Chris Gass, the Marlboro Man from Coltons Point and the prodigal son of a long Gass line here in Southern Maryland, the infamous Gass family who trace their local roots back to the beginning of time, demonstrated why he came home to Southern Maryland a few years back when he moved his industrial sheet stuff business from Texas back home to Maryland.
First, it gave him an excuse to travel to China where he just spent three weeks touring Asia, mostly China, and was given a very warm reception.
Maybe the fact he was a football star in college and at 6'5" he towered over his Chinese hosts, or the fact he kept being mistaken for Clint Eastwood helped but it was quite a trip for a local boy.
Back here in the Point, Chris was trolling for Rock Fish in 35 feet of water just off shore at St. Clement's Island, the place where colonists landed 375 years ago and never left here, as the big Christmas snow storm was moving in to the Point.
Typical for the Point, he was using 30 pound test line and caught one of the biggest Striped Bass of the year.
After battling the elements and the fish for an exhausting half hour or more he went to net the monster fish only to have his net shatter from the weight. Not a problem for a football star. He manhandled the monster fish into the boat. It was over 40 inches long and over 40 pounds and he got enough fillets off that fish to feed the entire county.
Rumor has it that only Robert Kopel, distinguished grand marshal of all parades in the Point since the turn of the last century, has ever caught a bigger bass but there are a lot of unsubstantiated rumors regarding the mysterious Kopel family. Down here seeing is believing, and the photo produced by Mr. Kopel left more than a few people skeptical.
PS. Only Maryland has the audacity to change the name of sports fish, in this case calling a Striped Bass a Rock Fish.
Now that Chris has captured the biggest bass in the tidewaters of the Potomac as far as we are concerned, we are hoping he can use his sportsman skills to eliminate a bunch of the politicians polluting our nation's capitol just upriver. It is time for a change...
-
