Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

On board this morning, Scott Parry and his cousin, Kevin, of SFP & Associates. I have known Scott for 30 years and we have fly fished a lot together. Today was a trip just for fun!

At first light, dead calm, last hour of dropping, and thick pea soup fog. Really thick – and it made going really slow and limted the fishing to a few structure spots. But we made it work with the help of Chart Plotter.

First stop of the morning both Scott and Kevin were tight to fish. One on the fly, and one on LT. We almost had a triple hook-up, but the third fish spit the hook as fast as he hit the Jack Gartside Gurggler. We worked the area and landed a few more fish and then moved to a small school of breaking fish that were only up for a moment and then they were gone. We got one more fish out of that school.

As the tide went slack, we ran up bay in the hopes of finding a few fish along the flats and channel drop-offs. No luck even though some of the water looked perfect and should of held fish. Then, as the tide began to turn and come back in (along with even thicker, dense fog!) we found some fish in a long cut between some flats. Solo fish and pairs as has been the norm over the past week. We did see a couple massive explosions on the surface that had to be very big striped bass but never saw them again, never marked them, and never had a hit.

THEN IT HAPPENED!  Scott and Kevin were looking to port side and I was looking directly starboard just West of Clarks Island. Suddenly and without warning, a Nine Foot Great White launched itself out of the water in a full breech beside the boat. I yelled SHARK! SHARK! Scott and Kevin whipped around and saw the massive splash and boil as the Great White crashed back down, but they did not turn fast enough to see it! Ugh! I on the other hand, got an amazing look at it from the time it launched to the time it crashed back down. It’s mouth was semi-open and I could see the huge teeth, it’s beady eyes, shape of the head and fins and coloring. It also had blood running down it’s belly and must of just grabbed a striped bass or attempted to grab a seal? We did see several seals in the area before and after the breech so who knows…? But boy, was it an exciting couple of seconds up close! Earlier in the morning a second shark, that looked more like a Blue Shark (skinny, long, two tone coloring) shot up out of the water vertically at the #5 can in the Duxbury Channel. It was much smaller than the 9 foot Great White, about 5-6 feet and was much further away from us.

In all the excitement, we still managed to catch and release 12 striped bass, 3 of them “keepers”, all in shallow waters on structure, on fly & light tackle.  No birds, very little bait (other than pogy) and only a few topwater fish seen. But what a morning!

SW and winds coming Sunday/Sunday night. 4 footers in the bay… scattered thunder showers. Watch the NOAA Marine Forecast for your local waters.

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, baymenlife.com 31 Years Guiding The Bay. Still In Love.

Soli Deo Gloria!