Kathy's Fish...
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
Last Thursday, the 9th of July, I took Steve and Kathy Winiecki out for a half day trip. All they needed was one striped bass and maybe a few small bluefish for a dinner party they were going to have the next evening. Steve had been fishing in Florida once before a while ago and Kathy had never been sport fishing at all. It was going to be a new experience for both of them.
We left Rock Harbor and headed right for the north edge of Billingsgate Shoals. I was going to start fishing as soon as I got to 50 feet of water. My plan was to use the umbrella rigs with some weight to get them down to where the fish were. When I got out there my fish-finder indicated the fish were holding at 35 feet so out went the 200 foot wire with the weighted rigs. It didn't take long before Steve had landed a nice 32 inch bass. Shortly after that Kathy hooked up and brought in 2 small bluefish on her rig. For the next couple of hours the couple landed a few more bass which were under size and a number of bluefish which were all released.
Just before we were going to head for the harbor both rods went off. They both acted as if they had small bluefish on them. Suddenly Kathy started squealing as if she was having some sort of trouble. The mate, Pete, yelled out we have something on screaming out line. After a few moments Kathy had the fish under control. A few minutes later her fish came over the rail. Now she will have much more bass than she needed for her party. She landed a nice 42 inch 27 pound striper.
