Spectacular Week at Spectacle

Hi everyone,

This past week, All Access Boston Harbor spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday out on Spectacle Island. It was a really great start back on Spectacle. An old friend from high school that I recognized came out with us on Tuesday. On the first day back on the island, we caught two skates and was able to unhook them all alone. The first one that I caught, was during lunch. While everyone went off for lunch, I decided to stay on the dock fishing. Five minutes after casting, I had a skate on one of the rods so I reeled it in as the old friend from high school and her family surrounded me. At first they were all yelling "Eww what is that?" ... "Its a sting ray" ... I tried telling them that it was not a sting ray and that it was a skate. A few minutes later, an old guy joined us and started telling me to be careful with its tail so that I don't get stung and I kept telling him that it does not sting and that it is a skate but he just kept saying "Sting ray, sting ray, sting ray." Moment later, I released the skate and the first group of kids came over to do some fishing. I guided them all and everything went smooth. Towards the end of the day, one kid reeled in our second skate and they were all amazed by it. Most of the kids knew that it was not a sting ray and that it was a skate. I was really impressed.

Old High School friend with her nephew
when I caught the first skate in 5 minutes

Thursday which was the end of the week at Spectacle was also a great day. We had a really great ending of the week out there. The East Boston YMCA came out with us again for the second time. The week before Spectacle, they joined for the Georges trip. Although we did not catch anything on Thursday, I was able to help the counselor reel in the striped bass but unfortunately, the fish kept dragging the line under the dock and snapped it. Another reason why we were unable to reel the fish its because the fishing rod had really short line so with that being said, there was not enough line for the fish to keep dragging. Even though we were unable to reel in the fish, the counselor was excited for just knowing that he actually did have a fish on the line. I was excited as well because I don't quite remember if we ever had a fish on the line last summer and we also caught a little lobster in our crab trap. Overall, everything went great at Spectacle except for the weather that was not cooperating with us.

Second skate caught after a nice swim

Until I catch another fish!!!

- Andrea Lopes