June 2001 Daily Fishing Reports

June ended for charters today with a father-son trip with Jeff Morse and 12 year old Jonathan who have been making plans for a boat, but are dedicated shore anglers who have been enjoying good fishing this year. Woods Hole was quiet and we only managed a couple of swirls on white poppers along Naushon, and with the wind kicking up and a half day trip in the works, I elected to head east to check out Waquoit and Succonesset. The channel was simply alive with birds and bass as the folks on the east jetty fished for scup and seemed to be doing quite well; in fact, Jonathan managed a nice scup on a Sluggo. Last year, I remember scup on top in Woods Hole, although I wonder if they weren't being pushed there by hungry bass. Surface plugs and soft plastics on jig heads didn't work, but when we went to Super Flukes unweighted, we connected several times. Jonathan had a school of fish timed on the east jetty that would come to the surface and go bananas before settling into getting the bait circled up for another assault. As boat traffic increased and other folks started coming down on us in pursuit of a fish or two, we went outside where Jeff hooked a nice bluefish and another schoolie before Jonathan expertly navigated us back to Green Pond.

David Johnson and his better half, Evie, came aboard the Katie G. for a trip to Barnstable on the last day of their vacation to the Cape and did we find fish. For the first time this year, we found bass inside on Horseshoe Bar on top and willing to hit Clousers with abandon. David did better in terms of numbers, but Evie had the largest fish which gave her new Redington Large Arbor a test. What was really cool was to see how effortlessly Evie cast, delivering a good tight loop wherever she wanted it time after time - and David is very good, too! We also spent a great deal of time drifting the flats to the east of the harbor and saw more fish than I can ever remember. Unfortunately, high sunshine made for tough pickings, but David managed a few and we all marveled at how much life there was in only 12 to 24 inches of water - and I began to think that I had better make sure to remind folks to bring waders or plan for some wet wading in the future

I was happy for my change in scheduling this year where I have been booking two and three days for customers with plans to only fish one day, thereby taking into account the possibility of poor weather. Thursday and Friday were booked for Gregg Butterfield but conditions weren't right, so today was the day - and did it turn out right. We had rain in the morning, overcast most of the day, and plenty of white water as Gregg and his friend Jack Hill joined me for a trip out of Woods Hole. They had drifted eels before, but never cast them into the shore in the classic Elizabeth Islands manner. Jack had the first hookup with a nice fish that showed him what happens when you don't show it who's boss and it took him around a rock and chewed up the leader. Later on, it was Gregg's turn to produce a fish and it made it to the boat and into the fish bag. Gregg also produced a couple of other nice bass along Naushon and I was beginning to get worried that Jack might not get another chance. Fortunately, Quick's Hole turned the trick and Jack boated a fish that was almost a carbon copy of Gregg's. One drift later, he also had huge boil on his eel right next to a rock and that cow had no problem cutting free as it simply turned and went left - but it was still fun to see. Overall, it was a good day of eeling with a couple of good anglers I think are convinced that Mr. Wiggly in the rocks is an exciting way to fish.

Monomoy was a bust today for Ken and I as the fish on the grass patches weren't there in any great numbers, perhaps because heavy surf had broken up the bait concentrations. We worked inside flats and guzzles and even the cut between North and South Monomoy where we could mark fish in deeper water, but couldn't get down to them. That evening, Ken sent me an interesting email concerning bananas since he had brought one along on our trip on Saturday and we did fine, while today he didn't pack any of the so-called unlucky fruit. Kind of makes you wonder about superstitions, doesn't it?

Barnstable Harbor was the destination for my first trip with Ken Sullins and Murphy, the wonder dog, and it certainly was a good one. Ken is a very dedicated and skilled angler from Virginia who had pulled his boat along with him for a week of fishing. B-harbor was cooperative today, with fish on top out front until a couple of yahoos went charging through them and there were plenty of fish to the east as well. We caught fish on top, in the deep water, and even on the flats using Sluggos and Zoom Super Flukes, fished weighted and unweighted. Ken was able to get some interesting pictures of fish crashing bait and later in the day we had dozens of bass parading by us down a guzzle on the incoming tide as they worked towards the flats. Unfortunately, no matter what we tried in terms of soft plastics, they weren't eating. I did give a fly one shot and hooked up, indicating to me that they are feeding on small bait and want flash in their offerings if they're being fussy.

It was off today for my first Monomoy adventure of the year, this time meeting Jim Pothast from Minnesota for our third trip together in as many years. Things didn't get off to a good start when the ramp I use was closed for repairs and I scrambled to Ryder's Cove in hopes of making the run around South Beach. We fished Pleasant Bay with no success and the white water beyond Chatham Light made me realize that skirting the outside in the shoals wouldn't be a wise move. Back the boat went on the trailer and we finally put in at a small ramp which the shellfish folks use and it was off the Monomoy. Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, the sun wouldn't cooperate, although it was warmer than last year. Whenever we got close enough to see the fish on the common flats, they spooked out, which was frustrating because there were some big ones, indeed. Finally, I headed for the grass patches off South Monomoy and the number of boats gathered in the area told me it was the right decision. Huge numbers of bass were cruising along the bottom and occasionally rising to slurp tiny sand eels. This activity was exactly what I had hoped to show Jim and a very small tan/white/gold flash Clouser on a fast sink line with fluorocarbon leader did the trick. Some of these fish were huge and certainly made the heart pump faster. Of course, the fog would roll in and obscure all sight, making a trip back to the dock a wise one - and all I could think of was what I would have given for a little more sunshine.

Brian Casey had written down simple instructions for this trip - "Big Stripers." Brian has been instrumental in starting the Cape Cod Chapter of CCA and has become a devoted salty fly rodder; in fact, I've seen him a number of times haunting spots I used to visit when I lived in West Falmouth. Since the message was clear, I headed for Wasque where big bass had been pushing squid and sand eels to the surface for over a week. Sure enough, they were there again, and the neat thing is a small boat can stay inside on the shallower, less violent rips and have a ball while the big wire draggers stay outside - or should stay outside. We had to do some jockeying with the big boys who insisted on staying in 10 feet of water, but we managed some really nice fish, including Brian's first legal fish early in the day and an even bigger fish at the end of the tide which pushed 36 inches. There were a number of drops in the early part of the session, but once Brian and his friend Eric Himmel got the hang of really keeping the pressure on as we drifted back through the rip, things were fine. White Deceivers and squid patterns worked well, as did the Ugly Mother when we saw the fish ghosting over the bars. We checked out Middle Ground which was quiet and made a number of casts inside Lackey's Bay on the flats where we spooked some fish, but weren't able to hook up.

Today I got to fish with one of my favorite anglers, Scott Simenas, a devoted angler who likes to plug fish in June and later in the season turns to eels. Scott told me he has been catching more blues than bass this season, so the goal was to change that ratio a bit. We ended up throwing Danny plugs, Gibbs' Polarises, and other classic Elizabeth Island offerings, but unfortunately, the weather might have been a bit too nice with high, bright sunshine and almost flat calm water. Eventually, we switched to a large shadtail fished on a jig head that Scott really likes and he did manage a fish around 36 inches before the end of the trip. Maybe next time we'll get some really good striper weather - rain, overcast, and white water.

I didn't think it would be possible to top the fishing from Monday, but that certainly was the case today for Jeff Howard and his nephew Matt Cushing. We had four and a half hours of bass and blues feeding on top, both on the dying west current and the incoming, east current. At one point, we spied white water out by the bell buoy which looked like it was made by a sandbar, which was highly unlikely in 40 feet of water. What we found were big mackerel chasing sand eels and making as big a ruckus as their false albacore cousins. We managed a couple on the fly and Sluggos and even had a larger bass come up to investigate what was for all intents and purposes a livelined mack. In the end, it was a close contest between the fly and soft plastics like Sluggos, Super Flukes, and Fin-s-Fish, but I'll let Jeff and Matt decide who caught the most fish - and isn't that a nice discussion to have when the fish are almost literally jumping on the hook?

June got off to a bang this season with another great trip to Barnstable Harbor with David Johnson and Walter Nelson from New Hampshire; these guys just seem to bring good fishing with them. Walter is a real trooper, having just had knee surgery a month ago, but he hung in there and fished all day despite some choppy water at times. Unlike last year, the main activity around these parts was to the east on the flats and in deeper water on the grass patches. At one point, we had fish on top for about 45 minutes and it was constant hook-ups, but we were also able to see fish all day whether on the flats or in 10 feet of water. Olive/white and tan/white Clousers, all tied with ample amounts of gold Krystal Flash and Flashabou, did the trick fished with fast sink lines. I can't wait for David and Walter to book an albie trip someday since I suspect it will be fish all day long!