September & October 2002 Daily Fishing Reports

The more years I get behind me chartering, the more it seems that the fall just doesn't shape up the way I wish it would. This fall was full of wind and inclement weather that caused more cancellations than I would have liked. The fishing along the Elizabeths was solid through September and in October Gene Bourque and I had one of the best days I can remember, with fish between 25 and 38 pounds just slamming eels, almost as soon as they hit the water. I also hooked a big bass on the fly rod using a flatwing I tied last winter and elected to use while fishing with Gene. That cow managed to cut itself free around a rock, but it was cool to see so much backing. On another occasion, Jeff Howard and I flyrodded the islands and found some really good fish pushing pogies along Naushon, with yours truly managing to hook and land a decent bass while casting away from the shore and using a fast sinking line. Buzzards Bay stayed active into the late fall and the beaches along Sandwich had some great fishing, but the only certain thing was you could count on a good blow just when the fishing got good. Finally, the west entrance to the Canal had both albies and bonito well after they had departed other waters, with folks casting from the shore around Bell Road recording slams on more than one occasion.

After chasing albies and pitching eels along the Elizabeths for most of the month, it was good to get back to Monomoy where I haven't visited as much this year. On board was Noble Niebly, a rod builder from Florida, who was up visiting with his sister and her husband. It was a sunny day, although a bit chilly, but after working the grass flats with little luck, I spied fast moving birds that suggested bluefish. Sure enough, there were blues about, but Noble also hooked and landed an albie that took a white bucktail jig tipped with a Super Fluke. Later in the day, we poked around the flats between North and South Monomoy before completing Noble's mini-slam with a striper caught on a topwater up around South Beach. It was a fun, relaxing day of fishing that good memories are made of.

After all the craziness that surrounds albie fishing in the summer and on weekends in the fall, it sure is nice to be able and fish for them with nobody else around. Today, Paul Dauk was back for a repeat of his visit last fall and we found albies busting all over bait in the Hole, especially towards Hadley's Harbor. It was really interesting setting up next to some impressive sailboats as the folks aboard watched us entertaining ourselves with funny fish. I am also more convinced after today that basic flies most often work the best after going through some fancy offerings I had recently tied with no response. Finally turning to my old favorite, a small white Deceiver based on Eddie Lepore's Bonito Bandit, Paul hooked up several times and landed some nice albies.