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The 62-pound trophy

Mark Shearer and the 62.5-pound bass he caught yesterday.

Mark Shearer was thinking about staying ashore yesterday. Then he realized it was the last day of Rhode Island's hook-and-line commercial fishing season for striped bass.

So he fired up his 26-foot Regulator, named Gannet, and headed for Block Island.

"l Ieft the house at 12:30 (a.m.), left the dock at 1:30, and got to the island at 2:30," the Coventry resident said.

He was fishing with live eels on the south side of the island.

"On the first drift, I caught a fish that was a 33-pounder," he recalled. "On the second drift, I caught this one, and then, I didn't catch another one until just before day-break.

"When I caught this one, I put it in the box, and in the back of my mind, I thought that that's a big fish. I knew it was over 50, but I didn't want to even think that it was over 60 because I didn't want to jinx myself."

"Lots of times, when you catch a fish or shoot a deer, you get shrinkage when you look at it a second time. After day-break, I opened the box, looked at it, and it got bigger rather than smaller."

When Mark got to the dock at Snug Harbor Marina, the striper weighed 62.5 pounds, said Al Conti.

"I guess it was my lucky day," said Mark. "Obviously, it was a dream fish. I've had lots of 50s in my life, but it's always been a dream to get a 60 some day."

Now that the commercial season is closed, Mark may do some chartering. As word of the 62-pounder spreads, there should be no shortage of clients.

Posted by Tom Meade  at 5:55 AM | Permalink | Comments 1