CATCH OF THE DAY

Fishing was lousy, the catching was interesting.
Getting bounced around down on Chesapeake Bay we had an empty fish box after hours of taking a beating.
Then Capt. Mike Murphy parked his 25-foot Parker "Tide Runner" under a bridge and we started casting.
Any of you that have fished long enough probably have snagged lost gear on the bottom, maybe even a rod and reel. I have, exactly twice in 50 years of wetting a line.
So it was of minor interest (that would become major with nothing much else to write about) when Ken Schultz, prolific angling book author, got hung up on another line under the pilings.
He reeled it up and discovered the snagged line had a rod and reel attached, in good condition.
"Wait, there's something else," Schultz said.
Indeed, for the first time ever I saw a guy snag a rod and reel, with a live fish attached.
In this case a small striped bass, that was a legal 18-inches, but looking rather stressed.
It was obvious the outfit, and fish, were lost not that long before or the striper would have certainly died, of exhausion if nothing else.
Laughs were had, photos taken and the fish was released to live another day.
Consensus was the rig was left sitting unattended by a fisherman up on the bridge or from a nearby shore fishing spot.
It would have been a better catch if was top-of-the-line equipment. It wasn't, but perfectly usable.
Schultz won the pool.