This was the scene from Boston's historic North End on Saturday morning. Unreal. To set the stage, I had tee ball with one of my kiddos at the field next to the bocce courts on the water. My wife and two kiddos were going to walk over the bridge from Chucktown and I was going to duck out to hit the gym (I am surprised as well). The thing was, I knew the herring were in thick - and some of the old regulars had started to line up the North End bridge. I decided to grab my rod, put on a new Yozuri minnow and decided to bag the gym. A decision that would change the fate of many people in the city of Boston that day.
We walked on the new walk way by the new Converse headquarters and started to see thousands of herring - literally moving the water all around the State Police docks. I threw a few casts as my wife rolled her eyes since we were late, she was embarrassed her husband was carrying a rod on a crowded Sat am, and her confidence in my fishing was pretty much non existent. Every other cast I would be bouncing off the herring but no bass. My wife and youngest bailed to make tee ball while me and my 6 year old kept walking along the water, now just past the ice rink. Out in the open harbor I would cast into giant schools of herring and they would scatter everywhere. Then it happened.
A monster hit caught me off guard (no one within 495 expected me to actually catch something). As soon as it hit, 3 or 4 good size bass all smashed the surface with herring jumping everywhere. My six year old went bananas screaming. I had to tighten the drag a few times and still couldn't believe I was hooked up (my buddy who was stuck at tee ball like the real parent he is - said he was watching and assumed I was snagged on the bottom the way the rod was bent). A few people running and biking by had now stopped, and as the fish got closer I realized it was a good fish, and I had the 8 foot wall to deal with. My six year old was a little too spastic so I grabbed a random 12 year old on a sweet BMX bike and gave him the rod as I climbed over and reached down to grab the leader. Luckily the fish had hooked itself on the back as well and I was able to pull it up and over. The crowd exploded.
It was a good fish - over 32 inches and had a belly. I should have thrown it in the stroller and kept it, but after flexing for some pics with tourists, I let the fish go. And I knew it was on.
My six year old ran to tee ball to tell everyone - including Dennis Seidenberg - of my conquest. I strutted over, thought about taking my shirt off, tried to ride the high and make a public move on my wife, got shot down immediately and went back to fishing. I started walking towards the basketball court by the playground, casting on the way. Herring everywhere, but some good bass mixed in. Started catching some good schoolies, letting kiddos reel them in as their grandmothers took pictures and the wives sized me up. I can't be sure, but I feel like AC/DC Thunderstruck was playing in the background - or just in my head.
A few times I snagged herring, and would let them go back out as bass would come up and take shots at them. And there were a few really big boys in the mix following in - surprisingly big for this time of year. Eventually, the dream - and tee-ball - had to end. Ended up catching 8 bass, and 2 keepers, in under an hour, on a gorgeous day, with a crowd, including pretty much the entire Boston Bruins organization, and made North End history.
Once my wife was able to make her way through the crowd and the malicious stares of the other women, we had to hit Hanover for some errands - where I proudly walked down the street like Travolta in Staying Alive. Have had some luck in the North End in the past, but nothing like this. I'll be back out there soon enough, at night under the lights of the bocce courts, and listening to the old Italian men, the hoochies heading to the bars, and the tatted up bros whispering about the fishing frenzy they all heard about, and wondering if I really am him.
Headhunt baby. It's everywhere.
We walked on the new walk way by the new Converse headquarters and started to see thousands of herring - literally moving the water all around the State Police docks. I threw a few casts as my wife rolled her eyes since we were late, she was embarrassed her husband was carrying a rod on a crowded Sat am, and her confidence in my fishing was pretty much non existent. Every other cast I would be bouncing off the herring but no bass. My wife and youngest bailed to make tee ball while me and my 6 year old kept walking along the water, now just past the ice rink. Out in the open harbor I would cast into giant schools of herring and they would scatter everywhere. Then it happened.
A monster hit caught me off guard (no one within 495 expected me to actually catch something). As soon as it hit, 3 or 4 good size bass all smashed the surface with herring jumping everywhere. My six year old went bananas screaming. I had to tighten the drag a few times and still couldn't believe I was hooked up (my buddy who was stuck at tee ball like the real parent he is - said he was watching and assumed I was snagged on the bottom the way the rod was bent). A few people running and biking by had now stopped, and as the fish got closer I realized it was a good fish, and I had the 8 foot wall to deal with. My six year old was a little too spastic so I grabbed a random 12 year old on a sweet BMX bike and gave him the rod as I climbed over and reached down to grab the leader. Luckily the fish had hooked itself on the back as well and I was able to pull it up and over. The crowd exploded.
It was a good fish - over 32 inches and had a belly. I should have thrown it in the stroller and kept it, but after flexing for some pics with tourists, I let the fish go. And I knew it was on.
My six year old ran to tee ball to tell everyone - including Dennis Seidenberg - of my conquest. I strutted over, thought about taking my shirt off, tried to ride the high and make a public move on my wife, got shot down immediately and went back to fishing. I started walking towards the basketball court by the playground, casting on the way. Herring everywhere, but some good bass mixed in. Started catching some good schoolies, letting kiddos reel them in as their grandmothers took pictures and the wives sized me up. I can't be sure, but I feel like AC/DC Thunderstruck was playing in the background - or just in my head.
A few times I snagged herring, and would let them go back out as bass would come up and take shots at them. And there were a few really big boys in the mix following in - surprisingly big for this time of year. Eventually, the dream - and tee-ball - had to end. Ended up catching 8 bass, and 2 keepers, in under an hour, on a gorgeous day, with a crowd, including pretty much the entire Boston Bruins organization, and made North End history.
Once my wife was able to make her way through the crowd and the malicious stares of the other women, we had to hit Hanover for some errands - where I proudly walked down the street like Travolta in Staying Alive. Have had some luck in the North End in the past, but nothing like this. I'll be back out there soon enough, at night under the lights of the bocce courts, and listening to the old Italian men, the hoochies heading to the bars, and the tatted up bros whispering about the fishing frenzy they all heard about, and wondering if I really am him.
Headhunt baby. It's everywhere.