65 Fish
On board today, I had regulars, Gary Condon and Greg Powers, who have been fishing with me for many years. Gary brought me hot coffee and blueberry muffin, as is his custom, always wanting to make sure the Captain is well fed and watered before the start of the charter. The Captain is very spoiled.
At first light, overcast skies and a flat calm bay with a touch of SW. Water temps 63 degrees. The sun has been blotted out for several days in the mornings, with smoke from the West Coast wildfires that has finally reached the New England coast.
We found fish right away this morning and they were almost solid blues! More blues in the bay today than I have seen all season. They are a nice size, mediums, no cocktails no giants. The tuna fleet was out in mass trying to catch them for bait. They were also trying to get pogies for bait. I hope they made out well today and came back before the SW winds kicked up.
We fished the blues for a while and switched up to wire. Then we left the blues and found a bunch of striped bass up on the flats with a just a few blues mixed in. No shad today, but lots and lots of small bass. After we had landed 30 or so fish, we left the flats in search of bigger bass. We found them in 15-20+ feet of water on the bottom. We switched from rubber crank baits to Baymen Jigs and hooked up right away, bouncing them on the bottom. The bass were very fast moving and a tuna boat drove over them at high speed and that spooked the bass.
We ran to Plymouth and chased a mix of small bass and blues in channels and up on the flats. Lots of birds working the schools made it easier to find them. We decided to go back to where we got the bigger bass to see if they were still in the area and they had moved on. But some nice size blues had replaced them and we got one good drift before those blues did the vanishing act.
After some amazing fishing, we went back to where we began the morning and had lunch, as is Gary’s custom. Italien subs, chips, cookies, thick chocolates, iced coffees and iced waters and iced tea. We ate like Kings and enjoyed catching up on each others lives outside of fishing.
The SW winds kicked up another notch and small white caps began to build. We set a few more drifts over breaking fish and landed two more bass before heading for port on choppy seas.
Total catch and release today was 65 striped bass and blues on light tackle. A nice mix of fish and so much fun on light tackle.
Back at it. Stay Posted as the Fall Run continues… NOTE: NE Winds Are Coming Tonight And It Is Going To Blow Hard For Days. Watch NOAA Marine Forecast if you are heading out.
Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com Covid-19 Protocol observed on all Baymen charters and guide services
****Today’s Charter in memory of Kevin Erickson****