Items related to On the Run: An Angler's Journey Down the Striper...

On the Run: An Angler's Journey Down the Striper Coast - Softcover

 
9780060087463: On the Run: An Angler's Journey Down the Striper Coast
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

Each autumn, one of nature's most magnificent dramas plays out when striped bass undertake a journey, from the northeastern United States to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in search of food and warmer seas. Writer and angler David DiBenedetto followed this great migration - the fall run - for three months in the autumn of 2001.

On the Run offers vivid portrayals of the zany and obsessive characters DiBenedetto met on his travels - including the country's most daring fisherman, an underwater videographer who chucked his corporate job in favor of filming striped bass, and the reclusive angler who claims that catching the world-record striper in 1982 sent his life into a tailspin. Along his route, DiBenedetto also delves into the natural history and biology of this great game fish, and depicts the colorful cultures of the seaside communities where the striped bass reigns supreme.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

David DiBenedetto is the editor in chief of Garden & Gun magazine and the former editor of Salt Water Sportsman. His writing has appeared in numerous publications and has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing and Take Me Fishing: 50 Great Writers on their Favorite Sport. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife, Jenny, and their two children.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
"I don't advise peeing in your wet suit," shouted Paul Melnyk. "You'll get a mean rash."

"I'll keep that in mind," I hollered into the wind, my words quickly blown back into my face.

Truth was, whizzing in my neoprene bodysuit was the least of my worries. I was standing at the edge of the roiling Atlantic in Montauk, New York. Clouds covered the sliver of a moon, the chilly October night as black as the bottom of a well. In a few minutes I would follow Melnyk into the ocean.

We planned to lie on our backs, fishing rods held under our arms, and kick our way three hundred yards offshore. Once there, we would float on the current that ran parallel to the beach, casting live eels for striped bass. After we were carried for a half mile or so, we would kick back to where we started and begin the drift again. Melnyk, a Montauk local who invented this form of angling, calls it skishing (a cross between skiing and fishing, since large stripers often towed him like a water-skier). As one guide told me before my skishing adventure, Melnyk was on "the extreme end of extreme."

The night before our trip, a surf fisherman, with both feet on shore, had landed a fifty-pound striper, and Melnyk wanted to best that mark. He was sure the fish was an indication of a school of trophy striped bass in the area. There was no turning back. We huddled behind a large dune to zip our wet suits and run through an equipment check. Head-lamp? Check. Whistle? Check. Pliers? Check. Knife? Check.

"If a shark grabs me, I expect you to fight him off with your knife," said Melnyk, trying to loosen up the situation. His levity was lost on me. I knew enough about the area to realize that the threat of sharks was no joke. A little more than a decade back, a Montauk charter boat had landed a monstrous great white (seventeen feet, 3,427 pounds) that had been snacking on a dead whale not far from the point, and just that summer a fourteen-foot mako had been pilfering stripers from the ends of fishermen's lines and ramming boats near Cape Cod. Up and down the East Coast, 2001 had been the summer of the shark.

There were also rip currents, some of which ran at eight knots. If we got caught in the wrong place, we would be shot out into the ocean as if on a water-park ride.

"Let's do this before I chicken out," I said.

"Okay. Remember, this is a shore break. It's dangerous surf. These waves can pick you up and slam you on the beach. It'll ruin your week. Once we clear them it's easy sailing -- make that kicking."

We waded in. The surf zone was a cauldron of white water, and beyond it the sea's lumps melded with the sky. When the water reached our knees, we dropped on our backs and pulled on our flippers. With the waves rushing to shore, it was a clumsy endeavor, and twice I rolled face first into the water before succeeding.

"Ready?" yelled Melnyk.

"Ready."

"Kick, kick, kick, kick."

When my flippers gained purchase, I zipped ahead into the wash.

"Stay with me, Dave."

We were kicking side by side when the first breaker rushed over us. I swallowed a mouthful of seawater and bobbed to the surface. Melnyk hooted with delight. The next wave lifted me up and carried me tumbling back where I'd started.

"Come on, Dave. Kick, kick, kick!" coaxed Melnyk. I gathered myself and pushed off again. In less than thirty seconds we were out of the surf, rising and falling on the choppy waves of the ocean. At fifty-six degrees, the water breaching our wet suits was breath-stealing.

"Is this living or what?" screamed Melnyk. "We're on the edge, man."

"How much farther?"

"About a hundred kicks."

On the crest of each wave I could see the shore. TV sets were flashing muted blues and reds in the windows of the beach motels above the dunes. I found myself envious of the occupants, who had little fear of disappearing into the Atlantic. Suddenly there was a surface commotion just in front of our heads, like a broom slapping the water. "Just a flock of sea ducks riding out the weather," said Melnyk. "We probably scared the shit out of them."

"Likewise."

Eventually Melnyk yelled, "We're here, man." We stopped kicking. The thick wet suits provided enough buoyancy to keep us chest high in the gin-clear water. I flipped my headlamp on; it illuminated a circle in front of me, the strobe reaching toward the bottom. I could see my purple flippers flexing as I flutter-kicked to stabilize myself. I wondered what could see me from below, and inched closer to Melnyk.

Melnyk kept each eel in an individual sandwich-size Ziploc bag for easy handling. He passed one to me. It squirmed within its plastic confines as I hooked it through the jaw. With the hook in place I pulled hard, ripping the bag and freeing the eel. It danced on the end of my line. If I didn't cast soon, it would tie itself and the line into a slimy knot.

I turned my light off. Melnyk already had his eel in the water. He was floating about ten feet from me. His black neoprene hood combined with his surf rod rising from the surface made him look like a seagoing knight, his trusty steed a sea creature from Proteus's flock. As I went to cast, Melnyk's rod quivered, then bent deeply. He reared back on the fish, then yelled, "Oh baby, they're here."

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherIt Books
  • Publication date2004
  • ISBN 10 0060087463
  • ISBN 13 9780060087463
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages256
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780060087456: On the Run: An Angler's Journey Down the Striper Coast

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780060087456
Publisher: William Morrow, 2003
Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Dibenedetto, David
Published by Harper Collins (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Paperback Quantity: > 20
Seller:
BookOutlet
(Thorold, ON, Canada)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Paperback. Publisher overstock, may contain remainder mark on edge. Seller Inventory # 9780060087463B

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 5.39
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
From Canada to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

DiBenedetto, David
Published by It Books (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Soft Cover Quantity: 10
Seller:
booksXpress
(Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780060087463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 14.31
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Dibenedetto, David
Published by It Books (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Softcover Quantity: 5
Seller:
GreatBookPrices
(Columbia, MD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 2303865-n

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 12.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 2.64
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Dibenedetto, David
Published by It Books 9/14/2004 (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Paperback or Softback Quantity: 5
Seller:
BargainBookStores
(Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. On the Run: An Angler's Journey Down the Striper Coast 0.53. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780060087463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 15.42
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

DiBenedetto, David
Published by It Books (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Paperback Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Save With Sam
(North Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # 0060087463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 15.75
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

DiBenedetto, David
Published by It Books (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0060087463-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 18.37
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

DiBenedetto, David
Published by It Books (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Lucky's Textbooks
(Dallas, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2215580001247

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 14.42
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

David Dibenedetto
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Grand Eagle Retail
(Wilmington, DE, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Each autumn, one of nature's most magnificent dramas plays out when striped bass undertake a journey, from the northeastern United States to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in search of food and warmer seas. Writer and angler David DiBenedetto followed this great migration -- the fall run -- for three months in the autumn of 2001.On the Run offers vivid portrayals of the zany and obsessive characters DiBenedetto met on his travels -- including the country's most daring fisherman, an underwater videographer who chucked his corporate job in favor of filming striped bass, and the reclusive angler who claims that catching the world-record striper in 1982 sent his life into a tailspin. Along his route, DiBenedetto also delves into the natural history and biology of this great game fish, and depicts the colorful cultures of the seaside communities where the striped bass reigns supreme. Each autumn, one of nature's most magnificent dramas plays out when striped bass undertake a journey, from the northeastern United States to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in search of food and warmer seas. Writer and angler David DiBenedetto followed this great migration — the fall run — for three months in the autumn of 2001. On the Run offers vivid portrayals of the zany and obsessive characters DiBenedetto met on his travels — including the country's most daring fisherman, an underwater videographer who chucked his corporate job in favor of filming striped bass, and the reclusive angler who claims that catching the world-record striper in 1982 sent his life into a tailspin. Along his route, DiBenedetto also delves into the natural history and biology of this great game fish, and depicts the colorful cultures of the seaside communities where the striped bass reigns supreme. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780060087463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 19.98
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

DiBenedetto, David
Published by It Books (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
California Books
(Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9780060087463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 21.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Dibenedetto, David
Published by HarperCollins (2004)
ISBN 10: 0060087463 ISBN 13: 9780060087463
New PAP Quantity: 15
Seller:
PBShop.store US
(Wood Dale, IL, U.S.A.)

Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # IB-9780060087463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 22.06
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book