August 2000 Daily Fishing Reports

Today was one last chance for Frankie to fish with Jim Lowe and I, with his sophomore year of high school soon to begin. Overall, we had a good day of catching, with some really nice breaks and hook ups off of Waquoit and later some good action from West Falmouth to Woods Hole. We also got to witness how important having control of the fly line when it hits the water is since Jim ended some frustrating moment; with the line firmly in hand when it hit the water, the result was a hook up and a nice false albie - with the Steamship ferry bearing right down us, no less. Unfortunately, I also managed to lose Frankie's first rod that he wrapped overboard. Sometimes it's hard to understand what something like that means, but when he emphasized that "It was the first one I ever made," it was like putting a hook right into the palm of my hand. I guess I never thought about it, but when you really love fishing, your first really special fishing rod is like your first love - there may be more to come, but there's just something inexplicably poignant and memorable about that first one.

It was back to false albacore today with flyrodders John Linehan and Chris Murphy aboard and once again we found good breaks of fish - and a lack of etiquette, as is becoming far too common. Drifting off Nobska Point, we were all alone, but I suspected that the current was just right and there was so much bait in the area that the albies would find us. Sure enough, John and Chris were able to observe flashing, spraying bait that is just too much to describe. We scouted out Woods Hole and found a few breaks, as we did down towards Lackey's Bay. Unfortunately, just as we had everything set up and a break of fish right by us, another boat decided to cut within 15 feet of us, effectively eliminating what should have been our best shot of the day. And to think that fishing is supposed to be relaxing.

Today was a tube-and-worm adventure, with some eels thrown in as well, for Hal and Bruce Watts. We found plenty of small fish in various locales along the Elizabeths, but Bruce finally hooked up with a nice 18 pounder along Nashawena. I think Bruce considered this justice since up until that point Hal had enjoyed most of the action whether we had been casting or trolling. I ran into Hall a couple of weeks later and he told me they had been tubing themselves and had done poorly. Since Jim Young at Eastman's was out of the unweighted tubes I like, I was able to persuade him to rig up a few for Hal and the next week I received via email photos of some nice stripers he had caught on his own boat. I guess that goes to show that Hal is a good learner, as well as a good angler.

Today was my final chance to fish with the Burleigh kids and their parents, John and Anne. While the two older kids, Sarah and Connor, were not able to make the trip, Emmy, Cornelia, and Tucker joined their folks and yours truly for a trip to show what kind of teacher I had been. I had been working for several weeks with the Burleighs, teaching them the subtleties of casting, tying knots, and selecting lures, but today would show whether any of this caught fish. Fortunately, the schoolies in Woods Hole were cooperative and everybody got to put a bend in a rod, with Emmy and Cornelia able to boat their first stripers, although poor Tucker lost his at the boat. Once things got a little too busy with boat traffic and lunch called, we headed back off Quisset and found plenty of scup and sea bass to keep everybody reeling in their catch and asking for more bait. All in all, it was a good day to be on the water and I hope I get the chance to work and fish with the Burleighs again next summer.

With false albacore action in full swing as evidenced by the fishing that Frankie, Jim Lowe, and I had enjoyed on the previous day, I had high hopes for my trip with Kevin Butler and Brad Shufelt. Both of these anglers have been bitten badly by the flyrodding bug and wanted a shot at an albie. Let's just say we had shots - to the point where I would swear we could hear the fish shoot under the boat. Lackey's Bay, in particular was alive, and at one point we were treated to the sight of pods of fish erupting in every corner of this funny fish haven. What Kevin and Brad came away with was a new appreciation for the type of casting, presentation, and patience it would take to hook up with one of these speedsters - and we made plans to meet again.

Today I got to play captain for my friend Jim Lowe and my nephew Frankie. When the three of us get together, the action can be pretty furious and the verbiage even more frenetic. Let's just say that Jim and Frankie had plenty of shots, with Jim connecting several times with the fly rod on false albacore while Frankie insisted on pitching a Deadly Dick into the frenzies that popped up all around us. Finally frustrated with his inability to hook up using conventional tackle, I stripped line of a fly rod, handed it to him, and on his first cast, the reel was singing and he was solidly hooked up. At one point, there were just incredible numbers of fish coming up on top as the current flooded and just watching the bait come out in silver streams was a sight to behold.

Today provided a chance not only to do some fishing, but since Jay Rhind and his fiancée Chantal were considering purchasing a Maritime Skiff 18 and were in the process of closing on a home on Child's River, I was also going to have the pleasure of showing them just what the Katie G. could do. Since Jay was familiar with bonito fishing and wanted a shot at some of these speedsters again, I headed for the Oak Bluffs to Edgartown stretch which had been most productive for me recently. Unfortunately, the day was grey, rainy, and windy and any hopes I had of finding fish thereabouts faded quickly, so I headed back around West Chop and towards Tashmoo; several other boats were drifting in the area and other than watching a man pull in a couple of schoolies off the jetty fronting the entrance while his dog attempted to help him catch and release his catch, there wasn't any action to be found. On we went to Menemsha in the rain and murk, but other than a single bonito, albeit a nice one, caught by an angler on one of the jetties, things were awfully quiet. Finally, we made it across to Lackey's Bay to find plenty of fish - and boats galore as well. The conduct of many in the area left a great deal to be desired, including one boat that passed so close off our stern that Jay had to stop his backcast in midstream lest he hook the occupants aboard. I ran into Steve Shiraka and Eric Lafleur at Lackey's in time to see Steve boat a nice bonito in the seven pound class; while white flies had been working best for me, Steve's catch came on a standard chartreuse/white Clouser. As the sun came out and the weather warmed, I headed towards Robinson's Hole in hopes of finding our own cache of fish and we were rewarded crashing bonito all around the Vineyard Sound entrance. Unfortunately, the fish didn't stay up for long and made getting a cast at them difficult to say the least. As I have learned the hard way, when the bait isn't heavily concentrated, bonito and albies move so rapidly and usually don't stay in one place long enough for you to get more than one or two casts at them. We did managed to catch some schoolies on the fly rod and, oh yes, Jay and Chantal were so suitably impressed by the Katie G. that they soon became the owners of their own Maritime Skiff.

After having canceled a number of trips earlier in the week due to winds and foul weather, I finally was able to put back-to-back trips together, this time with Charles Mann and his son Griff and his wife Amanda. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the bass inside Woods Hole cooperated, with plenty of action at Middle Ledge and inside Pine Island around Nonamesset, where they really put on a display of churning up the water. As the crowds began to arrive and the current slacked, I elected to head out of the Hole in pursuit of the schools of bluefish I had found all along the southside from Green Pond to the Hole as I made my way west in the morning. Sure enough, they were still there and putting on quite a display as they pursued baby pogies, creating sprays of silver that erupted out of the dark spots that were balls of bait. Some of these blues were in the eight pound range and from what I heard later, they stayed around and about all afternoon making for some interesting variety for those folks who were pursuing bonito and weren't quite certain what was beating the water into a froth.

Today I had the chance to fish with Joe Balla of Solana Beach, California and his friend Billy Moses. I had made plans to pick up Joe and Billy in Edgartown out on the Vineyard and the trip over in the morning was a beautiful one over a calm, flat Nantucket Sound. I knew that bonito had been showing from Edgartown on up to West Chop in the morning and I had high hopes for our trip. Joe is an enthusiastic flyrodder while Billy was happy to use spinning gear. Fortunately, off of Little Bridge we got into some solid schools of bonito, with Billy hooking up and landing a nice bonito which did everything it was supposed to, including running out plenty of line. We had other shots, but hookups were hard to come by, and as boat traffic increased and the tide slacked, I elected to head over towards Woods Hole and then down towards Lackey's Bay. What we found outside of the Hole was an incredible mix of bass and blues just absolutely ripping the surface apart. The action was fast and furious and made for a memorable trip, both in terms of fish hooked and landed as well as the sight of fish easily seen just below the surface of the clear water, darting here and there. It doesn't get any better than that.

One of the hardest things for me as a charter captain is to acknowledge what is and what isn't working, especially since I have my own personal favorite methods of fishing. For me that means the majority of my own fishing is done with either a fly rod or a plugging rod in hand, with the occasional eel trip thrown in for good measure. And eeling has been good to the me in the past along the Elizabeths, but this year it has been frustrating and inconsistent. On the other hand, I knew that the tube-and-worm had been producing this season, and even though trolling isn't my personal fishing method of choice, I also knew that folks want to catch fish, especially if they're beginners or don't get out on a boat very often. So, for my trip with Bruce Maikath and his kids Allison and Kyle, I decided that breaking out the old tube would be the way to go. Let's just say it was a good choice. Starting from the backside of Naushon and working all the way to Nashawena, and then back up the Vineyard Sound side, we had constant action. Doubles weren't an uncommon occurence and we went through several dozen worms with about the same number of bass to show for our efforts. Some of the schools of fish we encountered were cookie cutter stripers in the 24-26" range, but we also managed to catch some nice fish over the 30" range that provided excellent table fare for the Maikaths.

With Al Fleury and his son Alby on board, I was confident that with some good tides and clearly the presence of fish around after recent trips we could do something with live eels if we got an early start. Al specifically was interested in learning to cast, and try as I might, I couldn't scare up a single fish along the islands. We tried everything from eels to plugs (both poppers and Danny plugs) with no luck. By the time we circled back and hit Woods Hole, the tide had slacked with no real action to take advantage of, and the schools of bonito mixed with bluefish off of Surf Drive weren't much more cooperative. And after several hours of casting with nothing to show for it, those rods and arms can get awfully heavy.

After a morning of solid flyrodding with Kevin Diffendaffer, Frankie and I were joined by Marc Lussier who had specifically requested a night trip using live eels for stripers. Even though eeling along the islands hadn't been what I would have liked during the day, I felt confident that night fishing would be different. Of course, it takes a special angler to fish at night. I am smart enough to know that there aren't many anglers out there, especially newcomers, who will leave the dock at 7 PM and arrive back anywhere from 2 AM to first light, even if I tell them how good the fishing is. For many fishermen, the dark doesn't sit right, especially in a small boat with rocks all around. For Marc, though, fishing at night was no problem, and we managed five legal fish with one well over the 20-25 pound class tossing eels. We also dropped many more fish using circle hooks and I'm not sure why that was. I know in Frankie's case, he's very good with regular eel hooks and it might have been a matter of trying to set the hook which isn't the preferred method with circles. I suspect we also might have hit some stretches with smaller fish which couldn't turn the eels we were using. Overall, though, it certainly felt nice reaching down and having to heft some big fish out of the inky darkness.

While Woods Hole has generally been very good to me in May and June, and there are usually fish around in July as well, this season those months were OK at best. By August, we're usually into bonito and albie mode and perhaps that's why I don't focus as much attention on bass in the Hole. But this year I surge of small, almost microscopic crab larvae and other krill has driven the bass wild. The action has been so consistent that I knew that a devoted trout flyrodder like Kevin Diffendaffer from Bozeman, Montana would get some really good shots at solid action. And I was right as the fish were up on top around Middle Ledge and Pine Island on the dying tide. Kevin did well tossing Clousers into the melee and commented often on how tough the schoolies were even on eight and nine weights. Eventually, as too many boats began to crowd around, I headed for a corner of Lackey's Bay I like and we were able to set up perfect drifts while Kevin executed solid casts and came up with several more fish that only occasionally showed their presence on the surface. He even managed to catch a fish on the proverbial "last cast of the day" which made for a nice ending.

Once again, it was back to fishing with Dr. Ken Sullins, but this time our destination was the flats, bars, and marshes of Barnstable Harbor. I was hoping to show Ken some of the great sight fishing I had enjoyed earlier in the season, but unfortunately the lack of sunshine early on in the day when the tides were best and the extra high water of the moon tide made seeing the fish tough and scattered them, making the task of finding any concentration a tough one. We found a few stripers around the entrance to Mill Creek and some around the dropoffs near East Bar, but Ken's most enjoyable experience was casting small poppers in tight to the marshes around Mill Creek and Chase Garden Creek. I could actually see the fish push water as they came after the 1/2 ounce white Gibbs' Polaris which was working best and some of the fish were right at the legal limit and gave a good accounting of themselves on Ken's light tackle. A special treat was having Ken's small black poodle, Murph, on board. He proved to be a real fine boater and a great companion who made himself right at home on the Katie G. Even though the "sight" aspect of the fishing never came to pass on my tough days fishing with Ken, I really had a good time talking to an angler who really thought about what he was doing and appreciated the variety that Cape waters offer.

Today was the first of two days I had scheduled with Dr.Ken Sullins, a veterinary surgeon/specialist from Virginia and a very skilled angler. Unfortunately, today also proved to be very rainy and a bit on the foggy side, but around mid-morning, Ken and I decided to give the fishing a shot and I'm glad we did. Even though the sound was a bit choppy on our run from Green Pond down to Woods Hole, I held out great hope for action on a flooding tide/east current and I certainly wasn't disappointed as I rounded Nobska, hit the Hole, and found fish everywhere from Middle Ledge to Red Ledge to Pine Island. It was bass city and the rain, which at times was heavy but mostly just consistently a necessary nuisance, actually kept the boats down to just one for most of the trip - and we certainly enjoyed having the place to ourselves. Ken just caught bass after bass on a popping plug called a ChugBug and it was great fun seeing them come after it in fierce competition for an easy meal. We tried some small jigs as well, but there was nothing like watching that plug get blown out of the water as fish after fish just pounced from every direction. Eventually, we did leave fish as the rain slacked off a bit and I only hoped that our trip to Barnstable Harbor the next day would have as many fish - but this time with sunshine since our intent was to sight fish for stripers.