On The Road...

“So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, and all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all the rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty.”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Silent Delirium

Stalking Rising Striped Bass

Its been a frustrating week with long nights listening to bass tail slapping along the banks and watching them rise and swirl all up and down the canal. I can literally see the stripers and cast to them but they want nothing to do with what I have on. I have experienced this scenario before when there is an over abundance of natural bait fish in the water the striped bass get so keyed in on one thing that they will not feed on anything else. I am in fishing purgatory and beginning to slowly lose my mind. I know there are bass here but I can't seem to figure it out.

Day five and I am sweating profusely in this humid marsh while for the last three hours ravenous mosquitoes feed on my sweet blood. My insect repellent seems to have little affect on these tenacious creatures. My retrieve speed goes something like; reel, reel, reel, pause to kill mosquito, reel, reel.  I continue the steady rhythm of casting deep up current and waiting for my lure to swing along the bank. My senses are heightened in this deafening quite and pitch black night when my lure gets slammed and stops dead in the water. At night these bass hit so hard it literally sends a jolt into your body as if you where hit by lightning. My striped bass slips into the middle of the canal and drag rips out as the bass takes advantage of the fast moving current. If I can't turn the fish on this first big run its going to snap me off on the pilings under the bridge. I jump down from some rocks and move up the bank to get a better angle to fight from. Its swimming right towards me now with its huge mouth wide open like a giant wind sock. I finally get my first view of this beautiful bass under the bridges red lights as it rolls and tails slaps water in the shallows. I have established what works and have my go to "confidence" lure. Its game on for the next few nights…
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Lewes, Delaware {est. 1631, First Town in First State}
Striped Bass 28" - Except 20" to 26" from July 1 thru August 31 in Delaware River, Bay and their tributaries. Daily Limit - 2

*Most of the Striped Bass we have been getting have been in the 18"  to 24" range. We got three legal slot fish and I landed one striper that was too big for the slot at 27 1/2"

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AFTERMATH: Eight Months After Hurricane Sandy

Aged Driftwood Bass

Phase One : : Cut, Carve and Distress
I cut the bass silhouette out of 3/4" Pine with a jig saw. I used a variety of rasps and sandpaper to clean up and smooth out the form. To distress the wood I grabbed a selection of different screws, nails, bolts, and drill bits and using a hammer punched them into the wood. I experimented with the look and feel on a scrap piece of wood first.

Phase Two : : Driftwood DIY Stain
Cabot's makes a Bleaching Oil that creates the effect I want but you can only buy it in gallons and it is $42. So to get the beautiful aged silver gray you see on wood that has been exposed to the elements for years I created a little science experiment. One piece of 0000 steel wool, glass mason jar, rusty nails extracted from my old fence and white distilled vinegar.  Take the steel wool and rip it in small pieces, put it in the jar with the rusty nails and pour the vinegar in until the jar is half full.  Between 24 and 48 hours most of the steel wool will be dissolved.  Occasionally I stirred the nails and steel wool around to help speed up the process.

Phase Three : : Stain Application
To start I took some black tea that I brewed and painted the entire piece of wood. Let it completely dry for a day. Then I just brushed my concoction on and as soon as the vinegar touched the wood, it started to change.  I guess the steel wool reacts with the vinegar and when this is put on wood, it speeds up the natural oxidation process. Last I lightly sanded the wood in different spots to give it more of an uneven "molted" look. 

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