Tuesday morning I took a shakedown and scouting cruise. The forecast was for NW wind 5-10 so that looked promising. When I arrived at the dock it was 15-20 from the East. With that and a cloudless sky I wasn’t overly optimistic about catching. Mostly I just wanted to check the motor and see what I might stumble upon. I arrived at my first stop to see a few birds in a couple areas with fish under them. I dropped a fly in the water and was stripping line off the reel when a bass wacked the fly. I’ve caught fish on the first cast but this was a first for catching one before I had a chance to cast. I found more fish in different areas so it was mission accomplished. The boat was flawless. Good to be back out there.

We launched the boat this morning at dead low tide. Everything went well so we took a little shakedown cruise. The water temps are a couple degrees higher than I expected. Heard reports of some nice sized bass in the neighborhood and saw a big bluefish that was taken on a fluke rig. we will get out next week and do a little fishing.

We picked up the boat today and brought it home to start getting ready for this season. Last year we replaced everything north of the driveshaft and this year we went south. About the only things older than one year is the computer, drive shaft and the engine cowling. Just like having a new motor. For this year the rates are the same as last year. The reports coming in are that the little fish have made it to the cape and some bigger ones should arrive hear fairly soon. Most of last years fish were pretty decent so these should be a little better. I’ll keep you posted.

We pulled the boat Monday morning to end our season. This was a strange year for us. We had decent bass early and they were larger for a change. I think that we only caught a couple of bluefish this year. The bonito weren’t as good as the bluefish. Albies showed up on time and when things were just starting to come together a hurricane brushed us and that pretty much ended our Albie season. The fall run started and quickly folded up. There are a lot of fish to our north but there is no guarantee that they will come inshore on their way south. Our last couple of trips consisted of more looking than fishing. Stay safe this winter and we hope to get together next season.

A lot of my anglers ask how the fishing is in the fall. My answer is that its like eating a doughnut. Sometimes you get the doughnut and some days you get the hole. Today Dr. Jeff made the long and dangerous drive up Rt. 95 and he not only got a doughnut but he got the whole box of them. He started on his first cast when he hooked up right away. I told him that was often bad luck to catch a fish that quickly. He promptly lost that one to get us in the game. He hooked up on his next cast and I told him that was ok to catch, so he did. It stayed that way pretty much all trip. we did move around when things slowed only to find more bass to about eight pounds. Not a bad day to be on the water. I’ll be in until at least Nov. 1st.

This morning brought Doc C. down to find 48 degree temps and a bit of a breeze. It had been pouring rain up to just before our departure time. Shortly after that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky as a cold front dropped on us. We found lots of fish that were happy just to be swimming along. The bait was there and there were a few very brief flurries of activity. We did manage to get one nice striper to eat a fly. I only saw one other fish taken by another boat. Tomorrow is another day.