When I was just a young lad, my cousin, my friend and I took a clam boat out into the ocean outside of FI Inlet to chum for bluefish – this was the late 70’s and Jaws mania was running rampant. We were barely teenagers and I’m sure our parents would have flipped out if they knew we were out in the ocean fishing on a 20’ clam boat.
Anyway, we were chumming and not doing anything but really enjoying ourselves because we were in the ocean for the first time on our own. As the day wore on, we spotted a pair of fins 100 yds away. We studied the fins which were about 15’ apart and determined that is was a very large shark and we were seeing the dorsal and tail fins. The glory of catching a giant shake got the better of us so we devised a plan (Frank Mundus beware). Scrambling, we put together a rig which consisted of 3 whole bunker impaled with several bluefish hooks on wire leader and one common snap swivel. To the snap swivel, we tied 4 bluefish rods (there were only 3 of us, so I don’t know who was going to take the 4th rod). With much trepidation and excitement, we started the engine and headed for the fins which were in approximately the same spot. As we approached, the excitement grew so we readied ourselves and our giant shark rig and talked about being hero shark hunter kids. We finally got to our “Giant Shark” and with our Giant Shark rig in hand, we prepared to toss our contraption to the hungry shark. Much to our relief, our “Giant Shark” turned out to be a pair of Ocean Sun fish bobbing lazily on the surface. What a let down, but also what a great relief!!!! So we decided to jump over the side and swim with the Sun Fish, a very cool experience.
Anyone have any experiences when they were kids?
Anyway, we were chumming and not doing anything but really enjoying ourselves because we were in the ocean for the first time on our own. As the day wore on, we spotted a pair of fins 100 yds away. We studied the fins which were about 15’ apart and determined that is was a very large shark and we were seeing the dorsal and tail fins. The glory of catching a giant shake got the better of us so we devised a plan (Frank Mundus beware). Scrambling, we put together a rig which consisted of 3 whole bunker impaled with several bluefish hooks on wire leader and one common snap swivel. To the snap swivel, we tied 4 bluefish rods (there were only 3 of us, so I don’t know who was going to take the 4th rod). With much trepidation and excitement, we started the engine and headed for the fins which were in approximately the same spot. As we approached, the excitement grew so we readied ourselves and our giant shark rig and talked about being hero shark hunter kids. We finally got to our “Giant Shark” and with our Giant Shark rig in hand, we prepared to toss our contraption to the hungry shark. Much to our relief, our “Giant Shark” turned out to be a pair of Ocean Sun fish bobbing lazily on the surface. What a let down, but also what a great relief!!!! So we decided to jump over the side and swim with the Sun Fish, a very cool experience.
Anyone have any experiences when they were kids?
