Somewhere in Southern Maine
Journal Date: August 5th, 2009 | Filed Under: Fishing Reports
As the alarm went off at 3:30 am, we gently awoke our 9 and 6 year old to go striper fishing,
believe it or not. Not a difficult task as we are indeed a fishing family at all hours. We all got dressed, we packed the car, headed to get coffee and away we went!
It was a beautiful, mild, misty morning. Jax was a little confused as to how we were going to fish in the dark, but Tait set him straight by letting him know, once we got out there, it would be light.
Little did he know, by our first cast only.
What an amazing place to fish; the gorgeous shoreline, the sun rising in the distance, the waves gently rolling in as we got our sea legs. We all had rods in our hands by sunrise and were casting to our hearts’ content. The weather was perfect, my boys and husband were with me, life is good.
Mark Drummond guide and owner of this cool fishing vessel, was extremely generous to take us out fishing on this splendid morn. And, man, is he a nice guy! He was so patient and great with my boys. I could tell it meant a lot to him that we saw some action. Not too long into the trip, we saw just that! Stripers were swirling around the boat, a site I had never seen. So cool! Jax and I saw one jump clear out of the water. I think I actually jumped up and down at that moment. (Upon reflecting, next time I will just point out the fish and perhaps not jump!)
With all our lines out,Mark calmly guided us as we aimed our flies and lures at the swirls and where the birds were fishing. Kevin caught a fat striper. Shortly after Tait, Jax and I caught pollock. Every boat we encountered saw no action apparently, but not with Mark! We all caught fish.
We ventured to a different spot closer the harbor and saw stripers rising again. There, the boys caught mackerel.
They were switching back and forth between flyrod and casting rod. Of course, they both prefer flyrods and argued over who got their turn next. I can tell you my shoulder is sore from all the casting we did and Tait’s arms were sore on the way home, another sign of a great fishing outing!
I can’t think of a more exciting fishing outing in recent memory. This was different. The boys and I had not fished on the ocean before. That is altogether different, yet the same in many respects of course. I am thrilled we got the chance to experience the novelty of our first ocean outing with such an outstanding guide and person as Mark Drummond.
