Yesterday at 5:30 PM Mass, during the special intenions, I asked God, among other things, to help me catch a lot of fish today.
God answered my prayer.
I got up to Dobbs Ferry around 4:15 or so. There was no one in my usual spot, so I had it all to myself. By 4:30, I had three lines in the water. I cast one to the left of the two poles you see in the above photograph. I cast one in the center between the two poles. I cast one to the right of the poles.
Yesterday, I bought a new Shimano reel at the Sports Authority at the Cross County Shopping Mall in Yonkers. I used an old rod I haven't used in years. Its reel broke.
I also made good use of my new folding camping chair which I recently purchased at the Sports Authority. For years, I had been using this old folding patio chair we had in the garage since the 1970s, but it finally broke.
The sun was bright in the sky. There was little or no wind. The water was calm. The tide was coming in.
For bait, I used fresh bunker, cut up fish, for all three lines. I used a two-once sinker for each and fished them off the bottom. I decided not to use nightcrawlers or bloodworms since they usually attract perch.
I didn't have a bite for about an hour. Then I hooked my first catfish. I reeled it in. I nearly lost it when the line broke. But I brought it by the rocks in very shallow water, so I reached down and picked it up. It measured 19 inches. The images of this monster are below. And to the water I returned it.
That catfish turned out to be the first of six I caught today, a personal record. One measured 17 inches. Another maybe 15. Two were smaller, no more than a foot each. I threw them all back.
Catfish typically feed on the bottom, so it's not surprising that I caught six of them. I also made good use of tide information. Had I got there earlier at low tide, I probably wouldn't have caught anything.
Four out of the six catfish I caught came from the right side in what seemed to be shallow water. As the tide comes in, fish venture closer to shore.
The other two fish I caught on the left side. The center line, which is usually my most reliable rod, didn't hook anything today. (It did get a few bites.) On the right and left rods, I used 12-pound test lines. The center one had a 14-pound test line. Maybe there's a connection. A thicker line is easier for the fish to see. (Way back when, I was trying to catch trout with a 14-pound test line in fresh water. Not very productive. For trout, I will use 4- or 6-pound test lines.)
I brought my pipe to pass the time. As I went to reel in my first catfish, I put my pipe down. It disappeared, but later I found it in a hole in the dock. It got all wet.
I passed the time perusing the Daily News and the New York Post. I was hoping to finish the Nobel Prize laureate Par Lagerkvist's classic novel, Barabbas (1950). By evening, I could hardly stay in my chair. I kept getting bites.
I did lose one big one. I almost had it, but the line broke.
I also succeeded in organizing my tackle box and throwing out some garbage and stuff I didn't need.
I gradually packed it in starting at 7:45. I put stuff back in my car. I stuffed the garbage into a big shopping bag. (An important rule of fishing is to always leave an area with everything you bring in.)
So today's total is six catfish. It was a great day for fishing.
Thank you, God.
