I am way behind in my Baymen Reports as we are straight out with the final charters of the season. My last trip is October 5th. The most up top date reports are below:

SATURDAY 9-18-2021

On board today, Lt. Col. Richard “The Machine” Comstock Fly or Die striped bass. What a day!!

At first light, NE winds 15, dense fog, and some rain. We picked our way through the fog from Duxbury to Plymouth to fish the waters that yielded 33 bass and 11 keepers on my last trip, in hopes that the fish were still there. There were lots of fish and birds when we arrived. But the winds were cranking 15 knots NE, there was 3-4 foot chop non-stop, and the fish were VERY spooky and fast moving. It was very hard to set good drifts. But Richard is “The Machine” and he landed three fish on a Baymen Peanut Bunker.

We left the chop behind and ran a huge RECON loop around the entire bay. We found one small pod of fish in the Beach Channel and Richard landed two fish on a topwater popper. There were no other fish in the bay, so we ran back to Plymouth to try again for the fish in the choppy waters. We could not get close to the fish so I decided to “RUSH” small schools for a one-shot cast each time in the hopes of hooking up. First rush, no luck. Second rush winds were cranking and blew the fly right into Richards finger! I took one look and said we will get you to a doctor to remove it. We drove in and went to Duxbury Fire, thinking a paramedic could pop it right out. The FD took one look at it and said, No Way. He’s going to the ER – by ambulance (!). 

Off they went and I drove back to the harbor to pull the boat. Got it home and backed up into my driveway and hit my son’s basketball hoop. No biggy, but it ripped a 6″ piece of PVC off my trailer bunker that I did not notice. A short time later the Admiral leaves to go shopping in her car and backs over the 6″ piece of PVC laying in the driveway – with a screw it in! Popped the tire. I pull the screw out, pump it up, plug the hole, and got it to the garage and they fixed it on the spot. THANK YOU Mike & Crew at Saint George St. Garage! Then I picked up the Colonel at the hospital and we called it a wild day of fly fishing!

MONDAY September 20, 2021

DAY TWO with Lt. Col. Richard “The Machine Comstock” for Fly or Die striped bass. Dead low tide. Saw fish up on flats in 6″-12″ inches of water. Got a small bluefish on the fly rod popper! Then ran to Plymouth to fish the “Fish Hook” waters again. It was nearly void of bass and birds and bait. Then ran to Clark’s and landed two fish up on the flats on the popper. No birds, no bait, and almost no fish. We decided to try something different: We called the trip and made plans to fish the bay again come evening…

DAY TWO, PART II – Back on the bay at 4:00pm until sunset. RECON the entire bay for quite some time with binoculars. Found several schools of topwater fish! Ran to Plymouth waters and found a nice school of up on the flats on the last hour of the dropping. Birds, bait and bass. Landed several really fat 26″ inch fish that fought like much bigger fish on the flats. So much fun! Then, as we ran out of water, we took a chance and ran the boat across a big flat and made it to the channel just before low. Then, we circled back around and came back into the flats to more breaking fish! The Colonel landed several on top-water fly rod poppers (his absolute favorite way to fish for striped bass). I saw a HUGE bass explode in a deep cut alongside the flats and we switched up to a sinking line and a white spun deer head marabou fly. WHAM! A nice fish hit, rolled and tore off into the backing! It wasn’t the massive bass that I saw, but it was still a very big, fat keeper on the fly! (See Photos on my FB page: Baymen Guide Service, Inc. Baymen Charters). After landing and releasing that fine fish, we ran back into Duxbury and found an acre of breaking bass up on the flats in 6″-12″ inches of water! Ugh! But we had to go after them. At times, I had to put the engine up and push the boat along with a paddle. But we got into those fish and the Colonel landed some more on his topwater fly rod popper. As we got back to the dock at dark, a GIANT FULL MOON was just rising over the bay and it was a stunning ending to a wonderful day of chasing striped bass on the fly! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COLONEL!

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com 29 years Guiding The Bay

NOW BOOKING 2022 & 2023 Fly Fishing or Light Tackle Striped Bass on the MA Coast