53 Fish
On board today, I had Bill Gourley’s grandson, Joey, and Joey’s friend, Brian, for light tackle striped bass. Both boys are top Junior Hockey players out of Pembroke, MA.
At first light, the bay was flat calm and covered in misty fog. Our first stop of the morning yielded several fish on the flats that absolutely slammed out topwater pencil poppers! One of those fish was screaming some line but threw the hook halfway to the boat. Keeper for sure, but what size is anyone’s guess!
Next spot was a structure spot and we fished rubber crankbaits on the bottom. Not a bump. We left there and went to another flat and it was GAME ON! Fish were stacked up and they slammed our pencil poppers the second they hit the water. Numerous times they knocked the poppers right into the air. What a blast on light tackle! This went on for about an hour and then the tide bottomed out, the winds turned East, and the bite shut off.
When the tide turned and started back in, the winds turned S/SE. We fished a deep, dead-end whole for the first time this season and it was filled with bass. Many, many “East Winders” chased down the tackle only to tail swipe time over and over. It was exciting to see. But as the tide got moving and and winds went more South, the bass began to slam the pencil poppers once again.
Next up, we fished “T Time” and there was only one fish in this guzzle. It was dead up there. So, we fished snake pit and that too was void of fish. After that, we began to hit a bunch of pocket water spots and most of them held a fish or two. Then we moved back to where we lost the keeper at first light. We picked up a few more fish. On our way back to harbor, we hit several more cuts, guzzles, weed beds and structure. It was slow, but we added a few more fish to our total count for the morning.
Our total catch and release today was a whopping 53 fish – almost all of them on topwater poppers in a few feet of water (just ask Joe!) :o)
Back at it. Stay posted:
Capt. Dave, BAYMEN
www.baymenlife.com (NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS. PLEASE PASS THE WORD)