Bass playin and Bass Fishin!

[SallyGrowler]

This is my favorite time of year!

The striped bass migration has begun and it's time to wade out into the surf (or yak out) for some bruisers.



and don't forget about bluefish - usually show up in my area first week of May!




Headin to Miami in a few weeks to try to top my best:

[jordy_on_bass]

Nice fish!! We have bluefish here, although here they are called Tailor - due to their teeth being as sharp as a 'Tailor's scissors'. The smaller fish are known as chopper's. The little ones make a great live bait. Is that a permit in the bottom picture??

Over here, I am looking forward to the run of Yellowfin Tuna that comes through the winter months. Although the Marlin are still around, may have to tangle with one soon!!

[SallyGrowler]

Originally Posted by jordy_on_bass

Nice fish!! We have bluefish here, although here they are called Tailor - due to their teeth being as sharp as a 'Tailor's scissors'. The smaller fish are known as chopper's. The little ones make a great live bait. Is that a permit in the bottom picture??

Over here, I am looking forward to the run of Yellowfin Tuna that comes through the winter months. Although the Marlin are still around, may have to tangle with one soon!!

Big stinky blues: we get them avg around 15 lbs in spring - then they go offshore, come back big again in fall - the choppers -are usually under 5lbs. We liveline them for sharks, but they are good eatin. The little snapper-blues - fry em whole!

That is a Permit.. and a huge one at that! caught her while fishin for tarpon in Florida. I'll never top that Permit!

We lost an est. 700lb Marlin in Hawaii a two years ago.
My wife had redemption with a 170lb YFT on a greenstick!

[jordy_on_bass]

That is a beer keg with fins!!! Actually, more like a 44 gallon drum...

I hadn't done much gamefishing here in the past few years and have managed to get out and do some this year. Hearing reports of boats releasing up to six 500lb Blue Marlin in a day recently and it is really making me itch to get out there to try and get one on 50lb tackle.

Over here, the average sized Tailor/Bluefish is only around 12 inches long and are mostly an estuary/surf fish, although they do get up to around that 15lb mark in a few places. I think that although they are the same species, they are obviously a different biomass and their size reflects that. New Zealand's biomass of Striped Marlin are possibly the biggest in size in the world with fish rarely being under 200lb. If you get a 250lb Striped Marlin here in Australia, it is a horse of a fish!!!

[SallyGrowler]

250lbs of anything is a horse of a fish!

I am back on Marlin quest as my wife had a serious dose of Marlin fever!

Unfortunatley - pursuing Marlin in the US is very expensive. We make a point of doing one or two big vacations per year with the object being game fish.

Yes, I married the perfect girl.

[LongHairFreak]

Though I have on occasion pulled in stripers off the coast of Vermont/Mass, I'm more of an inland lake man. IMO, not much beats wetting line in a small(ish) lake surrounded by trees on a sunny early/mid spring morning.

Powering in something as large as my own child would certainly be a blast (and I'm looking forward to it, but as a norm, I much prefer the challenge of teasing in 5-10lbs on 4lb line.