As I write this at 9:00am, it is pouring rain with the sun trying to shine through. There are 6-8 footers rolling up onto the beach, and the bay is relatively calm in the NE breeze. There are a smattering of fish behind Clark’s Island, but no other fish in the bay that I can glass through my binoculars. I wonder if there are fish on Browns Bank or up in the Eel River this morning… I can’t check those places from my end of the bay. Gulls line the beach in many places, just resting. Every now and then they do a group stretch and set back down. Hundreds of them.

Fishing this September has been difficult with the constant shifting of the winds out of the E/NE. We get a couple of good days with decent fishing and then the winds go back ENE, a tough wind to find feeding fish in, topwater or sub-surface. But we have had some great days and some amazing days, if you have been following my Baymen Reports here on my website baymenlife.com The hardest part is always trying to give my charters a great morning on the bay when you can’t control the weather, the wind or the fish migration patterns and how they react to the current weather conditions. I half-jokingly say guiding is a great way to make a living, but a terrible way to support a family. This year marks my 26th year guiding on the bay.

So, today I watch the weather and search for fish. Clients are stacked up on stand-by, to see if we can catch a break. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I would love one of those autumns where we have a two week stretch of lovely fall weather, great fishing conditions, and the migration in full swing passing through our bay every morning. I can remember some falls like that and let me tell you they are nothing short of spectacular! I can clearly remember one autumn where the fish were so thick, you could point the bow in any direction on any given day, and you would run into an acre or more of busting topwater fish, with some nice keepers in the mix. I can also remember one fall, when there were fifty acres of bass on Brown’s Bank for three solid weeks. They never left and the fishing was beyond amazing. And I recall another autumn when we ran just offshore and drove through rolling bass for five miles straight without let up. That day still seems like a dream but it was a very real experience.

Tonight the winds continue ENE, tomorrow they turn South, and the next day they turn West. We will be out there turning with them, looking for ten more days of fish and then it will be over for us for another season. Autumn will be here in full measure, the ducks will be coming down the coast, and eight-point bucks will be roaming the woods. We will lay down our rods and pick up the guns and bows. It is a great time to be alive and we grip each day with great vigor.

– Capt. Dave
BAYMEN
www.baymenlife.com