Greetings from BAYMEN and Capt. Dave!

On board today, Baymen Dick Bowman, one of my regulars that has been with me for… 20 years? Time sure flies…

At first light, the bay was flat as glass. It was like a mill pond and a welcome sight after yesterday’s NE chop and wind. Today was picture perfect.

We cut across the bay as the sun began to rise and found a few schools of fish with birds and bait on the rising tide. Light Tackle was the game today, and Dick had his new LT rod made by Chris Aubut Rods, and it was a beauty. Blue blank with green wraps and stainless steel guides. Dick is a huge mono fisherman and it was just what he ordered. It also had some beautiful custom cork and an extended butt section. Such a nice rod…

Dick landed three fish and then his fourth – a fine keeper for the grill. The fish were almost all on topwater and the birds and sonar helped to located them. The schools of fish moved around the bay fairly quickly and they were a little fussy. But if you kept at it, you got your fish.

A few times today, we saw fish chasing adult herring that were running for their lives and doing their best to keep their bodies out of the water and ahead of striped bass. The bass almost seemed gleeful in their pursuit of a favorite meal. It was one of those sights on the bay that is so cool to see.

We fished a lot of depths today. 75 fow to 6 fow. The bass were moving following bait. It was not an all out spring blitz today. More like a small, contained blitz popping up here and there. Top lures were Hogy Charter poppers, Baymen Jigs, 3″ rubber crank baits, a rubber sluggo type bait from Anthony Lombardo at Bears Den Fly Shop, and a few other lures from Dick Bowman’s Tackle Box. You may think you have a lot of great tackle until you meet Baymen Dick Bowman!

At slack tide, we took a break and Dick shared with me some of his favorite songs stored on an app on his phone. Two songs in particular got a little saltwater in my eyes. Battle Song of The Republic (one of my favorite hymns) and I Will Always Love You by the late Whitney Houston. What more can you say…

The winds freshened late morning and turned East and the bite shut off like a switch, as it almost always does in an east wind. We called it a great morning and headed for port.

Total catch and release today was 30 striped bass all on light tackle.

Back at it. STAY POSTED:

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com Fly Fishing & Light Tackle on the MA coast!

TYL