In his younger years, Randy Thurston did a lot of striped bass fishing in and around Portland.
“I’ve pursued strikers almost fanatically,” Thurston said. “I was fishing six, seven days a week when I lived down there.”
For a long time, Thurston fished tirelessly to land his first 40-inch striper. Once that was accomplished, numerous times, he set his sights on 50 pounds.
But his striper fishing exploits have taken a back seat to other duties. In recent years, Thurston has invested most of his free time to more important things such as raising his four children and working.
That’s not to say he doesn’t get on the water every once in a while, including on Aug. 1, when an unexpected opportunity arose.
Fishing guide Larry Blanchette, who operates Breakwood Fishing Adventures in Ogunquit, called with an offer Thurston couldn’t refuse.
“That was an out-of-the-blue trip because he had a cancellation and a couple of buddies got together and said we’ll pay him,” said Thurston, who is the code enforcement officer for the Town of Bethel.
Blanchette said the striper fishing has been phenomenal this summer along the Maine coast. He targets them exclusively by fishing at night.
Still, it wasn’t an easy setup for Thurston. He put in a full day of work before hitting the road.
“I have to drive two hours just to get to the saltwater,” he said. “I got down there just in time to get on the boat, so it all worked out, but it was quite a hectic day.”
The trip, which began at dusk, didn’t start well for Thurston. Stripers weren’t staying near the boat initially, and he encountered an equipment malfunction.
Using a second-hand rod and reel that he had taken along, he tossed a live eel over the side. Little did he know that the previous owner apparently had neglected to tie off the line to the arbor.
“It ended up letting every bit of line off the reel,” Thurston said.
That mishap did nothing to deter Thurston as Blanchette quickly hooked him up with a new rod and reel. As luck would have it, Thurston hooked onto the first fish of the night.
“It took a big screaming run right off the bat, it didn’t stop,” said Blanchette, a lifelong angler from Wells who three years ago made guiding his full-time profession.
Thurston said he knew from the fight that the fish was a good one.
“I’ve got quite a bit of experience, so I know how to kind of push it, but not too far, and get the fish in while they’re still healthy,” he said.
Within 10 minutes or so, Thurston got the striper back to the boat. But the fish had other ideas.
“It saw the boat, took another huge run, went straight to the bottom and sat on the bottom for about five minutes,” Blanchette said.
Finally, they coaxed the striper onto the deck. It measured 50 1/4 inches and is the longest any of Blanchette’s clients has caught on his boat.
“I’ve been looking for that fish for 20 years,” Thurston said. “It was pretty awesome.”
Many guides don’t hang large stripers from their lip on scales to avoid causing damage to their internal organs, but Blanchette estimated the weight at more than 50 pounds.
“I’ve known him for a long time,” Blanchette said of Thurston. “That one felt good. It was totally meant to be.”
Thurston’s only regret is that the striper encounter wasn’t preserved with more extensive video. Friend Steve Ciampa’s brief clip will have to suffice.
“We kind of all do the scramble in the back of the boat when we get a big one like that so that we can handle it correctly and get it back in the water as quickly as possible,” Thurston said. “I think that kind of overrides taking video, you know?”
Thurston is greatly appreciative of the efforts and generosity of all involved in helping him achieve an elusive personal milestone.
“I wrote right on the Facebook post that I made that [Blanchette is] just as good a guy as he is a fisherman, and that’s a pretty tall order,” Thurston said.
He is especially pleased to have caught a 50-incher, because such an accomplishment is difficult to achieve in Maine.
“Up here, that number is like a unicorn,” Thurston said.
The Maine record for a striped bass is a 67-pounder caught in 1978 in the Sheepscot River by Douglas Dodge, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Still riding the surge of adrenaline, Thurston made the drive back to Bethel the morning after his big catch in time to go straight to work with no sleep.
“Everybody in the town hall is like, you’re crazy, and I said this makes it worth it,” Thurston said.
The memory of the 50 1/4-inch striper is one he will cherish.
“I’ve fished for giant bluefins and everything from that to smelt in Maine,” Thurston said, “so it was definitely one of my top experiences.”
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