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Date: June 12, 2022 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon minus 2 days; waxing gibbous moon Boat: Shore fishing from float and then amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 4:15 AM - 11:30 AM Conditions: Low tide at 3:33 AM. Quadrant III from float at first. Clear and dead calm; mild southerly wind increasing around 10 AM. About 55 - 65 degrees. Water was clear but green; water temperatures ranged from 53 (Hussey Sound) to 57 (float) to 62 (Cousins Island). I was fishing by 4:15 AM and I knew I was running late. Ah, the joys of summer! The session got off to a blistering fast start, with three stripers to about 23 inches landed in the first 25 minutes. I had several other opportunities until sunrise at about 5 AM, but somehow lost my landing mojo, if only temporarily. Still, a few more worm bites and another landed fish kept me at the float until 5:45, when I made the switch to amybaby22. I returned to the grounds east of Clapboard by 6:15, and yesterday's mackerel were found to be... scarce! I managed only a couple in 45 minutes or so. I took these to College Island in Hussey Sound, where the water was quite a bit cooler. I found no bass here, and when I converted to mackerel fishing the rip off the tip of College (and environs), I found only a single (but giant) mackerel and a couple of tiny gaddiforms. (I don't know if these were pollock or cod, but they were cute!) I took my single remaining live mackerel of appropriate size to Cow Island and scored a nice, fat striper on my first pass. Clearly, if bass were home, they would fall for a live mack, and so I set out in search for more of both. I'd seen a lot of seals in the water between Clapboard and Cow Islands on my way to Hussey, and so I decided to look for mackerel among these predators. When they first showed, I set lines to troll for macks. Not only seals, but a pod of porpoises patrolled this area. In fact, I ended up leaving because a group of three (mother and two smaller children?) took an interest in my boat and persisted in staying close by. Rather than risk any encounter, I motored away. I managed to slowly collect a few more macks from the water east of Clapboard. I went to the west end of Clapboard to find some new bass. This area was generous! I quickly landed three more stripers to 27 inches and lost my fourth mackerel to a huge surface blow-up. Rather than struggle to find more macks, I decided to take advantage of high slack tide and the start of the ebb in new water. I navigated for my first time to the bridge joining Cousins Island to the mainland. Here, I located the "river" channel and trolled a juicy tube-and-worm along the edge. Once again, I marked many likely targets but did not hook up. When I moved into shallower water, the familiar formula of 12 feet of water, "live" bottom, 55 feet of line off the rod tip and moving as slowly as possible quickly produced a smallish striper of approximately 20 inches. Once again, things looked promising, but I didn't connect again in this new-to-me-area. I simply donated enough worms to let me think I might catch more; if not this day, then on some other visit. At 11:30 AM the wind seemed to be freshening. I didn't want to struggle in a head-wind far from home, so I went back. The ride was fine, and the wind actually faded over the course of the afternoon. I thought I'd return for another session, but I didn't. Sunday Night Blues gripped me, and it was easier to just stay home and chill. What do I have to say about this? For 24 hours or so, I've been at odds with myself. Too tired to take on the work of fishing... and yet still able to work! Fortunately, my loss of mojo was temporary, and I'm looking forward to my next effort as I write. I'm doing pretty well so far this season, while still dedicating time to new techniques (fly), locations (Broad Cove, Cousins Island, Presumpscot River) and attitudes (positive and pleasant). Things are working our better than pretty well; I'm catching a lot of nice, quality fish. Still, I'd like to find that adjustment that could mean faster sustained action or bigger fish. I feel like I am on the edge of what's possible as opposed to full realization. But, I don't want to be greedy, and I don't want to waste any negative energy when I need all the positive energy I can muster to get through the week. It was probably good for me to take the afternoon and evening "off". Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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