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Date: June 21, 2023 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Yarmouth, Maine Boat: Maverick flats boat With: Captain EW, Coastal Fly Target: Striped Bass Time: 7:30 AM - 12:45 PM Moon Phase: New plus four days, waxing crescent moon Tide: Low at 8:10 AM, fished the incoming tide Conditions: Early fog giving way by 9 AM to clear and bright conditions with light, alternating winds; 55 - 70 degrees. Water temperatures 58 - 60 degrees (+/-). Water stained from previous weekend's rain. I had invested in a guide for the day, if only to calibrate my fly-fishing skills and expand my horizons. I'd been looking forward to the day, but with a little trepidation; I haven't all that much experience fly-fishing in salt water for striped bass. Honestly, most of my hours with a 9-weight rod had been spent in the back yard, practicing. Note: I could get used to the leisurely convenience of meeting at the launched boat at the civil hour of 7:15 or so! I was fresh as we moved off the dock and down the Royal River. We didn't go far at all; the channel between the mainland and Cousins Island is a maze of flats and bars, and there were birds working over bass in several locations. I started with a large-profile white herring fly of about 4 inches on intermediate line and worked the water quickly, hoping to get a bass to commit to a meal. It sure looked like a Sluggo, and so I expected this to work! There were plenty of bass within casting range for the first half hour or so. I had a couple flash behind the fly, but none showed sufficient interest in eating. Meanwhile, terns and swirls let us know that we were in a good, active location. A switch to a smaller baitfish pattern (about 2.5 inches) with a copper/orange/shrimp back proved effective almost immediately. My casting also improved with a lighter fly and rod (Thomas &Thomas Zone 9-weight with a Rio intermediate line), and the fish were interested. I finally had a legitimate take, but missed the set. However, a quick retrieve on this same cast enticed another bite, and now I was hooked up with an angry bass in shallow water! After a lengthy run into the backing and plenty of back and forth, I'd broken the day's ice with a beautiful, fat 26-inch striped bass! Success! My day was made and it wasn't even 8:30 AM. This same fly quickly enticed another pair of bass to eat. Each of these was in the lower 20s. One had eaten over very shallow water (<2 feet) while blind casting and the other over a deeper channel from the midst of a brief but very intense blitz. I was hitting my groove. The next hour proved slow while the sun got higher in the sky, the fog cleared, and the birds thinned. The fish were now visibly following but refusing this fly, and admittedly, I missed a couple of bites along the way. We didn't exactly chase the remaining birds, but we bounced around hitting spots with a few casts before moving on to available greener pastures. Next we went into the the channel between Cousins and Little John Islands. We depended less on birds and instead focused on sight fishing shallow, light-colored areas. While I rarely saw individual fish, the guide did from his higher perch, and there was still sporadic bird, bait, and bass activity. The fish of the day came from about 18 inches of water over such a spot. We had switched to a favored, olive shrimp pattern, and the captain said "Strike!" I did, even though I had not seen or felt a thing, and the rod loaded. With nowhere else to go, this fish took off and was quickly well into the backing, despite a reasonably heavy drag. After a long battle with plenty of give-and-take, she came to hand. It was my largest on the fly yet, certainly from such shallow water; while not measured, at least 32 conservative inches and heavy! I picked off another fish here before we headed over towards Winslow park, where we could see a lot of birds working the water off Lane's Island. These birds were over deeper water and smaller bass, but I quickly landed three small (20-inch) bass on the shrimp while blind casting along a small current seam. A little after 12:30 PM, we were losing the tide, the sun was bright, we were competing with more boat traffic, and the terns were now centered over kelp. We returned to the ramp after a really nice day. What do I have to say about this? This was solid investment with immediate returns, and I expect future returns, too. The biggest dividend is knowing that there really are large bass in very shallow water; I've not been tapping these with any consistency. I will still maintain that fly-fishing is not superior to other methods, but it might be the best method for these conditions, and every encounter with the long wand is fun. I got everything I could have asked for from this trip; I expand on these thoughts in the "Numenon Home" section, above. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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