Today Brian brought his son Brian and his two grandsons Tyler and Aiden out for an afternoon trip. We headed out and it took a while to get to where I thought that we could pick up a few Hickory Shad. Shortly Aiden hooks a shad and after a short fight the hook pulled. Soon after that he hooks up again with something that didn’t want to come in. After some good rod pumping we landed a Blackfish on an epoxy lure. Aiden’s first and the first time that I’ve ever seen a blackfish hit a lure. We left in pursuit of some stripers. We joined the fleet and then moved off to our own fish. Today these guys just weren’t that interested in eating. However Tyler did manage to convince a striper that his lure was the real deal. Brian sr. picked up a rod. made one cast and landed a nice sized Hickory. Then he put the rod down and said ” that’s how you do it boys ” and let them try to catch up. Brian Jr. kept a blue on right up to the boat until it decided to part company. He did manage to land a nice sized gull that was released unharmed.Two days in a row we caught fish and fowl without any duplicates. Still had a fun day with some good people.
The firsts continue
Another first
Today I had an afternoon trip with John and Jeanine. We headed out on a nice day with no wind. Watch Hill was a traffic jam of boats so we kept going. We found some bonito and Jeanine managed to pull a sea robin out of the school of bones. To be fair they are still running around pretty good and its not easy getting one to eat. We kept going and found bass and blues that weren’t hungry. However Jeanine managed to pull a fluke out of the school of bass. Now that isn’t an easy thing to do. The tide started to run and the wind came with it so we started back to find some cover. We found a school of blues and Jeanine actually caught what was intended. A nice blue about six lbs. Meanwhile John was still waiting for a hit. With 20 minutes to go we decided to give the albies one more shot. John’s first cast brought an albie up to play. Ten minutes later John had his first ever albie and our first of the season. A challenging day to say the least but still lots of fun.
Good news and better news
Friday Gail and I decided to do an afternoon trip for a change. We found bass and blues to start. Shortly after that we saw the tell tale slicing and dicing as the bonito made an appearance. When they first arrive they are hard to catch unless they pop up within casting range. We kept going and saw another pod of bones that were in a hurry to be somewhere else. Next up were the big schools of bass and blues that we have been on for the past few weeks. We saw some really big schools of bay anchovies and you know what that means. we played with the bass for awhile without getting involved with the fleet. Later in the afternoon we saw the line rushed of our old friends Mr. Albie. When they line up shoulder to shoulder and rip through the anchovies its pretty cool. They like their cousins are fired up and are running pretty hard. Maybe by next week they will be settled in and are closer to home.
Take you pick
Friday I actually set the alarm when I didn’t have a trip. Gail and I left shortly after sunrise and started our adventure. First up was some small blues that we quickly left alone. next we found swarming bass in close. We stayed and played till the fleet showed up. Next it was more bass and fewer boats. Mixed in were some Atlantic Mackeral. We picked up a few just for fun. Along with them were very good numbers of hickory shad. They do like to jump. When the tide slowed the blues showed and we had them up to six lbs. When the tide changed the bass came back and the fun continued. The bones and albies are getting closer. If you want to get out and just catch some fish, now is the time. We fished for seven hours and didn’t really have a slow time. Like our last trip we had know idea how many fish we landed. When our arms got tired from throwing flies we switched to spin gear and they liked that too.
A nice day for a boat ride
This morning brought Tom and Dawn down for a shot at whatever we can find out there. We started early on one of the reefs and Dawn put three bass in the boat right away. Soon after that Tom had tied it up at three apiece and that was when I lost track of the numbers. For the next five hours it was pretty close to one after another. Mostly bass and some nice blues mixed in with a couple of sea robins just because we could. It was overcast and flat calm with a little fog and when that burned off the heat came up and it was toasty. Most of the fish were about five miles from where Gail and I had them yesterday so they are moving around. Gail caught five different species including a bunch of shad. There have been a couple of hardtails caught in the past few days and they are the scouts. It should get real interesting by next week.
Just like the old days only better
Gail and I left the dock at the crack of 930 this morning to check on conditions after last weeks storm. I wasn’t expecting lock an load catching but I thought that I could find a few fish. On our way out I spotted some birds and then saw some splashes beneath them. Our first two casts with the fly rods brought two doubles. That is pretty much the kiss of death but not today. We stayed and caught fish for a steady hour and when some boat traffic put the fish down we left to continue with plan A. We found lots and lots more bait and plenty of swarms of fish feeding, We stopped and caught and then moved and caught some more. We had bass and blues to six or seven pounds just about everywhere that we looked. We finally gave up around 230 and left them biting to head to the dock. A pretty fun day with the fish liking everything that we threw at them. The sea breeze kicked in around 1130 so we had switched to spin gear and the fish didn’t mind at all. Not every day is like today but when it comes together its pretty fun.
Back at it
< This morning I had the pleasure of spending it with Matt & Amanda who made the short but dangerous drive all the way from Mystic. Matt has fished before but Amanda has not. The first two stops were empty so we went in search of the now elusive stripers. We switched lures and shortly afterward Amanda put her first bass in the boat. We decided to keep moving and looking. We passed several schools of chub and frigate mackerel but they didn't want what we had to offer. We pulled into a spot that had been productive for Gail an I last week. We found some bass and Matt made up for lost time by putting a handful of bass in the boat. On the way home we came across a bottle nose dolphin just cruising around and enjoying the day. All in all a pretty good day.Holy Mackeral
We haven’t fished for bass in almost a month so we decided to take a ride today. We arriver at the crack of nine to get started. In my time ashore I made a bunch of swimming plugs that I wanted to try. A slot sized bass inhaled one on my second cast. We tried several spots and picked up bass in each one on the new p[lugs so that was good. We then went to see what we could find. It was actually too hot out to just stay in one place. We found swarms of fish in several places. The first one had stripers swarming and they would eat flies. The next swarm brought Gail her first hickory shad and this one was almost four pounds. The next swarm was more bass and then we saw a swarm that looked like chub mackerel so we tossed a couple flies in and I came out with an Atlantic Mackerel. It was my first one since I was 15 years old. keeping on we came upon more swarms and these guys were chubs. We finished up with a few more bass and called it a fun day.
We are still floating
I know that its been a while since I have posted anything but I have a good reason. Its been really foggy for the past two weeks or so and I had a heat pump installed on our pool. Its hard to beat 83 degree water. We have bee fluke fishing the past few trips and it was ok until I bought a new fillet knife. The word is that some bonito have shown up around Block and that’s good news. We might have to look into that when the weather co operates. We were out yesterday and came across several large schools of stripers feeding on this years crab hatch. We didn’t bother them but next time it will be a different story.
Another good day
This morning long time friend and angler Gary brought Scott up for his first trip with us. We left the dock fairly early to catch the whole tide. The first two stops produced nothing on an almost dead tide. The third stop brought a brown and silver scup and a striper. By then the tide picked up and so did we. The next place produced a handful of fish as did our next three stops. Once the tide started we had pretty consistent action for the remaining time. We could actually see where we were most of the morning and that plus fish made for a fun day.
