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Well, its the middle of February, and as usual this time of year,
I’m busy organizing tackle and going through last season’s leftovers.
While emptying my fifth tackle box I discovered 8 brand new, shiny
snagging hooks for pogeys (menhaden). As a rule I always made it a habit
to keep some in the arsenal - just in case. While inspecting these hooks
for corrosion or whatever, I couldn't help but remember a time, some years
ago, but not that far away, when my dad introduced me to his friend Ray Hamilton.
Ray is a quiet gentlemen with an endless knowledge of fishing,
especially with live pogies. A few
months had passed and Ray had taught me how to find ‘em, snag ‘em,
keep ‘em alive and how to feed ‘em to huge bass live.
On this particular trip we launched Ray’s 17 foot Manatee at Striper
Marina in Barrington. The sun was just peeping out, and the air was filled
with Ray’s pipe smoke. The morning just had that feeling about it.
We immediately headed north in search of some live bait. Ray would always
slow down when we came to Narragansett Parkway, giving it an extra hard
look. He would often tell me the story of the pogey boat that got stuck in
the mud loading his huge load of bait on board at low tide.
As we headed further north, once again the boat slowed, and Ray
pointed to a tiny ring in the water, almost as if a mosquito had just landed.
And as usual, unknowing to me, Ray had found our first school of pogeys.
He has an amazing way of seeing the smallest tail flip. He would also
look back in the boat’s wake to see if it was causing any to show.
Before I hooked my third, Ray would have ten fish swimming in the
well. The tank itself could hold around 30 on a good day. Any more would
suffocate the whole bunch. It was tough to leave the school at times, especially
when you were sitting in a 1/2 acre of them, but we new any more would kill
the bunch. On this particular day we filled up quick. Some days it would
take until 9 am.
As we headed to the fishing spot I would put the snagging rods
away and get out the fiberglass wands. The setups were 7' Lamiglass or Harnell
rods, Penn Squidders loaded with Ande 40, and a 4/0 treble hook tied direct.
I also had to make sure the baits were swimming and remember to stay calm,
that was the tough part.
As we arrived at the spot, Ray would shut down the pump and we
would be ever so quiet due to the fact the spot was only in around 8 feet
of water. The only rule I had to follow was the “no spot rule”, but we'll
save that for another story.
The pogeys were hooked in the nose right through the hard spot
near the nostrils. One would get flipped out and one towards shore. We always
manned our rods because the bait would swim pretty much everywhere you
didn't want it to. So dancing around the boat was common.
There seemed to be 3 kinds of hits. First, there would be a definite
excitement on the end of the rod, followed by a huge boil or massive tail
or fin coming out of the water. Then a nice strong steady run. Second, would
be several short runs. Usually this indicated small fish. And third, the
quick chomp-chomp, followed by a screaming run and a miss by Mr. Bluefish.
About 15 minutes after our arrival, Ray had the first run. It
was a fast, strong run, and minutes later, a 28 pound bass lay at our feet.
My hit was next, a steady run followed by chomp. As I looked down at my
twitching half-pogey, a bass came by and finished that blue’s dinner. Another
nice one boated!
As the morning went on the fishing got better and better. It was
one of those days you could loose count.
Ray taught me a great trick that day, which was to flip the bait
way up and let it smack the water! This stunned the fish and they seemed
to get whacked within seconds every time.
Unfortunately, that was 12 years ago, but I’m sure if we keep doing
our part, the pogeys will come back, and I look foreword to that day.
I look forward to heading north on a June morning and seeing schools of
bait flipping under the morning sun. I look forward to livelining with
my friend Ray again. And I look forward to getting some scales on these
dam shiny snaggers.
Good luck in all that you pursue. Well, back to the tackle mess.
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