Fishing w/ Dad

[Scooper]

I took my Dad fishing on Saturday, conditions were perfect , left dock at 7:55, cleared Barnegat Inlet at 8:35, headed north, chatter on the radio indicated no bunker in the area and trolling was so-so, clams were OK, not great. I had intended to snag some bunker, but it looked like that was out of the question now. We had tried jigging w/ no luck. Since we had no clams and there was increase in the reports of Bass on the troll, we decided to troll...checked the tackle box and dropped two Mann's 25+ Stretch, 1 blue /silver and 1 black/gold and away we went. I've never trolled before, so I was experimenting... w/ Dad setting the lines and telling me when to speed or slow, we found 3.3 to 3.7 knots to be about right. Listened to a guy on radio state he he put 2 in the boat on a 3.7 knot troll w/ a Mann's in 37 ft, just 1 mile north of inlet. I look at my father and said, "That's where we are and that's what we are using, so we are doing everything right." . Then 20-30 minutes later I'm wondering out loud what it will sound like to get a hit while trolling, not 5 minutes later " Bang" reel is screaming, rod is bent (I'm addicted to that sound now!)... I was closest as I just stood up to look at something. We were scrambling around a bit, as it caught us off guard, but I managed it into the boat quickly. 42" ~30lbs... I decide to make the turn back south and troll toward inlet. We get everything reset and we're cruising for about 1/2 hour, Bang, same rod! My dad pulls in a 40" ~26lbs fish, his first "Big Striper"and into the box it goes. Dad is a little worn out, I look at the clock its about noon, we have about 1/2 tank and decide to head back in. After cleaning boat and fish, we were heading home by 2:15

what an awesome day... it was great to take dad fishing, he told me as we headed out that it wasn't important to catch fish, just being on the water w/ me was enough for him. Now I'm more motivated, since he was the one who first taught me to trout fish all those years ago, I can't tell you how happy I was to return the favor 30 years later and get him on some nice big fish. I know these trips will become fewer and farther in between, so I am cherishing these moments as long as I can...

BTW- Mann's Blue/ Silver 25+ Stretch was the preferred target, 37' feet of water.

All the best~
Steve