Rick and his brother Zac made the short but dangerous crossing of the Rhode Island border to go in search of the elusive striped bass. We did a lot of moving and picked up a handful of schoolies bass and one nice blackfish on a fly. With all of the Sunday traffic out there we didn’t see another boat land a fish. A pretty good day after all.
Wednesday morning brought Dr. Jeff up the always dangerous Rt.95. We left the dock bright and early to catch the end of the ebb tide. It took Jeff two casts to put the first fish in the boat. It was a good bite till the tide died out then we went exploring. While out and about we came across a young humpback whale grazing on millions of small sand eels. The youngster was about 30 feet long. It put on a pretty good show for us. We poked around and found more bass on top of a bunch of boulders. Had some fun and called it a day.
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I practiced on Thursday and caught this one on Friday. It was 27#s on the Boga but not quite as big as Gail’s the day before. For a weekday we had people stemming, trolling, drifting and running around. We had a pretty good morning with fly rods. We even caught a couple of fish in different areas than the normal ones.
Gail and I left the dock at the crack of 0830 to catch the right tide. We had about 50 yards of visibility at the start. It took us about two casts for the first hook up and then it was pretty steady for the next few hours. If any of you are thinking about a trip, it won’t get much better than this.
Today brought Gary up the long but ever dangerous drive up Rt.95 from SW Connecticut. We left early and found the fish waiting. They were pretty scattered today so we had to work a bit harder. We had a pretty steady bite until lunch had come and gone. Another fun day with a good friend. Gary has been fishing with me for about 25 years or so and we have had some adventures for sure. One day we were looking for bonito in the fog and when I shut the motor off we heard someone yell for help. We found a guy snorkeling a couple hundred yards off the beach and he had no idea where he was. We tossed him a line and towed him to shore. A while later when the fog lifted we heard a snort and looked out to see a sperm whale breach a hundred yards from the boat. Picture a brown Mobey Dick. We had a day In Montauk when it was a fish on every cast. All albies until the big stripers showed up. Good times with a good friend.
Travis and Reagan made the long trek east for an evening on the water. We left the dock and stopped at a few spots that are usually productive on an incoming tide but not yesterday. We continued on to head for the area that I had some luck on Friday. We were early for the tide change but the fish were already there. It didn’t take long for the crew to hook up with some nice bass. As the tide slowed the fish grew larger. By the time we were done we landed three fish over 20 lbs. That would be over 40 inches for the people that use a tape instead of a scale. We left at dark with all of us pretty much done in. Lots of laughs and good memories were made today.
Yesterday I forced myself to get up early to catch the right tide. The fish were waiting for me and they were hungry. I managed a handful between 10 and 18 lbs. and that was enough for me. It was a bit on the breezy side and the tide was ripping. Good times. I have my first trip later today. Stay tuned.
The flys are all organized with new ones added. Bucktails are tied and lures are all set. All we have left to do is to get the boat ready and put it in the briney. I replaced two spinning reels with new Shimano Stradic 4000’s. I think that my spin anglers will be pretty happy with the new reels. We picked them up at Cabela’s in East Hartford today. If you go up there Andrew at the reel desk is the guy to see. Very pleasant and knowledgeable even with an old guy for a customer. Stay tuned.
We are getting near the middle of February and we’ve been busy. All of our spinning gear is good to go. A bunch of new bucktails are in the box and new hooks rigged up for the Albie Snax. I sorted all the flies and am in the process of filling the gaps in the boxes with new ones. I’ve tied up some new and different patterns just because.
We aren’t going to Canada this year for the first time in 20 years with the exception of the Covid years. There is an absence of guides up there at our regular camp. Now we might get the boat in the water a week earlier than usual.
There won’t be a price increase this year for our charters. It’s going to be my 29th year of guiding. It’s still a lot of fun and I really enjoy spending time with my anglers.
Stay tuned I’ll keep you posted.
Gail and I made an early trip out this past Sunday morning. We beat the sun and wind for a change. There were very few bass around but we did find a bunch of hickory shad and a few good sized bonito. With this weeks weather forecast we decided to call it a year.
The early bass were really good sized with most over 12 lbs. We caught about six bluefish but that was ok. The bonito came early and stayed late. We had a few good days with the albies certainly better than last year. We are planning to do it again next year and hope to see you then. Thanks for a fun summer.
Capt. Sandy Noyes has lived and fished in the Southeastern part of Connecticut for his entire life. … [More...]
