77 Fish
Wonderful morning today with The “A” Team, Frank Harrington III and his three sons, for light tackle striped bass. This crew has been fishing with me for many years.
At first light – heavy, dense fog. Really thick, really slow going to get to our first spot of the morning across the bay on the dropping tide. But it was beautiful to experience and we arrived at our first spot of the morning and got into fish right away. The bass were hugging bottom laying in bait that was as thick as a blanket. We landed many fish on Baymen Jigs and rubber crank baits.
Next up, we began to hit the rips that set up around the bay on the last hour or so of dropping. To our surprise, most of the rips had no fish or only a few fish. But we worked them all anyway and got into some nice bass.
At slack tide, we fished a spot I call “No Name” and did well. Bass were hugging the bottom here as earlier and we landed several fish on many drifts.
Onward into Plymouth waters to fish a few of my favorite spots. We found some fish deep up in the cuts. We also worked a deep channel but nobody was home.
Back up into Duxbury waters to fish the start of the incoming and we got into a nice school of bass along a flat. Those fish gave us three drifts before they moved on. One of those bass screamed line off the reel and I called “keepah!” But I was wrong. Just a fat, strong fish of 27 1/2″ inches. We landed many fish of this caliber today and the fights were just amazing on light tackle and barbless hooks.
We moved again and fished an incoming tide rip. Nobody home. We moved again to fish a channel that runs shallow to deep. BINGO! We got into some nice bass, all on chartreuse rubber crank baits with the cast and count technique. Those fish fought hard like all the other fish we landed throughout the morning. The fish are fat and all very healthy. There is a solid year class in the bay this season. What is not in the bay, however, are many small schoolies of 12″-18″ inches. Almost non-existent.
Well, we ended the morning with 77 striped bass caught and released on light tackle. Top lures were my Baymen Jig (crimped barbs) and rubber crank baits in chartreuse, and also pearl/white. No sign of seals anywhere inside today, and no sign of sharks so far this season…! A great morning with The “A” Team and I look forward to having them on board again in the Fall Run.
I am back on vacation starting tomorrow for the week. But you know I will probably spend it fishing on the bay!
Tight Lines!
Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com Guided Fly Fishing & Light Tackle Striped Bass on the Massachusetts Coast for Thirty Years.
***NOW BOOKING 2023 & 2024 SEASONS. DON’T WAIT – DATES WILL BE GONE***