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Date: August 30, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon plus 8 days; waning crescent moon Tides: High Tide at 5:32 AM; Low Tide at 11:25 AM Boat: amybaby22, but then finishing on landing float for the best part of Quadrant II With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 5:30 AM - 11 AM Conditions: About 65 degrees; cloudy; westerly winds in excess of 10 mph; water was about 65 degrees +/- I'd arranged for the day off work, and my goal was to take advantage of the brief weather window in the morning and find some stripers. With high tide approximately corresponding to sunrise, I delayed my start until safe navigation sans lights was possible; and picked up a popper and hit the Falmouth shoreline. My third cast of the morning was eaten. A high-tide bass had tucked itself into a shoreline pocket against a dock. An excellent start, even if the bass was only 20 inches or so! Moving down the shoreline with the current, I peppered likely spots out to about 10 feet of water. I missed a strike alongside another floating dock soon after the first fish. I had to work a couple hundred yards down the shore before I picked up my second bass of the morning. This guy, too, was small, and after a few more minutes without any more action, I relocated to Prince Point, which has often been good for a topwater fish or two during the higher tides. Unfortunately, I moved no fish as I searched the entire windward side of the point and ledge. I relocated to the deeper channel off Clapboard Island to look for mackerel. Finding none at the island's west end, I moved to the east end and tried again. I caught only a single, bite-sized mac in about an hour of overall effort. Simply based on proximity, I hit the east end of Clapboard. Here, my live-lined bait got smashed on top, right near my "new" waypoint from the previous day. After getting tossed into the air a couple of times by misses, the mackerel got eaten. When I came tight, the bait slid out, hook buried in its side. The bait was dead, but worth "plop" casting and dead-drifting. I did so for a half-dozen casts over my original "money" waypoint at the east end, but nothing responded. I pulled lines and motored over to near the mouth of Mussel Cove. Here, I baited a tube with a leftover blood-worm and started a slow troll along the Falmouth shoreline. With about 50 feet of line out (eight "colors" of my patterned braid) in about 12.5 feet of water and at a speed of about 0.75 mph, I finally connected with a tube bass. I continued past the landing float before repeating my pattern again, but without any more bites. Since I'd saved the dead mackerel and the tide was now entering the productive portion of Quadrant II, I chose to end my day with some chunking off the float. I started with the head on bottom while floating a messy mid-body chunk off the float; and switched to the tail section on bottom for the end of my shift. Good call; the tail got eaten just before 11 AM, and I finished my day with perhaps the largest striper of my morning, a fat 22-incher. What do I have to say about this? The motor continued to run poorly and restricted my radius for the day. I arranged an appointment for her in a couple of weeks, so I hope to finish the season on strong and confident notes. Plus, I'll investigate the fabrication/installation of a trolling motor mount for her bow and bottom paint, too, so I'll make the most of this unexpected maintenance "opportunity". While the fishing wasn't fast or furious, and the bass certainly weren't too big, it was still bonus, weekday fishing! I relaxed and enjoyed myself, and feel that I made some good calls for the day's conditions. It's a little late in the season for my first Maine Topwater and Maine Chunk stripers of the year, but at least I checked them off the list, and I did convert my leftover worms and single mackerel into bass. Not bad! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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Date: August 29, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon plus 7 days; waning gibbous moon Tides: High Tide at 4:39 AM; Low Tide at 10:36 AM Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 6:30 AM - Noon Conditions: About 65 degrees; cloudy; southerly winds in excess of 10 mph; water was about 66 degrees +/- I did all the right things with Henri approaching. I pulled the boats onto dry land, and with the storm past, I took advantage and changed her oil and scrubbed her bottom. But, by the time she reached the float from Town Landing on Saturday, she was overheated and sputtering. I let her (and myself) cool off overnight. She started like a champ on Sunday morning. But she wasn't right; rough at idle and underpowered. I think she's either fouled or simply protecting herself, but my efforts for the day (and continuing until I get her serviced) were seriously hamstrung. Staying within a reasonable radius of the mooring and concentrating on Clapboard Island, I was able to make bait in fits and starts. The macs came in singles and rare doubles, and none too fast. In the end, I caught enough to keep me occupied for several hours and have some shots at some nice bass. Most of my effort was at Clapboard's east end (near where I was making bait). When my usual spot did not produce, I crept around the corner and expanded my area of attention. Here, a sunken wreck and a steep drop into 60 feet of water held a good number of active bass. I enjoyed many topwater hits and swings and misses. I caught three here, and all were nice fish at 27, 27 and 25 inches. Plus, I got worn off by another and had several other hit-and-runs. With only a couple of mackerel left, I ran to the island's western end. My first mackerel got crushed and spat; it was no longer alive. Oh well, I hooked it up through both jaws, cast it high to land with a resounding "plop" and free-lined it. On my second cast over a favorite spot, my line pulled off and I landed my last bass of the day, a hungry 22-incher with a big appetite. This new technique can work! What do I have to say about this? I've beaten myself up enough over whatever I did to induce the temporary overheating condition. I'll just cross my fingers and hope she protected herself enough to limit the damage and expense. Mostly, I feel stupid; but also frustrated at not being able to make the most of my available time. I guess, however, that this is all part of boat ownership, although I do my very best to avoid these parts! I ended the day by taking a loaded misstep and falling off the dinghy right by the dock. I recovered everything I dropped almost immediately. Except for the GoPro, that is. Not for the first time, I salvaged the camera off the seabed. She works fine, though, and now I have a little story to tell. And, this provided a real-life test of my auto-inflating life jacket. She passed! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: August 28, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon plus six days; waning gibbous moon Tides: High Tide at 4:08 PM Boat: None, shore fishing from landing float With: A Target: Striped Bass Time: 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Conditions: Cloudy and about 65 degrees F; light, south; water temperatures about 68 After a long week and a day of chores, A and I hit the float to simply relax. Of course, I floated a worm, just in case! Pretty much as expected with the high stage of tide, nothing happened for quite a while. Just as I was telling A about last year's big fish (or was it two years ago?), which came on a worm and was the only bite of the day at the end of 13 hours of effort day, my float disappeared. I caught the little guy (16 or 17 inches) and was pleased enough to have made his acquaintance. Since the clock indicated that we'd just entered Quadrant II, sunset was imminent, and we still had worms, we stayed a bit longer. After a couple of pesky pull-downs by non-bass (it looked like some pogies were present), I connected with another heavier fish. This one woke up and pulled some drag before the hook pulled. It had been too pleasant to get too upset about a missed opportunity. But the mosquitos were now out in force, and it was time to go! What do I have to say about this? I am not used to relaxing to this extent while fishing. But this was probably the best use of our time, and with summer quickly fading, we decided to make the most of it! Plus, I still had all of the following day to make something happen. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways |
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