I am 13 years old and I love fishing. I went fishing for the first time when I was 3 years old. My first fish was a bluegill out of my grandfather’s lake. That had me hooked and I have been fishing ever since. Now I have moved up from little panfish to largemouth bass, striped bass, and even some blue sharks. My dad was the first person to take me fishing and I think it was one of the best gifts he ever gave me. I have learned so much over the years about the environment just by going out and doing what I love. I enjoy telling people about my fishing experiences and this is about my favorite fishing trip of all time.
grandfather’s lake where it all started.
My grandma, grandpa, two of my aunts and myself went fishing out of Chatham, MA aboard a “chartah” boat to the Monomoy Rips, which was about a 30-minute boat ride from Chatham. We fished for striped bass with fake topwater squid lures – just bouncing them off the waves. With every cast we hooked up on striped bass anywhere from 28 to 40-plus inches and even a few bluefish. At the beginning of the trip my grandmother said, “I’m going to catch a shark,” and although she didn’t catch a shark, she caught one of the biggest striped bass I have ever seen. It was at least 45 inches. That might not seem like such a giant to some of you veteran striped bass fishermen, but to me it was huge, seeing that I had only been fishing for striped bass for three years. My grandfather got lucky too and hooked up to a decent sized blue that was at least 25 inches. Some people hate the way they taste but my mouth was watering just looking at it. That blue really put up a good fight. It took at least five minutes before grandpa got it to the boat, and when he finally landed it you could just see the excitement on his face. I could have caught nothing the entire day but just seeing the way his face lit up when he got it to the boat made it worthwhile. I, on the other hand, hooked up on at least 10 good sized striped bass, maybe more. I never really thought about how hard stripers fought but once you start doubling up on 30-plus-inch stripers, you really start to feel it.
So that’s my story, I hope you enjoyed it. I also want to mention how grateful I am to have such great people in my life who do things like this for me. I hope it inspires other parents to take their kids fishing. I promise you it will be one of the best gifts you can ever give them.
