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Date: August 19, 2023 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Maine Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 7:30 AM - 1 PM Moon Phase: New moon plus three days; waxing crescent Tide: Low tide at 7:43 AM Conditions: Clear and crisp but with increasing clouds over the course of the day; persistent SW wind of about 10 mph, 60 - 70 degrees F. Water temperatures 62 - 64 (+/-). There was a hint (or more) of Fall in the morning air, and I motored across Casco Bay to Hussey Sound wondering if I would have to brave wind, waves and more open waters to find bait. I didn't want to go out to Red Marker No. 2 if I didn't have to, given the wind and apparent four-foot swell coming in from the ocean. I dropped my Sabiki rig in about 60 feet of water just past College Island to start prospecting, and pretty quickly I found a single spike mackerel of about five inches. As I dropped again, I stopped the descent short when I marked a possible fish less than 20 feet deep. Another spike came in and I fell into a reasonably productive pattern of drifting and dropping to marks. As the water quickly shoaled south of College Island, I dropped to some bottom marks and landed a double; and I was well on my way to making bait. By 9 AM, I had 16 live macks in the well. All but one were similar spikes. My first stop was Crow Island, which seems to produce during all tides from one rocky corner or another. I found some juicy and promising marks as I circum-fished the island, but surprisingly had no chases or bites. I returned to the swell-swept southeastern portion of Peaks Island. I soon found the thick mung and big swell dispiriting as well as unproductive. I was a bit queasy, too, so I retreated to Crow for a second shot with the building incoming tide. Now about 11 AM, I was drifting my live mack right along some wind-swept rocks with deep water nearby. Suddenly, my mackerel woke up, and after a quick race to deep water, it was intercepted by a bass. I wound down and got tight to a well-earned fish. It was a nice one, too, as it went on several drag-pulling runs. On the fourth or fifth, we were suddenly disconnected. I thought the hook had pulled, but a tired knot joining line to leader had failed. Ugh! I grabbed another rod, circled around, rebaited and redeployed up-current. This lively bait was quickly corralled between rocks and the surface, and after a couple of splashy misses, a bass thunked it with ill intent on the surface. Once again, I wound down, and this time everything worked out fine. Despite several runs to submerged rocks and some dicey boat control between lobster pots and hazards, I slipped the net under the day's first bass. This was a fit and beautiful 31-incher! I continued to work Crow Island for a bit (these were nice fish and my sonar promised more!), but slid over to Cow Island at about Noon with the increasing tide. My favorite stretch of Cow fishes best at the highest tides, and yet, so far had not produced a fish for me in 2023! I wanted to end that! It didn't take long; once again, by presenting baits immediately adjacent to rocks with current and deep water nearby, I enjoyed landing two more bass (27 and 28 inches) on consecutive drifts. After another pair of unproductive passes , I called it a day. What do I have to say about this? I was surprised by both the bait (more productive and easier than anticipated) and the bass (stingier than expected). But with some fresh macks for chunk bait and a good evening tide ahead, there was a chance of building on top of a good day to an even better day. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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