Trophy Striper

With heavy storms headed our way Captain Hank was hoping to catch a limit of fish and get off the bay before the weather turned bad. Season had just opened the previous day with many fishermen disappointed with their catch or rather lack thereof. Hank knew where a slug of migrating stripers were hanging out and cruised there before putting out the trolling lines. Although his sonar showed that we were over fish most of the morning the bite was sporadic. We were one fish short of a limit when the time came to pull lines and head for the marina. The best fish of the day was a nice fat 39” which put my 36”er in second place for the day.

Captain Hank is not your usual bay captain. If a customer just wants to catch fish Hank was glad to oblige and if your purpose was to learn to catch fish Hank would take the time to show you the tricks of the trade so that you could return on your own boat and fish successfully. Not only did he teach lure presentation and rigging but he would also pass along boat handling tips that made trolling many rods without nightmare tangles easy. At times, when I was unsuccessfully fishing; a short radio call or a jingle on the cell phone from Hank would direct me to where the fish were holding on that particular day. Of course the favor was returned if we happened to find fish on a day that Hank was struggling to fill his parties limit.

Some charter captains feel the fish are theirs and do not want the private boats to catch. Once I was nearly ran over by a charter out of Chesapeake Beach named “Why Knot” while I was working a small school of fish. When I mentioned this incident to Hank later he was quick to share his unprintable opinion of this particular captain. The first few years I chartered with Hank, my objective was to learn, but the later trips were to spend a pleasant day on the Chesapeake with a good man and a master fisherman.