Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

On board today: Lt. Col. Richard “The Machine” Comstock, Day Two, Fly or Die striped bass.

At first light, cool and sunny on a dropping tide. Winds near calm BUT turning NE/E with just a whisper. It was enough to change up the fish today and make them do several things differently than yesterday.

First, fewer fish were in the bay today. The fish that were inside weRE way more skittish than yesterday. And the big one: they were ULTRA selective and would hit nothing consistently. We dropped flies on top of their heads all morning when we could get on them and time after time, we would watch fish follow, sniff, maybe swipe, and then swim away.

But we still got fish. We sank clousers and Gover Pinkies (hey, Gover – I will take a dozen more!) down on the bottom in a channel on the outgoing tide. We had several hits and landed two nice fish. We also had a hit that felt more like hooking into a cement block – and then it started to run! That was a monster and we never saw it because it threw the hook. Heartbreaker….

We ran the bay, scanned the bay and tried several more spots nothing doing. We fished a spot we had great success in yesterday with several keepers, and today there were fish there but they literally would began to spook and break-up at 200 yards away as we approached!

Finally, towards the end of the charter, we got into a classic Fall blitz that lasted until the wind turned NE/E. These fish were ULTRA selective and it took a little time to try and figure things out. They were not spooky but they ignored every fly we threw at them until we finally hit upon two patterns that would get hits. As with yesterday, today they would readily take an all white Blane Chocklett Game Changer in white. But only if you fished it with a steady two-hand retrieve. That took some time to figure out. The other pattern that the bass would hit was a “Craft Fur” olive/white minnow that had some tail action. But only if you retrieved it in long steady strips. This is how dialed in the bass were today and how challenging the fishing was. At one point, a bass spit up the classic oval peanut bunker bait. I had an EXACT fly pattern that matched the bait and they would not touch it no matter how it was retrieved. Go figure?

We ended the morning with 11 fish, all shorts. One bass was 27 3/4″ inches and if we squeezed the tail together we may have got 28″ inches. All the fish were fat and wide and very hard fighters, and every single one of them was earned today. It was tough fishing but just a gorgeous fall morning on the water and we enjoyed the challenge immensely!

Back at it. Stay Posted: 10 charters left for 2023.

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, 31 Years Guiding The Bay.. Still In Love. Soli Deo Gloria! www.baymenlife.com 

BOOKING 2024,2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 SEASONS. FLY FISHING OR LIGHT TACKLE STRIPED BASS ON THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST. BOOK EARLY. DATES GO QUICKLY.