June 2000 Daily Fishing Reports

Having blocked out two days to fish with Joe Bragan from Long Island, I was finally able to get out today after yesterday proved to be cloudy and rainy - not exactly a perfect day for sight casting! Let's just say that Joe is the type of angler that every guide wants to fish with - knowledgeable, highly skilled, and fully aware of what the game is. While the wire line and bait guys need to fill up the box and most anglers never get to see the fish or the hook-up, flats fly fishing is still about the entire package - seeing the fish, presenting the fly, seeing the response, and hopefully the taking of the fly. Frankly, what we may not do in numbers is certainly made up by the quality of the experience. Joe has obviously spent a great deal of time with the fly rod in hand and was able to sight many of the fish even before I got to see them. He has fished most of the flats in Long Island Sound and is obviously addicted to the seek-and-find visual game - although the way he spoke about bonito and albie fishing made it pretty clear that he is jazzed by that whole scene as well! Frankly, the flats were pretty quiet, with a few pods of fish cruising by on the incoming, but not much bait. We worked some nice looking edges, holes, and inlets, but with no success. At that point, I elected to head for the light house, but before we got there, we ran into birds doing their best Monomoy craziness. Joe managed to get a bass before it became clear that these were mostly small blues and we decided not to feed them any more flies. The sun, which hadn't exactly cooperated as much as I would have liked, peaked out enough for us to see good numbers of fish cruising tight to the beach at the point. They sure didn't want the chartreuse/gold flash Clouser, so I switched Joe over to a tan/white/gold flash Clouser and that did the trick. After a nice cast and solid presentation, Joe had a nice Monomoy striper to pose with. It wasn't the biggest fish we saw all day, but that didn't seem to matter to Joe, whose knowledge and understanding of the game made the day one I'll long remember and appreciate.

Today I got to do what I probably like to do as much as anything else - take a family out for a day of fishing and cruising. This time, Steve Baird, whom I fished with earlier in the week, brought aboard the rest of the Baird clan. The weather was perfect and even though the fish weren't particularly cooperative around the Mashnee Flats (although Lucy did manage a scup on a grubtail jig), the weather was near perfect and we were able to cruise to Woods Hole where both Abby and Lucy managed to catch small blues. We got to see the Corwith Cramer and the Westward returning from their SEA jaunts and visited Hadley's Harbor as well. Everybody got a chance to fish and in the end I dropped off the Bairds in Hospital Cove for a big family gathering at the site where Steve's family had owned a home for over 75 years. Honestly, I always like to see people catch more fish, but sometimes I think I get to do the best catching of all - meeting great people and being out on the water which I love.

After an earlier postponement due to uncooperative weather, I met up with Barry Jaye who summers in Osterville and his friend Irving Wiseman who lives over in Willowbend. Barry has been fly fishing for a number of years, particularly in freshwater, while Irving just completed the Lou Tabory school at The Sporting Life in Mashpee. The idea was to give Barry a better idea of fishing along the southside and it was great to have someone aboard who asked such good questions and was willing to listen. Sometimes I think I like this job because there is teaching involved, especially with the type of anglers I hook up with. We went inside Popponesset to show Barry the area and to give him an idea of how to set up drifts. We also spent some time flycasting, so I could see what work needed to be done in that area. Barry and I worked on dealing with the wind, given how it most often gives at least one angler aboard the most grief. In the meantime, Irving was working on his casting and after getting him to slow down and load the road more effectively, it was off to find fish. As has been the case all week, there were small bluefish and terns all over the mouth of Waquoit. After several on small poppers, first Irving went to the flyrod and hooked up, with Barry right behind. When enough boats showed up for my taste, I elected to head for Middle Ground, where we arrived to fish just crashing everywhere in pursuit of bait, which looked to be both squid and sand eels. We elected to go with poppers and Barry took a nice bass while Irving coaxed up a blue, while I had visions of what a long cast with a fly rod would do. Before that could be attempted, the fish quieted down as the rip really began to roar, so I made the jaunt across to Woods Hole where we found small bluefish once again off Little Harbor. By that time, it was necessary to start heading east since Barry had a golf outing, but just as we got past Nobska, we saw a huge crash that looked like a dolphin or small whale. Then we saw the familiar flopping dorsal, and sure enough, there was an ocean sunfish doing its lazy, cruising thing. Barry got some photos of our friend and then off we went. Succonesset was just starting to work and we went over how to fish it, with Barry taking a blue with a popper as we worked the first rip line. I have to say I was impressed with how Barry was willing to experiment and changed lures often if something wasn't working, and Irving joined in the lure shuffle as well, reminding me of the master, Bill Nealon, who would go only six empty casts with a plug before changing when we were fishing for big blues years ago in the Hole. The rest of the day was a pleasant trip back to Osterville with Barry and I discussing tides and currents, while Irving stretched his legs and an aching shoulder from flycasting. I forgot to tell him, but I think the 10 weight he was throwing might have been the problem. I'll have to give Barry a call tomorrow and remind him. After saying our good-byes and talking about getting together for some fishing on the northside, I made the short jaunt back to Poppy, pulled the Katie G. back up on her trailer, and called it another good day on Cape Cod.

Today I met with Steve Baird from Chicago who was looking to do some flyrodding for bass. Well, they obliged. On the way to drop the boat in at Green Pond, we saw birds working off Great Pond and later found them to be bluefish, one of which managed to escape with the first fly of the day. We then hit Middleground for the morning bite and even though there were fish cruising the curls and smashing bait, they were very tough. Of all the fly boats we saw out there, we saw one fish hooked and landed, even though our offerings were right on. Despite my changing flies constantly, a hookup wasn't in the offing. So, it was off to Naushon where we found the schoolies much more obliging. Steve's first fish was on the UglyMother, and it wasn't much bigger than the fly. After flogging that stretch, we headed down island and found fish popping with terns wheeling overhead just below Tarpaulin. It was an instant hookup and even when the birds left, Steve managed to snake out a number of fish using a chartreuse/gold flash Clouser. By that time, the clock said that Middleground would be ready again and it sure was. This time, we had a number of hookups, with two nice fish in the mid-20" class and two more runs, one of which had Steve into his backing before it slipped through his hands and the slack gave the fish the only chance it would need to. Unfortunately, with a bit more wind and plenty of ferry wake today, MG was just a bit too tough to fish with some serious waves looking to climb over the transom, but it was fun to see and hook up with some of those fish. Jim Young also stopped by on his way to do some tubing along Naushon, and on our way back to Green Pond with the wind freshening and reports of SW breezes to 25 knots later on, I didn't envy him on his trip home.

Got hooked up Dick Goode from Mechanicsville, VA yesterday at Eastman's and met up with he and his fishing grandchildren, brother-sister team Lauren and David Johnston who are summering once again in Woods Hole. The plan was to throw eels and see if we could catch dinner, but the bluebird skies and lack of heavy water left me wondering why it isn't possible to combine perfect weather and great fishing with Mr. Wiggly all the time. I know the fish have turned on to the snakes as Captain John Christian had good trips over the weekend, albeit in some heavy white water, and Monday produced a 35 pound fish as well. Let's just say we found schoolies in the 24" range busting sand eels off of Naushon and Lauren and Dick were soon into fish using grubtail jigs. The bass didn't want topwater plugs, and even when I switched David over, things just didn't go his way. We found some more pods of small fish and then it was off to toss eels. Well, we hit spots all along Naushon without a touch, although David did get on the board with a nice cast with a popper to fish that were holding in a tight location just inside Robinson's Hole. I had hoped to find some bluefish on the backside of the islands, but even that was dry, so we shot through Woods Hole and over to Middleground. As we arrived, we were treated to that awesome sight of fish surfing in the rip and cruising on the bottom. As is the pattern, the action was fast and furious for a short time, with everybody hooking up, including a fish just a 1/2" shy of the limit for Lauren on a Yo-zuri MagDarter. Quite frankly, that fish was showing a bit more blood than I like, but back it went. Sometimes situations like this make me wonder about what I consider arbitrary size limits that often don't make sense given the state of the fishery. Heck, as a fishing guide who doesn't think that taking a fish is a crime worthy of flogging, I'd be willing to pay something like $5 a pop for tags which an angler would be required to place in his or her fish on my boat, with one fish per day of any size. I'd be willing to document the catch with the state and be subject to a whopping ($1,000 or better) fine if I was caught breaking the rules. But that's just idle rambling. On the way back, Captain Lauren took over the helm and ably navigated us back to Green Pond as we completed a good trip on as nice an early summer day as you can get.

Despite my better judgement and express interest in fishing Middle Ground, the Elizabeths, and Woods Hole in pursuit of some larger fish, I gave in to Gene's whining and agreed to put the Katie G. in at Monument Beach and fish the west entrance to the Canal. Clearly, if catching fish were the goal, then this was a good decision. We arrived to find sand eels being slurped down by bass all around us. Despite one confusing comment by a flyrodder already on the scene about a hatch of some type, with a recommendation for a shrimp fly, we did just fine using an assortment of Clousers and Brooks' Blondes. Drifting across the flats, it was cool to see the fish stacked below us and I also spied some nice fluke. The terns usually gave away the presence of fish, but the key as the morning progressed was to find the edge where deep water gave way to the flats. We also visited Widows Cove and found the fish cooperative, especially in the rip at the Onset end where I held the boat while Gene cast in and hauled out a schoolie on almost every cast. I also now know the exact location of a large prop eating size rock which I fortunately missed this time. All in all, it was a nice morning and finished with me feeding one of my big, flashy Clousers to a bluefish, but I couldn't get a hookup on the Bob's Banger. By the by, Captain John Christian snuck out of Eel Pond down along Naushon Friday and Saturday, and found eels to be very effective with fish to 30+ pounds. Jim Young from Eastman's Sport & Tackle took the tubes out today and I predicted that Jim would do well with the bass having apparently turned on to Mr. Wiggly. Sure enough, Jim had a very good day with fish to 44"/27 poounds, all of them coming on a small wine colored tube.

Even though the wind was howling from the southwest, Joe DeFrancisco and his friend Ken Rear were in town from New York and New Hampshire, respectively, to fish, so the issue wasn't whether we would fish, but where. So it was off to Barnstable to fish the end of the incoming and the first few hours of the outgoing. Don't let anybody tell you that Barnstable is an absolute safe bet when the winds are too strong on the southside, but at least it was tolerable. Our first venture inside Mill Creek produced fish for Joe, who was fishing a chartreuse/gold Clouser while Ken was flipping a chartreuse grubtail. On the flats inside, even a jig can be tough. Joe also finally connected when I switched him over to the fast sink versus the intermediate line. At one point, while perched on the center console, I saw a few fish swimming towards us, but they spooked pretty quickly. Ken finally hooked up once we worked the edge of the main channel along east bar, which we eventually crossed to find pure striper madness. A large flock of gulls and terns lifted off the water and headed inside, where bass were surfing along and making an absolute ruckus. It was just a matter of follow the birds and hookup, or even hang out for a while after they had left and catch fish. These were all fat, healthy schoolies which fought extremely well on the fly rod and light tackle. The winds finally kicked up even more and it became pretty uncomfortable to fish, so we headed inside and caught a few fish again along the channel edges and called it a day. I suspect Joe and Ken won't soon forget the sight of stripers slashing through the water, looking like brown torpedoes in pursuit of sand eels, while the birds screeched and the waters heaved. I know I won't.

Tonight Gene and I were consistently into 20 to 24" fish which were dark and full of lice. They fought incredibly hard and ate well on both the incoming and outgoing. Olive/white and black Clousers did the trick, with the dead drift scoring particularly well. There were also some much larger bass around and a few blues as well, and we both commented that we needed to work on giving larger fish their head after each popping off a nice bass that we tried to treat like a peepee fish. After watching a boat circle around, lost in the fog, and after seeing the wind and chop down around Falmouth Harbor earlier in the evening, I elected to sleep in tomorrow and wait for another day to venture forth along the Elizabeth's with Falmouth's own Ernie Valerio. But, I assure you Ernie, it is going to happen very soon when the weather and fish gods are with us.

Tonight was a repeat of Tuesday at Old Silver Beach. I was heading home with the Katie G. in tow after having Judd check out a wiring gremlin and passed Gene going in the opposite direction. I turned around and joined him in the parking lot. He told me the spots he had just checked out were filled with bait, but he was more confident there would be fish here. He gave me some jazz about doing some fishing, but I hesitated and weighed my options before joining him. We spied Art Crago down the beach hooking up consistently and once the current went outgoing, there were swirls and fish to be had where we were, too. I waded out to a flat and it was almost too easy. Once again, olive/white Clousers moved fairly quickly did the trick. Gene moved out on the north jetty and began to connect. I also managed to almost hook up with a bluefish by the finger as I went to lip what I thought was a schoolie, but then it jumped and I thought better when I saw pure silver. Jim Lowe eventually happened along and showed a clear understanding of fly fishing etiquette, giving us room although I wouldn't have minded at all if he had joined me on the flat. I left with Gene and Jim still connected to fish and kept saying to myself it can't get any better than this.

The first half of my day started with a trip to Monomoy to fish with Jim Pothast, a very good fly fisherman from Minnesota who had joined me last year for some shore angling in Sandwich. This time, he wanted to experience what the flats were all about as they have been written up in all the saltwater fly fishing magazines. Conditions certainly weren't perfect, with gray skies and a little too much chop for sight fishing, but I was confident there would be fish. While grabbing a cup of coffee, Jim told me about his February trip to Abaco for bonefishing and I assured him that stripers aren't really known for their bonefish runs, but they fought hard and gave a good accounting of themselves. After managing to dunk myself while launching the boat (note to self: don't try it anymore with cell phone, pliers, and other junk in hand!) and finally getting everything in order, we headed out to the mouth of Stage Harbor and I gave Jim a chance to try the RPLXi on terra firma. He elected to use the eight weight and it was a pure pleasure to see such a good caster, because I knew that half the game was in the bag. We zipped off towards the light house to catch the tail end of the outgoing water. As we drifted along sand and grass patches, I commented on the lack of bait and was just beginning to move when Jim saw a pod of three fish and put his cast right on. He was rewarded with his first Monomoy bass, a nice dark schoolie with sea lice all over it. That would be the extent of our sight fishing for the day, but as we worked north, we stopped to fish a channel which really looked good. Of course, it didn't hurt that Steve Shiraka and Eric Lafleur were fishing just north of us, a pretty good sign that this was a place to check out. While flats boats went drifting and roaring by, we were in the water wading, which might be the best way to fish these islands. Using an olive/white with heavy gold flash Clouser, Jim had one of those experiences you dream of. On a blind cast, a nice fish picked up the fly and it immediately dumped him into the backing. He looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders when I thought about my bonefish comparison earlier. All Jim could say was "This is a big fish!" and he did a great job staying with it. Several minutes later, I had a 30+ inch striper by the jaw and the celebration began. We got plenty of pictures and the fish eventually swam away with no hesitation. We would catch a few more smaller fish in this area and they all fought wonderfully. We even saw Steve heft what looked to be a 36+ fish taken out front from where they were fishing. The rest of the day was a pick here and there, with some fish off the flats between North and South Monomoy and I got the chance to show Jim what I mean about the terns going birdy. Whenever they would flock up and their motion became determined, if Jim put a cast right on, it was a hook up. All in all, this trip to Monomoy was one of my most memorable, mainly for the company of such a fine angler and also because the fish cooperated. As we headed in and I dropped Jim off at the inn where he was staying with his wife, the sun came out, of course, and we made plans to fish again next year, hopefully on a sunny day when the flats would look like those which we were looking at just north of Chatham Light. The first part of my day was great and the second part of my day would be just as successful in its own way as I was soon to find out. Well, the fishing class outing finally went off tonight and what a time we had. It was cloudy and threatening a little rain when we met at Wood Lumber, but with great hopes we headed off to Old Silver Beach. Teaching the Falmouth Night School fly fishing class has been great, and folks like Kevin Butler, Brian Casey, Peter Horowitz, Charlie Rafferty, Brad Shufelt, Laurie Thwaites, and Dan Triggs who made this adventure, as well as all the others, have made me want to do it again. Hitting the beach well before dusk gave everybody a chance to work on their casting, but it wasn't long before Laurie hooked up on our first fish of the night. Gene Bourque had joined to help me out and he recommended that Laurie hit the north jetty and cast towards to the outflow channel. Wouldn't you know it, but he was right . . . and Laurie hauled in the biggest, ugliest sea robin I have ever seen using a Clouser. Later on she repeated the feat and the ribbing began. As darkness began to creep in, there were swirls on the other side of the channel from where we were and Brian finally connected on our first striper of the night. Using a dead drift, he got us off the snide and the fun was just beginning. By the way, Brian's acumen at working the fly line and thinking like a fly fisherman is very impressive. Of course, yours truly had to be a smart guy and grab his rod, hooking up on the first cast. Thank god Gene had left, or I would have really heard some grief. Then, everybody got into the action. Kevin, Brad, and Peter were into fish consistently, but Laurie took a little more work. I got her off that jetty and had her wade out on the flat where I was. After a little slowing down of the cast, her rod took that graceful arc and it was striper time. Brian had followed some larger fish up inside the marsh and upon his return, he was into fish again. Having just come back from down Cape, I was finally beat and elected to call it a night. As we waded back to shore, there was Charlie who had stayed close to shore and reported that he was catching fish in the wash while we were out getting wet. Well done, Charlie! And Brian elected to stay longer and as we walked to the parking lot, we could hear him say that he was on again. Now, if next Tuesday is only half as good, I'll be happy!

Decided to postpone my Monomoy adventure with Jim Pothast until tomorrow, but in the meantime was thinking about the fellow who drowned fishing out of a canoe yesterday off Cotuit. Standing up, a half mile off Oregon Beach, and the waters building to three feet certainly made the odds against him. I was coming back from Middle Ground in the afternoon and it was downright choppy in an 18 foot skiff. Frankly, I really am worried about all the folks I see out there in canoes and even kayaks. I know what my good friend Gene says about the stability of kayaks, but isn't it possible to roll one of those things? I see them in Woods Hole and all kinds of places where I just don't think they belong. And what about the fatigue factor? Even Gene admitted that paddling back up into Stage Harbor last year against the current when he timed the tide wrong was quite an effort. Just be safe out there and use some common sense. Even fishing isn't important enough to die over!

This morning it was up at 2:30 AM to pick up Steve Murphy and his friend Keith Schreifels at the mouth of Falmouth Harbor for some eel slinging and whatever else might follow. As was obvious, Steve and Keith have a long history of fishing together, especially in Minnesota where Keith is from and this trip was Steve's chance to show his friend what the Cape is all about. Tales of monster muskies, pike, and walleyes had me nervous about what I was getting myself into since 40 and 50" fish would dwarf some of the bass we've been catching lately! Last season, Steve has fished aboard the Katie G. with his nephew and his brother, who managed a 44" bass on an eel which we released, and I had a sneaking suspicion what was in the minds of both anglers as we headed out in the predawn dark. We did throw eels for a good while at one spot which I wanted to try at first light, but there was nothing doing except one determined bluefish which left Steve with nothing but a cigar. At that point, I decided to make the run across to Middle Ground for the dying tide and it was a good choice. There were some nice bass and blues in the curls of the rip, but only Steve managed to connect while Keith was chopped off twice by blues. I think it might have had to do with a freshwater fisherman's habit of slapping the line in the water as he works a popper, but at least the action had begun. Then it was off to Woods Hole where we ran into some small blues just outside Little Harbor and found nothing doing inside despite a good tide. There weren't even any birds working, which really surprised me. A few small fish fell to poppers around Nonamesset and it was back to eeling. Let's just say that after hitting every stretch of beach around Naushon and Pasque, including Robinsons and Quicks, with some serious swells and white water making things look so good, our only score on Mr. Wiggly was one fish just shy of 30" for Steve. We had a few other bumps, but the fish definitely don't seem turned on to eels just yet. And, of course, I was getting antsy since Keith was still stuck on no fish! After fishing North Rock and South Rock unsuccessfully (although surfing along inside with big water was interesting!), we headed up the backside of the islands to avoid the swell. About halfway back up Naushon, terns were everywhere and it was small bluefish city. As Steve noted to Keith, this was a chance to see how many fish we could catch and there was certainly no lack of them. Using single hook plugs, we just watched for swirls and laughed as bunches of tailor blues competed for dinner. Of course, just like that, the action died and we continued on to the Hole and again found birds just outside, this time around that collection of floats off Uncatena Island. Thinking they were blues, we tossed poppers, but eventually swtiched over to the fly rod with a chartreuse Clouser and a grubtail on the spinning gear. The fly connected on a nice, 24" schoolie while Keith only was getting short hits on the jig. These fish were definitely deep and feeding well, coming up on top occasionally to swirl on bait. At that point, it was back to Middle Ground, and much to my pleasure, both Steve and Keith decided to use the fly rod in the rip. Let's just say they're hooked! Keith hooked a really nice fish on a chartreuse Clouser that just ripped on him and the tail slap on the take let me know it was a big fish. Unfortunately, we never got that one back to the boat as it slipped the barbless hook, but both Steve and Keith managed fish in the 24 to 26" range before the traffic became crazy and folks began crowding down and anchoring up, limiting the productive waters. Plenty of boat wake and an interesting chop made for a slower than I'd like ride back to the dock, but I could tell from the smiles on their faces that Steve and Keith had enjoyed the variety of fishing we had tried. And I knew that the pillow would feel good under my head once I finished cleaning the boat back home in Bourne.

After a tough day in Barnstable yesterday, the wind died and the fishing really picked up today - wouldn't you know it! On board the Katie G. was the son on Mike Seitler, whom I had known from his years at Bay Sails Marine in Wellfleet. Mike had booked this birthday trip for his 14 year old son David over the winter, and after two postponements due to weather, we were finally on the water. David is a fine, young fly fisherman who listens to instruction and has a bright future ahead of him. Kids just seem to have a nice, natural casting motion and such was the case with David. We also managed to catch fish, including some on the flats where they were just stacked on the falling tide. We also had plenty of follows and found them again in the deeper water once the flats became dry sand (which I managed to avoid getting stuck on this time!) Chartreuse/gold flash and olive/gold flash Clousers did the trick and I even managed to convince David of the joys of casting a seven weight versus those big nine weights that everybody is absolutely certain you have to use. No doubt a nine weight is the way to go if you're starting out, but as you gain experience, you'll find the lighter sticks work just fine and can handle some pretty good flies. As a sign of his efforts for the day, David ended up with a good sized blister which we managed to bandage, and other than that, it was a perfect day. He is one interesting young man who is headed for Maryland in a few days to meet up with his dad who is part of the crew on a 177 foot tall ship from Norway which will be making its way through the Canal during the tall ship parade this summer. While on board, David and his dad will be sailing south for a bit before heading for New England. Talk about a great experience, and as we parted I told him to give me a call and we'd head out for some fishing with Frankie on one of my off days.

After mistakenly deciding to let things settle around Monomoy after the winds started to settle on Wednesday and moving my trip to the flats with Jerry Fanger and Dick Dayne to Friday, things really came up howling on Friday. We put in and fished a bit inside Morris Island and then went around the corner to South Beach. When you have white caps rolling in towards the flats on Monomoy, you know things are going to be tough. Cast for a while along the edges of Morris Island and South Beach, but as the wind howled through the guides of the rods, I made the call to pull and head for Barnstable. I had hoped there would be a lee, but things were windy and choppy there as well. Thankfully, Jerry and Dick were both hard working and dedicated anglers, with Dick having many, many years of fly fishing all over the world while this was Jerry's first time with the long wand. Eventually, after wading for a good long while, we found fish along the edges of a dropoff and while I went to retrieve the Katie G. (which I had managed to strand on a bar earlier on), both gentlemen came up with their larger fish of the day, although nothing was above 18-20". Sight fishing was near impossible with a heavy chop on the surface making seeing fishing tough. Caught one last fish along a rip that was forming near a bar mid-harbor and it was time to call it a day. This certainly wasn't what I had envisioned, although Jerry did manage his first three fish on a fly rod and I believe these were Dick's first stripers on the fly. Hopefully, as Dick said, in the future they can get to experience what it's like to get something about twice as large on the fly rod.

Suffice it to say that before the big blow on Tuesday, every spot where friends of my have been fishing in West Falmouth and North Falmouth have been crawling with fish in the 18 to 26" range. Alternating between olive/white Clousers and chartreuse/white Clousers at dusk and black stuff after dark, they have been scoring large numbers of stripers. Apparently, if you're into smaller ones, all you have to do is slide down the beach a couple of 100 feet and you'll potentially find bigger ones. The same kind of action is there for boat anglers and perhaps two of the best places on the Cape right now are the west end of the Canal and Woods Hole, which has really come alive. The next couple of weeks should see the Hole filled with large stripers, many of them feeding on top and willing to take poppers like Hab's, Pilis, and Yo-Zuris and squid patterns with great abandon. Just remember that if you're fly fishing, the bigger fish will more often be down below and a fast sink line is helpful, even as the current is dying. Should be interesting to see how long it takes for things to shape up after the seas lay down on Wednesday afternoon, if you believe NOAA.