On board today, I had Col. Richard Comstock (ret.) for Day 2 of fly fishing for striped bass. We had planned on only fishing yesterday, but I had a reschedule today, so I called up Richard who was in town from NY, and asked him if he wanted to fly fish with me a second day. Without hesitation, he said, “Yes!”

At first light, we had EAST winds and overcast skies. Yesterday’s massive school of fish had left the bay, along with the tonnage of peanut bunker, but there were enough skiddish pods around the 25 square mile loop that I guide in, to keep us busy.

We were fishing a dropping, high tide as we cut across the bay and slipped over 4-6″inches of water on a flat, and glided into about 3 fow – and tons of bait, birds, and bass. They had the bait up against the flat and we were able to get right up next to them and Richard landed several fish.

Next stop of the morning took us deep into the bay and we found some fast-moving, skiddish pods under birds. The bait was not holding and the bass were pushing it hard. Add to that the EAST winds at our stern and it made setting drifts challenging! But we kept adjusting and did well. Richard hooked into a bunch of small bass and also some hickory shad. Beautiful colors on these shad and a very distinct, though not unpleasant, odor.

We also ran up behind Clarks and found a few fish there, and then a run to plymouth and we found more fish. Our hope and goal was to find some big, migrating keepers. But there were no keepers in the bay today. Lots of small bass and a few big schoolies short of keepers. We did not mark any big fish on the sonar in the deeper channels and cuts.

Total catch and release today was 33 fish. Yesterday we boated 36, and last evening Richard chased bait and bass from the beach and landed a few more. He is out again tonight and will be fishing the beach again tomorrow morning. Hard core fly rodder.

Tomorrow, I had to reschedule my charter due to NE winds and rain on the bay. We are hoping the winds lay down for Thursday and that the EAST winds don’t shut down the bite. We are always at the mercy (and awe) of God, nature and weather.

Back at it. Friday is September 1st…

Capt. Dave, BAYMEN
www.baymenlife.com