Today I joined my friend at 72nd street jetty for a little birthday fishing trip. I arrived there at about 8am to a dropping tide, difference between high and low tide this morning was only about 6 inches so I knew that fishing was going to be tough here. I didn’t see much catching going on in the 2 and a half hours I fished there and was only getting small hits. Toward the end of the day I tied on a Flash Minnow 120DD in the MS anchovy pattern. I switched my retrieval speed up from fast to a medium retrieve and I get hit right near the rocks! The fish must’ve hit 2 feet in front of the rocks. It tried to take me into some kelp but I muscled him out and I can see a long silvery flash. I knew by the way it fought that this wasn’t a halibut which was what I was targeting. Also the silver coloring was a dead give away that this was going to be some kind of croaker. This fish was head shaking the whole time and was a very fun fight. I finally brought it out the water and realized it was a White Sea Bass! This is my second White Sea Bass ever! I was very happy but wanted to take a quick picture and release it immediately. So after some pictures I released the fish unharmed. White Sea Bass are very fragile and if you know that you aren’t going to keep it ( keeper size is 28″) than it is best to release it asap. I can’t wait to catch my first legal White Seas Bass!
– Raney
