May 2004 Daily Fishing Reports

This morning I got the chance to show Bud Coady and his son Chris what all the noise about MG is all about. We left the dock about 5 AM and three hours later I was back in Green Pond with two very satisfied anglers and two beautiful bass and a very nice bluefish as well. Both Bud and Chris were quick studies at working poppers, which isn't as easy as it sounds. We caught and released a number of other stripers and the Coadys were looking forward to a big breakfast to celebrate their angling successes.

Even though our trip to MG last year didn't produce a lot of fish, Rob Kiphut and Dave Drum clearly got the idea about what taking big fish on light tackle and topwater plugs is all about. This year, the rip was all its cracked up to be, with both Rob and Dave scoring some good fish, with Rob's best topping out at just under 20 pounds. The bass put on a great show, at times slashing after squid in all directions. It was clear that they were hungry, both in the rip and in the quiet water out front. As the tide slacked and the action died, I elected to head down the islands to try some plug and eel fishing. Tradition has it that bass don't start taking eels until mid-June, but I wanted to test this myth myself. A just legal sized bass inside Quick's proved that Mr. Wiggly is hard to pass up even in May.

Tom Kane and his son Ryan joined me for a morning trip to MG, and despite high winds and some pretty wild water in the rip, they managed to work their squid poppers effectively, with Ryan finally hooking up with a good fish that just catapulted out of the white water and threw itself at the plug. The crowd at MG is getting bigger every day, although the rough conditions kept many folks away and allowed us to work my favorite points without too much distraction. Tom and Ryan showed a lot skill by getting their plugs into the action even as the Katie G. slid in and out of the rip.

Tom and Ed Colford's return to Middle Ground didn't go as planned as the fishing there has yet to become consistent and the bass just weren't showing or eating with any vigor. Instead, we headed down the sound where we ran into schools of hungry bluefish, but I wanted bass so I played a hunch that bass would be moving through Robinson's with the tide. Sure enough, as we approached thereabouts, we had a school of surface feeding bass all to ourselves. They absolutely hammered stick baits for a good long while and some of these bass were very good sized. Eventually, the tide began to slack and the school went down where soft plastics worked, but the sight of so many bass up on top was very heartening, indeed.

While bass were spotty at Middle Ground, Joe Cohen and his cousins Lane and Paul Kleinman had non-stop light tackle and fly rod action on bluefish that were just the right size for grilling and smoking. I appreciate catching blues on topwater plugs as much as anyone, but today they wanted soft plastics as they chowed on small sand eels. You can go through a number of packages of plastics on bluefish, but you also have to feed them what they want.

Unfortunately, an afternoon trip with Joe Cohen and his cousins Lane and Paul Kleinman was cut short by thunderstorms and heavy rain. Up to that point, we had plenty of schoolie action on Sluggos fished on light jig heads, with all three anglers often into fish together. But hanging around in an open boat in open water with a half dozen graphite rods acting as attractors seemed like less than a good idea, so we ran for Monument Beach and made arrangements to continue our adventures the next morning.

Today was part two of my fishing with Donald White and Thurman Gordon. They had experienced the best that Middle Ground has to offer in prior trips with Capt. Bob Suitor, but today we had to work hard for our fish. The most productive pattern was Dave Skok's Mushmouth Squid, preferably with red or pink tied in with the pearl Mushy Mouth. After the tide slacked and the action died, we headed over to Waquoit and were treated to schoolie action galore, with Thurman having a really good time with his five weight and light tippet. Waquoit is really a pleasure this time of year with few boats around, but once Memorial Day hits, the fleet will show up and the chances of even getting at the fish go way down while the frustration level can go way up. I will say if all of my trips are as enjoyable as the time I spent with Donald and Thurman, it's going to be a great season.

The Colford brothers, Tom and Ed, were back in town for another week of fishing the Cape, and we got together for a trip to MG in hopes of finding the bass on top. Well, we were in luck as the stripers gave a good accounting of themselves, propelling themselves out of the water after jetting squid. Both Tom and Ed had some good fish, but both of them were bug-eyed by the sight of a 40+ inch bass that left no doubt about its presence. We also found some bluefish in the sound, but it was clear that the Colfords were looking forward to another shot at Middle Ground later in the week.

Now that Capt. Bob Suitor has moved to Vermont and is restoring an old house up there, I have the good fortune of fishing with some of his former clients that he was good enough to refer to me. The first pair of gentlemen were Donald White and Thurman Gordon from New York, dedicated fly fishermen who really know how to enjoy fishing and their time together on the water. I was entertained with their stories all trip long, as well as their constant razzing of each other about playing fish off the reel and the size of their catches. We found a few fish on the grass patches around Hog Island, but I managed to get too close to a shorebound angler and had to acknowledge my faux pas and lack of manners. So we headed up towards Gray Gables and had fish on almost every cast for the remainder of the day. None of the fish were really big, but they provided plenty of action and proved to be very feisty in the cold, clear water.

Colder than normal water temperatures have kept Middle Ground from shaping up just yet with surface action, so despite the best efforts of Dan Hickey and yours truly, we had to resort to running over to the Hole. Fortunately, Middle Ledge had a number of schoolies willing to take soft plastics, with the bass seemingly still too lethargic to chase a topwater plug. Even though winter and snow is just a memory, its effects can still be felt even in May. Then again, perhaps the colder water will keep the fish around longer - but that's what we say every year.

Today I met up with Warren Dalton of Falmouth and his brother Paul who made the long drive to the Cape after a night shift as an EMT/firefighter. The inside flats were good to us today, with both Warren and Paul catching fish on flies and Sluggos. Once again, having gold flash in a fly made a difference, while chartreuse/white with pearl flash went untouched. I don't know if fish get smarter or what, but I suspect I won't be spinning up many more chartreuse flies this year. There were some really nice sized fish on the flats, something I experienced the day before fishing with John Waring from Eastman's, but as so often is the case, the smaller bass proved too quick to give us a really good shot at their larger relatives. All in all, the weather was good, perhaps a bit windy, but it sure felt great to be on the flats again.

A rare Saturday afternoon game at Bourne left little time for fishing, although I thought about putting the boat in the water to investigate the Mashnee Flats. But the idea of having to wash everything down and hurry to the game squelched that plan. Instead, I drove up to the Canal with my cup of coffee and watched the scene at Bell Road. I missed my mornings with Jim Lowe on the flats tossing big Deceivers and hooking some nice stripers. It just seems that my motivation to drag myself out of bed before first light isn't quite it used to be. Of course, that will have to change in a few weeks when trips start in earnest. Until then, I'll catch up on my sleep.

A busy week of practice and games left little time for fishing, but I did manage to poke around Pocasset and Monument Beach, which have some schoolies popping around, especially in the evening. Somehow, it's very reassuring to see and hear the fish even if I don't catch any since I can sleep knowing the cycle has come back full circle. It's also nice to be alone rather than among the crowds that have filled Poppy and Cotuit.

Today's task was to get Gene his first fish of the year, so off we went with the Katie G. to Popponesset. The water was still very cold and played havoc with the new fast sink SciAngler Mastery line Gene was using. He finally put a hook into a fish after a slow drift on a deep edge, but it never made it to the boat. On the way over to Cotuit, we saw the largest group of anglers at the mouth of the spit that I can recall. Seems like the Internet is doing its job. Cotuit was very quiet, with the wind pushing us through the Narrows and Prince Cove was devoid of life. On a positive note, the Katie G. performed like a champ and is ready to roll.