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Date: September 7, 2021 Body of Water: Plymouth Bay - Duxbury, Massachusetts Moon Phase: New Moon Tides: Just about Low at first (6:34 AM), flooding throughout Boat: Captain Dave's Carolina Skiff With: Baymen Guide Service Target: Striped Bass Time: 6:15 AM - 11:30 AM Conditions: Beautiful, bright and clear; about 65-75 degrees with a mild westerly wind. Water temperatures falling to 67 degrees. Tons of birds and bait! So, this was different. On New Year's Day, I noticed a post on this guide's web page; he had an opening on September 7 due to a rescheduled customer. I'd been following Baymen Guide Service ( www.baymenlife.com ) since I'd moved to Massachusetts in late 2019, and I emailed my interest in joining Captain Dave for the day. A few hours later, the trip was confirmed. A lot has changed since the booking. My move from suburban Boston to Maine somewhat erased the trip's purpose (to learn new, local water), complicated the logistics a bit (I spent the night in a local dive), and I entered the day thinking it would be a one-off. But at day's end, I knew I wanted more of this port! Captain Dave proved himself to be a true, rugged individualist, but also a generous, affable boat-mate. He was well-prepared and smart enough to launch before the New Moon low tide that left a few boats high and dry for a few hours. He kept me on fish for the entire morning and seemed to really appreciate his time on the water. Our allotted time zipped by. Here's the Captain's report: www.baymenlife.com/27-fish-on-fly-lt-2/ I concur, although I think he's overly kind with his assessment of my fly-fishing! Here's my account; it's something of a blur because it was all new water for me. And, since I wasn't running the boat, I was reacting to different cues. We ran almost directly to Bug Light just outside of Plymouth Harbor. From this vantage point, Captain Dave surveyed the scene and options; and moving further into Plymouth Harbor rose to the top based on bird activity. As we moved in, I could finally see what he had glassed; several groups of terns and gulls working in super shallow water adjacent to sandbars. Throughout the day, Captain Dave was the first to see/notice signs of bird, bait, and bass activity. When Captain Dave showed me his swim-bait retrieve/technique, I was mildly shocked. In my experience, low-and-slow wins; the fast and aggressive "Baymen Bounce" was like using a jerk-bait while on a cocktail of coke and steroids. But I quickly proved to myself that it works! Eel grass in less than a foot of water does not mix with swim-baits; and when I switched to a bone Spook, I quickly put a half dozen bass in the boat. With such a target-rich environment, I decided it was time to pick up the long wand; the one with the popper! It took perhaps a half hour and a change in location to a slightly deeper edge before one ate; but this 25-incher was certainly my biggest fly-rod striper to date! I enjoyed my efficiencies with the Spook better, though, and we located and chased down several groups of fish. Many casts with the Spook would result in multiple strikes before the hooks found flesh. There were plenty of chases, swings and misses, and outright rejections, too. We saw some bigger fish, and the day's biggest (26.5 inches) came aboard. At about 8:30 AM, the tail slaps clearly outnumbered actual strikes. I switched to a Heddon Knucklehead popper; that fooled a couple before that, too was ignored. For the rest of the trip, a four-inch white swim-bait shined. We gave others opportunities, but white outproduced others by a noticeable margin. With fewer birds now working, we did more blind-casting and searching. Seemingly any current seam held fish, and I enjoyed working a 9-inch Sluggo to visible fish along one scum line. Once again, "fast and aggressive" illicited more interest than "slow and vulnerable", but the fish were obviously getting more selective. Now committed to working the Sluggo high and fast, I had a group of fish chasing it down. One was a big bass!! Fish on! This turned out to be a nice, 7- or 8-pound bluefish, a great fight on the medium power TFO Inshore rod. It was now about 9:30 AM and we thought we would try some deeper/structure fishing. Somehow that turned into targeting more shallow bass with birds inside the barrier beach near Duxbury. While the Spook generated a few swings and misses, the white swim-bait burned near top provided the most connections. We encountered one of the most intense blitzes I've ever been party to. A thousand bass or more had two-inch peanut bunker pinned to the grass edge at the mouth of a creek. This fish moved quickly, and I only pulled two out. We followed the school down the shoreline, where I presented a variety of small streamers to the fish. I had lots of follows, but no takes. We finished the day fishing deeper water (up to nearly 30 feet) near the edge of a rocky island with bucktail jigs. We were hoping for one more, larger fish. My only hit was from a small fluke; we called it a (great!) day. What do I have to say about this? This simply turned out better than I expected or I could have hoped. It was an intense morning of fishing with more visible targets and action than the rest of my season combined. While I left a few fish on the table (pinched barbs and flubbed landings), I didn't miss many. With a total of 25 stripers (including a half dozen or more over 24 inches and a fly-rod PB) and a strong bluefish landed, and the visual prospect of encountering bigger fish, what more could anybody have asked for? I'm already thinking about my next fall trip to these harbors. It might be in a few weeks, or it might be next September. But I do believe that I will be back! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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