seals wtf...

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Flap,

What about sept/oct 2001, 2002, 2003 on the back, just to mention a few?Where were you? Maybe not the isolated monomoy fishing with the tin boats like you mentioned, but just as many fish, if not more many nights. Same size fish, if not bigger many nights. Lots of guys that were there in the 70's say it was better in the 90's and early 2000's at times. Real fishermen, not lackeys, said this and mentioned outside of 77,78, and fall of 81, the fishing has been much better in the latter days, meaning now. The outer cape has unquestionably fallen apart since 2003, and I can sympathize with you there. When you mention all the 70's stuff you make it sound like nothing has happened out there since 1978, and it just isn't the case. No question you have some good memories like everyone else, but you constantly lament the fishing now compared to then, and its only been a couple years since it went sour. I think it will come back at some point, just can't say when, but it will. Hang in there, dude.

I went back to the beach full time so to say in 2001. For 11 years before then I fished strictly ( let's just say I was brainwashed into a cult) with a flyrod. Momonoy. Barnstable and the Elizabeth Islands were my haunts ( I averaged 33 plus days a year stalking the flats of Monomoy alone) After all that time the biggest fish I landed was 32 pounds on the flats or anywhere with the flyrod. Stifftip would call me and say he was catching on eel or plugging on the outer beach and I would cower in horror at the thought of such a barbarian way to take fish. I recovered my senses. In the fall of 2000 I went to the beach (Balstons to be exact) with a nine foot spinning rod with dusted off Penn 650ss and a plastic box with a dozen old rebels and such in it. I walked north to a point and rounded it to see before me a bowl in between two bar edges. I felt clumsy as I had not done that in a long time. With the box of plugs shoved down between my waders and my chest I snapped on a blue 7 inch Rebel. I caught fish for 3 hours, several in the 30 pound class and many in the 20 pound range. I didn't pick up a flyrod for almost three years after that night.

I recall the 70's and early 80's because they were the times I had the most fun, it was all new and exciting. One of the best periods of my life. The friends I had who are now gone for the most part. Places like Monomoy were wide open, no one ever borthered you if you landed there and not many people did land there to fish.

Yeah, maybe the 90' and early in this new century had good fishing, maybe as good as then, but the restrictions were being enforced on beach travel, the seals were beginning to be spoken of more and more and the big hits were beginning to be subtly noticed as being fewer and fewer. The best night I had in the last 30 years was in September 2003. It started at 7:30 at night at Hatches with a 31 pounder first cast on a BASSMASTER needlefish and ended , with fish still being caught, in exhaustion at 8:30 the next morning. Stifftip will tell you of LaFleur and I calling him on his cell phone and leaving messages with only the sound of our drags screaming as he fished a fishless Squibnocket Beach on the Vineyard. He had been with me every night that week as the fishing built and built but he had made a promise to go to MV to a friend for a night and he knew what was going to happen. The seals are the number one problem, no doubt in my mind. There will be no prolonged old days again until that problem is solved.

[Slingah]

I am lucky to have had the many great nites on the back from 99-03.........to me it felt like magic...just as you Flap and others have described the good old days.....nothing much else like it. I met a older surf caster one spring morning at the Pilgrim Springs Motel. in 03..he and his buddy were sitting outside chewing the fat and started talking to me....he contently listenened to me tell my enthusiastic fish tales of the past 4 - 5 years since I had discovered the back beaches. He told me of days driving the beaches from Nauset to P-town and of big fish nites...it was a great conversation. I said to him that I will never be able to have what you did back then, but to me these are going to be my good old days. He looked at his friend and said here is a smart man.......little did I know then that possibly could have been the end of an other era. I wish I knew then who the older gentlman was...even though he had introduced himself I had never heard the name before......I have since......it was Tony C.........

[Backbeach Jake]

I went to the A&P now GU (GOO) in P-town thisAM to buy eggs for breakfast with my fishing family. An older gent, JoeC, approached me and asked how the fishing was going. My sour self described my luck. As the conversation proceeded, he started telling me a story about a super-plug from back in the day. He described watching another fisherman snap in off and then finding it later himself. Thinking why not and tied it on. On cast, one fifty later he was sold. found out a local named ConradM built it. By now I was on to him. And I said that DannyP started building them didn't he. Yes he said. Look over here he said. He pulled that plug out of the back of his Jeep. Herring Danny Pichney Conrad. THE icon plug of the Second Rip. He also showed me some eels he had made from pork rind ....in 1975. Keeps them in brine and are dyed light blue and hand sewn from his own pattern. Yep caught 50s on them too. Has 5 50s in his career and is 85 years young. Changed my outlook on this avocation 180 degrees. Flap, you set it to music. I'm near as bitter now as when I woke. Thanks

[parker23]

I fished Friday, Sat, Sunday and this morning. So many seals, so few fish. These seals must have weighed close to 1000#'s, they were huge. The only fish I saw, was one hanging out of a seals mouth.

I should have stayed home and fished in a seal free zone.

I did have a Bomba sighting though.

[Rappin Mikey]

I saw both you guys! (bbj & P23) I think Fred is a stalker though. I literally saw him all over the place this weekend. He was everywhere. I saw him on shore, in boats, in cars. Lots of seals, but more Freds than fish for me this weekend.

[Backbeach Jake]

Originally Posted by Rappin Mikey

I saw both you guys! (bbj & P23) I think Fred is a stalker though. I literally saw him all over the place this weekend. He was everywhere. I saw him on shore, in boats, in cars. Lots of seals, but more Freds than fish for me this weekend.

Ixnay on the oatbay!!!!! I saw you more often than you saw me You almost ran over me at Pamet, missed me by 50 feet!!
Good seeing you and PapaBomba again.

[Tagger]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

I went back to the beach full time so to say in 2001. For 11 years before then I fished strictly ( let's just say I was brainwashed into a cult) with a flyrod.

Stan Kuzia told me your the best he's seen with a fly rod .

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by Tagger

Stan Kuzia told me your the best he's seen with a fly rod .

Stan is a great guy. I wish to live as long and fish with as many people as he has. To know what he has forgotten would aide my struggle by years. Last week before me and Stiffy went to the OTW Striper Fest I met up with Stan to give him a plug I made for him. It was a six inch Stubby Waker in blue over silver with silver and blue glitter swirled on top. He said he really liked it and as I about to tell him how to fish it he started to tell me how to and he was exactly right. It made my day when he said how he thought the plug was really nice and would surely catch then he told me some ways they used to catch fish when things were slow and a cool story about fishing with Floyd Roman and a plug Floyd made for himself for use with an eelskin. It swam right on the bottom dragging it's nose in the sand. I got to find one of those plugs.

As to the flyfishing ability, well let's just say I really ( and still do) enjoyed it. I actually caught a 26 inch Codfish one December morning at Old Harbor in Sandwich while schoolie fishing there at the mouth. He was really good eating!

[Flaptail]

The Codfish ate a chartreuse over white Clouser (#2) on my 8 weight GLoomis with a AirFlo monocore and 10 pound flouro tippet (8 feet overall blood knotted starting at 30lb butt every 2 feet, it turned over better than anything I ever used)