My report is a few days old, but I couldn't even think about these things the past few days... for obvious reasons.
I am deeply upset over the events of tuesday and I hope that September 11 will become a national holiday to honor the innocent lives that were taken and to honor the countless folks who gave their lives trying to help, as well as those that continue the effort.
These people are all national heroes in my eyes.
Well, I always feel better being out on the water or on the beach, so I guess we should all get out there asap to try and start the recovery process.
Good luck to everyone in the Mass leg this weekend. I will be leaving for Nantucket saturday in the AM so I obviously won't be there. Long range forecasts show great weather next week and I hope that holds out.
My weekend report starts with a night time surf trip to Cohassett with eels. It was a dead calm, but I did get a couple quick hits in the first half hour. No runs though and no fish. Then 2+ hours of nothing. I fished the incoming tide. There has been no bait on the south shore in my trips out this year. Including fishing with Got Stripers out of his boat a week and a half ago in which we covered alot of water. Likewise, other than a few stragglers, the fish haven't been there in any numbers.
I also got out on the harbor Sunday and Monday. I launched pre-dawn both days. The fish were stacked up in a secret spot of mine on sunday, but a guy was anchored in there. Apparently he wasn't aware this spot was secret. I politely worked around him and took a few fish. I screwed around trying to get a fish on my flyrod (unsuccessfully), but the fish I caught were on slug-o's and lipless crankbaits. It really didn't matter what you threw on them, they would probably hit it. I took a run out to Wollaston and Peddocks Island and then back to the east side of Thompson's Island... looking for surface action. I saw about 12 boats and some birds in the main channel and realized any action wouldn't last long. I ran up into the Neponset River to check a few flats on the dropping tide and had a couple swirls. I expected alot of boats and was really in scout mode for monday as I was planning a mental health day to spend by myself out on the water. Hadn't done that in many months.
Monday I had the harbor to myself. Again, my spot was loaded with fish hammering bait and I took a bunch of fish up to 30". The bite lasted a little over an hour until there was little water left. I ran over to Wollaston again and cruised for awhile. I finally saw some fish breaking and hooked up on topwater. The pod was moving quick and I lost them while landing my fish. Then the birds started to help me and I found the fish for a couple more hook ups. These were nice schoolies around 24-26" fat and strong. That action occured between the Long Island bridge and Hangman's. I cruised back toward's Thompson's and saw a bunch of birds hangin' around, not really working, but I figured they were there for a reason. Good call 'cause I spent the next two hours chasing fish up and down the east side of the Island. At times the action was intense with the fish bustin bait clear out of the water and birds all over the place. There were schools of bass and blues and I lost some terminal tackle to the toothy guys, but I caught a bunch of fish. The schools again were fast moving, so it was hook up, run, hook up, run... but they stayed up and moved up and down parallel to the island. I wasn't able to just sit on a school and catch fish after fish, but the action was solid and I caught a couple dozen bass, landed two nice blues around 8 lbs., and caught my first striper on a flyrod. I did alot of experimenting and caught fish on probably 4 different jerkbaits, atom poppers (yellow/red), bagley's finger mullet (lipless crankbaits), a red and white zara spook and a chartreuse and white baby bunker fly. Like I said, they hit anything moving.
The bite dwindled a bit around 11am, but they were still popping up in smaller groups when I left. I was low on petro and wanted to get some errands done, so I headed in. It was a fantastic day with good fishing topped off by my daughter and I eating a late lunch at Friendly's
It wasn't like stories I heard and what I saw from shore last fall with huge schools just going at it for hours, but it was a start. Maybe things will still pick up. The big schools off Wollaston last fall were there thru Sept. and most of October. I remember that I was going to go out on the harbor after those fish the weekend before my Canadian trip which was October 21 or something last year. A small craft advisory kept my in. So, there is still hope for a big fall.
Sorry for the long, detailed report, but I have barely communicated with anyone but my wife and daughter for a few days and it feels good to think about something else for awhile. And recounting monday is alot nicer than recounting what happened tuesday.
Good luck to everyone this weekend and god bless.
Bill and Julie, hopefully, I will call you and stop down for a few days in the Vineyard. Tough to make any plans right now. If I don't see you, I hope you have a great time and catch lots of fish.
fishing report & MV countdown!!! Ya Baby
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