Ryan Collins
When I was in grade school, my father bought a 12 foot tin boat and a 6 horsepower Johnson engine.
Several years ago an October nor' easter swept the 12 footer off the beach.
After many hours of fruitless searching, my friend Jason Mazzola located the boat half buried beneath a dune, a full 2 miles down the beach! The boat was pummeled and completely destroyed by the storm.
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The 6 horsepower engine on the other hand, still runs perfectly, despite it being more than 20 years old. For years now we've had this bulletproof engine, but no 12ft tin boat to put it on.
A couple of months ago my fishing buddy Jason Mazzola found a replacement 12 footer on Craigslist. To my delight he purchased the craft for $350, and this summer (for the first time in years) we once again have a tin boat on the beach!
Jason Mazzola (my fishing buddy) making a cast from the "new" 12 foot tin boat. Photo by MFCC member Bill Couture.
This August Jason and I have been exploring and fishing inshore areas in search of giant stripers in shallow water. All of these locations are too treacherous to fish in a larger fiberglass boat.
For example, last week Jason and I fished an area neither of us have fished since we were kids. Actually prior to last week, I had not fished this spot in more than a decade.
During that trip in the 12 footer we saw schoolies all the way up to 30 pounders. The fish were present but they were agonizingly difficult to catch.
We literally had hundreds of bass swim beneath the boat, as you'll see in the video below, which first appeared in this report from last week.
Needless to say, Jay and I were very eager to return to this particular area. We hoped hitting the evening and night tides would be the ticket to success. Perhaps the bass would be more aggressive later in the day and into the night.
I knew the potential for catching fish was very good, so I sent my friend, MFCC member, and professional photographer Bill Couture a text invite. The plan was for Bill to photograph Jason and I as we fished from the 12 footer.
Little did I know that not only would Jason and I catch fish, but Bill would end up catching the largest striper of his surfcasting career!
nice job.I also agree it is a very simple and satisfying way to fish. As you know I too luv to fish from the tin boat. Looking forward to the albie bite which should commence very soon and the tin boat is perfect for that. I think as of next weekend I have sold my 19′ glass boat and next year it will be all tin boat fishing for me. Looking forward to it.
Very nice! Looking forward to hearing how you do with the albies from the tin boat. Hopefully it will be a great season for them. We will find out soon…
Looks like some real fun, “simple” fishing style. Good stuff and great photos !
Simple fishing is right! No sonar, just our eyeballs for spotting the fish.
Sounds like another awesome trip! The fishing is (hopefully) only going to get better from here!
I think so Ryan. September is usually my most productive month!
Great report and pics. I enjoyed fishing and exploring out of a boat like that . Three gallons of gas.
Agreed! Bill did a great job with the photos, and we probably spent about $3.00 worth of fuel.