Talkin' Shit About A Pretty Sunset

The story below was my boyhood dream---I mean---IS my boyhood/adulthood dream. You can't tell me that there isn't a boy under the age of, say, 35 who wouldn't have loved to be in Bobby Capri's boat. Wow. What a summer it's shaping up to be and it's hardly even July!



STAFFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - A 14-year-old angler got the ride of his life when he hooked a near-record-size striped bass that pulled his kayak about while he fought to land the fish.

Bobby Capri Jr.'s 52.8-pound striper came within 5 pounds of the world record of 57 pounds for his age group, according to the International Game Fishing Association.

"I knew I had something big. I just did not know how big," Capri told The Press of Atlantic City.

The 115-pound Stafford Township youth hooked the fish Friday off Surf City, where he had paddled his 10-foot kayak.

The striper dragged Capri's kayak for almost 20 minutes, taking him past two jetties and pulling him in circles about a dozen times.

Capri said he managed to lug the fish aboard the kayak by putting his hand through its gill plate.

He then tried to paddle ashore, but the bow of the kayak kept tipping. Capri then pushed his hand up through the fish's gill plate again, jumped out of the kayak and dragged the fish the final 10 to 15 yards ashore, where he called his father on a cell phone. "He called me all excited and asked for help. He said the fish was about 40 pounds," Bobby Capri Sr. said.

The pair took the fish to a nearby bait shop, where they learned its actual weight.