Cuttyhunk Chronicles 2012 part 4

Where was I ? oh, yeah. I  got my fat sausage, venison, lasagna stuffed ass onto the giant rock and started casting. I got to tell you, Cuttyhunk is a freaky place to be alone on the rock a hundred yards from shore. There is no ambient light, there are no houses for miles. There are no doctors or emergency rooms, medic helicopters or aspirins..or 7/11 coffee..reminds me of…Croatia…lol

All kidding aside, Manny’s close friend and fellow I shared few tides with at Cutty, late Al Pelini took his last cast in this cove a year ago almost to the date. I get a bit freaked out under these kind of circumstances. I start to hear footsteps on shore that are not there. I hear voices that don’t exist…and for whatever reason I kept expecting Al to surface any minute and ask me if we can share the rock again. Very disturbing..but I kept casting, and casting and casting.

Super Strike Darters, Lenmire’s Needlefish, Super Strike Needlefish, Redfins, Guides Choice Old Swimmers, Lemire metal lip swimmer, NorthBar bottledarter, MagDarters, Daiwa SP minnows, shit, I threw the bag and rigged eels to and nothing. This was disturbing. I decided to clip my Commando bag to my belt as I was not going to need plugs any more. From now till morning it will be rigged eels and nothing else. Another hour passed, or did it? How the @#%$^ would I know? I don’t have a watch. For those of you that say go wet suiting a hundred yards from shore with a phone in waterproof case…no thanks. Too many things can go wrong and I need my phone to be working on Cutty..more than my watch.

Then it happened…I slowly lifted the rod tip during my retrieve as its my custom when retrieving rigged eels and I got slammed ! What, I forgot what to do? I haven’t had a hit for so long, I was a little tentative and I set the hook too late. @$%&*

Little did I know that few hours later that would be my only hit. But I kept throwing that rigged eel, working it fast, letting it sink and working it slow. I tried everything but nothing worked. I said to myself ,its time to try something else. Just as was done securing all my gear for swim back, I realized that the water dropped about two feet under the rock. There was no slowly easing into the water now, I had to jump in.

I decided to try one more spot, right underneath the club, where I started. That place is always good for a fish or two. I huffed and puffed over the path in darkness until I got on the rock under the club. This rock is covered even at low tide with a foot of water so I knew I was going to have a hell of a time finding it. I decided to hell with scaring fish and when I got in the area where I thought that the rock was approximately located I stuck my flashlight under the surface. Wouldn’t you know it I spotted the darn, hairy, kelp covered beauty right away.

But it was all for show, there was no fish here either. With a  tail between my legs I made a walk to our house. I found the boys where I left them, playing cards. They got out after the storm, Tommy banged the fish on a fist cast under the club but then it was over. On the stove there was sausage and peppers steaming but I was in no mood to eat. One more night..but where to go now? I already tried all the spots that have been good to me over the years. I knew Cuttyhunk can come to life on one tide and in few hours you can have a night better than a season’s worth fishing at home. But I was getting a little bummed out. Not giving up hope, but I wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence either. One more night, one more try. Would the magic Cuttyhunk waters reveal some of their secrets?

Stay tuned as the SJ crew walks in the major bunker blitz with flip flops and lures which they lose within ten minutes of casting…

[issuu width=550 height=213 shareMenuEnabled=false showHtmlLink=false printButtonEnabled=false shareButtonEnabled=false searchButtonEnabled=false backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=120506203543-c51ab24feba744638c866c3e3d74b3c4 name=issue13 username=surfcasters_journal tag=fishing unit=px v=2]