NEWBURY — The earliest-season striper fishing is an effort in tranquility. Typically, it's more about the fishing than the catching.
Fishing in early May likely means catching only the smallest fish, known as "schoolies" for their propensity to travel in schools, which usually arrive ahead of their bigger brothers. As of midweek, no striper catches, even small ones, had been reported from local waters.
Nevertheless, Bob Smith of Plum Island headed to the town dock on the Parker River Thursday to take his first casts of the season, hoping to get some fresh air and maybe land one of those small ones, just to know they were there.
He wandered down a little later than he had hoped, at the top of the high tide, and found no one else there. The incoming tide is said to be the best for fishing.
"I was the Lone Ranger," he said. "I made about six casts, and it just happened."
A fish took his bait, and this was no schoolie — it was a striper nearly 3 feet long. According to the experts at Surfland Bait and Tackle, the Plum Island shop that serves as the hub of local fish stories, it was the first confirmed catch of the season.
The 34-inch striper — 6 inches longer than the minimum size allowed to keep the fish — became dinner for Smith and a friend that night.
Smith normally doesn't keep the fish, but he owed the friend a long-promised filet.
Yesterday, Smith was back at the dock, and he and friend Eddie Fewtrell of Seabrook got a couple of more fish, all schoolies. An unidentified fisherman reported getting two small fish off the Plum Island beachfront, thought to be the first caught off Plum Island.
"It hasn't been great," Smith said. "They're late in coming, a little behind schedule.
But they're officially here.
"From now on, you're going to see more and more," Smith said.
With his fish story out, he will have company at the dock, too.
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