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Date: September 17, 2022 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Peaks Island, Maine Moon Phase: Waning Quarter Moon Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone but bonus hour with A Target: Striped Bass Time: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM Conditions: Low tide at 10:52 AM. Super clear after the coldest night of the season to date; mild wind and warming to about 65 degrees. Water temperatures 59 - 61 degrees (+/-) everywhere. One of the risks of not capturing details before the next trip is that they might be lost. That is certainly the case, here. Regardless, I do remember that it was one of the most surprisingly productive trips of the 2022 season! With the Quarter Moon, the dawn tide was not conducive to float fishing and so I chose to sleep in and had a leisurely start to the day. Some local fishers at the dock were excited about splashing bait within the harbor, but had otherwise had no luck. When I finally arrived in Hussey Sound to make bait, I targeted an obvious seam over about 100 feet of water and dropped my Sabiki rig right into a school of active mackerel. Within a half hour, I had two dozen prime baits in the live-well. The macks were high in the column (top 25 feet), and I jigged them instead of trolling. It was fast and efficient! The wind and waters were calm, so I decided to try structure-heavy ambush points for any willing stripers. I picked up the rocky shore of Peaks Island and drifted along with the outgoing tidal current. I had started near The Pumpkin, and it wasn't until I had reached my original "hot" spot that I finally got a run. It had been a slow start, but another beautiful striper came over amybaby22's gunwales. I was already pretty happy with the day! By slack low tide at 11 AM, I'd landed seven really nice fish. One was only 20 inches or so, but all the rest were between 25 and 28 inches, fat and spunky! There was a definite lull during slack low tide, but an hour after or so, having reversed directions to drift with the incoming flood, I quickly located another group of bass. Unfortunately, I didn't land any more. After a run of good execution, I started having some missed fish. Dropped runs, plucks, missed blow-ups and dropped fish were the only stain on the day. Certain of these, I can't do much about. But the dropped fish were most bothersome; a solidly hooked fish just shouldn't come unbuttoned part-way to the boat. I do think that the "extreme" circle hooks I was using had a role to play here; I picked up some trusted Gamakatsu Size 5/0 circles later that night. Just after I found the group of post-slack fish, I returned to the dock to pick up A. We tried both ends of Clapboard in a quick search for a fish for her. Guess what, our only chance ended when a decent fish dropped off the hook about 20 feet from the boat. What do I have to say about this? The crisp air, active bait and day-time biting bass all make me think that The Fall Run is gelling, as it should! One of the cool sights I hope to remember involved the smallest fish of the day. It had taken a half-dozen surface explosions before this bass finally took the bait. As I fought this little guy to the boat, I could see he was accompanied by a larger bass, which was chasing the mackerel that slid up the line. When the mack dropped off, I saw this bigger bass turn and eat it. How many bites could one mackerel get? Even better, I re-baited and circled through this water again, only to entice and catch the second 28-incher of the day. Maybe it's the one I had seen, or perhaps there were just quite a few active bass here. Many of the bites today were on the surface, and most were decisive. It was a good day, despite more than a few lost chances. But even those were fun! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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