'll finish my post at lunch...
with the anchor stowed, I beat it for the mouth, knowing the fish would spoil quickly in the sun... arriving at the mouth.. I was reminded why I rarely fish during the day.. it reminded me of the by-gone go cart at Salisbury...
Once back in the river I pulled up in the flats.. seeing I still had 4 livies left.. and the boat needed cleaning, I might as well kill two birds with one stones so to speak.... I set one adrift ( with a hook in it) while I quickly hosed down the boat.. three drft with out a sniff.. I released the bait and emptied my tank and headed for the dock...
At the dock as I prepared to butcher my fish, a woman that keeps a boat on my finger was arriving to go tubing with her childeren, we've spoke many times through the years ( in fact several years ago she caused me to fry the rectifier on my engine....I was working on a fuel leak when I heard a soft female voice ask me what time it was, I turned around to see the most lovely pair of breast hanging out of her halter top as she leaned over to hear my reply..startled and not wanting to stare ,I turned away moving my arm, as I did so, my screw driver slipped and shorted the starter solonoid and cooked the rectifier) back to the present...she saw the fish and got all excited, telling me how much she likes fresh tuna.. she says he husband tries all the time but never gets one... I asked her if she had a camera.. she said she did... so.. she took a few pictures ( which she is supposed to e-mail me) and I asked her if she had a cooler... out came the budweisers.. and she left it for me to leave some fish in for her...
So... alone again.. I removed the head, by cutting a V shaped cut from the edged of the gill plate, under the pectoral fins to the vent I removed the toro ( belly meat) then following the laterel line I loined out the upper and lower halves of each side of the fish... I put 1/2 of an upper loin and a section of toro in her cooler and packed the rest in mine... loaded my dock cart, spritzed the boat quickly with fresh water and headed for home...
Because of my luck that day, and generaly loving life.. I made a quick trip to Davids fish market , bought 2lbs of steamers and 6 jumbo shrimp...
On my way home I pass by Colby's farm stand, I stopped and picked up some fresh native corn and a few zuchinnis...
Once home, I was pleased that I had beaten Nancy to the house( remembr she was babysitting) I emptied my truck, showered and put on my Chefs hat... at that time Nancy called to tell me she was on the road...
I lit the grill, went inside, shucked the corn and made a foil pouch...I went to the garden and retrieved, some Basil and oregano... back in the house, I salted and peppered the corn, added a smashed clove of garlic, and coarsly chopped the oregano and basil, added a tablespoon of water and sealed the foil, placing the corn on the warming rack on the far side of the grill to slow roast...
Knowing that at 67, watching a 5 , 12 and 14 year old is nerve racking, I got the grey goose out of the freezer and made a jigger of martini's...while the glasses chilled in the freezer..
I steamed the clams and cooked the shrimp ( shell on) on the grill... we had steamers and shrimp and traded "war" stories about the week end, with the first coarse finished, I put on some water to cook the second coarse.. the great bay bounty... soon the water was boiling and I dropped the bugs into the steam bath... once cooked.. we enjoyed two of the tenderest , sweetest lobsters I have ever eaten.. thanks Dave!... after a "resting" period... I cut some lemon grass from the garden , put a salt and pepper crust on a pair of fresh tuna steaks and pushed the now chopped lemon grass into the fish... after turning up ther heat I grilled thick strips of zuchinni that had been soaked in Italian dressing, once cooked through they took their place on the warming rack next to the corn ( which I had been turning every 6-7 minutes) now I put a 2 minute sear on the tuna.. meantime. Nancy had dug out a bottle of merlot ( Made by her son)that she had saved for a special time... the time had come... I removed the food from the grill and as we sat at the table, we raised out glasses to the spirits of our forefathers that had enjoyed bounties of the earth and sea, such as this through the years, we toased friends and each other... and in the sprit of my Dad I remarked.. " it's a great day to be alive!" |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 October 2009 )
|
|
