I took a long paddling trip from City Island to Execution Rock lighthouse and found perfect conditions - little wind, no traffic and a good amount of bait fish.
I was kind just really "in tune" with everything but I was still fishing and catching small striped bass when I saw a big school of bait fish behaving like they were stressed out... Interesting... so I decided to try my chance and BAM... my line stopped for a moment... the fish was barely moving... and then my drag screamed... wow! I was standing up and decided to go for the ride...
As minutes passed I was almost sure that it was a big Bluefish... and was so happy to see a big "striper" coming up!
Only problem, the fish inhaled the hooks and was pretty badly hooked so I decided to keep it (I usually keep 2-3 fish a year, for conservation purpose but also because it is very awkward to first have a SUP in the street of NYC AND a big huge fish that takes hours to clean, cut and filet )
This is not a monster but at 43 inches and 22 pounds it is a big fish on my book.
I wish I had a Go Pro camera because for an hour or so it was amazing to see these bait fish getting crushed by big striped bass - caught two other big ones but they were safely released to live, spawn and caught another day!
Tight lines to all of you Stand Up Paddle anglers!
