Friday Gail and I went out For a look to see if the fishing is still holding up. We found the fish right away and we had steady action for four hours. It slowed a little through the tide change but picked back up quickly. Lots of fish up to about five lbs. and they are eating sandeels. The bigger ones should be showing up any day now. I can honestly say that I haven’t seen this many bass around in quite a while. The good news is that they aren’t all in one place. I’ll keep you posted.

Gail and I left the dock at the crack of 8:30ish this morning for our check out the spots cruise. The first few were barren but after the tide changed we moved and the fish were waiting for us. We did really well with bucktails and flies. Most fish were around five lbs. and feisty. The larger ones should start showing up pretty soon. The water temps are good and there is plenty of bait to keep them around.

Spring is slowly starting to creep up on us. The fishing club that I belong to opened their season last week and its been pretty good so far. I picked up two new flylines for my 5 wt. They are Rio In Touch. One is their Gold Floater and the other is their sink tip. After trying both I can say they are the best freshwater lines that I’ve used. They shoot quickly and straight as an arrow. I also picked up a few of their saltwater lines. More testing to follow. I was surprised this year to see that Rio and Scientific Angler prices are running between $100 and $125 a line. Stay warm.

Just a short winter update. Its getting near time to start thinking about the new season. The good news is that the rates will stay the same as last year. I’ve started tying some new flies for the spring. There were a lot of stripers around last fall and that bodes well for this year. New York has put a stop to the purse seining of bunker so there should be an increase of bait. I have a couple of new ideas that could be fun but I have to wait a bit before I try them. As a rule my anglers wait till the end of April before booking their days with me. For some reason I have a bunch of days already booked. Mostly in the fall. Stay well and I’ll see you on the boat.

Gail and I took a ride this past Friday to see what was left. Didn’t see any albies and the bass were laying low. Its the time of the year when its mostly blue sky and windy. Not the best combination for fishing. We did manage to get a few bass but they weren’t really in the mood. The boat was pulled out Friday afternoon and should be in hibernation mode shortly. We made some new friends this year and got to spend time with old friends and it doesn’t get much better than that. Stay safe this winter and we hope to see you in the spring.

Wednesday Mike came back with Mike Jr. and Brent for more fun in the wind. luckily the guys were using spin gear or else we would have stayed at the dock. We left early and the wind stayed down for the first ten minutes and then it came. We started off with some bass followed by blues and albies. It was pretty steady for about three hours and then it just stopped. After waiting and looking we figured the right move was to beat the tide change and head back. We ended with several albies and a good bunch of the other stuff. The water temps are still dropping and the fish are on the move. The good news is they are now serious about eating and that’s good for us. It looks like I’ll be in the water for one more week/

Today Ryan and mike came back on a quest to catch a striper. They had both caught albies before but Ryan has never caught a striper. They are hard to come by in Pittsburg for some reason. This was my lucky day because both guys decided to use spin gear. We started out but couldnot find the bass. I think the first four fish to come aboard were albies. We finally found the desired quarry and both guys put the old Capt. to work. As if my striper thumbs weren’t bad enough. Well they both got their share of bass and a few more albies and we called it a pretty good day on the briny.

Sunday Gail and I took a leisurely trip out just to see what its like fishing in less than three foot seas. We found the bass pretty quickly and caught a bunch. There are more of them around than I’ve seen in a few years. I also picked up a chunky albie for good measure. The water temps are dropping quickly and that means the fish will be on the move. I expect the bait in the salt ponds will start heading out any day now. The biggest problem this time of year are the winds. often blowing too hard to cast a fly but not too hard to throw a spinning rod. If you don’t mind that there could be a lot of fish to catch. I’m going to keep the boat in till the 30th of this month unless its not safe to go out.