May 2003

IN MEMORY OF CASSIDY

My first mate and best friend over the last ten years was killed this winter. He taught me many things about life and love and he will be missed. I dedicate this season to his memory and his passionate and fiery spirit. I love you boy.

This winter could not have ended soon enough for me. It still is holding on and even the fishing is a good 2-4 weeks delayed. The end of April found me trout fishing in Ct. on the Farmington and Housie with buddy Fred Jeans from the Selective Angler. We caught numerous fish on #22 black caddis, BWO's and hit the Hendricksen hatch a couple times as well. Although the fish were small except for a couple 16" it was great to get out and cast after a long winter.

While hanging out in Ct. trying to get the lawn in order, Curt Jessup called and said the first worm hatch was going on at the pond behind my house and that a 30" fish was already caught. Well that was music to my ears. I got in the car and reached the cape by 6 pm. There were quite a few worms already spawning but few fish eating. I kayaked to the backside of the pond where I saw some consistent action and some big swirls. If you can remember last November I videotaped 4 huge stripers surfing the inlet to my pond eating herring as they came into the opening. We caught a few 30"+ fish at that time. In the past I had picked up an occasional good fish during the worm hatch but was not prepared for what occurred this day and the next few. My first fish was a 32" striper that weighed around 12 pounds. I then hooked into another brute that dragged me around for about 5 minutes heading for the outlet pipe. I feared that she might drag me through the pipe and out to sea but somehow broke me off with my 10# flourocarbon leader. I then went to 15# and hooked up a 36" fish just before dark. My goodness! From no fish to 30"+ fish-I wasn't ready but quickly got to the tying bench and got my gear in order for the next few days which proved to be a carbon copy of that day with another couple of big fish taken. I guided 2 fishermen to 28" and 30" fish in Quahog Pond

and when that ended we moved down the street to Oyster pond where the worm hatch continued. There were more fish there although the size of the fish were smaller even though we did land one 34" fish. The weather was up and down one day being beautiful and still with the next being windy and cold. This had some impact on the hatch but more impact on the fishermen.

The first good weather day of the season, I took the flats boat out to Buzzards Bay and even though the recent oil spill concerned us all little evidence of dramatic effects to the fishing were not heard. I proceeded to check out some of the good early season spots around Old Silver Beach and rock piles around Nye's Neck where a herring run spills out. As usual I bring a baitcasting rod with Yozuri diving and floating plugs as well as 4 fly rods with intermediate and sinking lines with big herring and squid flies. It was midway through outgoing tide and as expected some good fish were amongst the rocks. I caught 2 fish over 30" on the swimming plug and then took out the long wand. I was quickly into a big fish that put my 12 weight with 450 grain sinker to the test. When I finally boated the fish, she had a schoolie inside her belly and measured 36" and 18 1/2 pounds.

My replacement first mate, Kodiak, who is my wife's Yorkshire Terrier got his first taste of fishing the brine. Look Ma what I caught!!!!

The fishing continued to be great as I believe I happened to be around as some of the early migrating stripers appeared. After landing this beaut, I quickly turned around to a feeding frenzy. I casted the baitcaster and hooked into some blues in the 6# class. Wondering what they might be feeding on, either squid or spearing, I stayed in the school after seeing some stripers mixed in with the blues as they were sucking baits from the surface.

 I threw out a Snakedeceiver fly about 8" long and immediately hooked up. Another 32" fish and then 2 more in that class. Woww! Why couldn't I have a charter today?

An hour and a half of great fishing and then the wind picked up and I pulled out after chasing some schoolies inside West Falmouth Harbor. When I got back to the house the worm hatch was going strong for the 7th consecutive day. It's a tough job but somebody got to do it.

So to end a near perfect day of fishing, the worm hatch on Oyster pond was fabulous. 6 more fish were landed with a 34" striper dragging my kayak all over before being released back into the pond.

Word got out that the hatch was in progress and a few ardent fellow worm hatchers fished Oyster pond for a 5 day stretch with some easy days and then some fishless days. I brought my Ortho buddy Jeremy Stern down to fish from the water otter while I kayaked around. He is an avid trout fisherman as well as flyrodder on the salt but never really saw this hatch. He was really excited even though we only hooked up a few fish that day he saw enough big fish busting that impressed him to want to scout his hatch out in his backyard. 

Shortly thereafter, the hatch moved down to the south side of West Falmouth Harbor and as last year, this area produced many 12"-22" schoolies with 50 fish nights common. Harvard professor for International Affairs, Graham Allison heard me speak about this hatch at the Marlboro Fly Show 2 years ago and has wanted to fish the hatch ever since. He has a condo at the Cape Codder so when I called him in the middle of a rainstorm to fish the hatch, he got in the car and met me. We kayaked back to where I had fish the previous night but nothing was surfacing when we first got there although I had seen some worms at the Chappy bridge. So I told Graham to work the weed beds close to shore even though the worms weren't showing yet. His first cast he was into a 26" striper that dragged him around the pond making him an instant believer. We then were in for a couple hours of nonstop fishing and catching while some neighbors were on their docks watching us hook up fish after fish. We were entertained by music from a nearby wedding party and it seemed like the party goers were more impressed with our fishing then the wedding party. 

Graham didn't quite have enough of the hatch so he called me the next weekend although I wasn't optimistic that the hatch was still going on since the weather had been horrible-cold and rainy for most of the week and I had gone off Cape to take care of some chores at my other home in Connecticut. Much to my surprise the hatch was happening right at the Chappy bridge. Because it was pouring rain you had to really look closely to see the worms but sure enough it was happening. I got on the cell phone and told Graham to drop what he was doing and bring his floating line since it was low tide at the harbor. We waded this time and caught fish virtually every cast while a  number of observers watched from the bridge while these couple of "Nutty" guys were fishing in the downpour. I have now affectionately named Graham " The Nutty Professor" since most times we fished together it is pouring and anyone in their right mine would be at home with a glass of wine cuddled up to a fire. Not true because shortly we were joined by about 6 other fishermen whom I found out later were from the CFFA, a fly fishing association from Connecticut. They come to fish  on the Cape every year at this time. I gave away some worm flies and made some friends as one of the fisherman grilled me regarding retrieves and the like since he still had trouble hooking up. It just so happened that these fish wanted a steady fast retrieve as the tide was outgoing and the worms were getting sucked into the channel by the moving water. Graham had a blast and of course told one of his professor buddies who fished the hatch the next day and landed  and photographed a 35" fish. Woww! I will try to get the picture of that one.

I also will give a brief update for fellow guide and associate Captain Bob Belekiewicz of Lemke-Ann Charters. We fished early in the month for mackerel to restock Bob's chum supplies for his chunking trips. We easily filled coolers with a couple hundred fish by jigging at the east end of the canal. I even brought a fly rod along and gave casting and hooking up lessons for all as these fish are great fun on the long wand.

 We also went out a few times trolling bunker spoons with wire near the mackerel runs hooking up some really nice stripers one stretching the ruler to 40". We then started bottom fishing for sea bass and fluke. The sea bass were plentiful and big, up to 5 pounds with the beautiful colors of the male being spectacular.

 And now the chumming and chunking trips have begun with keeper bass and huge blues coming in regularly. 

JUNE 2003

June began as May left off with still a couple weeks of the worm hatch. Surprisingly, I was having trouble wade fishing and catching in West Falmouth Harbor as was On The Water editor Gene Bourque. Being that this is his home waters and my honey spot I thought that if they aren't in the harbor they must be close by because there were many good fish there this season and the water temp remained perfect. So I explored the outside with only a few fish for the effort. I then spotted some birds busting near the Nashawena bridge and all signs pointed to "more worms". Sure enough a worm hatch was going on and to my amazement, my sport and I hooked and landed a half dozen stripers in the 24"-28" range with one fish going just over 30". I called Gene on his cell to let him know and even though he got the message an hour before dark he still hooked into a dozen or so schoolies.

Neither Graham nor I wanted this hatch to end, so I gave him a call to let him know that I was still hooking up at Nashawena. This was the middle of June already and I had 3 consecutive days of a great hatch there with nice fish sucking up worms on the bottom using a 325 sinking line and a dead drift and a slow strip-pause retrieve. However, there were no worms this day and even though we tried to entice the few fish that remained inside the harbor, the catching was slow and only to smaller schoolies. So Graham and I started out towards the entrance of West Falmouth harbor as dusk approached . I tied on  black Tabory snake fly onto Graham's 325 sinker and started probing the channel. Before long Graham's reel was singing as line was being spooled which told us this was a nice fish. Dark was upon us but we boated the fish and it was a nice hefty keeper with a big fat belly. Although I didn't have a flash for the camera, the photo gives a good outline of the fish and Professor Allison as well.

 So the last day of this hatch was June 15th at which time I started concentrating on the second season-Flats fishing. Barnstable Harbor was slow the first time I fished it this season probably because of the cold fronts going through but even so I usually pick up a handful of fish rather easily. Reports were conflicting with guys still hooking up on the outside so I did my next couple trips wade fishing Scorton Creek. There was another angler there, who gave me a quick synopsis of the water and how the flats have shifted from last season. He was hooking schoolies regularly so to give him space I walked over to the flat and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a cow crossing the flat. I stripped off 50' of line and lay out a cast perfectly in front of her with a picture drift as she opened her mouth and inhaled the fly. She bolted towards P-Town as my fly line caught around the reel snapping the line like a piece of thread. So I quickly retied and was into schoolies with an occasional bigger fish coming onto the flats. We both then waded the beach front and fished to stripers 10' from shore with the incoming tide sightcasting to hundreds of fish. I then started a marathon of guiding and fishing exclusively at Barnstable chartering mostly flyfishermen like Bob Easton and Marv Fingers who flew in on their own plane from Houston Texas to fish the flats with me. hey have fished all over the world for bonefish and tarpon and snook and really wanted to wade the flats. We planned the day according to the tides so we could hit the outgoing and then fish slack from the sand as well as sightcasting to fish as they came onto the flats with the incoming tide. We got to Horseshoe flat and I rigged up the sinking lines to give a quick demo on the water haul and shoot cast and how I wanted them to retrieve the jiggie fly. They were soon into schoolies and handling the heavier sinking lines and flies expertly. We then got out of the boat and were hooking up regularly as the tide changed. Visibility was difficult do to the wind and cloud cover to see fish as they came onto the flats so I anchored up onto a known channel which serves as a route for stripers as they approach bass hole and the east flats. Again, numerous fish were caught with the biggest just shy of a keeper. 

 Later that afternoon, I stayed on to work the high water and to learn this fishery even better, fish started busting all over the surface near the entrance to the harbor and all the way towards Sandy Neck Beach. Acres of sandeels were being marauded by stripers some in the mid 30" range that I could see splaying bait all over the surface as they cut through the schools of baitfish. I began fishing the surface floating sandeel pattern that Enrico Puglisi ties hooking up to good fish for 26"-32" whenever I got the fly into the feeding lane. I called my sport Dave Cole who was in class at a conference at the Sea Crest to drop everything and get there ASAP but he couldn't do it until much later so I had this frenzy to myself along with a group of 4 other boats chasing and catching until our arms nearly fell off. So I started in to the ramp feeling victorious but only got to the lighthouse when things erupted again, and then again as I approached the inner harbor. Dark was settling in so I pulled out with a host of great fish and stories as well as some more waypoints for the GPS marking the channels where the stripers travel with the incoming tide.

 I then chartered Dick and Gail Reeve from Pa. who have done some limited fly fishing on the streams in Pa. They were a little intimidated by the bigger rods with sinking lines but were game to work on it. We started spotting fish coming off the flats just as the tide was near full low on the East flat. I had them get out of the boat so I cold work with each one individually. It wasn't long before they were hooking up to schoolies leaving and then entering with the incoming tide.

 As the water made it prohibitive to wade, I then motored out to Sandy Neck where I had some great fishing the previous couple times out to surface feeding stripers. Sure enough, good size stripers were surfing the waves chasing sandeels all over. Fish were aggressively eating so if we got the bait to them they would pounce on it. Gail went to a spinning rod with a white jig and was hooking up more regularly than "Hubbie" Dick but he too was soon into fish using a floating sandeel pattern. This was fun for all until the winds came up and put the stripers down as well as making fly rodding difficult.

 I then entertained my #1 sport Jeff Ladd and his girl, Terry. We were early into fish busting all over the Flats although fishing wasn't easy due to the swarms of bait and the calm waters and visibility. The stripers were spooky to say the least. Terry was fairly consistently hooking up with a spinning rod and Google eyes baits while Jeff was going through his arsenal of hand tied flies trying to find the perfect fly. He was hooking up enough to keep the interest up but not consistent enough for me. So I took them to flats in front of Sandy Neck where Jeff and I got out of the boat and sighcasted to fish coming onto the flats. It was great fun even though the "bigguns" eluded us we caught a number of schoolies.

My next couple charters were with Brian Patterson who is a freshwater guide in NJ. He wanted to try some sightcasting on the flats and I happened to by chance spook some really nice stripers in my home port at West Falmouth. I hooked up 5 nice fish there a few days earlier the biggest just shy of 30". So we decided to try for them. When we got to the harbor there were plenty of fish busting at the mouth with the outgoing tide. We hooked up blues, stripers, scup and even a fluke before working the flats. Fish were a little spooky because a few boats were anchored and people were swimming and fishing and the like. We started to see a pattern developing with a couple of cruising fish working the edges of the weedbeds while occasionally crossing and feeding on the sand flats. We had a couple casts although the fish were hard to see until we were right on them and then they would dart off because the book spooked them. I anchored up for awhile and Brian hooked up to a really good fish that busted him off as it bolted towards open water. He then hooked into a nice 25" fish that was a picture perfect cast. 

We spooked many more fish so decided to wade fish while I spotted fish from the poling platform. We fished this area for a good couple hours and had a couple small fish to show for it although the bigger ones beat us this time.

The next day we started much the same way but the number of fish on the flats were minimal. So we fished Old Silver and some of the other harbors and chased schools of blues for awhile but Brian wanted to get some stripers. Most of the rips were not setting up well due to smaller tides so we cruised around the West end of the Canal until we finally found some moving water at the entrance to Onset. We hooked up instantly as we drifted along and were bounced around between boats and channel markers. It was exciting but potentially dangerous with all the traffic. So I let Brian out to wade and he caught numerous schoolies until the current died out.

Rich Patton and Craig, an old soccer buddy he use to coach have become good fishing buddies. Rich has a place in Sandwich so he was familiar with Barnstable Harbor. We immediately were into fish at Horseshoe flat as a primer, but quickly noticed some birds working off the East Flat. I tied on the Mongoose fly courtesy of Dick Empie, the originator (details on that fly to follow). Both Craig and Rich were hooked up simultaneously to 26" fish and proceeded to cat h a host of others with Rich hooking up a 28" shortly thereafter. It was a good day for them, not so good for the stripers.

Captain Bob Belekiewicz of Lemke-Ann Chaters was having his usual success with chunking trips near Gay Head with charters catching keepers up to 30 pounds. He took time from his busy schedule to take out one of my wife's social work student's, Sammi,  for some fluking and seabass fishing. This was a thrill of a lifetime for him as we hooked up a number of 5 pounders with some Scup, Fluke and even a Bluefish or two. Captain Bob noted that he takes out many people who have everything money can buy but said Sammi was one of the best behaved and intense fishermen he has taken out. Thanks Bob!

JULY 2003

Barnstable Harbor continues to be the hot spot with all tides producing. I took Curt and Rob Jessup from the Sporting Life. We began fishing the East Flat with the outgoing and hooked up a few fish. More fish were cruising the flats near Sandy Neck Beach and we hooked up a good 20 fish with both Curt and I having good fish on but both losing them with a break off and a poor hook set by me. I dropped them both off so they could get back to the shop but came back out to hook up with new found friend and tier Dick Empie. He was fishing Horseshoe Flat and doing okay. We moved to the outside near Chapin beach where fish were busting the surface and Dick gave me a lesson in fishing the outgoing tide with the Mongoose fly. I added more waypoints and found some great high water spots. Thanks Dick for the lessons! His main lesson was to use 325 grain sinking lines, cast into the wind with the water-haul, pickup and shoot and then letting the fly sink . Once on the bottom, a couple short, hard twitches and then a drop back. the bigger fish inhaled this bait. I will be experimenting with this great pattern throughout the season.

Lemke-Ann also continues to have success with both Fluke at Lucas Shoal and with chunking trips to Gay Head. Captain Bob has been doing trips on other people's boats and advertises this specialty as somewhat of a sportfishing consultant. He'll teach you how to fish, drive the boat, find and mark GPS spots, show you how and where and answer any questions regarding gear and the like. I personally have done this as well as there are many people who have purchased great boats but are intimidated by the hows and the where-tos of fishing. So consider this as an option for your personal vessel. Captain Bob Belekiwicz of Lemke-Ann Charters # 508 477 0543

Every time I start to boast about the fishing, it goes to pot. So was the case with my bragging about how great Barnstable Harbor was and then the bottom fell out. A moon phase and high winds put he fishing down for a good 2 weeks. I had a couple so-so charters with much hard work but certainly learned my lesson about shooting my mouth off. I chalked it up to the summer time blues but then August hit and the bite retruned.

AUGUST 2003

So just as I took the egg off my face, the fishing turned on again and has been hot for the first week of August in both Barnstable as well as in my home court, Buzzards Bay where blues are feeding on juvenile herring and sandeels while the ticket at Barnstable remains Stripers and hordes of sandeels. Some surface feeding occurred with my sport Henry Hamman who managed a 31", 10 pound striper as his first ever fly rod striper. Not bad Henry. Wait until your Houston buddies find out. They'll be on a plane in no time trying to beat that.

I ventured out a couple times with Captain Bob and some of his buddies, Tony, Roger, Ted and Joe. The Fluke bite was great as was the chunking trip for many big Blues and 6 keeper stripers. Here are a couple of the slammer blues and chunked-up stripers for Captain Bob and buddy Tony Gola. We also casted to blues busting the surface around Penzance Point with maybe a glimpse of a pod of bonito? That should happen soon. Nothing solid on the Tuna bite as yet so we'll be watching that closely.

I fished with longtime friend Jack Snow who comes up every year around this time. He, like Jolly Roger, love to fish the flats at Barnstable. So we ventured up and were fast into mid-twenty inch stripers casting 1/4 ounce jigs with white grub tails. we had multiple double hook-ups and had a couple of 30+" fish to the boat. We had such a great day that we came back and did it again two days later and still found time to bring my sister-in-laws kids water skiing. So just a sample of a Barnstable Harbor striper on light tackle.

August 15th marked the first of the Albies on Buzzards Bay. Of course my first fish of the year came at the Cape Codder Condos. It was one of 6 that I caught that day plus 4 Spanish Mackerels. I then guided my sports to 2 Albies the next day and another 2 the day after but then the Albies disappeared. Thank goodness that the Bay was loaded with Spanish Mackerel more than I have ever seen. We had double digit days for a good 2 weeks using spinning tackle with metals like Deadly Dicks and Crippled Herring or plastics like white Sluggos or grubtails. We also threw flies that represented the baby bunker that began pouring out of the tidal rivers. The Spanish macks unlike the Albies attack the baits and don't give up until they're hooked or broken off as happened frequently due to their sharp teeth. We opted to bypass wire biteguards since the Albies have such keen vision and won't hit the wire but after loosing hordes of metals and flies we increased our tippets to 20#.

George and Ryan Nugent charter with me once a year just before Ryan goes back to College. We normally fish Barnstable but decided to fish for Blues and try for the Spanish Macks. What a day they had both

 weather-wise and in the number of hookups of Spanish Mackerel. They boated 12 fish and had a number of others lost or broken off. Here is Ryan with one of his many that day.

The end of August was good for Captain Bob and a number of chunking trips. My daughter Kate asked me if some of her buddies could go out with Bob and I for Stripers.  We decided to go to Gay Head as Bob's last few trips were great. This day was no exception as the guys caught a dozen keepers as well as numerous slammer blues to 12 pounds. We also got some good picts for the X-mas card. Except where was Jolly in this picture? Taking the shot-what else is new?

SEPTEMBER

The last part of August and beginning of September continued as previously reported. Hordes of baits like peanut bunker, alewives and silversides flooded the Bay a with blues and stripers feasting on them especially just before sunset. We began taking our sports to area beaches like Chappy and Woodneck and caught a good bunch of these fish from shore. The Spanish mackerel were thinning out but still filled the void without bonitos or Albies. We continued to pick up these hardtails as we waited for their cousins to arrive. 

The other news is that I purchased a new boat a 27' Ocean Master-pictures to follow. I will keep this boat up in Barnstable in the hopes of chasing the Bluefin Tuna that we wrote about  last season. So far only spotty reports of them in CC Bay. This bigger boat will allow me to cover more area and to fish more fishermen as well as keeping my options open for fishing more territory. My first charters with the boat produced a bunch of mid-20" stripers in Barnstable Harbor with jigs and Mongoose flies. I will be getting the bigger boat geared up with electronics and all so that may take a couple weeks before I break loose on that fishery.

Finally, September 22nd the Albies arrived. I was walking my wife's Yorkie on Chappy when the water erupted 15' from shore. I knew instantly that this was the signature of False Albacores as the bait splayed all over the beach. I ran to the car grab my fly rod and chased these funny fish up and down the beach for the next 3 hours. What a workout and I was rewarded with 2 Albies on a Puglisi Peanut Bunker pattern.

The next few days brought a couple Albies then none and then 6 on a beautiful fall day the 27th in which I promised my Orthopedist buddy Jeremy Stern that I'd love to do some filming for my winter talks as well as for some potential material for On The Water magazine's TV shows that are to be aired this winter. So we each took a camera and headed out on different boats in the hopes of either of us hooking up. Well we chased the fish for a good time each person trying desperately to find some productive spot but things were slim even though we did manage a fish or two while the cameras were not in range. 

Then I ran into some pretty good pods of fish around Old Silver beach and was fighting an eight pounder when Jeremy approached filming the ending run, tailing and the release of a nice fish by the Jolly guy. I then suggested that he jump on my boat and I do what I do best-guide him to the fish and film at the same time. It didn't take long before he hooked, fought and landed two beauts on none other than the Jiggie fly. We got some good footage and had some laughs for ourselves in the meantime as we attributed our successes to as Jeremy put it, "good clean living".

Jeremy had to scoot as it was holiday for him and he needed to get home for supper with his family. I however, continued to fish and caught an additional 3 fish by the Cape Codder at which point I ran into my charter for the next day J.D. Christensen and his buddies Scot and Bill from Park City, Utah. They apparently had run into these funny fish and were frustrated because they couldn't hook up even though the day before they had caught a number of blues. They tried everything fly they had and remarked that these bluefish were very selective and skittish today. I took Scott aboard and gave him a quick Albie lesson first off taking the biteguard off his leader and giving him a sparsely tied  #2 Angel hair Clouser. I then proceeded to show him how I approach these fish quietly either drifting to them or using my electrics to position the boat for the best cast. In front of me the water blew up and I was immediately into an Albie that screamed off into my backing until my fly line got caught around something in the boat. Pop and he was gone. But they all clapped and got the message and were eager to practice this technique. It soon became dark and blues began to chase away the Albies but these guys hooked up some blues and were ready to suit up for the game tomorrow.

We started the morning off near Megansett Harbor as flocks of birds and a mixture of Albies, blues and stripers crashed the shorelines and rockpiles on the western shore. I took turns guiding each sport in my boat while the other 2 worked from J.D.'s boat. We had a number f shots at Albies but couldn't connect. These converted trout fishermen were just as happy to fish  amongst the rocks and the feeding frenzie for blues and stripers and had a blast hooking up every drift. We got some good video and some good shots. 

 I was bummed that they didn't connect with Albies when they broke for lunch but they called me later that night to say they had managed 2 Albies  at my Secret Spot early in the evening. Great job you guys!

I again stumbled upon some fish while doing my daily walk. I had heard some neighbors say that they saw some fish in the inlet to Sippiwisset Marsh as an exceptionally high tide was crashing over the concrete. It was the scene of a year ago when I videotaped some huge stripers surfing in the channel sucking in baits as they were pulled into the pond. Well I was prepared this year and got my fly rod with 20# test fluorcarbon and a big Clouser minnow and sinking line. I brought the video camera just in case. My very first cast I hooked and landed a 32" fish and proceeded to catch 5 fish up to 39". My father-in-law saw me from his deck and ran over to see what the fuss was all about. I saw a big striper and gave him the camera and said hit the red button and film this. I hooked up instantly and began my best Jimmy Houston imitation yelling and screaming and carrying on knowing that this would be TV material. I played the fish expertly for a good 10 minutes and  lipped locked him hoisting him up for the camera. Then a few stills and quickly back in the water for another fishermen and another day. When I went to view the tape it 

was jammed and all that was recorded was my cast to the fish. Bummer! Guess my TV debut will have to wait. At least the memory is imprinted in my mind. Oh yeah, and here is the still.

Well I too must be living right. I met with Jay from On The Water magazine about assisting them with their TV shows for next season. I have tons of footage as I videotape many of my charters to get material for my winter presentations. Jay liked the stuff and we agreed that I will help filming in the future. We decided to see if those fish were still hanging around with the incoming tide and the high water that is present with the Equinox as well as the moon phase. It was a bit early in the tide but as we walked the shore we saw 8-10 stripers cruising around in the pond waiting to set up for an easy meal. We set up a camera and miked up for some audio as I was optimistic that I could hook up one or two of these fish. Well I couldn't have scripted it any better. With Jay filming me I hooked and landed 3 large fish on the fly rod in the 32"- 38" class with the biggest easily pushing 20 pounds. I was elated because rarely do I get to be on the other side of the camera and it was a great shoot. Thanks guys! Hopefully, it will make a great feature for next season's show.

I try to write up some fishing reports for Captain Bob and Lemke-Ann Charters. I frequently go out with him and we have great success chumming and chunking at Gay Head for large Stripers and slammer blues like the trip we had with Bob's neighbor Roger, myself and Bob fishing. I have been again collecting more video for a program for this type of fishing. We hooked up 14 keepers and as many more large blues to boot

 One of our favorite trips however was taking out Dave Noble and his

 buddies from Colorado. They brought home 9 stripers and released another half dozen. Here is one of many for Dave.

OCTOBER

Everything is about 3-4 weeks later this season. I purposely got the new boat, The Ocean Skiff 26 to chase the "footballs" in Cape Cod Bay. I finally got the electronics all rigged and by the beginning of October heard that these Bluefin Tuna were around near Provincetown. There also were reports of many Stripers around Scorton Creek, Scorton Ledge and the Sandwich beaches. I decided to go out and search for the tuna since I heard that they were 3-5 miles from Barnstable harbor. I also decided to chase the stripers if I couldn't find the tuna. 

Well, it was a bit bumpy as a cold front hit and winds from the north made it sloppy traveling and difficult to spot the tuna. I quickly was into bass and blues along the flats on both sides of the Harbor. I fished C C Bay the next few days with the same intent in mind. I also brought along my buddy Captain Bob of Lemke Ann Charters since we had taken a few tuna last year in this area on his boat. I heard from my new found friends at Millway Marine that the "stickboats" were seeing a bunch of fish near Wood End so we headed right for that spot although we didn't see any signs of tuna throughout the 16 mile ride to our spot. But as soon as we got there, birds were working and tuna were busting through schools of bait. There were a number of boats working the fish already although the fish were up and down very quickly. 

 Bob was casting in the bow and we were both fishing spinning rods with Hopkin Smoothies. Bob hooked up but was instantly broken off. What a bummer! We chased a number of schools but couldn't get close enough for a good shot. Then, the water erupted in front of us and Bob was quickly onto a fish and then I too was on. A double header with nobody to run the boat and chase these fish. Bob's fish almost immediately got off but I was fast into mine and the fight began. I was feeling in control early on in the fight but then things changed and after about an hour of fighting this fish, I finally felt assured that we were going to land it. It certainly is a team effort fighting these fish and Bob expertly maneuvered the boat and gaffed the fish. We had a bit of a time lifting her into the boat but quickly bled her and tried for awhile longer to get Bob's fish. 

He had another take from a big fish as we headed back towards the harbor 

but it wasn't meant to be for that day. So we went back to the dock for photos and for getting home to fillet the fish. What a great way to christen the new boat!

 I took the filming crew from On The Water Magazine out the next day to try our luck at hooking another fish and filming for their TV features and although we saw some fish, we were only able to get a couple good shots at a fish. Jay did have one hit his lure a few feet from the boat but it must have been camera shy. It sure was exciting to see these fish along with Sunfish and Whales. What a sight!

November

We chased these fish another time or 2 and had only one more fish hooked up without bringing it in. A second chance to film turned out to be unsuccessful although spike mackerel were all over the place and we jigged up a few using them to try and entice a tuna. As soon as we let the offering down, hordes of dogfish surrounded the boat and were all over the baits as well as trying to eat the underwater camera Neil Larsen and Jay Bevard from On The Water sent down to capture the action. So that was the action -a few dogfish, many mackerel and no tuna.

 I returned out later in the week and hooked up a few stripers in Barnstable Harbor and then drove to the East end of the canal where I had heard reports of bigger fish. The spike Mackerel were all over the place and as I jigged up a couple using my tuna rig with Hopkins smoothie, I hooked onto a huge striper that was lost after a 10 minute fight. I did get to see the fish that probably was a 40# fish. 

 I did get to fish a few more times for some great fly rod fish and even geared up for a shot at a world record fish with the fly rod on 2 and 4 pound test tippet. I landed and released one fish that was shy of the record books by a half a pound and was broken off by at least 5 potential record fish. It was  nerve racking intense time but I realized what the difficulties were going into the attempt. I will gear up and do some research over the winter as well as tying up some IGFA leaders with shock tippets. It looks like we may have another week or so of fishing before pulling the boat out.

 We did get out Tautog fishing with Captain Bob and the crew from the Magazine where we successfully filmed a great trip. Picture to follow.

Here is a shot of the New Boat which will be kept in Barnstable Harbor.

New Boat The Jolly Too

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