Three weeks into the new season has me scratching my head. We’ve had some really good trips with it good numbers of large bass and the next day they’re gone. The ebb tide has been better but when Gail and I fished the ebb last week all we had to show was a bluefish. The spring migration is still on with some pretty good sized fish being taken in New York. We’re seeing a little more bait coming through so that will be helpful. I have a couple of trips this weekend so we’ll see what happens.

Sunday evening brought Jim along with his brother Peter out for a sunset cruise. We had the tide that skunked us last week so I wasn’t super confident for our success. We struck out in the first spot but put a few fish on board at the second. The third brought us into a spot that required a lot of paying attention to where we were. It paid off with a handful of stripers and we didn’t end up on the rocks. Great night for a boat ride.

Jim had so much fun on Friday he came back on Sunday afternoon with Sean and both guys wives. After Saturdays skunk my expectations were not really high. We did have a different tide to work with. We left the dock with about a quarter mile of visibility which soon dropped to 50 yards. Memorial Day Weekend in the fog. What could go wrong. The first stop had a few fish up that showed no interest in what we were offering. The second stop had a few fish showing but these guys were hungry. Jim hooked up on his first cast with the fly rod and it didn’t stop for two hours. Everyone caught fish including the girls. These fish were all in the six to eight pound range. After the shoulders and arms got sore we decided on one more cast and called it a night. At the same time both guys hooked up with Jim’s fish in the 20 pound class.

Saturday morning brought John and his son Jack down for a morning trip. We started where I finished the night before. Nothing was showing so we took a ride to check more areas. Nothing doing there so we kept going. Pretty soon we found good numbers of bass slurping bait on top. Tried a bunch of flies and lures and the fish weren’t interested in anything that we threw. The guys worked real hard for zero results. While checking several fishing sites that seemed to be a common problem that day. There was a worm hatch occurring which didn’t help.

The days are finally getting longer and the temps are creeping up. All my rods and reels are cleaned and checked. Saltwater flies are tied and my spring salmon flies are ready to go. I have enough trout flies that are ready for this week’s opener. It’s still another month till the boat gets uncovered. The water temps in the sound are in the mid 40’s so that’s about right. This year’s bass should be mostly pretty good sized so that will be fun. For some reason the month of October is starting to fill up early this year. If you want to get out in prime time you might just want to pick a day or so and get it in the book now.

We called it a season on Tuesday morning. With some help from the guys we pulled the boat out and now it’s parked safely in our driveways. Gail had her surgery the week before and came down to supervise. She had three vertebrae fused in her neck and is well on the road to recovery. Now we just need to keep her slowed down for the next couple months. Thanks to our old friends and to our new ones it was a fun year. The bass came in at the right time and were good sized. Bluefish made a surprise appearance and were also good sized. A few baby Bonito showed but didn’t stick around. The Albies arrived in September but even though we had a few good days they were not consistent as they should have been. We hope that you all have a safe winter and we are looking to do it again next year.