The Red Bouy

When I was about five or six years old, my brother, my Dad and I would go out fishing right outside of the Chatham Lights in the ocean.  Usually we would catch 30 - 36 inch striped bass, blue fish and even the annoying sand shark.  I was probably only about four feet tall and little did I know that today was going to be my lucky day.

I began casting regularly into the water when all of a sudden I got a bite, and right after I set my hook.  The line on my reel began unravelling from the reel at a crazy speed.  After 20 minutes of hard arm-crunching labor, my dad grabbed the fish from the water on the side of the boat.  And then we measured it.  The fish was a whopping nine inches, 3' 3''.  So far in my striped bass fishing career, this is my biggest one yet and the third in my family ranks between my brother, my father, my sister and I.