Young Boy and the Sea

June 30, 2004 11:15 AM

Big Fish! 14 year old Bobby Capri Jr. catches a 52 pound striped bass in a kayak off the Atlantic City shore. But he's not the first kid to reel in a big fish. The adult world record for striped bass was also caught in New Jersey. So, who here has the best fish story?
posted by MsVader (20 comments total)

I tried to find the current junior world record, but was unsuccessful.

I'm just impressed that the kid actually had to get out of his boat and swim it to shore. Go Bobby!
posted by MsVader at 11:17 AM on June 30, 2004

So, who here has the best fish story?

Roy Schneider and I once caught a pretty decent-sized one.

Sincerely,
Richard Dreyfuss
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:29 AM on June 30, 2004

I'm curious to know what model of kayak the kid was using. If he's only 115 pounds, then the total weight should have been 155 pounds with the fish. I don't know of many ten-foot kayaks that can't handle that kind of weight, unless he had the thing sitting on the bow instead of near the cockpit where he was sitting.
posted by etoile at 11:38 AM on June 30, 2004

Mine was about

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------this big-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:42 AM on June 30, 2004

Why even run a story like this unless you have a photo?
posted by jpoulos at 11:45 AM on June 30, 2004

Kayak, pshaw.

When I was in Cuba, there was this old dude -- Santiago. Always he was going on about Africa and lions, all this crap. Dude spent all his time sleeping and talking about lions, not enough time fishing. Goes through this dry spell where he can't catch crap.

I mean, what do you expect -- the guy's a daydreamer. Anyways, he's got this little skiff and out he goes every day while meanwhile I'm drinking mojitos and watching the senoritas get prettier with each one. After a bunch of days of this, old Santiago comes back with this totally gnawed on marlin that he claims the sharks ate. Spends all this time pissing and moaning about it too.

What a loser.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:48 AM on June 30, 2004

I liked the time when I took scuba gear and strapped on a fake - merman tail at dusk.

Grabbed the line of the 5.5 year old and took it down. Fought him for 5 mins, then let my tail break the surface, then went under and let the line go.
posted by rough ashlar at 11:52 AM on June 30, 2004

I saw this on the news this morning. That was one big striper.

This post is worthwhile, if for no other reason, the stories within the threas. Humurous indeed.

Anyone ever see the white whale?
posted by a3matrix at 11:57 AM on June 30, 2004

My 6th grade teacher made the news big-time when he was on a fishing trip in the north country with his buddy and they pulled up a missing person.
posted by crazy finger at 12:05 PM on June 30, 2004

a3matrix -- strangely enough there was this guy at the bar in Cuba named Ish always went on and on about it. A pleasant enough drunk, but man was he a one-track record!
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:32 PM on June 30, 2004

Sounds like a dick.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:34 PM on June 30, 2004

I really hated the movie Big Fish. It was Tim Burton's Popeye (the Robert Altman version)
posted by mecran01 at 12:57 PM on June 30, 2004

Oh . . . I used to be the captain of my own cruise ship. It was the kind of boat folks rent for weddings, parties, you know, that kind of thing. But on the night in question it had been rented for a prom. Oh, the girls looked so lovely in their dresses, the boys such fine little gentlemen in their tuxedos. They were all drinking and dancing and spiking the punch. I was dizzy with delight when suddenly - my ship sank. We all went into the water. Then came Skoora, picking us off one by one by one by one. Till only I was left. And as he bore down on me, he paused as if to say, "What can I do? I'm a shark. I eat." And then he cut me in half, cut me right in half - my wife measured me, I'm exactly half my former length. But as he swam away with my lower extremeties dangling from his jaw, I swear to god he was crying.

Skoora, The Gentle Shark
posted by fletchmuy at 1:53 PM on June 30, 2004

Friend of mine goes off Atlantic City they caught something heavy and deep and it started dragging the boat (35' boat with 8 people on board) and it pulled the boat for over 20 hours. Never did see it, finally had to cut the line as they were running out of fuel. Everyone in the boat took turns fighting it but they were all shot tired by the end.

My best fish was a 14 pound Walleye in Canada, pretty far north where they don't grow as fast so it was an old geezer. Really a catch of a lifetime, the fishing camp would go years between seeing a fish that size I was the hero of the week as a young kid it was the best. Caught it on a lark my brother and I stole away in a boat to a spot no one usually ever went. Must be some kind of lesson there, for fish and man.
posted by stbalbach at 2:30 PM on June 30, 2004

while shore fishing in vancouver i inadvertantly caught a rather large mud shark. it scared the bejeesus out of me, especially when it pulled me into the water... my step brothers hauled me back out and extricated my fishing pole. adding to the hysteria of the moment was the fact that it was summer '75 and we'd just been to see the premiere of Jaws a week earlier, heh.
posted by t r a c y at 2:57 PM on June 30, 2004

14 year old Bobby Capri Jr. catches a 52 pound striped bass in a kayak off the Atlantic City shore.

What the hell was a 52 pound striped bass doing in a kayak off Atlantic City?
posted by rusty at 3:03 PM on June 30, 2004

I caught a fish once, but then I was stricken with guilt and refused to eat it. My mother made it into fishcakes. Farewell, lake trout, you deserved better.

*wipes tear*
posted by jokeefe at 4:08 PM on June 30, 2004

stbalbach: what kind of fishing line was your friend using, that could stand up to that sort of abuse?
posted by bshort at 7:01 AM on July 1, 2004

Friend of mine goes off Atlantic City they caught something heavy and deep and it started dragging the boat (35' boat with 8 people on board) and it pulled the boat for over 20 hours.

Submarine, assuming the rest of the story is true. Gotta love the humor of dragging around a boat for hours.
posted by rough ashlar at 11:46 AM on July 1, 2004

"John Lurie knows absolutely nothing about fishing, but that doesn't stop him from undertaking the adventure of a lifetime on Fishing with John. Traveling with his special guests to the most exotic and dangerous places on earth, John Lurie battles sharks with Jim Jarmusch off the tip of Long Island, goes ice fishing with William Dafoe at Maine's northernmost point, braves the Costa Rican jungle with Matt Dillon, takes Tom Waits to Jamaica, and searches for the elusive giant squid with Dennis Hopper in Thailand. 'The spirit of the independent filmmaker infuses these expeditions, inspiring us to explore far more than traditional nature or fishing programs. Also, I can write these trips off on my taxes.'--John Lurie."

This is the brilliant train wreck of fishing shows and my favorite.

Not quite fishing, but in the milieu, sort of, Zak Penn's funny Incident at Loch Ness, in limited release, is a gem.
posted by roboto at 3:44 PM on July 1, 2004