Today, on this Holy Thursday, I went up to Five Islands Park in New Rochelle, where I failed to catch a single fish in four previous attempts. Although it's been a chilly Holy Week, it was a little warmer today. I left my jacket at home, which turned out to be a mistake. Why did go back to an area where I have had absolutely no luck? I was eager to try blood worms.
I got one frozen bunker and two dozen blood worms at Jack's. As I walked to area, I immediately picked up the strong wind. There were three teenagers on the dock, so I started fishing nearby in shallow water.
The sun was out. The tide was going out. It was quite windy. Certainly, these aren't the fishing conditions I look forward to.
The teens eventually left, and I moved to the dock. By 1:45 or so, I had three lines in the water, all with blood worms.
After one strong wind gust (which lead me to conclude that I wouldn't catch anything and going fishing today might have been a mistake), I asked St. Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, for help. He soon delivered.
I was sitting in my chair and catching up with my novenas for the day when I had action on one of my lines. I got up, reeled it in little, and noticed the line moving away from shore. I began to reel it in and felt something sizable on the line. I got it to the dock, reached down into the water, and carefully pulled out a big striped bass.
I was ecstatic! I finally caught something in Five Islands Park, and I caught something big today. The striper measured about 20 inches. I unhooked him, thanked St. Peter for his intercession, and released the fish back into the water.
Much later, I reeled in one line to check it. I noticed I had something, but it wasn't a fish. Was it garbage or perhaps a crab? It turned to be four or five mussel shells stuck together. A couple were empty, and the rest were closed. It took a little effort to pry my hook loose. I threw the shells back.
I eventually attached a piece of thawed-out bunker to one line and placed fresh bloodworms on the other two. Unfortunately, I didn't have anymore bites. The tide was going out. The wind got stronger. The temperature also dropped noticeably.
Thinking I had a great day fishing, I packed up my gear around 4:30. I dumped the bunker in the water. I don't know why, but I didn't dump the worms in the water, as I usually do. I was planning to throw them in the garbage. As I was leaving, I noticed two kids with fishing poles making theie way to the dock. I told them about the striper I caught. I also gave them the rest of my blood worms. They were grateful since they had only lures and no live bait.
Today's success established my faith that this area can be good for fishing. I had been losing hope in it. We'll see what happens in the next few months.
