Greetings from BAYMEN!

On board today, The Founder of Oh, Deer Companies, Kurt Upham, and two of his top people for light tackle striped bass!

At first light, a dead-calm bay, heavy overcast, and rising tide. Water temps 74 at the dock and as low as 68 degrees out in the bay.

Today is DAY 2: FALL RUN that started yesterday. Schools of peanut bunker are in the bay at the moment and the bass are on them. The hard part is all the fish are on a selective feed on the micro baits. They don’t want to take any tackle at all. Fly anglers could do well in this type of blitz because they can “match the hatch” to size/shape/color of the bait. In a few weeks, the bait will get bigger and the bass will hopefully be less selective.

We have figured out how to catch bass in these selective feeds (see my notes in yesterday’s report) They will take rubber crankbaits in a variety of sizes but you have to practice good technique to hook-up consistently. Kurt Upham was high rod today and he had the technique down pat and outfished everyone! He worked a perfect Baymen Bounce and the fish were all over it.

Schools of fish are moving south and bass are filtering in and out of the bay. We moved around a lot today and often found three things that stood out: 1) Bass miles away from the bigger schools have no idea there is a selective feed going on and will take a variety of tackle 2) As they morning got brighter, the bass became less selective 3) Kurt Upham is an amazing fisherman!

Total catch and release today 38 striped bass, 3 keepers. Give us the nod for 4 keepers, but we stopped measuring after the third one and released them all except for one dinner fish that went home with the anglers. Just a fun, beautiful morning on the bay fishing the Fall Run.

Back at it. STAY POSTED. The Fall Run is underway and hopefully continues right into October.

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com 30 Years Guiding The Bay. Fly Fishing & Light Tackle Striped Bass On The Massachusetts Coast. 

NOW BOOKING 2023 & 2024 Seasons. Book early, dates go quickly.