The tide and weather and scheduling planets aligned last night, so I found myself standing in some very cold water casting a large flatwing and smoking an Alec Bradley Tempus Churchill.
It did not suck. (All of it.) Especially when about 15 minutes in I started to get a few courtesy taps. I couldn’t tell if it was small fish or a subtle cold water take. Covering water, greased line swinging, and then at the end of a drift, a tug, a re-tug, a hook set, and I was into my first striper of 2018.
It felt so good that not even changing a flat tire in a McDonald’s parking lot in the middle of the night in the rain bummed me out.
Twenty inches of striped wonderfulness. The fight was uneventful until I tried to move the fish over a sand bar into some shallows. He wanted none of that, and we had some surface-thrashing bull-in-a-china-shop runs to break the calm of the night.
currentseams.com 
Mmmmm. Sounds good. I mean the fish and the Alec Bradley! Congrats on no.1 of 2018.
That was an OUTSTANDING cigar. Lots of flavors going on within.
A few years ago we would be discussing whether it was the first of 2018 or the last of 2017. Nice either way.
Steve that is awesome…and i never say awesome! What was the water temp?
Good job!
Frank
I suspect somewhere in the mid 30s. The air was warmer than the water.
Congrats my friend… and many cigars 🙂
I always remember the Ry J Ex3 we smoke together was outstanding .
For us the winter is being interesting, and difficult, we found them feeding elvers.. 🙂
it´s a completely different situation.
regards.
It is different here, too. The takes were different. The fight was different. But all of it was good. I still have some of those cigars in my humidor. 🙂
Hope I can go there , before you smoke them.
Much older much better, !!!😉