WOODS HOLE – Joe Walsh wanted albacore. He got bluefish. They were not in a barrel, and he did not have a gun… but it was sort of like that.
This fish story really happened. No, really. When Walsh, 35, of Sandwich arrived near the pier behind the National Marine Fisheries Service, he was looking for albacore, which, he said, “are just fun to catch.” (SEE SLIDE SHOW BELOW)
Joe Walsh of Sandwich. CAPE COD WAVE PHOTO
Mike Tucker, 51, a property manager in Woods Hole, was also fishing for albacore. He was nearby, on the pier.
“They are known as incredible battlers and they are very fast.
They are a very fun fish to catch and a beautiful looking fish to boot,” said Tucker. Tucker did not catch any albacore. He saw a couple of other fishermen on the pier catch one. Tucker, instead, caught a few bluefish, he said.
A flying fish? CAPE COD WAVE PHOTO
So did Walsh.
Walsh had spent much of the day fishing at the Cape Cod Canal before he decided to head to Woods Hole for a few casts.
The canal, said Walsh, 35, a plasterer, “was absolutely dead.”
This spot was the opposite of that, at least for bluefish.
The first nine bluefish Walsh caught. CAPE COD WAVE PHOTO
It was somewhat amazing to watch as he threw a cast and then reeled in a fish. Every other cast, it seemed, he caught a bluefish and then lifted it in the air to land on the lawn behind him.
“I can only keep ten,” he said. “That’s all we’re allowed to keep,” said Walsh, just after he caught his tenth fish.
He planned to use the bluefish as bait to fish for tuna or sand shark later from the beach. Pointing to the fish he caught, Walsh said, “That’s a bunch of chum right there.”
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