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Loose fish, rewind, catch fish.

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DoorGunner

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This works well for summer flounder but found out most fish species are the same. 

 

Ever loose a big fish from bad luck, line breakage or idiot friend with the net? Easy for us as humans to think that the lost fish won't be eating for a while. If you had a hook through the lip and it ripped out you wouldn't be quick to shove a burger into your mouth. We are warm blooded but fish aren't and their pain receptors are very different from ours. A hook in the mouth means nothing to them and if anything they just want to eat even more since they just missed their last meal.

 

Summer flounder are couch potatoes and just like us have favorite places to sit or lay down. Certain bottom types attract flounder and they will vibrate and shake and flap their tale to form the spot to their body where they can blend in and just wait for their next meal to pass by. A quick flip of the tail and their target is secured and many times they will just flip around and slide right back into their indent to relax and wait.

 

A few years ago on a Memorial Day weekend I was fishing alone in a narrow stretch of water. Hooked a small summer flounder that was released but first I gave it a little help. On it's dark said was a hole near the tail about the size of a dime. Skin and some flesh were gone and this long thread like worm was coiled inside the hole. I took the hook point and carefully pulled the worm that ended up being about five inches long until just it's mouth was attached. A slow steady pull eventually remove this parasite and the flounder was released. This happened right near the sod bank where a sign was placed informing all that shellfishing was not allowed. Next day I'm back in the same spot and caught the same flounder again minus the parasite. On Monday I returned with my daughter and while telling her that this was the exact spot where I had caught the same flounder twice, she hooked and caught it. Three days, three hooks, same fish in the exact same spot. 

 

One night while fishing under the lights at my friends dock for weakies or herring. I make a three hook sabiki style rig that works realy well. Two flutter spoons above a very small jig. One night about half tide we had about seven feet of water straight down off the dock. Before I made my first cast I just dropped the rig to the bottom that was visible in the very clear water. We could see small clumps of weeds and shells and a few crabs walking around. As I picked my rig off the bottom a small flounder that had blended in perfectly with the bottom attacked the jig. Removed the hook and dropped it back in. We watched as the flounder just glided around in a big circle and slid right back into the indent where I had hooked it. Just for giggles I dropped my rig back down and the flounder struck again. We were amazed that this fish

didn't seem spooked or feeling pain and was ready to strike again so fast. Release and it slid right back into it's comfy little indent. Tried again but nothing until my buddy who had a different color jig dropped down and it struck again. Had a feeling we could have kept this up but the weakies arrived and we lost interest with the flounder. 

 

With this same buddy we really found out just how little pain or fear a fish feels from the hook. Back in the day when stripers were thick we were fishing the Cape May Rips. I was running the motor to hold our 21 foot CC above the rip so that our lines drifted back into the rip where the stripers feed. My friend and I were using the same rig with a one ounce weight and a small live ell. We had another guy with us who just wouldn't listen and he was using five ounces with the biggest eel he could find. Our line would bounce along the bottom until they were in the rip while his was just about anchored where he tossed it. After a while I had my three fish and my tackle was put away. My friend had two and trying for his third while the knucklehead had nothing. He kept crying about bad luck, wrong side of the boat and he is cursed when I told him to just reel in. Cut his rig off and put one of ours on with a nice small eel. He tossed it back and this one bounced right into the rip. There was no wind and except for the rip the water was like glass. I had my hand on the wheel with the motor in idle as I was facing my two friends and watching. My buddy had his third strike and hooked up while the other guy just complained louder. The striper that turned out to be a nice 42 incher was in this battle for about forty five seconds when it just turned and ran across the rip when the complainer finally hooked up. After about a minute I broke up laughing and they were annoyed at me and wanted to know what was so funny. I could see their lines were crossed and figured the striper had just swam over and picked up the other line and could only imagine how much he would complain when he found out they were tangled. We were all amazed that when I slid the striper into the net we found both hooks all the way down it's throat. In the middle of the fight for it's life this striper with a hook down it's throat saw another meal and gobbled it down.

 

If you loose a big fish don't give up. More than likely it's still there looking for another meal to make up for the one that got away. Move back up and make a few more drifts or casts. That big fish is waiting.  

   

 

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Quite a fish story there. Backed up by numerous first hand accounts. Who'd a thought fish were such gluttons. Actually they are, having caught a few stripers myself with three or more  full size macs or pogies fresh in their belly now sporting an SP in the lip.

 

Nice story, thanks for sharing. Good winter reading during this cold spell which has even managed to bring temps in SW Florida to upper 50's . Slowing the bite. 

Edited by Livliner

(*member formerly known as 'garycunn)'

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58 mins ago, DoorGunner said:

So nice to have someone like you around.  

 

Sorry friend, don't want you to sound any less intelligent than you are, especially in a professional setting. I'm sure people enjoy your writing very much, it's somewhat important though that an integral part of your title and story be properly interpreted. I love "loose" fish, to lose a fish though, not as happy. Anyway, I'm not the grammar police, I barely can speak the language myself. I'll shut up now! :shrug:

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."  

~Henry David Thoreau
(member formerly known as MV Bluefish)

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No problem but you had me wondering. The other week on a thread asking about fishing shows and seminars I posted that I was giving a seminar at the Ocean City Fishing Flea Market this Saturday. You posted asking me to be more specific like my name, topic and time because from my post you said that what you understood was some random guy thinking about shooting up some doorway. Couldn't figure out how anyone could get that from my post. 

I was a writer and my spelling wasn't always spot on especially when typing but thats why they had editors. 

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