Dave Yozzo came up from New York to work on some Flupsy research. After work we fished for a little while. In the wind-driven rain. That Tuesday afternoon/evening was harsh and we were the only fools out there. The east wind was coming at us at around 20 kts and where I decided to take us fishing was in the open and the Cape Cod Bay rollers battered us around little. The rain (which hasn't really paused - two weeks later) was pretty much sideways and stinging our faces. But the rips were hot and we enjoyed lots of feisty stripers. "Now!" I yelled on each drift through the standing waves and "Wrreeee!" went our reels. It was fun, but the only downside was that the fish, beautiful as they were, were too small to keep. And Dave wanted to take one home. I could sense it.
That evening was spent playing some music at some run down place on the Jones River. That was more fun than the fishing though. Dave could have turned up a few notches for us. Actually, not really. But his fingers were like a harpsman's and some notable tunes evolved out of Tom Petty, REM, and Pearl Jam originals.
The next morning I found Dave reading in the living room with that look on his face: okay, let's go fishing. So we did. We managed to have better luck. The weather was slightly better because the wind was lighter and the rain turned mostly to mist. We did well in some of my favorite spots. Two keepers and lots of others. Slug-Gos were the bait of choice but I also landed several on Fin-S baits and some of Joel's homemade jumping minnows.
We cleaned the fish. My two fillets went to Andy, better known as A2 on the water, who's birthday I missed the previous week - a great guy who I have yet to fish with. Dave's went into his cooler for the trip back home to New York. The sole keeper lobster we hauled in from my pots went to my daughter, Jane, who loves lobster and anything else that comes out of the bay.
A few days later, Dave and I were in a project meeting in NYC (drenched by the heavy rain that day) and recounted our trip to the Duxbury rips among others during coffee breaks, etc. And then it dawned on me, as it has numerous times in the past, how lucky we are to be able to fish like this here. Not just HERE here, but in New England. My friends in Wales are suffering through a complete collapse of their fish stocks and read these accounts within a storm of frustration. We're lucky for the fish and a lot of other things on the bay.
One thing I forgot to mention. Before heading out on Tuesday evening, a local charter captain and his group of clients brought in a nice bluefin (pictured below). We grabbed the frame for our lobster traps...and for scraps.
