# Assateague Fishing Report 05/18/2015 - Pics Inside



## TheOpportunist (Oct 18, 2014)

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If you’re not interested in the dramatic narrative, skip right to the pics .
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It was a beautiful sunny day at Assateague, lots of 4X4's and lots of line in the water but no action to be seen. Despite the picturesque scenery of AI, the all too familiar smell of skunk loomed upon us. I have made this 3.5-hour trip to AI many times in the pursuit of that illusive trophy catch only to pull skates, dogs and the occasional bluefish time after time. Despite the dismal track record, I didn't give up before and wasn't about to give up now.

I took out my two surf rods, baited one with cut bait and the other with live bait and made the best cast I can. Now it was the waiting game. Ten minutes pass, then thirty, then an hour and nothing, not a bite. I looked to my right and left hoping to see some sign of action by the many anglers lining up the surf but everyone was sitting quietly gazing at the horizon as if they've given up. Surely, if the dozens of anglers many of whom are seasoned fishermen are not getting any action what are my chances?! 

Before even finishing that thought, one of my rods made two big bows then the sound I had always fanaticized about; the baitrunner running like there’s no tomorrow. At this point I knew I had something, but was still haunted by the possibility of another dog or skate albeit a larger one. However, the tugs and runs of this thing were not like anything I’ve experienced before. The fact that it was running right and left and in all directions told me this was something different. It was heavy, strong and I feared my 20lb powerpro would not hold and I would lose the catch of a lifetime. I knew I must not muscle it and instead use the waves to my advantage. After three minutes of fighting and reeling I still could not see it, not even a splash. It took another minute or so for it to break surface, it was a big silvery splash. At that point I had a good idea of what it was. It was exactly 40” at 20lbs.


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

Very nice. Thanks for the report!


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## CaliYellowtail (Jul 28, 2014)

Great narrative. Nice report and great pics. Congrats!


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## TheOpportunist (Oct 18, 2014)

sand flea said:


> Very nice. Thanks for the report!





CaliYellowtail said:


> Great narrative. Nice report and great pics. Congrats!


Thanks. I actually got lucky twice that day. The first for actually getting the bite and the second is when I came to re-bait that rig and found that my shock leader along with the whole rig was gone. I back-tracked it through the sand and found it near the edge of the water. After inspection, I realized that my albright knot joining the shock leader to the main line had been undone. It seems to have held just long enough to get the fish within grabbing distance. Phew...if I had lost that cow due to a bad knot I would have been scarred for life .


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## whenican (Feb 21, 2013)

Nice catch!


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## ross (Sep 20, 2010)

Good Job !!!


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## Big Rad (May 19, 2003)

Great report


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## 1BadF350 (Jul 19, 2006)

THIS is exactly how reports should be written.....unless you get skunked...in which case nobody wants to read a detailed description of it.


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## Tracker01 (Apr 4, 2011)

Very nice. Great report.


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## Blue Heron (Jun 12, 2003)

Glad you're luck held out. Thanks for a great report.


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## TheOpportunist (Oct 18, 2014)

whenican said:


> Nice catch!





ross said:


> Good Job !!!





Big Rad said:


> Great report





1BadF350 said:


> THIS is exactly how reports should be written.....unless you get skunked...in which case nobody wants to read a detailed description of it.





Tracker01 said:


> Very nice. Great report.





Blue Heron said:


> Glad you're luck held out. Thanks for a great report.


Thanks .


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

Nice fish and thanks for the report.


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

TheOpportunist said:


> ...if I had lost that cow due to a bad knot I would have been scarred for life .


Great job and nice fish!

Like the saying goes: "The rod holds the reel, the reel holds the line, and the line (namely the knot) hold the fish"

Sandcrab


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## Rod Swinger (Oct 11, 2009)

Cool Story Bro!.... No ( t-shirt ) pun intended. I find myself saying the same things. unfortunately, I am still waiting on that glorious sound from my reel!! hopefully, this will be my year. I sound like a ******* fan saying that........Congrats!! Beautiful fish!!! Keep Fishing.. Side Note--- It was cool to read the story and the first pic you see was the wild horses!!! ROFLMAO. I thought, for a quick second, you caught one coming back from Virginia.


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## TheOpportunist (Oct 18, 2014)

Sandcrab said:


> Great job and nice fish!
> 
> Like the saying goes: "The rod holds the reel, the reel holds the line, and the line (namely the knot) hold the fish"
> 
> Sandcrab


Yep, lesson learned! Knots will be thoroughly inspected from now on...



Rod Swinger said:


> Cool Story Bro!.... No ( t-shirt ) pun intended. I find myself saying the same things. unfortunately, I am still waiting on that glorious sound from my reel!! hopefully, this will be my year. I sound like a ******* fan saying that........Congrats!! Beautiful fish!!! Keep Fishing.. Side Note--- It was cool to read the story and the first pic you see was the wild horses!!! ROFLMAO. I thought, for a quick second, you caught one coming back from Virginia.


Thanks. We had a horror story with the horses the night before. I was camping out at the state park with a few friends in a large tent, it was four of us. There was a storm and it was very windy so we had to use long ropes to tie the tent to the picnic tables to prevent it from being dislodged. Come early Sunday morning, we woke up to the loud raucous of our tent almost collapsing. It was being pulled hard from one side almost taking it down every time. We knew it wasn't the wind. One of my buddies peaked out one of the zippers and saw the leg of a large horse standing over the rope. It was dark so the horse did not see it which caused him to freak out and try to run with the tent. As if that wasn't bad enough, we looked out and saw a dozen or so more horses surrounding the tent looking spooked as if about to stampede the hell out of us hahaha. We immediately moved from the edges of the tent and cowered in our sleeping bags praying that the horse would free himself without causing a stampede. He eventually freed himself and the whole herd moved to our neighbors...good times .


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## Jamaican Fisher (Mar 28, 2004)

Great report and photos!


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## luvfishing (May 19, 2015)

That fish looks thin and spawned out. Regardless, Good job, report, and nice pictures.


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