12 Fish
On board today, I had new clients, Stanford Carr of Hawaii, his two sons, and their friend Bill from Boston. Stanford’s wife, Kathy and their daughter, had other plans today and sent the boys out for a day on the bay.
Our plan today was to fish the early morning and then clam the evening tide. At first light, heavy, dense fog made for very slow going on the dropping – 1.8 tide. We made it just past Clark’s Island and visibility was near zero. I turned the boat around and headed back to harbor and suggested we do our clamming first. That plan worked out great for everyone. I hauled the boat and we set off for the clamming flats.
We walked out to a favorite clamming flat of mine up the road, and found the hardshells thick. We raked up a full limit in short order and the boys carried them back to shore. Back at the harbor, I dropped the boat back in and we set out to find striped bass. The rising tide brought dense fog all morning and into the afternoon. We cut through it and around it as best we could and fished about a dozen of my spots. Wind was light but out of the East. Coupled with the minus tide, it made for very slow fishing.
The highlight of the morning was a school of striped bass that came into the bay on the rising tide. LOTS of striped bass and the sonar was lit top to bottom. It was game on and we began to hook up on a bunch of fish. We saw at least five fish on topwater that were keepers, chasing bait. They were very fast moving and they did not hold. Suddenly, the winds freshened from the NE and our striper blitz shut down like the flick of a switch. Fish and bait gone…!
We continued to fish structure all over the bay and also watched schools of pogies for signs of bass. The bay was void of fish. Total catch and release today was a hard-earned dozen striped bass. This crew worked very hard and relentlessly and we had an enjoyable time on the bay even though the NE made the fishing slow.
Back at it. Stay Posted:
Capt. Dave
www.baymenlife.com