Two keepers

[Dave]

Made it down to Cape May with Dante in tow from Saturday afternoon to Sunday.  Not a lot of action.  Dante out fished me and picked up the only two legal fish between us.  The striper was about 8 -1/2 lbs and almost 29" while the flounder was just over 18" and VERY tasty!  I was only good for one short striper and fished my ass off for it.  On sudsy we motored out about 10 miles into the Delaware Bay to try for some drum fish as that bite was supposed to be hot.  You have a good shot at catching fish up to 60 pounds, but we just got beat up as the winds were a little too much for my friends 18' Scout.
Here is his striper
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And here are both fish back at the dock.
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[FinsnFur]

Boy those Flounders are some creepy lookin critters.
Looks like you guys got the perfect weather for it too.
Way to go Dante...remember to take it easy on ol Dad 

[WldWldWest]

Love me some Stripers! Soak the fillets in Mello Yellow for about an hour pat em dry and batter em and fry em taste like big ole Crappie!

Congrats to the Young man and to you for taking him!

[HaMeR]

Nice fish you got there Dante!!     


At least you were out teaching Dante something Dave!! It may have been what not to do but it's still a lesson right?? 


Seriously tho I'm glad you guys got out for a couple days & had a lot of fun. Catching is secondary to the whole event. Well done Dave!! Your children are very lucky to have the influences they have.

[Hawks Feather]

Dave,

Just keep taking him out with you and in time you will learn to fish like he does.  That would be called CATCHING FISH.   

Jerry

[HuntnCarve]

Way to go Dante!  Just keep showing the rest of them how to do it.

Dave

[Okanagan]

WTG!  I am envious.  I want to fish for a striper some day.

We have starry flounders in our coastal waters, especially near where Code lives.  They are about the size of the one in the pic but they have black stripes radiating out on the white under side.    I stabbed one with a screw driver while diving for clams one time.

[Dave]

  I stabbed one with a screw driver while diving for clams one time.

That's next on the list, Okanagan, diving.   Really just snorkeling - not diving, but we'll have spears of some sort looking for some flounder!  I gotta find another thing to do since he's better than me now. 

[Okanagan]

Go for it!  The quickest way to the most fun is probably a snorkel rather than all of the expense and training required for scuba.  All of my serious diving was free diving, snorkel without compressed air.  When you strap on a tank you strap on several additional ways to kill yourself besides merely drowning, though with training it is plenty safe. 

I mostly dived for lobster and halibut and then when my older son got to his teens we had a blast diving a river though we didn't live by the coast by then.  All snorkel.  Besides the lobster and halibut I got flounder, many kinds of fish, white sea bass, crabs and we discovered that diving for clams at high tide was so easy compared to digging them at low tide that I could sometimes pick up a limit of ten clams on two breathes of air.  Freshwater pearls, lost gear from flipped canoes...   Go for it! 

[Dave]

Go for it!  The quickest way to the most fun is probably a snorkel rather than all of the expense and training required for scuba. 

I did get certified back in the early 80's but had issues with my sinuses and never spent the $ for all the equipment.  I can go down to about 8 feet without the pressure in my sinuses, but then have to ease down and work on clearing beyond that.  With that, though, there are plenty of fish to be shot in six to eight feet of water.   

I mostly dived for lobster and halibut and then when my older son got to his teens we had a blast diving a river though we didn't live by the coast by then.  All snorkel.  Besides the lobster and halibut I got flounder, many kinds of fish, white sea bass, crabs and we discovered that diving for clams at high tide was so easy compared to digging them at low tide that I could sometimes pick up a limit of ten clams on two breathes of air.  Freshwater pearls, lost gear from flipped canoes...   Go for it! 

If you have any pics from those days of halibut and lobstering, I'd love to see them. How big where the halibut you two shot?   The freshwater pearls and gear sounds like it's right down my alley, too.  I love finding things!

[Okanagan]

Been down visiting grandkids and just got around to a reply.

All of my halibut and lobster diving was pre-digital.  I'd have to find some photos buried in storage and take a digital photo of them.  This was in Southern California and the halibut are a subspecies of California halibut, not nearly as big as Pacific halibut.  I think the State record was 63 lbs and the biggest one I ever saw in person was 48 lbs.  Mine were under 25 lbs but I got a limit of five my best day with a spear gun.  They are flatter, wider and thinner proportionately than Pacific halibut, but look very similar.  When we moved north I always wanted to dive for the big ones on the WA coast but never got a chance to do so.    Small regret.  I had the gear and gun to go for a 100 pounder or considerably bigger.

Those are spiny lobster and my best one was 13 1/2 lbs.  Big bug.  I've seen them close to 25 lbs. but the majority were 1- 1 1/2 lbs.

Freshwater pearls were in the Columbia River but none of them were much to look at.  My Dad had a beautiful odd shaped pearl but mine were all very small or really ugly color.   There is a fair amount of gear on the bottom of lakes that people have dropped.  In rivers where people canoe, it is fun to dive a spot where canoes dump over frequently!  You and Dante will have a lot of fun.

[Dave]

  There is a fair amount of gear on the bottom of lakes that people have dropped.  In rivers where people canoe, it is fun to dive a spot where canoes dump over frequently!  You and Dante will have a lot of fun.

Hey Okanagan, I thought what a great idea and will need to try diving for some free gear someday.  Unfortunately I find myself at the other end of this equation.  I dropped off Dante and his cousin with a canoe in the upper Delaware River Friday for a weekend run of about 50 miles where his cousin left his vehicle.  Friday night delivered a fair amount of rain and the river level increased 4 feet.  They had about 4 sets of rapids they had to go through and got swamped and flipped the canoe (I was scared shitless when I was reading the USGS water gauge levels the next morning).  Anyway, there were several people in rafts that assisted them after they capsized and they only lost their rods and a tupperware box of cooking gear.  One of the rods was a nice Loomis GL-2. 

Anyway, it made me think of your above comments.  I'm just thankful that the boys are OK, but am worried about their mental health after their decisions to continue in a swollen river!

[FinsnFur]

That could have turned into a whole different type of diving excursion, and I'm pretty happy is didnt. 

[Dave]

That could have turned into a whole different type of diving excursion, and I'm pretty happy is didnt. 

Did I mention the shitless thing.   
They both promised to wear their PFD's the whole time, and I thought just a few thunderstorms wouldn't effect the river levels like they did. 
They learned a valuable lesson (as did I).