Things You Used To See Down The Backside!

[BigFish]

1. Miles of ORV's headed for the Race!

2. Bumper mounted rod racks on the front of vehicles full of rods driving up and down 6!

3. Fishermen???? I have seen NOBODY fishing down here but me???!!!!

4. Open beach!!

5. Stripers??

6. Bluefish??

7. Birds working???


Sure has changed down here in the last 6 years???

I miss the good old days.

[tattoobob]

I bet the local economy misses the Fishermen to

Hows the fishing?

[StriperZ]

I will let you guys know. I get three days Fri, sat and sun. to fish the cape.

[Slipknot]

#8. Me

[flyvice11787]

You're complaining that you have the place to yourself and nobody's competing with you for the fish ?

[UserRemoved1]

Fishing is GREAT out there Lawrence. They are slaying fish on my 1 oz needles. Blackbeards can't keep them in stock last 3 weeks.

[piemma]

Me too Larry. Some of the best times I had were on the Back in the early 90s. My old partner RJ and I use to run 600 miles (back and forth Friday and Saturday nights) every weekend to fish 2 tides. We would KILL the Bass. Had some 20 fish nights with nothing under 25# and a few in the 40s. Consistently we could find fish. Mission Bell, 2/10 Hole, Lauras, Peaked Hill Bar, High Head. Oh, man it was great!!!

I really miss the whole experience. Coffee in the morning with Tony C, Lanny, Chucky and the NY guys at Emilos

Originally Posted by BigFish

1. Miles of ORV's headed for the Race!

2. Bumper mounted rod racks on the front of vehicles full of rods driving up and down 6!

3. Fishermen???? I have seen NOBODY fishing down here but me???!!!!

4. Open beach!!

5. Stripers??

6. Bluefish??


7. Birds working???


Sure has changed down here in the last 6 years???

I miss the good old days.

[BigFish]

Sorry....should have specified (like I needed to?) I am talking surf.

[RIJIMMY]

reminds me of a little tune....

[RIJIMMY]

Now I think I'm going down to the well tonight
and I'm going to drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it
but I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
a little of the glory of, well time slips away
and leaves you with nothing mister but
boring stories of glory days

[saltfly]

Getting on the beach at Coast Guard in Eastham and driving to Hatches Harbor without touching the tar.Vicky Kraft from Truro[summer resident] riding her horse with no top just to "crank up" Herbie Olson about nudism especially south of Ballston.Checking the holes at low water and sinking up over your knees in the soft sand with sandeels shooting out everywhere.Mung would show up on Rare occaisions.Catching a Bluefish was a Real Big Deal.

[redlite]

me with a pile of fish buried in the sand tellin everyone walkin by that there were no fish as I am letting a fish run with my bail open talkin to them.................fishin in waders and a t-shirt and no korkers and light rods, lines, and leaders...........All the people I used to fish with and talk to, the comaraderie of it all..........sittin in Nelson's every morn listen to the tourists talk about all the fish they caught and where so I knew where to go that night...........the whole easiness of it................Not just finding one or two fish in a night, findin PILES of them at a time...........Watchin Top Knot skip down into the water without his leg to take his mornin' bath and then hitchin a ride off the beach from him sittin on his cooler rack.......LISTENING to the Old Guard talking about THEIR glory days when things were slow or inbetween tides......
But most of all, I miss the smell of the salt water, sand and pine trees.......
They truly were Glory Days............

[Blitzseeker]

The best of times are gone, but they'll be back. This spring was pretty damn good out there for me....not as good as 8-10 years and further ago but not that far off. If you can avoid the seals you're ok, and the seals were sparser this spring....maybe they're a little nervous about the sharks?

[numbskull]

I don't know squat about the outer cape, but the CCT says Nauset had a major blitz this past week and somebody leant a kid a rod with which he proceeded to catch a 48" bass. Sounds like somewhere out there there are fish to be had for those willing to go.

[MAKAI]

There is bass aplenty just offshore.
They just don't need to come into a sterilized nearshore that often.

Where can I buy a nice sealskin jacket ?
Just for the delicious spitefulness of it.

[BasicPatrick]

I agree with what BigFish and others are reporting about the missing atmosphere of the backside. I have spent more time there this season than I have in many years and the place just feels empty during "fishermen's hours".

The hard core or dedicated shore fishermen are mostly gone...mostly. The ones that remain have gone ultra quiet as they see or hear what the internet has done to places like the canal and cutty. The feel and atmosphere of the cooler rack is a great loss to the outer Cape.

The fishing this year has actually been like someone turned back the clock six years because of all the bait. The juvy sea herring have made the back side come alive. Memorial Day to July 4th there was quality SHORE fishing if you both took the time to find out here the bait was located and remembered how to work a stretch of beach to find the cuts and holes that held fish.

There have also been good blitzes of both Bass and Blues. Just a couple days ago Nauset Inlet went off big time. When the bait is thick the seals mean very little.

Remember. It's impossible to adequately/properly fish multiple spots a hundred miles apart at the same time. You can't work the backside and the canal on the same really good tides. You can't fish elsewhere most of the season and then think that you can just drive to the back side and know which beach you need to fish or what is going on acros sthe board. None of us is that good.

I guarantee that if BigFish or Redlite put the time in like they used to they would find quality fishing on the back side. Yes, it's July and the mung is here and that always made the fishing suck. Yes, it's not the glory days bt it aint as bad as the intenet claims either.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by BasicPatrick

I agree with what BigFish and others are reporting about the missing atmosphere of the backside. I have spent more time there this season than I have in many years and the place just feels empty during "fishermen's hours".

The hard core or dedicated shore fishermen are mostly gone...mostly. The ones that remain have gone ultra quiet as they see or hear what the internet has done to places like the canal and cutty. The feel and atmosphere of the cooler rack is a great loss to the outer Cape.

The fishing this year has actually been like someone turned back the clock six years because of all the bait. The juvy sea herring have made the back side come alive. Memorial Day to July 4th there was quality SHORE fishing if you both took the time to find out here the bait was located and remembered how to work a stretch of beach to find the cuts and holes that held fish.

There have also been good blitzes of both Bass and Blues. Just a couple days ago Nauset Inlet went off big time. When the bait is thick the seals mean very little.

Remember. It's impossible to adequately/properly fish multiple spots a hundred miles apart at the same time. You can't work the backside and the canal on the same really good tides. You can't fish elsewhere most of the season and then think that you can just drive to the back side and know which beach you need to fish or what is going on acros sthe board. None of us is that good.

I guarantee that if BigFish or Redlite put the time in like they used to they would find quality fishing on the back side. Yes, it's July and the mung is here and that always made the fishing suck. Yes, it's not the glory days bt it aint as bad as the intenet claims either.

so I should consider a Ballston run?

[piemma]

I remember an August night long ago in front of the big dune at Ballston. All alone with a dozen eels. From 1 to 5 with a dropping tide nothing under 35. I took home 1 fish that I buried in the sand about 2:00 AM. I was sure it was better than 50 but when I weighed it at Murats it was 49 and change. I'm sure the sand sucked a couple of pounds out of her.

[tattoobob]

Originally Posted by piemma

I remember an August night long ago in front of the big dune at Ballston. All alone with a dozen eels. From 1 to 5 with a dropping tide nothing under 35. I took home 1 fish that I buried in the sand about 2:00 AM. I was sure it was better than 50 but when I weighed it at Murats it was 49 and change. I'm sure the sand sucked a couple of pounds out of her.

You should have filled it's belly with sand

[Swimmer]

Sorry, but what I remember that get my juices flowing was my surfboard and all those girls in bikinis.

[JohnnyD]

I got in the game too late to enjoy any of the good ol' days of the Backside. The old timers I fish with reminisce about it and I tend to grow depressed know that it will never be even close to that again. Being able to go out at anytime of the day, toss some bait and get at least a few fish.

A few fish that they often mentioned but almost seem mythical - sand dabs, skates and fluke from shore. When's the last time someone's caught one of those?

[JohnR]

You sometimes would see my truck

[tattoobob]

Well they opened some of the south race and now High head to head of the meadow is open, and the pole road to hatches harbor

[Blitzseeker]

Have not seen a skate in close to 10 years...gone with the seals. Dogfish disapeared a year or two after that. I never dead stick bait so I never really caught them, just observed.

Caught pollock (on droppers) from the beach there as late as about 2001 or 2002...guys I fish with got a few cod on metal about 5 years ago.

Last fluke I caught (bouncing metal along the bottom) from shore was near Mission Bell around '98 or '99. Caught 6-8 in a row one morning, pretty good size.

There's just no way for species like that to survive near shore with all the seals....can't imagine you'll ever see them there again.

[MAKAI]

This, that and me.

[Sweetwater]

Originally Posted by MAKAI

This, that and me.

Hey...I recognize the guy in the center photo. It's truly sad how such a great fishery has turned into something so much less than what it was.

[whiplash]

Sand. Not much left in some places. Last I was down some of the holllows high tide was on the cliff face.

[MAKAI]

Originally Posted by Sweetwater

Hey...I recognize the guy in the center photo. It's truly sad how such a great fishery has turned into something so much less than what it was.

Funny. . . . other people thought it was Conan O'brien.

[CaptMike]

I got a fluke on a fly and a skate from hell on bait on the back side a few weeks ago. Maybe they're the only tow left and they hang out together

[Mr. Sandman]

I remember birds diving like mad there and pod after pod of bunker bassing by almost non stop. Have not been on race point beach in several years now (7 or 8).
I use to go for a week or two of insane fishing up there each Sept. I stay at home now and fish locally.