17 Fish on Fly
On board today, I had Col. Richard “The Machine” Comstock for Day 3 striped bass on the fly.
At first light, dead low tide incoming and a light West wind. We ran half-way outside the bay and fished our way back in with the tide. Lots of skiddish, small fish working bait over the flats. Inside the bay, more small bass pushing bait in 25-35 fow.
We had success with clouser minnows and also fished a popper to some topwater fish. But most fish hit the clouser. The fish were small and they were picky. It took a few casts to hook up but we figured them out and started landing fish regularly.
About half-way through out trip, the winds shifted from W to SW to SE to E to NE. A spin around the compass in just a few hours. Fishing slowed and then came to a halt. We continued working the bay end to end and Richard pulled rabbits out of a hat along the way.
Total catch and release today was 17 fish, two fish over our daily average so not a bad morning. The bay was pretty flat and the haze burned off to a sunny, summer-like day. Just lovely out there.
Now we watch NOAA to see what this wind will do, if anything and if the bite will turn back on.
Stay posted:
Capt. Dave, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com