Dear Gampy,
Oh, how I wish you had been there.
I woke around 6:30 and instinctively checked the fishing conditions and tides on my phone. I’m really not sure why. I haven’t checked it the entire trip. And we like a morning with the girls, enjoying the view and thinking about the day’s activities.
Conditions were perfect according to the link that popped up, so I headed out to the fishing shed and put a blue Rapala lure on one of your rods. I went to work on the rocks facing southwest and immediately had a strike on my second cast. Wow! There are fish here. A few casts later I was hooked up and watched twenty fish on the surface around the one I had on! Tons of fish!
A few minutes later I was hooked into a monster taking line and fishing all directions except home. I saw him go left into the rocks. I had to land this beast but didn’t think the odds great. So in my jeans and your fishing jacket (a hall-closet special), I went down into the water and started tiring him out and trying not to break the line. One big wave brought him all the way in. Okay, there’s a chance!
Then like millions of waves before, it sucked him right back out. He peeled more line. I thought this was a goner. I kept fishing him, trying to stay calm. He grew tired and I was able to get into the seaweed-laden rocks, now up to my knees in water. Don’t fall!
I landed the beast by barrel-hugging him with one arm. His gut was so big I didn’t think he’d last long sitting on his side. I was right. I tried to mouth him and was successful quickly. Now get out of the water with everything but don’t slip. Three treble hooks can do some serious damage. I got up to semi-dry rock and went to work on releasing the lure. Heart pounding, sweat dripping down my sunglasses, it was an epic battle that I thought you’d appreciate.
Your son snapped a quick photo from the house—doesn’t do the fish justice, but the memory will always live large in my mind. I thoroughly enjoyed cleanly releasing that keeper into the seaweed to catch his breath and recover, then eventually head out into the ocean.
The best fishing in Maine has been and will always be Walker’s Point.
Love,
Hank