On board today, I had regular, Col. Richard Comstock (Ret.) for  Day 1: fly fishing striped bass and blues. Richard is my client and friend and has been fishing with me for many years. He is often referred to as “The Machine” because once he has a fly rod in his hand, he can cast non-stop in any conditions, all day long! And still keep on going.

At first light, we found a school of fish on the dead low -1.1 and so did every other boat on the bay. Stripers were busting topwater and everyone was very cordial and worked the fish well. We stayed for a short time, but it you have fished with me, you know I hate to fish with other boats if I can avoid it. So, we ran across the bay to my next spot of the morning.

We pulled into another school of breaking fish in a narrow channel with birds and bait. Those fish kept us busy for about two hours. Richard hooked up on several fish with a topwater popper.

Next up, we found a nice school of bass working the edge of a flat. We drifted and redrifted that school until the rising tide flooded the flats and the bass moved up onto them. We followed and caught several more bass to 27″ inches in two feet of water. The best part was, Richard switched out his fly to a chartreuse & white Clouser that he had just tied and literally still had in his Renzetti vice in the parking lot before we departed. He showed it to me, I took it out said, “you got to fish that fly today!” Turns out is was the top pattern of the morning and the fish destroyed it. Later, we fished my Baymen Univerversal as our back-up fly and caught a bunch more.

We moved all around the bay today looking for fall topwater blitz action, but it was only found in very small pockets. The bass continue to blitz for 10-30″ seconds and then go down. If you fish the bottom and wait it out, they eventually come back to the surface.

Final fish of the morning came in a mini-blitz of very small striped bass right near the harbor. Richard worked that pod of fish and did well.

Total catch and release today was 18 fish, all on the fly. Top patterns were the Comstock Clouser, a Rainies foam popper, and my Baymen Universal – a fly version of my Baymen Universl jig for light tackle.

Back at it. Stay posted. I am fishing through October 5th. One other note: NO blues inside the bay today.

Capt. Dave, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com

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