Greetings from Baymen Charters!

On board today, regular client, Dick “TK” Bowman for light tackle striped bass.

At first light, two hours before low, W winds at 12-15 knots, and big schools of bass, bait and birds. And they were not selective! We fished tackle in 3″, 4″, 5″, Baymen Jigs, rubber cranks, chatter baits – didn’t matter. The fish were on the feed and they would of taken a banana peel today -unlike the past few trips where they would take almost nothing!

Winds were brisk non-stop and it was a choppy morning. That may have accounted for the non-selective feed. On a flat calm day they might have been back to being ultra selective. But today it was game on and Dick Bowman did well! He is a fiberglass & mono angler and had three rods rigged out with light tackle and caught fish on them all.

Most of the fish were up on the flats on the dropping tide which made it a challenge not to run aground. We were fishing in 4 fow for most of the fish and at one point we were hammering bass in as little as 18″ inches of water on a fast dropping tide! We pushed it to the limit and then only fished the channels as the flats began to go dry around the bay.

At slack tide, the bite shut down as it almost always does and we took a short recon break and searched the bay for fish hugging bottom. We found one school in 24 fow and dropped a Baymen Jig down on top of their heads. WHAM! A volunteer slammed it. We redrifted over them several more times with no more hits before moving on. Smart fish.

As the tide began to roll back in, we tried a drift over Saquish Head in four footers. Bad idea. Back inside, we spotted a small school of bass between two big flats. We headed right for them and immediately hooked up! Three feet of water and a keeper bass that taped out to 34″ FAT inches! The fish vanished so we began to fish any little rips we could find. WHAM! Another keeper that taped out to 31″ inches! We set several more drifts and landed a few more fish and called it a great morning.

Total catch and release today: 34 striped bass with 2 keepers 34″ and 31″ inches, all on light tackle. At one point, Dick hooked into a fish that leaped a good four feet into the air and we thought it may have been a bluefish. And on the way in, an osprey hit the water right in front of the boat and lifted off again with a big pogy. On the way out this am, there were at least a dozen boats catching pogies before heading to the tuna grounds 24 miles away. I am guessing those tuna anglers had to battle some big six foot chop all morning? I hope they did well. The tuna bite has been hot!

That’s the word for today. Back at it. STAY POSTED: Three more weeks left of my season.

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. Dates Are Going Fast. Don’t Wait.