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Date: September 4, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: New Moon minus three days; waning crescent moon Tides: Low Tide at 3:52 AM; High at 10:04 AM Boat: Shore fishing from landing float at first; then amybaby22; finishing on float With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 5:00 AM - 1:00 PM Conditions: Bright and clear; about 75 degrees F; brisk NW wind; water temperatures about 63 +/- (Somehow I seem to have deleted the text for this post, although the above conditions summary is correct, and the pictures below are proper ... I'll see if I can reconstruct. Otherwise, know that it was a solid, double-digit session in which I zoomed past 200 stripers for the season.) I hit the dock with a goal of landing eight stripers. That would get me to 200 for the season. Eight in a session is a tall order, but equipped with bloodworms and given the Quadrant III conditions, it seemed within reach. I left the float shortly after 6 AM, with ten landed on blood-worms, including fine 30- and 27-inchers. I felt like it was time to explore with the boat! My catch rate on the boat suffered, but I caught fish on tube-and-worms; live mackerel; and missed a bluefish, too. I fished the last half hour or so from the float, combating the brisk wind and bright skies with fresh mackerel chunks. A tail chunk paid off with the capture of a beautiful, mid-day bonus bass of 25 inches or so. What do I have to say about this? One cannot argue that fourteen stripers on four different techniques in a single session is not an agreeable formula! Having caught No. 200, my next goal was No. 210, which would establish a new season-record catch for me. I wouldn't have to wait long, the next morning's tide was favorable! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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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 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 Date: August 22, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon Tides: Low Tide at 5:34 AM; Quadrants II and III Boat: None, shore-fishing from landing float With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 4:45 AM - 7:00 AM Conditions: About 65 degrees F; foggy; strange and persistent ESE wind > 10 mph; water clear and about 68 degrees; bioluminescence! Leftover blood-worms in the fridge and the Full Moon of August got me up before 4 AM. I was in place on the dock's float, in the dark, blustery fog by 4:45 and my first drift with a suspended worm was intercepted by the biggest bass of the day. The 25-incher was ablaze with blue bioluminescence as it approached my feet. This was the coolest display of this I've ever seen. I re-created it at will with my rod tip, but my attempt to video this with my phone camera failed. Two of my next three drifts also resulted in bass (about 18 and 21 inches). I was off to a hot start, but then a lull settled in around slack low. Each drift resulted in pulls-down, but instead of bass, these were bait marauders. I lost several worms in a row. A little after 6 AM, a half hour or so into Quadrant III, I got several more bass in quick order, but by 6:20 AM, the action was over. My last four bass had all been teens, including one true micro. Even though the good action had petered out, sporadic pulls-down kept me glued to the dock, waiting for the next real bite! I wish I truly understood the rush a simple, disappearing float still provides to me! What do I have to say about this? Once again, Quadrant II produced better quality while Quadrant III provided more action. I'll have to see if this trend is real or imagined. In the dark and with no lighted floats, and knowing that even the bass seem to be taking the worms lightly, I fished with a single rod, held the entire time. With the reel's bail open and the free-flowing line lightly across my fingertips, I could detect the bass bites and react accordingly, but I was surprised to lose so many baits with no tactile indication that something was going on. Still, I have been able to react to the bass bites more appropriately and more effectively than simply relying on the bait-feeder's noise or a loosely-wrapped bottle toppling over as my strike indicator (like the good old days). With Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henri heading towards a New England landfall, I had some chores to do, including bringing the Portland Pudgy ashore. The weekend's fishing was over, but it had been a pretty good one! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: August 21, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon minus one day; waxing gibbous moon Tides: Low Tide at 4:43 AM; High Tide at 10:57 AM Boat: first from shore but then aboard amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 4:45 AM - 2:15 PM Conditions: Cloudy, still and humid at first; offshore fog; a brisk SE wind developed after 9:30 AM, bringing fog back inshore; water temperatures 68 inshore, but 59 - 62 degrees F in Hussey Sound The tide was favorable for fishing from the float; plus, the dense offshore fog would have kept me close, anyway. Since I'd scored the last two dozen blood-worms at The Tackle Shop the previous afternoon, I was okay with the situation. As expected, Quadrant III produced well for me in the dark and gloom. My first drift was eaten by a 25-incher, and I caught a few other bass between 24- and 26-inches in the first hour. By the time I pulled the plug on this phase of the day at 6:15, I'd already landed six bass and missed another decent run from a heavy fish that pulled the hook. I chose to stay close, initially, trolling a tube-and-worm from between 10 and 16 feet of water. I made two unsuccessful passes along the Falmouth shoreline, just west of our landing, before venturing further. I checked the east end of Clapboard and quickly trolled up five macs. I fished these without much good luck at Clapboard and Cow Islands. I did have one nice run just off Cow, and the baits often seemed nervous, but I was having trouble connecting! The fog was now just about gone, and I ventured further into Hussey. First, I checked the west end of College Island for mackerel, and they were there! A half hour later, my well was filled to the brim with bait. Trolling the Sabiki would find the first mackerel in the area; but then dropping down vertically would load up! These fish were in the top 25 feet of water and schooling. I set up on the north side of College. Fortunately, weeds were minimal. The wind and current were at odds, but by slow-trolling I was able to present a couple of frisky baits from close to the rocks to the deeper water a short distance away. The day's first prolonged top-water chase took place near a familiar rock edge with several surface explosions, but still, I couldn't hook up! After another quiet pass or two, and since the fog was now gone, I considered moving to Vaill, Onset or Hope Islands. But at 9:28 AM, a stiff southeasterly wind started, and it quickly brought the fog back in. I was fortunate to have stayed inside. The change in wind, humidity and light conditions got the bass biting, too. Having moved to the south side of College, I scored three very nice bass from 26 to 28 inches in the next hour. In addition, I missed a few and enjoyed several drawn-out surface chases before the bass could choke down the livie. The catching wasn't super fast, but it was turning into an entertaining morning! When this action slowed, I chose to work my way in. First stop; Cow Island's eastern point. The incoming tide was flowing the same direction as the wind, and presenting baits here was pretty easy. I raised several fish from a small "bay" between two rocky points; the wind was pounding in, here. Despite the activity and chases, I still had no firm connection with a bass. I increased my radius with each pass, but couldn't find any eaters. I rode the following seas to Clapboard Island's western point/reef/island complex. Here, I found a concentration of stripers around two familiar waypoints on the rocky edge and descending into deeper water. The bass finally started eating, too, as more top-water explosions and runs became actual connections. I landed four fish here between 24 and 26 inches. This was probably the most intense fishing of the day, certainly in daylight, at 1 PM! Having already secured a successful day, I chose to leave fish to find fish. I finished my fishing day by visiting Clapboard's western end. At first I thought I'd made the wrong call; weeds here were thick and boat control difficult. But, my first pass here coughed up a 23-or so-incher. With Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henri bearing down on New England, I chose to call it a (long) day. A and I pulled amybaby22 from the water, to hunker the storm down on (safer) land. What do I have to say about this? First, and fortunately, Henri turned out to be a local dud. He followed an unpredictable path and spared my area. Still, pulling the boats was the right call, and this also enabled me to tackle some maintenance and clean-up issues before they splash again to take on the rest of the season. Second, live-lining is not the most efficient manner for piling up numbers, but I am catching a higher caliber of bass with the mackerel. Plus, I do believe that this is the most likely way for me to encounter a large day-feeder. I miss throwing poppers and flukes (and I should probably make some follow-up casts to visible fish that miss my baits), but, at least for now, I will wait for the mackerel to leave before I convert back to my old lure-tossing ways. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: August 16, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon minus six days; waning gibbous moon Tides: High Tide at 6:04 PM Boat: amybaby22 With: A Target: Striped Bass Time: 5:30 PM - 7:45 PM Conditions: Clear and about 75 degrees F with a persistent southerly sea breeze; water temperatures 61 - 63 in Hussey, but up to 68 inshore What a beautiful day! Why not squeeze in a post-work floating picnic and fishing session? My plan was to make bait, quick, and use whatever time I had left to entice a couple of bass to eat for A. With the southerly head-wind, it was a longer than expected haul to Onset Island. With high slack tide, I was hoping the structure here would keep some bait in the area, and I had two rods newly rigged with heavier fluoro leaders and poppers in case the blues showed themselves again. No life was evident, and there was little water movement, but somehow I stopped right on top of the mackerel. These were biting eagerly in the top 25 feet of water, and by 6:15 I had a dozen in the well and a couple behind the boat off College Island. The macs were nervous, but we had only a single run on the rocky structure of the island's northwest corner. A smallish bass ate my mackerel on top. When I tightened up, the bait pulled out; ten seconds later a bass engulfed my bait again. I missed this one, too, and retrieved my bait to find the hook just barely buried in the bait. Oh well, perfection be damned! We spent a few more minutes here, but we were battling weeds and nothing else showed, so we moved to the south shore of Cow Island. Here, the weeds were even worse, and nothing happened in our single pass. We had a much smoother ride home. I unloaded the boat at the float and reached my mooring just as the Portland Yacht Club's cannon announced sunset. I'd forgotten to eat, but it had been a pleasant evening! What do I have to say about this? Maine's summer nights are dwindling in duration and number. I'm glad we tried to take advantage of this beauty! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: August 15, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: New Moon plus seven days; waxing (first) quarter moon Tides: High Tide at 4:41 AM; Low Tide at 10:47 AM Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 6:45 AM - 2:30 PM Conditions: Clear and bright; about 60 - 75 degrees F; northerly wind over 10 mph; water temperatures generally 63 - 65 degrees in Hussey and beyond, but up to 67 inshore It was immediately obvious that conditions had changed. In addition to the autumnal feel of the morning, several schools of fin-fish were dimpling the surface, and a seal patrolled just offshore. I made a few casts to the balls of potential bait, but they showed no interest. I think they were happy pogies, and since these are typically too big for me to live-line effectively, I set off for Hussey Sound to try to find some mackerel. I made several passes with the outgoing tide in a few different spots, all without any luck. I decided to check the "mini-rip" east of College Island for any willing bass. I scored a 24-incher on the Al Gag 4-inch swim-bait (whew!), the 100th striper to come aboard amybaby22 in 2021. But that seemed to be the only willing striper here, and so I relocated to the south side of Cow Island. The bottom was carpeted in fuzzy bait, and a few marks indicated the presence of bigger fish. I dropped a Hogy epoxy jig and danced it near bottom from 15 to about 30 feet. I snagged a sand eel (hence the fuzz), and this guy was a perfect match for my jig. When nothing reacted, I casted the area with a plastic sand eel (Joe Baggs?) and a bucktail jig, but I couldn't convince anything to eat. I decided to try making bait again, but this time near the Pumpkin and the nearby channel markers. Again, things were slow, although I thought I felt a few taps indicating contact. I relocated to the tip of Overset Island, where I thought the combination of outgoing current and deeper water might hold some bait. Here, I knew I was getting hit, and I enticed an entire school of macs to the surface. I could see them hitting my sabiki, I could feel the taps, and I still wasn't hooking anything! Lesson No. 1 for the day; in such a situation, check your hooks. After weeks of use, every single hook on the string had corroded and broken off! A quick sabiki replacement had me in the game, and a half-hour later I had more than a dozen baits in the live-well. I set up for stripers with a pair of baits right along Overset. While I had some very nervous baits, I had no takes. When I turned around to re-trace my path, I first noticed the whirling birds, and then the surface frenzy. An all-out blitz was taking place a few hundred years away, and just about where I'd made bait. I quickly retrieved and stowed my baits, grabbed a popper rod and motored over. The commotion was largely dissipated by the time I drifted in, but my first cast with the Smack-it Jr. popper was crushed; and I was immediately cut off. I grabbed the rod with the sand-eel jig and fired that out. That too was sliced off. Two casts, two baits lost. Lesson No. 2; when the gator bluefish arrive, be prepared with heavier leaders or with longer baits tied on! I waited for a few minutes for the school to resurface, but all remained quiet. I returned to Overset, with no luck, and as I started to make my move to Vaill Island, I saw another group of active birds further offshore. These seemed to be working over porpoises, though, and my popper went untouched here. I set up on the east end of Vaill for a pass along its southern face. Conditions were at just about slack low tide, now. As I approached the island's western tip, my "short" mackerel rod went off; the fat 26-incher really fought for the rocks, but yielded to consistent pressure. With my second photographed striper of the day, my Striper Cup "limit" now seemed within reach. After another unproductive pass, I returned to Cow Island. The northerly wind now was honking, and Hussey was quite rough. I was glad to set up in the lee of Cow. My first pass over Waypoint 170 produced a strike on the "long" rod; a nice 28-inch "keeper" completed my limit! When a subsequent pass went untouched, I extended my troll all the way around the island's eastern point with no luck. I relocated to Clapboard's eastern point. A spunky 22-incher ate here as I deployed a short bait; and then I relocated to Clapboard's west end. The wind was pounding into this area, and boat control was difficult. My single run yielded another strong 28-inch "keeper" from a familiar waypoint marking a perpendicular, rocky spike off the island's ledgy point. Pretty much out of live bait at this point, I returned to my mooring. It had been something of a grind, but I'd caught some really nice fish. Plus, I'd benefited from Lesson No. 3; try to relax and enjoy myself, and don't take any set-backs so personally! What do I have to say about this? All valuable lessons, and all earned on a beautiful day. Had I landed the bluefish, had the blitz been bass, or had I found another, it would have been a perfect day! This was the most active (albeit brief) blitz I've ever witnessed in Maine, and I hope it's a harbinger for what fall might bring. I believe I only had five bass bites all day, and I converted each one. I made the most of my chances. I've been positioning my "short" mackerel about 25 - 30 feet off the rod tip, while my "long" bait is swimming about 50 feet off that rod tip. Tangles have been minimal, even though each mac seems to have its own ideas about where it should be swimming! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: August 8, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: New Moon Tides: Low Tide at 5:49 AM Boat: None, shore fishing from landing float With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 4:45 AM - 7:00 AM Conditions: Hazy, calm and about 70 degrees F; super clear water; water temperatures about 68; Quadrants II and III My first drift with a blood-worm suspended beneath a slip float went untouched (at least I think so; it was dark!), but the next four were intercepted by feisty stripers. These ranged from 25 to over 29 inches, and included a second "keeper" over 28, to boot! All pulled drag like mad and came to hand stubbornly. I'd had another full day before sunrise! My planned presence during Quadrant II (and segueing into Quadrant III), at the cost of just a little sleep, had paid off handsomely. The bite slowed, but still persisted through slack low. By 6 AM, I'd scored seven stripers, with only one below 25 inches. When the current switched to a generally unfavorable westerly direction, I thought perhaps my luck had turned, too. But, the bites continued, although these fish were smaller; I caught five more, averaging perhaps 20 inches with a single micro of about 16. Still, these kept me interested, and while these fish didn't challenge my tackle like the earlier ones, they were still a lot of fun! What do I have to say about this? Blood-worms are somehow even more repulsive than sand-worms. But after a few weeks of using them, I am now convinced that they are equal-if-not-superior to sand-worms for my style of fishing. Even though they are more expensive per worm, I also believe they are cost effective. They keep themselves together, stay on the hook, and are easier to maintain for a longer period of time in the fridge. This was another throw-back session. I've not touched double digits from the landing float in quite a while. Plus, the average fish was impressive for recent years, and this was one of the few times I've ever caught multiple 28-inch (+) fish from this shore-based spot in a single session. I couldn't have predicted the specifics, but I really did think that conditions had lined up nicely for this session. I'm glad I was there! And, it kick-started what turned out to be a very nice, enjoyable and productive day with A. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Date: August 7, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: New Moon minus one day; waning crescent moon Tides: Low Tide at 5:10 AM; High Tide at 11:23 AM Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone, but joined by A near end Target: Striped Bass Time: 7:45 AM - 2 PM Conditions: Hazy and about 75 - 80 degrees F; light winds but southerly swell; water temperatures 58 - 60 in Hussey and beyond, but up to 67 inshore The tide was coming in, and I ran straight to Hussey Sound and made short work of making bait. A couple dozen mackerel and a pollock were in the well by 8:30. Moving water near College Island was the ticket, and they came in bunches instead of singles. Trolling would locate the first, but jigging would take advantage of their presence. It was probably the easiest bait-making effort of the season, and it reminded me of years (decades?) past. I had high hopes of taking advantage of the full well. My first stop was the southern face of Cow Island. I thought to try my new spot (Waypoint 170 and vicinity) at a different tide stage. It was almost automatic; I saw a pile of fish in 24 feet of water, and within seconds my short-lined mackerel was eaten. A beautiful 26-inch striper came aboard; and it was still before 9 AM! This area produced three more fish and another run in the next 45 minutes. The stripers ranged from 25 to 27 inches. Interestingly, one came from over 60 feet of water. I expanded my range with each pass, but Waypoint 170 seems to be The Spot. And then the day unravelled. I left these fish to find more. Despite promising marks, nothing bit at Crow Island. I lost a half hour to a phone call. Vaill was being pounded by a sizable ocean swell. There was lots of whitewash, but I was fearful of getting too close, and my baits went untouched. I ran in to pick up A, and when we positioned ourselves at Clapboard, I found out my live well pump was "dead", as were all my baits. A and I resorted to chunking, but the wind was at odds with current and I never found my groove. There were many promising marks, and we were pulling stripers up and off the bottom. A briefly connected on a chunk under a float, but that fish came off. I never got touched. We tried one more location, but I wasn't enjoying myself anymore, and it showed. We motored in, prematurely, a really good day soured with a bit of bad aftertaste. What do I have to say about this? It's really difficult to sustain a good thing and put a full day together! The live well was an unfortunately-timed temporary setback (all functionality has been restored and reinforced), but I should have handled this with more grace. I will repeat, though, this has been a bitch of a week! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways |
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