Greetings fellow BAYMEN, Anglers, Hunters, and Peeps!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & New Year’s celebration. We had a full house and a wonderful time but now things are quieting down and it is back to business. So, a quick review of this past season 2021 and a look down the road to 2022 that we are now on.

2021 SEASON REVIEW – This past season, my 29th year of guiding, was quite good for numbers of fish in our bay and elsewhere. I fished April into November, and chartered May into October 5-6 days a week. We boated and released about 3,000 fish which has been the norm over the last 29 seasons of guiding. I think we kept maybe a half-dozen fish for the grill but that was about it. Keepers that are taken home by anglers varies season to season, and the limit is still currently 1 fish per day per angler, 28″ inches to UNDER 35″ inches. You can not keep a 35″ inch fish.

2021 NOTES Of Interest From My Journals – —————————————————————————–March 15, 2021: 16 degrees and strong north wind. Snow squalls yesterday. March 20, 2021: First day of spring. 56 degrees, sunny. Winter is over! April 8, 2021: Fly fished the river on the dropping. ENE as usual. No bumps, no sign of bait. 56 degrees and lovey. April 14, 2021: Sunny SE. Fished the river on the dropping, and the beach. Laughing Gulls and Great White Egrets arrived today. The Colonel has arrived. April 20, 2021: High 60’s, sunny, calm. Breaking fish at first light chasing bait. Small schoolies. 6wt-7wt heaven. May 2, 2021: Schoolies in the bay at high tide. May 4, 2021: Rain, raw, ENE. Small fish in bay and out front, jetties, beach. Canal blitz with keepers. Tons of schoolies in Harwich, Buzzards, Westport. Also Big Blues Westport. Schoolies with sea lice arrived in Portland Maine today as usual. Ontario reporting Big Bass (local population). May 7, 2021: Lesser Terns arrived today. Lots of schoolies around. Some fish 25″ inches now. Quick trip on bay landed two, one on fly, one on LT.  May 14, 2021: Big blitz in bay at high tide on fire. May 20, 2021: 25 fish. May 21, 2021: 25 fish. May 24, 2021: 24 fish. June 1, 2021: 26 fish. June 3, 2021: 52 fish. June 8, 2021: 35 fish. June 14, 2021: 36 fish. June 16, 45 fish. Best fish 41″ inches.  June 18, 2021: 43 fish. June 21, 2021: Big fish in bay. June 23, 2021: 69 fish. June 30, 2021: 121 fish. August 10, 2021: 60 fish. August 12, 2021: 70 fish. September 1,2021: 117 fish. September 14, 2021: 57 fish. September 17, 2021: Monster fish! October 12, 2021: Acres of fish in bay. VERY finicky hard to catch. November 5, 2021: BIG blitz, big fish, some blues mixed in. December 1, 2021: 30 degrees. 

(Baymen Dick Bowman with a cow) pc: Capt.Dave, Baymen Charters

These are just some highlights from my days on the water in 2021. I write daily report in my notebook journals for my own use, and also try to post a daily Baymen Report right here on my website that is followed by thousands of anglers each season.

Looking down the road into the 2022 season, I am very optimistic. I think we will continue to see solid numbers of bass, although not a lot of big fish as is currently the situation with the fish stocks from mismanagement. Marine fisheries always seems to be coming from behind on the management of striped bass. What they report does not always match what we see on the bay. Then again, talk with some of the offshore tuna fishermen and some of them report massive numbers of fish (striped bass) for miles. A couple of big schools of fish I have been into locally over the last 29 seasons here in Duxbury/Plymouth waters included a five miles school of bass inside the bay. It was one big massive school without end and you literally could not get out of fish! Another time out front, a fall run came down the coast and it was solid fish for miles as far as the eye could see, looking north, south, and east. All the fish were “rolling” and moving south rapidly. It lasted one tide and the next day it was a ghost town! One other notable school of fish many years back was a fifty-acre pod of bass that never left for three solid weeks. All topwater smashing bait. The tail slaps were so loud we had to shout over the noise to hear each other talking. Every single charter without fail said the exact same thing: “It sounds like non-stop applause in a stadium.” I could not agree more.

SHARKS – I saw a half-dozen Great Whites in the bay again in 2021. The closest sighting was the south end of Clarks Island. The biggest great white I saw was off of Gurnet and it was massive! Other interesting sightings in 2021 included a small mako inside the bay (the first I have ever seen inside the bay in 29 years) and six Atlantic Sturgeon over the season, all inside the bay. I have seen them for years, perhaps my whole life, including dead ones in the marsh, but I have never seen so many live ones shooting out of the water as this past season. They are very exciting to see, and like the great whites, they always catch you by surprise.

Well, that is the round up of 2021. Onward to 2022. I hope to replace my Baymen truck this year. I love that old truck that I have had for sixteen years now. I bought it in 2005 with 8,000 miles on it for $14, 500 and it has been running like a top ever since! A new truck in 2022 is anywhere from $55,000 to $75,00!!! Another interesting note about inflation – my father built his own house in Duxbury in 1965 for $12,000. A nice cape, 3 BR, 2 bath. His annual income at the time was about double the cost of his home. His mortgage was around $70.00 (!) dollars a month! Today, a new home in Duxbury starts at $800,000 and many average 4 BR, 2 bath homes start at $1.4 million. The sky is the limit with some houses nudging $20 million dollars. Assuming you can find a new home in Duxbury for $800,000 and can put down a small deposit of say, $400,000 cash, your annual mortgage will fall somewhere around $3,000 a month. If you match my father’s financial sheet of 1965, your annual income would have to be $1.6 million dollars a year. And don’t forget taxes – and mandatory .10 cent blue trash bags currently selling at $2.00 dollars a piece. Boy – would I love to own that company! My hat is off to that mega-millionaire genius…

Here’s to wishing you all a very happy, prosperous and profitable New Year and may God bless you and your loved ones in 2022. Time to get ready: Fish start arriving in a little over twelve weeks! :o) 

Tight Lines & Happy New Year. Thank you to all of you that charter with me each season. You are the reason I am here. I have the finest clients on earth!

Sincerely,

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com 29 Years Guiding The bay