First time Saltwater catch story....

[acirig]

All,
Was Fluke fishing with my grandfather a week ago in the Mansquan Inlet. The Fluke action was really slow and suddenly small Blues started hitting bait on the top all over the place. I brought my 9' 9wt just in case and was excited to try to get my first salt water catch. It took a few casts, using an intermediate line, with simple silver/blue/white streamer and all of sudden a decent size Blue hit it hard. I must say the fight was awesome (maybe because the first time) but the Blue took out my line twice and jumped before I got it to the boat. The fish was about 18" and very fat. I was actually very lucky because I got him in the side of the mouth where he could not bite through the leader as all I had on was a 22lb leader with no bite gaurd! Anyway, I let him go to fight another day but thought I would relay the story since it was a great experience and while we caught no Fluke keepers, I went home a very happy fisherman! One of those moments that helps define why I love to fly fish.

 

[flyin]

I fish without a bite guard and it only really hurt me one time, during a blitz of monster blues when they would suck in the fly so fast and so completely and cut through my 20lb floro (and then the 30lb mono...the only other thing I had at the time on me) like butter.

most times when stripping in, I have no trouble setting the hook into the corner of their mouths since they usually strike from the rear.

subsequently I did actually switch to a bite guard (now I carry plastic coated wire for such a purpose) was during an all out beserk blitz when so many blues were chasing the same fly, even if one already had it in its mouth!!

but congrats on the first fish!! great feeling for sure. you will find, though, that you can land a blue a lot faster than you think at first using 22lb leader!! when you get into a blitz try seeing how much pressure you can put on the fish...you might be surprised.