All I can say is WOW…! My twenty-second year of guiding on the bay is done. What a season we had in 2015!

Once again, I fished for six months straight with amazing clients and friends, many of them that have been fishing with me for years and years. Tom Bullock fished his 22 second year in a row with me. That is just amazing… (Ask him about the time I left him at the dock and took off to get my wife to the hospital to give birth to our first baby! LOL…) Or ask him about the Day of the Gannets! I think we landed two that day…LOL. Great memories cherished.

I can honestly say I enjoyed every single trip with everyone I had the pleasure of guiding this past season. We caught and released thousands of fish and even kept a few keepers. Stripers and blues – my bread and butter for 22 years. Thanks be to God for creating such amazing fish and for such healthy stocks all of these years.

Here is just a couple of quick re-caps of this past season. I can’t cover all our trips/months, and I can’t include everyone. These are just a few days that stand out in my mind from 2015:

APRIL 10-21, 2105 – TROUT TIME The boat is rigged and ready for striper season and we are waiting on the fish. I am counting down the days by fly fishing for trout in some of my favorite MA South Shore Waters. Been slamming browns and rainbows and a few brookies on Adams dry flies and Bead-Head Pheasant Tails for nymphs.

MAY 14, 2015 – FIRST FISH starting to arrive in our bay. Fish are down deep and I am fishing my Baymen Jigs for light takle. They are being tied by Jeck’s Bucktails and are some of the finest ties I have ever seen. Many tackle shops in MA and the Saltwater Edge in RI are carrying them this season. Go Jeck!

MAY 18, 2015 – FIRST KEEPERS with Col. Richard “The Machine” Comstock. Fly or die for Richard. Hardcore fly rodder. Lots of basking sharks out along the front beach.

MAY 21, 2015 – 115 FISH with Frank Harrington, Ken Hartshorn, and the boys. Been a while since we broke numbers that high! All light tackle. Non-stop fish all morning. All fish hugging the bottom, nothing on top-water. All taken on my Baymen Jigs in 13-40 fow. All short fish to 26.5″ All fat and healthy, covered in sea lice.

MAY 29, 2015 SW WINDS CRANKING – The last seven days SW winds blowing 20-30 knots. Could not get out. Today, we got out! Billy Tedeschi fishing with me, boated 25 fish and a fine keeper on light tackle. Yo-Zuri poppers.

JUNE 3, 2015 – 42 FISH, 40″ INCH KEEPER with Ed Foley, Craig Cote, Scott Kehoe. All on LT, all on the incoming. Rubber crank baits, Baymen Jigs, Super Spooks. Craig landed the 40″ inch/22lb bass in 4.5 fow on a rubber shad. Screaming run in a light NE.

JUNE 10, 2015 – 42 FISH, ONE KEEPER – with Chris & Molley DeVillers. Gagg’s Grabber white/blue with my bleached white bucktail tied into rear hook.

JUNE 12, 2015 – 87 FISH, TWO KEEPERS – with Chris & Molly DeVillers. Ton of fish top of the tide. Non-stop topwater for four hours. Greasy bay, light SW. Best fish 36″/15lbs in 8 fow.

JUNE 30, 2015 – 47 FISH, ONE KEEPER – with Gary Condon, Kevin Erickson, Greg Powers. Low tide incoming. Fish would hit NOTHING for the first hour. Mid-morning incoming they slammed anything and everything with gusto. Baymen Jigs, Rubber Cranks, Epoxy, Smokey Joe – didn’t matter! Strange morning. HUGE bass slammed Kevin’s Super Spook in 3-4 fow and threw the hook. Very big fish. Gary got the keeper.

AUGUST 18, 2015 – 73 FISH, THREE KEEPERS – with Gary Condon, Kevin Erickson, Matt “Wompum” Daly, Greg Powers. All LT. Water temps 70/F! Air temps 90/F! Fish poured into the bay on th rising. Small pods everywhere. Topwater like it was fall.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 – 82 FISH, TWO KEEPERS – with Gary Condon, Matt Daly, Greg Powers. Bass stacked in 12-18 INCHES of water. Spooks and knuckle heads. Dropping tide. Bite shut down at low slack as usual. NO blues in bay. Lots of seals. Bass on turning tide very spooky. Water temps dropped 7 degrees from last week. Things changing over.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 – 49 FISH, TWO KEEPERS, BIG BLUES – with Scott Chatlin, Chris Barry, Tom. Classic fall blitz. Spooks and chugs 3 1/2 hours non-stop. Blues topped 14lbs inside!

So there are a couple of dates that stand out in my mind at this very moment. I’m sure I will lie in bed tonight and in the fall and winter days ahead, and re-play over and over in my head, the entire 2015 season. It was a great year on the bay and I cannot wait to start my 23rd season in 2016 with long-time clients and friends, and many new ones. Thank you to all of you, that have made this past season one of the best! See you all in the spring!

Sincerely,

Capt. Dave
www.baymenlife.com
*2016 SEASON IS 60% BOOKED – DON’T WAIT
*2017 DATES START BOOKING JANUARY 1st