Personal Best Striper
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Almost did not go out last night, but thankfully the water was clear and the rain held off (and Jay Malyon talked me into it).
This is only my *second* striper of the year. It has been a terrible year. But I guess this makes up for it a little bit, because this was my personal best (on the fly) at 17 lbs on the boga. It had a frame for a 14 or 15 lb fish but the water has been so high, I think they’ve been cruising around unmolested crashing bait. It was flabby!
We released her alive.
Just to show you the importance of perspective in photography, this is the same fish!
We also made a movie, however, so you can judge for yourselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87VoyP0Xaa8
Thanks a ton to Jay Malyon for making me go and then working the equipment.
Nice beast Zach!!
Very seldom do we see them that big in the Chesapeake.Can you give me a little insight into how you guys fish your “spot”?
Night fishing always keeps things exciting, with things likes beavers slapping their tail right next to the boat or moccasins dropping in for a visit.Great fish Zach. That 3rd photo is hilarious – the fish looks like it lost about 10lbs in that shot. Like you said, it’s a perfect example of how the shot composition and perspective influence a shot, especially when shooting wide-angle (I’m assuming you were shooting your 12-24mm…).
Awesome fish, especially after what sounds like a tough year thus far. Great photos too.
Tim –
Dude, totally. I was shooting the 12-24, on my D600 body, and I think that shot was actually right at 18mm, which is as wide as I can go with that DX lens on my FX body (and I am just happy to be able to get that).
So there’s obviously a significant foreshortening effect going on and the fish is well out of the center of the image circle (the pic above is cropped). That said, it was a pretty short fish for its weight. I boga-gripped it and I am 100% confident in its 17 pounds, but that shot looks like a mere 5 lber.
Mark – this is a river run fish and we were fishing in the evening. I would love–love!–to try lighted night fishing on this water but it is technically illegal to fish out there after dark as it is a National River running through a major city and they try to keep the bums out. Functionally the real problem would be that they lock the gates on us, and the best hole to try lighted night fishing is at the base of a very steep hill that I wouldn’t want to have to climb with my canoe, even with my wheels. But dude, that would definitely be effective.
In point of fact this fish came off of the front of a rock shelf in a spot where basically no one but me fishes. I’ve told people about it before but it looks so unpromising that no one ever really gives it more than a quick toss. And yet I’ve caught over a dozen stripers off this one lie. Last year I shot an article for American Angler magazine on Spey fishing for striped bass (super fun by the way when the fish are here in numbers). I caught six fish in six trips off the same spot I caught this one. Jay’s seen it now so I guess I’ll have company going forward, but it was good while it lasted. 🙂 It’s very hard to get your own private Idaho on any river with as much traffic as this one.
Zach
PS You guys see the black tape on my pinkie finger? I asked Jay to toss me a beer and somehow I managed to cut the hell out of my hand on the top rim when I caught it. Duck tape was all we had for a bandaid. I was actually bleeding pretty good while I was fighting that fish.
So much for the “anti Grip n Grin” policy around here.
No crap and we’re not the only ones complaining now:
http://news.yahoo.com/atlanta-ever-seen-much-rain-163600361.html
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