Greetings from Baymen Land!

The snow is melting and we are in full spring mode! Flowers are starting to bloom, the osprey and egrets and woodcock have returned, as well as numerous song birds. When the terns arrive, the bay will soon explode with striped bass!

WINTER FISH KILLS

The Bad news is the winter fish kills in the shallow freshwater ponds less than 25 feet deep. In a word, devastating! Heavy snows and thick ice depleted the oxygen dissolve levels to deadly lows.

I have counted thousands of dead largemouth bass and sunfish in some of my shallow freshwater ponds. Truly a sad sight to see. Floating dead, some giant largemouth that we have been trying to catch for years! Two of those giants topped ten pounds each. I always knew they were there, but never hooked up on them. And there they were floating in a sea of dead fish. Ugh! Its a natural occurance and nothing can be done. Fish stocks will replenish themselves in the years ahead. I just hope some giants in shallow ponds made it through the winter to carry on the gene pool.

BAYMEN JIGS

When I opened Baymen Outfitters fifteen years ago (!) I tied and sold a fly pattern and a jig called Capt. Dave’s Baymen Universal. I sold many thousands of them over the years and they were fished around the world for a variety of species. I am happy to announce that Jeck’s Bucktails is now tying and selling my Baymen Universal Jig! Contact him direct for orders: https://www.facebook.com/jecksbucktails  He is right here on the South Shore.

OTHER STUFF

We are in full-blown prep mode and hope to launch the boat for shakedown on April 15th. We are also rigging up for trout and (hopefully) largemouth bass, and getting ready for spring turkey season! I am also trying to get back into my beach runs and start to lose some of the winter fat. I never got cold this winter – and thats not good LOL…!

More and more Baymen Reports will start to post as the season is here for FW and will soon be here for the salt. Stay posted and stay in touch on Facebook. (My links are to the left).

Tight Lines!

Capt. Dave

www.baymenlife.com