In the 2018 Striper Cup, Matt Cleary was chosen as the winner of the A Band of Anglers photo contest, and his prize was a Florida fishing trip with Patrick Sebile. This is Matt’s report of his trip.
On February 8, I returned from four days of fishing with Patrick Sebile in Florida. To say that I was tired would be an understatement. We fished for over thirty hours from early Tuesday morning through Thursday morning, from Fort Pierce to the Sebastian Inlet. We encountered snook, redfish, tarpon, and spinner sharks. I learned that Patrick Sebile is passionate, ridiculously knowledgeable (not just about fishing) and truly cares for the sport, science, and art of fishing. He also fishes very, very hard.
This trip was my prize from the 2018 Striper Cup. Fishermen who submitted a photo of a fish caught on an Ocean Born lure (the one included in the Striper Cup sign-up package) were eligible to win a fishing trip to Florida with luremaker Patrick Sebile.
My work colleague and friend Bill Murphy asked me to join him on a striper trip off Provincetown, Massachusetts in June 2018. It was my first fishing the tip of the Cape and was by far my best day of striper fishing ever. I caught seven stripers over 40 inches in length with one over 40 pounds.
Between the three of us we must have landed 35 fish during a two hour stretch. I was lucky to catch the biggest fish of the day using the sinking version of the Ocean Born Flying Pencil. I’m not used to using such a large lure and was about to switch to something smaller when, walking the dog slowly, the entire plug was engulfed. I had told Bill about the Striper Cup contest and he reminded me to wait to release the fish until he could get a good picture. That picture won me the trip with Patrick.
Having caught the biggest striped bass of my life with this lure, I learned what I could about the creator of the lure, Patrick Sebile, and his new company A Band of Anglers. I already knew a little about his previous company, Sebile, and the success the lures, particularly with the canal fisherman in the Cape Cod Canal.
A few days before StriperFest in late September, I received an email from OTW about being one of two winners of this contest. That Saturday, I arrived in Falmouth with my two kids, and enjoyed the day fully, even casting at albies before StriperFest began. I’d never attended the event and had no idea what to expect. It was a much larger event than I’d anticipated. After meeting Patrick and being announced as the winner on stage, I gathered my exhausted kids and made the trek home.
I was able to invite a friend with me, and although Bill—who was instrumental in my winning the contest—couldn’t make it, my friend Keith Webb was able to join me.
Nick Honachefsky, a columnist for On The Water Magazine, met up with us at the Orlando airport. Nick is a great guy and very experienced fisherman, and I learned quite a bit while picking his brain about fishing in New Jersey as we made our way to Fort Pierce.
Patrick met up with us that night and gave each of us a large box of lures. It included lures I had seen before, like the Ocean Born Flying Pencils and Flying Poppers and newer as-yet-unreleased gear like the Ocean Born swimming and bouncing jigs. It also included Hyperlastic Dartspins on swim hooks and jigheads, and several Spooltek lures of various sizes.
It quickly became clear to me that these lures are special. On our first day, we caught tarpon on the Ocean Born plugs, Dart Spins, and Spoolteks. The Dart Spin was similar in size to the paddle tails that I use to target stripers accept it doesn’t have a paddle, it has a small blade on the tail that’s deadly when retrieved and falling. Best of all you don’t need to be an experienced angler to use these lures.
I have never been very good using a bucktail jig, but observing Patrick fish with the Ocean Born Flying Bucktail convinced me that I should always add these to my repertoire and have one tied on.
We saw hundreds of tarpon on Tuesday while out with Patrick’s colleague and guide, Tim Simos. I had caught several tarpon over the years in different parts of Florida, but I had never seen more tarpon in one spot than I did that Tuesday. My friend Keith hooked and released his first ever tarpon and the largest of the day. Patrick taught all of us how to use the leverage of the boat to fight and tire out Tarpon. Nick hooked a spinner shark and until he did, I didn’t know why they were called spinner sharks. Incredibly exciting fight with what seemed like five spins per jump, including one that almost landed in the boat!
The morning session with Tim was the highlight of the fishing, but the learning was just beginning. The remainder of our trip was spent fishing the jetties and piers at Sebastian Inlet State Park with heavy surf gear. It was a completely new experience for us. After fishing all day Tuesday and again Wednesday from these piers, we regrettably didn’t catch very much but learned firsthand how to fish from a pier with a hundred-plus others was fascinating. It was like an orchestra. Crossed lines, moving when others hook a fish, not hitting passing boats when casting and using large drop nets to land fish was all new to us. Patrick used a 14-foot rod and launched lures a ridiculously long way with what appeared to be minimum effort.
Learning from Patrick was my personal highlight and seeing one of my best friends catch his first Tarpon was the overall highlight of our time in Florida with Patrick, Nick Honachefsky, Patrick’s CEO, Brian Anderson, and my friend Keith Webb.
I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to get out of the cold and spend time fishing and learning with the legendary Patrick Sebile. In my last conversation with Patrick he mentioned that he was 50 years old. After hearing all his fishing stories from around the world I was surprised that we were very close in age. It wasn’t due to appearance, but the sheer amount of knowledge and experiences that he has that makes him seem wise well beyond his years.
Once again, in the 2019 Striper Cup, one lucky fishermen will win a fishing trip with legendary angler Patrick Sebile. Register for the Striper Cup today!