August 2003 Daily Fishing Reports

On Monday afternoon, I got together with Tom and Lee Dabney, a great couple who hail from New England originally but now live in Idaho. As is the norm here on the Cape, the wind came up pretty stiff in the afternoon on Monday and we hung around on the bay side of the Hole. For the first time this year, I got a good look at some false albacore and Spanish mackerel. The wind was definitely not in Tom's favor as he fly cast, but both he and Lee managed to hook up with some bluefish just off Timmy's Point. I suggested that we meet later in the week on Thursday when the wind should be quieter, especially in the morning. Tom agreed, and I headed down to Quissett from Monument Beach to pick him up two days three days later. NOAA had suggested there would be little or no wind this morning, but the following seas slowed my arrival and by the time Tom and I cleared the Knob, it was honking pretty good. Fishing was definitely not easy and despite some breaks during the end of the falling tide, we weren't able to hook up. We investigated the Hole again and even hit Lackey's before returning to the Bay. Along the way we helped a sailor right his dinghy which had been flipped over in Broadway and was acting as a very effective sea anchor. As the current flowed up in the Bay, the Spanish mackerel began to make more of a show, with Tom hooking a nice one that somehow shredded the bunny fly but didn't cut through the 12 pound fluorocarbon tippet. After dropping Tom off in Quissett and promising to send him copies of the photos I took, I headed back to Mo Beach, only to find the wind had dropped off and Spanish mackerel were free jumping everywhere you looked. Hooking these fish wasn't a problem, but the loss of some bunny flies showed once again how sharp those teeth really are. At that point, it was back up the bay where I ran into schools of Spanish all the way to Wing's Neck.

A louder than usual lower unit the day before led me to open the ports on the Honda, which showed precious little gear oil and water - definitely not a good sign. Efforts to get a new lower unit from Honda proved fruitless, since the gearcases they put on earlier 75's came from Mercury and they were backordered - and Merc had no plans to ship any more to Honda. With 2000 hours on the motor, one mechanic joked that I had done pretty well since Merc's generally don't go more than 800 hours and they built their lower units to last about that long. With a new unit out of the questions, Judd Poole, mechanic par excellence, put a pressure test on my leaky one and found the problem - a blown drive shaft seal. Amazingly, after pulling the gearcase out of the housing, Judd found no damage to the gears, and thanks to the folks at The Boat Guy in Falmouth who ordered all new seals, gaskets, and housings, Judd was able to put things back on working order. It was a tough week being off the water and I appreciate folks being patient as we rescheduled trips and made the best of a tough situation.

An unfortunate accident kept Tom Tierney from joining me for a trip down the islands, but his wife Karen and son Colin filled in as Tom stayed on terra firma nursing a damaged shoulder. Our first stop on Naushon was empty, but later on we found bass slamming bait in tight and Colin ended up hooking a good sized schoolie to get thing started. Eventually, Colin would catch a 32 inch fish that he followed up with a 36+ incher, proving once again that eels will catch good fish even on a bright, sunny, calm day like today.

Henry Markman made the trip over from the Vineyard on the Island Queen to meet his friend Terry Becker and then join me for an afternoon on the southside. Both Henry and Terry hail from California and were looking for some action from our big four - bass, blues, bones, and albies. Bonito have been spotty on Hedge Fence, but when we arrived the rip was pretty well set up and I motored along the uptide side while Henry and Terry cast Deadly Dicks into the rough water. Eventually, Henry hooked and landed a small blue, which have been driving the funny fish fanatics crazy. But then he had a hit and run that was much faster and eventually brought a bonito to the boat, where it unfortunately spit the hook before we got a picture. With the action very sporadic at the Fence, I headed for Waquoit where we found small blues and a few Spanish mackerel free jumping off the east jetty. But the big action occurred up against Washburn and the west jetty, where bass had small sand eels corraled and were just hammering them. Small stickbatis and Sluggos got a few fish, and Henry also managed a schoolie on the fly rod. It was really neat to see how shallow the water was where the bass were and all the bait in the area. Henry ended up with a slam - and even added a nice scup on the fly!

August is notorious for unsettled whether and the early part of the month did nothing to dispel this pattern. High winds were a problem at times, but there was also the constant threat of thunderstorms and squalls. Let's just say I don't like being caught out in those conditions and elected to err on the side of caution. Fortunately, I was able to reschedule all of my trips but one to later dates when things should be less threatening.