NUMENON |
PONDERING CORE ESSENCE
NUMENON |
After a tough day searching for striped bass in the boat, we returned to the float just before predicted slack low tide. This had been both my insurance policy and safety blanket for the day's catching success. So far, it had been a beautiful day, but I really wanted both of my friends to each catch a nice striper, and only N had scored during our five hours on Casco Bay in the boat. We suspended large, juicy sand-worms beneath floats and enjoyed almost instantaneous action! J landed a nice bass in the mid-20-inches range; it wasn't as large as N's 27 from the flats earlier in the day, but was still a nice fish. The day was now complete but we had some more fishing time in front of us. We alternated through a series of bites. N landed another mid-20-incher, while mine was only about 13 inches! After a short lull, we cycled through our chances again, and in a quick flurry, both N and J landed similar middle-20s fish. At this point, it had been a really good day! I was tending the rod when the float jiggled and plunged; I got tight to a good fish (it was now a little more than an hour after predicted low tide). This turned precarious when there was no stopping this fish's first run. It was well beyond the first line of mooring buoys and I was very low on line when I finally turned her. I was concerned about the angle of the fish and rubbing off on my mooring chain; so N prepped the Portland Pudgy dinghy and donned a life jacket while I carefully guided the fish away from the obvious obstructions. Soon, we were afloat and I was able to gain some line as N rowed us out. Most of the remaining fight played out between the first and second rows of moorings. N was able to keep us in the clear as I wore the fish down in a safe gap. We rested against amybaby22's mooring as I grasped the striper's lower jaw; this fish was finally subdued! N rowed us back towards the float while I revived the fish. A quick measurement against the Pudgy's gunwales indicated a conservative 41 inches; clearly my biggest ever from the float. Or was it my first from the Pudgy? The circle hook had found the corner of her jaw, and the water was a cool 60. After a few moments and with a slight spank to her tail, she swam away, energetically and seemingly none the worse for the wear. We ended the session having gone 7 for 9 with my second-biggest ever Maine striper. Not bad! There were smiles all around, and we were already looking forward to our next trip. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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While I didn't publish a specific set of fishing goals for 2023, the season has ended and I can't help but reflect back on what was a fantastic fishing year. I could easily start and end my summary with a simple reference to capturing my largest-ever striper on July 6; but there were so many other good aspects to the season! For instance:
While I missed out on the perennial goals of catching a false albacore and landing a four-pound bass, I have to admit that I didn't even attempt to fulfill these. I was too busy chasing other dreams. I did fulfill the following typical goals:
These last five are less empirical, but certainly more meaningful. "New water" was a primary focus for the entire season. I greatly expanded my reach within Casco Bay and found many new, productive nooks and crannies. I am now pretty comfortable from Portland Head Light to the Bustins outside of Freeport. I also had some success on Square Pond, different parts of Sebago, and Narragansett Bay! I was perhaps light on new techniques, but the Minn Kota trolling motor added new dimensions to my fishing and presentations. I also captured a Personal Best Striper on the Fly in very shallow water on a shrimp pattern; this general experience, and this particular fish were highlights of the season! I also introduced the frantic "Bayman Bounce" to Broad Cove and turned some difficult fish into biters! Finally, I resurrected Great Lakes gear and techniques (long cores, copper lines and downriggers) to successfully contact Sebago's lakers. New buddies PP, CG and nephew J all joined me for pleasant sessions and stripers landed. I was also happy to host the next generation of striper stewards on both sides of my family. My travel within Maine was limited, but I found new water and lost memorable fish in both fresh and salt water across the lower part of the state. And, A and I enjoyed a non-fishing long weekend Down East and somehow landed at the Fryeburg Fair, too! My (fishing) travel outside the state was even more limited, but I was very pleased with my targeted day-trip to Narragansett Bay. I didn't find the big bait and fish I'd expected and hoped for, but fell back on small baits and estuaries to make the day and find my first stripers of the year. I'd even consider starting future seasons in Little Rhody, if only as a salute to my youth. Finally, if I award myself the extra point for NOT falling overboard (not once, all season!), I feel pretty comfortable rating this season at 9 out of 10 possible points. Overall improvement is still possible; just not especially likely! I am especially grateful for the support I've received from loved ones. Even if they cannot understand how important this is to me, they somehow still afford me the opportunity to fully participate in these pursuits. 2024 awaits; I have plans and ideas... Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways With Hurricane/Tropical Storm Lee behind us (thankfully, with no real associated problems, locally) and access to the water fully restored, the final push of the 2023 Striper Season lies before me. It's been a great season to date, but I wouldn't mind some extra icing for the cake! It's been a fulfilling season with good numbers of fish landed, way more fish longer than 28 inches than I could have ever expected, and a Personal Best. These experiences have been seasoned with plenty of missed opportunities, too, that somehow linger in my thoughts more strongly than many of the season's supposed "accomplishments". ... This was the second time in three seasons that I chose to pull amybaby22 from her mooring due to forecasted tropical storms. In both cases, nothing of consequential danger or damage happened, but one never knows. ... Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways The goals for the day included landing my 200th striper of 2023. It could have happened earlier in the day, but I'd pulled the hooks on a couple of bass while floating worms from the landing. (That was okay, I'd caught a few, too, including a fit and sassy 32-incher). Still a couple shy, and with only a single mack in the livewell, I was exploring some new-to-me water when a subtle seam-and-riplet off the southwest corner of Moshier Island caught my eye. On my first pass, my tired bait suddenly woke up. It got popped and pushed to the surface. After a few more splashes, the bass lost interest, and I reeled in a dead bait. But the bass had revealed themselves, and so I quickly set up in about 15 feet of water with Spot-Lock for a chunking session. I'd retained the fresh dead bait and still had a few small mackerel left over from the previous day. I minced a couple of frozen baits while saving choice tail sections for free-drifted baits. I started a light drizzle of chum bits while drifting my hooked chunk behind the boat. It took about 15 minutes for the first bass to show up; a fine 30-incher came aboard. And just a couple of drifts later, I wound down on No. 200! There was nothing otherwise grand about this fish, a typical-if-not-smallish striped bass of 23 inches. But it was from a new spot under difficult conditions and captured with a favored technique made possible by the addition of the electric motor for 2023. So maybe No. 200 wasn't grand, but it was special! While special, this "accomplishment" doesn't really matter, either. I try to appreciate every fish I touch; I've just been fortunate to be on the water quite a bit this year. The final numbers don't matter a bit, so long as I've enjoyed the journey. But once you start counting... it's tough to stop! So while I've caught more than 200 stripers in certain previous seasons, and I don't know where I'll end by mid-October, I can say that I've never accumulated so many bass this early in the season. Plus, I've got a choice "chunk" of the season left, so I am, at the very least, optimistic about where this excellent season can take me. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways I gave Dr. C about a week before claiming amybaby22''s record striper for myself. I smashed both the recently-established boat record and my personal best striper with a 43-inch behemoth from out of the blue. When shall I experience such good (or better?) fortune again? Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways A real benefit of living in Maine is that any vacation can now be a "Staycation". That's a lot easier on an aging gent with little time to spare. After a weekend visit from an old friend, family (immediate and extended) arrived. There was lots to do, and I entertained various guests from 4 to 64 aboard amybaby22. Each session was a good experience for all involved! Let me celebrate simply with some pictures acquired over the course of the week or 10 days. They are presented in no particular order. Enjoy! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Guest Dr. RC recently set amybaby22's current record for largest striped bass! This 38-incher easily slurped down a mackerel and provided a strong fight. I'm searching hard for an honest 40-incher, but making steady progress with 36- and 38-inchers in the last week. Right now, bait is abundant, bass are on the rocks, I'm on vacation, the family's in town, and life is good! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways I recently invested some hard-earned cash in a professionally guided, local fly-fishing trip for striped bass. While I know my local waters pretty well, catch my share of bass, am an occasional but reasonably competent fly-fisher, and have developed enough techniques to generally keep my bites coming, I thought this would be an opportunity to learn and grow. For instance: What is this professional's general approach to tackling the day? No important decisions (port, departure time) were finalized until the night before and based on the most recent intelligence. In a single word; Simplicity! The deck was clean, a few rods were rigged, and we used just three flies all day. With a foundation of experience and confidence built over the years, we didn't need much else. This captain prefers the incoming tide for shallow-feeding bass! The bass can explore new feeding areas over the course of the tide before becoming too dispersed. Existing channels and gutters provide routes for both boat and bass, and ongoing observation will help fine tune locations and presentations. In this skinny water, it is of paramount importance to keep the boat's engine and hull quiet. Don't push a wake, minimize hull slap, avoid other boats and traffic, etc. The fish are there; what are they eating? We started with a larger herring fly based on the possible presence of blueback herrings and the opportunity for offering the bass a big meal, but when that didn't work and we couldn't see the tiny bait the bass and birds were eating, we made a couple of changes. Be in a position to start the strip right away! Keep in contact with the line right from the end of the cast and get that fly moving, as many of the hits will occur right away. I missed my first fish because of this, but fortunately converted on the retrieve from this same cast. This lesson was already burned into my memory. Keep the rod tip in the water during the retrieve to maximize energy transmittal to the fly and to avoid line slap on the water's surface. I suspect this helps with strike detection and hook sets, too. This is a team effort; he could see a lot more from his vantage point than I. It was my job to listen and execute. What is his philosophy with respect to finding fish? With a few decades of chasing the stripers in this manner under his belt, he was confident that the bass were there. By carefully and quietly positioning us and then letting the birds lead the way to especially active areas, we did our best to stay over hunting fish. We used any visual cue we could; wakes, ripples, and refusals all helped shape the next cast. How did he keep the bite going over the course of the entire tide? We stayed with active fish by moving frequently! Some stops earned only a few casts before we were moving again. The captain was constantly watching for fish reactions and evaluating from there. We didn't lose much time over unproductive water, or at least water without offering the real promise of success. Based on the fish's reaction, he made some basic fly changes. We started with a big attractor, scaled down to a smaller, more subtle baitfish, and then offered a snack of a shrimp fly. What adjustments did he make and to what specific factors? I am sure I am unaware of most of these. I was focused on my casting, line control and retrievals. But this was clearly a game of reacting to the moment. First of all, we delayed our anticipated starting time by a couple of hours to avoid the ebb and maximize the flood. The early fog helped us with our late start, too. When the first attractor fly didn't work, he was quick to downsize and modify the color to something a little more muted. When this fly enjoyed some immediate success that morphed into obvious refusals, he quickly went to a shrimp pattern, especially with the increasingly sunny conditions. We ended the day with some carefree smaller bass in deeper water. These were revealed by active birds, and we fine-tuned their feeding lanes by using water seams to target likely casting areas. What was new to me? All of this took place on "new" water to me, east of the Cousins Island causeway. I'm always on the other side of that bridge. I certainly have the range to go around Cousins and explore these waters, though. My Garmin mapping will keep me in enough water to float the boat and follow the fish. Virtually all of my fly-fishing has been self-taught, and so receiving professional guidance while doing so was a positive experience. He offered a few small adjustments on the cast and for line handling. I was generally able to respond immediately and could see the benefit, and these changes quickly stuck! I was better at the end of the trip than I was at the beginning! I've always used Clousers and poppers while fly-fishing for stripers, and the shrimp pattern/presentation was new to me. I was surprised at how aggressively I was working that shrimp. Perhaps most importantly, this experience helped me build some confidence in shallow water, especially during bright conditions. We actualized our success in this scenario, and seeing/doing is believing! Plus, the captain admitted out loud, this is how he captures all his big fish. This is a certainly a technique worth learning and pursuing. What am I now equipped to become better at? My casting is fine, but my ability to consistently control the line immediately needs help; lots of fish strike at the end of the cast. I was able to work on this throughout the trip and will continue to do so. I'll get better as my ability to pickup, haul and shoot quickly improves. Again, practice will help. I apparently had a few bites where I saw and felt nothing. I need to keep in contact with the line! This will be natural outcome of better line management, in general. This trip just opened up a lot of water for me on both sides of the Cousins Island bridge! And I know I don't need to be exploring them just during low-light hours, so I can explore them whenever I choose to do so. Finally, I can do so with confidence, because I know it isn't a Wild Goose Chase; I will probably find some willing bass along the way. They might be nice ones, too! Other thoughts and tid-bits We kibitzed over the course of the trip, especially when moving from spot to spot. I learned quite a bit over the course of the morning, including the following: That Memorial Day/weekend bite on Broad Cove is an annual event that offers only a brief window of opportunity. Perhaps for three or four days, the cove is on fire, but then it switches off and many of the the bass go elsewhere. Speaking of Broad Cove, those terns over super-shallow water are picking up stranded bait and aren't worth chasing. The Presumpscot River hosts an alewife run. This is early in the season and he favors a pinch of yellow in his flies when fishing here. Alternatively, the Royal River hosts blueback herring, later (mid-June). These fish are darker, at least in this muddy water. Brit herring may or may not be Atlantic herring, but they are important, small bait. Arriving in May and staying and growing for much of the season, these are matched with simple flies from two to four inches, perhaps featuring blue backs. There's never anything wrong with olive-over-white, anytime, anywhere. A shrimp worked hard and fast over deep water produces too, as exemplified by the last few fish of the day. FYI, I was previously aware of this guide service, and I've run across him on common waters several times. In fact, we shared a local multi-day blitz a few weeks ago. My interest in this endeavor was piqued by a video I ran across this winter. He was guiding "The New Fly Fisher" out of my back yard, and I recognized many of the waters they fished over the course of a few fall days. Moreover, since they mentioned the dates of filming, I know exactly how I was fishing and what fish I was catching at that same time! I could argue that I was just doing fine for myself, but his simultaneous approach in the video was so different that I knew I was in a position to learn something and broaden my horizons. That something might prove to be useful at some point!?! Here's the service I used on this very pleasant and informative day: www.coastalflyangler.com. Captain Wallace was a pleasure to fish with and I definitely look forward to doing so again. A more detailed account of the day's specifics is located at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing (June 27, 2023 entry.) Did I learn and will I grow? You bet! Oh, and so what do the pros know? They know they can do it! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways It was quite a day-trip from Maine, and I put a lot of miles on the skiff, too, but I recently targeted, chased and caught my first striped bass of 2023. Upper Narragansett Bay treated me well enough, and I saw a lot of Rhode Island like I'd never seen it before. I encountered no real issues, and even caught some drag pullers! And these were my first-ever self-guided Rhode Island striped bass! When I didn't find what I expected (open water bass busting on big baits), I went to back to basics, and relied on moving water to concentrate any present bass. This worked in multiple locations and validated my approaches on some new water. The skiff was awesome! I covered a record number of miles in a day while staying comfortable and dry, and when I chose my location, I used the new trolling motor's "Spot-Lock" feature to effectively and efficiently hold me in place. The season has started auspiciously, and I know there are plenty of good things ahead. Let's go find out! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways With the scheduled removal of the landing float for the season, I was forced to conclude the saltwater boating season. I pulled amybaby22 from the water on Monday, October 10, 2022. But, I made the most of my last weekend on Casco Bay! I fished earnestly and with intent on each day, and I executed pretty well. I landed 16 striped bass to 30 inches on 19 hookups, bringing my season's total to 203 stripers landed. While I didn't catch a truly large striped bass (by local measure and experience, let's say 40 inches), I sure caught a lot of really nice ones, including two 36-inchers and more "keepers" above 28 inches than I've probably handled in the rest of my life. I didn't encounter any real issues while out on the water this year, so I'd have to say my season was a success! Of course, my season is not necessarily over; I can always hit the beaches (near or far) and follow the annual run down the coast in pursuit of either big fish or numbers. I expect that amybaby22 will hit the sweet water in pursuit of trout before winter arrives, too, so there's still plenty of opportunity for good things to happen. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways |
Steve LachanceVia Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Michigan and now, back to New England! Archives
June 2024
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