The best three seconds

Other than loosing my virginity, the most exciting intense three seconds I know of are the three seconds from when a striper hits an eel until you set the hook. For those of you that don't know, the way to fish an eel is to cast it out. Reel it in slowly with the rod tip held high. When a fish hits the eel, you drop the rod tip parallel to the water. When line tightens, you rear back and set the hook. Waiting for the line to tighten is intense. Eels usually attract big stripers. I've caught very few schoolies on eels. Almost all the stripers I have ever caught on eels are over 32 inches.

I had sworn off eels for the last couple of years. I've been fishing for schoolies a lot with soft plastic. When I went for bigger fish I was usually using plugs. I know the eel population is not what it was, so I made a choice to not use them much at all.

Tonight I really wanted to catch a keeper. I went to my secret spot that I have only told a few people about. Its a spot in plain site of the road and easy access. Yet very few people know it is fishy. I bought two eels. Not exactly going to destroy the eel population buying two. I figured if fish were not around, two would be plenty. If there were a  lot of fish around, I could catch them on plugs after  I used the eels.

I ended up catching two stripers. The first was a schoolie about 26 inches the other a keeper 31 inches. I had a couple other taps but no takes. The best part was the time from hit to hook set on the two I caught. Best six seconds of the night!!!