July 2000 Daily Fishing Reports

This was going to be the day that I was finally going to go fishing with Ernie Valerio - after two cancellations already. The plan was to meet at Green Pond at 4 AM and when I pulled into the lot, there was Ernie. He had one of those looks on his face that says, "What am I doing wrong?" as the wind was freshening out of the southeast and we decided that today might not be the best day to fly fish. So, off it was to Main Street, Falmouth to grab a cup of coffee and some good conversation. As we finished up around 5:30, it seemed like the wind was dying and as we drove by the Heights, I suggested to Ernie that we could try and get out and could turn back if things got too interesting. Thankfully, things couldn't have gone better. We worked one cove along Naushon and then headed over to the Vineyard. There were bait and birds and Ernie had a couple of takes, but no hook-ups. At that point, I elected to move, but since today was also about working on some finer points of fly angling, I picked up the rod to help Ernie work on the double haul which would make his casting easier and much more flexible in terms of handling wind, bigger flies, etc. Well, wouldn't you know that while stripping the line in to make one more demonstration cast, I would hook up! It was a nice bass for the eight weight and I had one of those looks on my face like the cat who is caught with the canary in its mouth. Ernie gave me the full zap about reporting back to Jim Young at Eastman's about booking a trip with me and then my catching the first fish. Suffice it to say that this event provided a source of jokes for the day, but fortunately it was Ernie who was hooking up in just a little while once we broke out the Ugly Mother. One particularly large bass smacked that fly and did all kind of big tail crashes before coming free and it was great sight fishing as bass pursued the fly with abandon and in some cases actually ate it. The place we were fishing also provided a good lesson in accuracy casting and line handling, since as long as you presented your fly in the right spot, you got a reaction. After sharing lunch and some good stories, it was back to the Elizabeths and some fishing in tight spots which I love to snake through. We also did some work on the double haul and by the end of the day, well, by George, I think Ernie had it. To be honest, I think he was setting me up since he had been putting his casting ability down, but this is one angler who works at his game. His mechanics were solid and generally it was a matter of focusing attention on line control with the off rod hand, something too many fly anglers neglect. I suspect that when I see Ernie again, he'll be outdoing me since practice is something he thrives on. We bounced and jounced our way back to Green Pond and I appreciated just how small the seas really are in Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds when Ernie told of stuff clearing the 75 foot tower on the aircraft carrier he served on. Then again, when I get back to the dock and my neck, legs, and back are crunchy from a bit of wee pounding, I'm reminded most clearly that two to three footers are no friends either in an 18 foot skiff. I have a sneaking suspicion that Ernie and I will be fishing again in the near future - as friends and fly fishermen with a passion for what we do.

To really appreciate how big Martha's Vineyard is and how much shoreline there is, you have to circumnavigate it. That's exactly what I did today with Peter Jenkins, owner of The Saltwater Edge in Newport, and his brother-in-law Jeff. Starting at West Chop and Middle Ground, I saw nothing that suggested life and headed immediately for Menemsha, which my friend Jim Lowe said had been productive recently. Sure enough, after hooking up at Dogfish Bar, we found good numbers of fish cruising in crystal clear water just around the corner at Devil's Bridge. It was like an aquarium and some of the fish were really good ones. The key fly was the Ugly Mother variation I like - and thanks to Dr. Art Crago for offering up the inspiration for this big, flashy Clouser. The southside of the island was pretty dead and it was apparent that Wasque has gone bye-bye recently as I ran into a number of the wire line captains working off Squbbie and it looked pretty quiet there as well. After cruising South Beach with nothing showing, it was around Wasque Point and on to bluefish everywhere off East Beach. Even though there were some tremendous crashes, they were pretty finicky and Peter, who is an outstanding fly fishermen, used the bend down, out-of-sight technique to his advantage when the blues followed but were spooked by the boat. Jeff, who was using light spinning gear, also finally started hooking and had some great surface strikes once we went to a very small, parrot colored Gibbs pencil popper. We fished the flats off the windmill house and watched as one big shadow pursued and then turned off the fly and finished the day with a single fish on the fly at MG and a trip into Woods Hole to show Jeff the sights. All-in-all, it was a good day of fishing with some fast action and great company - the kind of day any captain would appreciate!

Last year I fished with Steve Roman and his son Mark and we had one of those days that have to be experienced to be believed. It was bass city around Pine Island as fish were cruising in the clear water and just smashing bait. Of course, Mark reminded me of last year and described in vivid detail to his older brother Chris what it was like as we pushed off from the pier outside of Eel Pond. Knowing full well that those waters just haven't been as kind to me this year, I immediately summoned up other options to try and at least come close to duplicating that day. No dice. We got a few schoolies off a corner on Nonamesset and Steve managed a nice fish at Middle Ground which gave him quite a tussle, but overall it was way too quiet. The Hole was dead and even a desparation run to Waquoit Bay produced just one schoolie. Inside Lackeys, Mark finally came up with a schoolie as there were a few fish popping from time to time and snacking on small sand eels. The Elizabeths have been devoid of bait recently and many of the folks I know who rely on these islands are looking elsewhere. There have been plenty of reports of big bass deep around the Hooter, east of Chatham and Nantucket, and around Stellwagen Bank, most of which fall in the EEZ where possession of stripers is illegal. They are chowing on big sand eels, sea herring, and other big baits, once again confirming my belief that as long as the stripers are finding bait offshore, our fishing for big stuff will suffer if all there is to eat is tiny sand eels, silversides, and mummies. Maybe it's time to think about going to very heavy sinking lines and big flies to find some big fish.

This morning, I welcomed Chuck and Judy Huizenga aboard, along with their friend Ed. The Huziengas have a boat in Hens Cove in Bourne and that's where we hooked up for a day of tossing eels and plugs along the Elizabeths. The trip down Buzzards Bay was uneventful, but the entrance from the bay to Woods Hole was a different story with the dumping currents combining with a northwest wind to form some very nasty following seas which we surfed through without incident. Let's just say that we went through plenty of eels as we fished every stretch I like from Naushon to Cuttyhunk with only one bluefish flash on Mr. Wiggly. We even went to Danny plugs and poppers with no success, but I must admit that it was extra special for me fishing under the old bass club using big wooden swimmers and eels like they did in the old days. Fortunately, the Huizengas are the type of folks who appreciate the experience of fishing for what it is and got plenty of practice working on their casting and working different types of plugs. We also saw several tall ships out on the horizon and did find some fish on small bait along Naushon as the day closed. Frankly, I wished we had been using fly rods since at times like that, even small plugs and jigs just don't imitate sand eels and silversides like the fly. We also had some short raps on eels on the way home, but the bass just wouldn't make solid contact with Mr. Wiggly. A line of thunderstorms finally ended the day as they crossed the island ominously and we raced for Falmouth Harbor. Thank goodness for my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher, as we were able to gain sanctuary from the rains and borrow a car to make the trip via land back to Pocasset. The Huizengas were great folks to have aboard and I promised Chuck that we would get together to work on tubing techniques which he can add to his jigging repetoire.

And I mean big! Aboard the Katie G. today were Brian and Doug Wooley. Brian had won a fly fishing trip as part of the Canal tournament in May and we also decided to add in some eel slinging as part of the bargain. For the first time in quite a while, I found some fish on top at first light on the dying west current in Woods Hole. Doug connected with poppers while Brian worked the fly rod. It became pretty apparent to me that the 400 grain sink tip line he was using on his St. Croix rod was just too much for it to handle, so I broke out one of my RPLXi's with the Cortland XRL's I love so much. I explained why I am not a fan of Quick Descent line's and sink tips for saltwater fly fishing since they don't have the proper tapers and tend to hinge like crazy and recommended that Brian look into a 200 to 250 grain line and see if it wasn't better for his rod. We also worked on some casting and targeted a few more fish before heading down the islands. I had in mind some stretches that had worked on the Steve Murphy trip several days before and man was I right for once. Brian connected with what I would classify as one of the biggest bass that anyone has ever hooked into on the boat. After dumping half the spool, the rod was doubled over so hard that the reel seat was bending under the strain. Brian had all he could do to hang on, and two shorter runs later that cow cut the line on a rock without our even seeing it. Later on, after dropping the brothers Wooley off, I thought about meat sticks and 50 pound braid, but decided that I like the light tackle best and sometimes it's a matter of putting the boots to the fish when it stops its first run if there's any chance of success. Of course, when this happened two more times, I was scratching my head and wondering what I was doing wrong. These fish weren't as large as the first one, but they also ripped line and managed to gain their freedom. As the tide slacked, we headed over to Middle Ground where the fish were popping and had some attacks on our plugs, but nothing solid. With the morning action in mind, I went back over to fish those two stretches of the archipelago once more, but this time there was nobody interested in our eels and we called it a day. Both Brian and Doug have extensive fishing experience and have a wire line trip planned out of Hyannis coming up, but I can only imagine what Brian is thinking about eels, rocks, and big bass along the Elizabeths. I only hope that someday he gets to experience the sight of one of this big brown shadows as it circles near the boat and I lip it, putting him face-to-face with a striper like the one that got away.

Today was another chance to fish with two of my favorite people who have ever graced that decks of the Katie G., Katherine and K.C. Hughes. No matter how the fishing is, we always have a good time and learn something new. I was particularly glad that Frankie was able to join me as first mate today since it's been a long time since we have been together on the boat. It was a bit choppy today, but both Katherine and K.C. have gotten the fly fishing thing down very well. Even on a day when the wind was tough and the boat rolling a bit, they stayed up on the casting decks and put their casts right on. K.C., in particular, who had the wind off his wrong shoulder, did a good job of the chuck and duck as we also worked on side arm casts to keep the line below the wind. After finding some small fish up inside Lackeys Bay, we worked some other stretches along Naushon and then hopped over to Middle Ground where we threw poppers since it was rocking and rolling along the rip. K.C. took a couple of fish on Super Strikes, while Katherine had some boils on the plug but no solid hook-ups. Finally, it was back over to Woods Hole before Katherine and K.C. had to leave to get ready for a big Fourth of July celebration. We tried to Pine Island to no avail and I was getting desperate to get Katherine a fish. This rock pile and Red Ledge just hasn't been the ace in the hole (what a bad pun!) that they were last year for me, but this time on the last cast of the day, Katherine hooked a bluefish which ended up in the cooler and was destined for the grill. After dropping my guests off at the family beach in Little Harbor and snapping some pictures of the still chopping bluefish, we said our good-byes and looked forward to future adventures.