Striper caught....

[John H]

......In 1960.

A friend of mine found this going through some old photos. I am guessing it is around 1960. He thinks it is on San Pablo Bay somewhere. Looks like it could be. It is interesting to see how things were done in the past. The guy is sporting a tie and has a fat wallet in his back pocket. Maybe he went to church in the morning and fishing in the afternoon and never took the tie off. The shoreline looks like broken up ceramic dishes maybe placed there for erosion protection. You can see plates and cups. There is a rusty metal tackle box and a rod on the ground. The guy behind him has a can of chewing tobacco in his front pocket and appears to be envious of the big fish. That never changes. The sun is straight up like it is May or June. I think they got a lot of big stripers back in the day. Could be a 15 pounder.

Any insight would be appreciated.

http://i.imgur.com/yu4EPyC.jpg (https://imgur.com/yu4EPyC)

[Mr T]

I have no insight here but I do wonder about the tackle they used back then. In the hi tech world we live in its likely it would be called junk but it clearly did just fine.

I chuckle how we need the latest and greatest materials and gear to catch fish that sure seem a lot smaller and in smaller numbers than the "good ol' days".

Good marketing I guess?



I re-read dark waters the other day and it struck me how many fish they had available compared to us. Granted many of them went home in a gunny sack and that wasn't helpful. The gear? yikes.

[Mark Kranhold]

I just have to say, at first glance I thought it was Lefty.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

By looking at his hat, shoes and glasses I get the feel that it was before 1960.

I was 15 in 1960 and people did not look like that back then.

I think it was the 1930s to the 1950s?


It is a color picture though?


When I was a kid around Sacramento in the 1950s and 1960s everyone caught fish and shot game.

Even if they were not really good at either because there were tons of fish and tons of game.

[Darian]

That's a nice Striper!! I see what looks to be a rod and a portion of a reel on the rocks behind the gear box(?). It looks like a conventional outfit (not spinning).

Must've been a warm, sunny day. The opposite bank is partially rip-rap as is the bank in the foreground, is not far off and there's a raised roadway over there. So, where they're fishing looks like a channel to me. I'm unable to locate any familiar landmarks in the background to help ID the fishing location (if that's important).

[ICE]

So I wouldn't normally blow up someone's secret spot but when I read the part about broken cups and plates it reminded me of a KQED story I recently heard on their Bay Curious show.

"Richmond, Calif.'s TEPCO beach is tiny, it's hard to find, and it's completely covered in literally thousands of pieces of broken ceramic dishware. This is the adjacent Costco. There may not be an odder stretch of shoreline in all of California."

https://www.kqed.org/news/11831229/the-unassuming-east-bay-beach-with-hidden-ceramic-treasures

At the dumping site of the old Tepco Crockery factory on the edge of the San Francisco Bay, there exists an entire beach that's mostly made from broken crockery pieces.

The factory shut down in the 1960s, so it's all about 45+ years old."

If you google - 'SF bay beach with broken ceramics' and look at the pics, you'll notice the skyline is almost spot on in some of the photos.

I think it's a good chance I saved the mystery of mom's china cabinet.

My apologies again for blowing up what appears to be an oldie but goodie.

I suspect there will be a major hatch of COVID anglers in the next hr or 2.....

Admins delete and or modify as needed.

Thanks for the puzzle

J. Ice

[John H]

ICE is the man!!!!

Thanks. I am heading there tomorrow to get one of those 20 pounders. Looks like some great fishing. Hopefully the bite is still on. I need to put on my tie and find my grandpa’s rusty tackle box.

[John Sv]

The Chron just ran a similar article: https://www.sfgate.com/places/article/TEPCO-beach-Bay-Area-Richmond-Point-Isabel-15836900.php

[OceanSunfish]

Skinny, brown with a tinge of redness on the tail has me thinking that it's mid June and the fish spawned and was headed out the Gate. That fish was a "schoolie" back then.......

Didn't need a boat to go 70mph with $5K in electronics plus a $3K trolling motor, plus a $800 fly rod and $100 line and, oh wait, "pulse discs"? ,etc. ;) I'd gladly fish with the gear of that era in exchange for the numbers of fish and water policy of that day to go with it.