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Date: June 19, 2024 Body of Water: Casco Bay Boat: amybaby22 and float With: Alone Target: Stripers Time: 4:30 AM - 11:30 AM Tide: Low tide at 3:52 AM; High Tide at 10:03 AM (fished float at Quad III ) Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon, Full Moon minus two days Conditions: Hazy, hot, and humid; Generally bright and still; 65 - 85 degrees. Water temperatures 60 - 65 degrees F (+/-). Given a mid-week holiday in June, I am going fishing! The fact that the holiday coincided with the approaching Strawberry Full Moon and associated favorable tides was a bonus, as was the fact that it saved me from a commute to Boston for the week! With truly hot, hazy and humid conditions forecasted, I got off to an early start. I figured I'd search for bait after playing with a few bass on worms from the landing float. I was surprised by the slow start, as I spent the first half hour without a sign of a bite. Conditions were slick, greasy calm, and eerily quiet. But just as the sun emerged over Cousins Island a few minutes after 5 AM, my float dipped for the first time; and I soon christened the new landing net with a fat and spunky 27-inch striper. What a nice fish on light wormin' tackle and what a nice start to a Wednesday! My float plunged twice more in the next 15 or 20 minutes, and I captured two additional bass between approximately 24 and 26 inches. But then the calm returned, and I went 30 minutes or so without any further action. Having gotten the local best out of this tide, I was aboard amybaby22 and on my way to Broad Cove by 6 AM. A couple of other boats were poking around the shallows, and I slow-trolled right up the gut with a tube-and-worm. I seemed to be marking bait on the sonar, but nothing responded. When I'd exhausted the deeper water, I fan-casted a few pinch-points in the shallows with a top-water dog-walker, but neither moved nor saw any sign of bass. Once again (for me, this season), Broad Cove was dead, so I was soon on my way! In search of a better bait situation, I decided to try something a little different, i.e., the channel between Littlejohn and Chebeague Islands. Even before I could deploy a Sabiki, I saw the pogies milling on the surface over 30 feet of water or so. As efficiently as possible (but not as much as I'd like), I deposited a half dozen or so healthy pogies in the well. My first drift was over my biggest-striper-ever waypoint (with big bait, why not?), but my bait went unharassed. I continued working the shoreline without a response and inched towards another waypoint, where the shoreline flat breaks into deeper (25+ feet at low tide) water. Almost directly over this waypoint, and having just noticed some mid-depth activity on the sonar, my bait awakened and was suddenly and confidently engulfed. Soon enough, I was holding my first-ever Maine Pogie Bass, a solid 30-incher! Buoyed by this success, I continued working this break and expanded my area of interest to the west, as I had a couple of baits variously chased, smacked, crashed, and plucked. This was more in-line with my Maine experience with pogies, but it was still fun (while frustrating) to watch so many predatory attempts. During one such flurry, I casted a top-water and then a fluke in the area of my bait (thinking "bait-and-switch"), but that was to no avail. The one solid take I did experience ended with the hook turned and buried into the bait, another familiar outcome on my behalf when fishing with pogies. It was time to move on as the tide continued to flood. I decided to try the eastern end of Chebeague, which has coughed up a couple of big fish for me. Despite covering a lot of water in an hour or so there, I raised nothing and in fact, never even had an overly nervous bait. I thought to go to Clapboard to catch the rocky points at high tide; but since I'd located a group of fish off Littlejohn, I thought it wise to at least check in there again, before I left the area. Good call! I was about to turn a nice, "good" day into an "excellent" day. Within minutes of predicted slack high tide, I encountered the first of what would be five solid stripers for the next hour, all on pogies. All were solid, and a couple were well above average, so this was a very good hour of fishing; especially so in the late-morning, hot and bright sunshine. All were associated with this particular break from the shoreline flat into deep (now 30+ feet) water. A couple of the bites were on top, but a couple were in the depths as the free-lined pogies went where they felt safest (or at least, where they could try to feel safe). In sequence, these fish were 27, 35, 33 and 30 inches. (The fifth was lost to a plucked bait and then a turned hook). It was a relief to see a "small" (27-inch) bass be able to take one of these baits, and the larger fish were able to take the pogies without hesitation or fanfare. These bass could choose to just slurp them down, when they so choose. A special highlight of this hour were the consecutive 35 and 33-inchers; not only did these eat decisively and fight hard, the 33-incher ate in about 35 feet of water, down deep. It was not necessary to pull the bass to the surface with these baits, they were not safe anywhere! That's encouraging for future outings. Hot and sweaty with the live-well now empty, I decided to return to the float for some hydration and rest. It had been an Excellent Wednesday! What do I have to say about this? Finally! Pogies paid off, locally! These particular bass were all fat and well-conditioned, and with the dominant 2015 year class, perhaps the local bass population has aged into a vulnerability to bunker. Regardless, all were lightly hooked and swam away, healthy. It was great to succeed with a new tactic, and now when macks are scarce but the menhaden obvious, I will not hesitate to snag a few and use them with increased confidence. I'll probably pick up another 6000-class Shimano bait-runner for use with these big baits. I've got friends and family to entertain, and while there might be some longer periods without action, when a bass decides to eat one of these big baits, it is exciting regardless of whether the bass can engulf it, or not! The visual nature and ferocity of the strikes is a bit amped, and the bass themselves should be a step up from the norm. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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