Monday, May 19, 2008

Whippersnappers Vs The Old Farts

Sunday's Adventure

This was one of those rare times when I end up fishing on a boat that isn't mine. My X Suzuki dealer has been putting on a fishing get-together that he likes to call "The Old Fart Fishing Trip". He gets a hand-full of older folks together to go out on his 27 foot Stamas center console for a few hours of fishing. No pressure to catch fish mind you, just to have fun and tell lies. While I'm not yet of the official age to be an "Old Fart", they let me tag along at times. Well, this time would be a little different. A mutual friend of ours decided to kick it up a notch. His idea; to get a crew of slightly younger folks together and challenge the "Old Farts" to a fishing duel.

The Challenge was made. It would be Team Whippersnappers against "The Old Farts". Lucky for me, the Capt. of the Whippersnappers set the age requirement to 55 and under for Whippersnappers and over 55 for the "Old Farts". The only real rule for this tournament was a requirement to have fun, and fun we had! Saturday afternoon our Captain quietly made his way to the "Old Fart's" boat and decorated it up a little for them.

Take a look at what the "Old Farts" arrived to Sunday morning.


The Whippersnappers, after talking a great deal of smack on the local internet fishing board, met up with our Captain Sunday morning. We loaded the boat; a real nice riding, fast running 31 foot Contender and set sail for the Eastern Shore about 20 miles across the Chesapeake Bay. Plan 'A' was to set up for some Red Drum action. Well, we had limited time and we wanted to catch a number of different species of fish; Croaker, Oyster Toads, Sharks, Sea Bass, Blue Fish, Striper, Grey Trout and Flounder, so we didn't want to waste too much time on the Reds. After about an hour we gave up and started looking for the other fish on our list.





In short order one of our Whippersnappers caught a 12 inch Oyster Toad.










Fishing was pretty slow, the water was dirty and the winds were starting to kick up. We managed to catch a 28" Striper but after that, luck had run out. Maybe it was a lack of luck or maybe it was all our Smack Talk. Either way, the fish were tight lipped for us. We fished our way back along the CBBT (Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel) to the Western side once again with nothing to show for our efforts. Along they way, we met up with the "Old Farts". One of which, felt it necessary to shoot us the moon! A site that will haunt us Whippersnapper's for some time to come.


Long story, less long. We logged a lot of miles on the boat, burned close to 60 gallons of fuel and had just 2 fish to show for it. At 3pm, the tournament was officially over and we met up back at the dock to see who would be the winners of the first annual Whippersnapper's vs "The Old Fart's" fishing tournament.


Well, it would seem that - for Sunday any way, the old fart's prevailed. Not only did they catch 2 keeper sized Striper, they also caught and released a few small Sea Bass, one or two Oyster Toads, some Croaker and a Flounder. So yes! They pretty much spanked our A$$'s. Can't really say as any of us lost though. We each pitched in a 10 dollar entry fee and all the money was donated to the Wish-a-Fish foundation. We also had a great time after the tournament at the Surf Rider restaurant eating some great sea food and enjoying a few adult beverages. Here is one final picture of Team Whippersnapper on board Fishin Fool

















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