Fishing:Monkey See, Monkey Do

Last week on Thursday, August 11th, I had rushed back to Boston from the Capes to make this huge fishing trip on various boats! I slept whenever I could on my commute back to Boston and I fantasized about the huge fish I would come across. Not long after I arrived, everyone was split up with an assigned group led by boat Captains who would take us out to fish with the hopes of landing any large sea creature that could take the spot as the "largest catch!" I ended up on a small boat that was able to coast along the edges of water just a few feet above sand led by John and Al. I learned that these guys were from the Brighton area themselves and when they started telling me about their fishing experiences, I knew without a doubt that I was in good hands. It was unfortunate to hear that by the time we had reached John's Striped Bass hot spot that the tide was too low and that the larger fish probably left. Minutes had barely passed by when we snagged our first fish, a Striped Bass! He was roughly 26 inches, to small to keep. 

John and Al were telling me techniques to snagging Striped Bass and Blue fish! Things like making sure to troll the fishing rods to attract fish that are primarily surface and medium depth water feeders like the Blue fish and Striped Bass! We made sure to constantly use fresh bait and soon enough we landed our second Striped Bass. Then we got the call. Immediately our boat pushed past a few islands to be around "Graves" and "B.G." code names for areas in the harbor/ sea where these fisherman have nicknamed. We were now on a hunt for Blue Fish and we had arrived to the party late. We still managed to snag a huge bluefish that both John and Al had to wrestle into the boat!

-Raymond Chai

"Fishing Queen"

Hi everyone,

This past Thursday was by far the best day ever this summer. It was also one of my favorite days because it was the fishing tournament. This year for the fishing tournament, I was known as the "fishing queen". I was also lucky enough to be on a fast boat with Sedny. We had the best captain whose name was Brian. Our boat did not have a name but Brian said we could call it "The Green Contendent". Before we were picked up, Brian had caught a 39 inches striped bass. Sedny and I became good friends with Brian so with that being said, the boat ride was extremely fun.

We went fishing near Spectacle Island where we caught nothing after being there for about 15 minutes. After we decided to go cast somewhere else where there were blue fish. I never caught a blue fish so I had no idea what they looked like. Somehow I had a blue fish on my line and as I was reeling, I looked to my left and Sedny also had a fish on her line. This was a double header and as Brian watched us reeling in thr blue fish he was laughing because Sedny and I were just screaming like crazy. We reeled in for about 5 minutes because the fishes were really heavy and were putting up a good fight. A moment after, I decided to cast my own fishing rod and when I say I had a fish on the line right away, you guys would not believe me. This other blue fish was also putting up a good fight. I struggled to reel it in but I was happy to bring it in. As we were about to wrap up fishing, I had another blue fish on my rod and this time it was a bigger blue fish who also put another good fight and also had me talking all by myself. Thursday's fishing tournament was just my lucky day. I was able to catch 3 blue fishes. One was 31 inches, the other was 33 inches and the bigger one was 36 inches. When we got back from the tournament, I was getting all of the attention from my co-workers. A lot of the started saying that "Its insane how everytime I go fishing, I always end up catching something." They ask me how do I do It and I just do not know what to say. I am guessing my fishing skills are just getting better and better day by day. Lastly, I would like to thank my captain Brian and the other captains who volunteered to donate their boats. It was the best day of the summer and I had a blast.

Until next time,

Andrea Lopes