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Date: June 13, 2020 Body of Water: Waquoit Bay and Vineyard Sound - Falmouth, Massachusetts Moon Phase: Waning gibbous; Quarter Moon Tides: Just about High at first, falling throughout Boat: amybaby22 With: K! Target: Striped Bass Time: 7:30 AM - 1:30 PM Conditions: Nice day! Clear and sunny, 60 - 70 degrees F; winds swinging through easterly to northerly, about 10 mph; high tide dropping to low. About 1 foot chop out on Succonnessett Shoal. With K joining me for the day, I altered my plans from Going Big! to accommodate a little more relaxation and action. Instead of launching in Falmouth and heading directly to the boulder fields around Nobska Point or beyond to the Elizabeth Islands in search of bigger bass, I decided to launch on Waquoit Bay and get some bites under our belts before we headed outside. The change in plans also meant that Striper No. 1,000 was realistically within the day's grasp. The tenth striper landed for the day landed would be the thousandth documented to come into my possession! Conditions were peacefully quiet as we made our first casts along a flooded seawall at the junction of the Eel and Child Rivers. I threw a popper while K tossed a white swim-bait. She started getting bites almost immediately, but my popper was ignored. She missed a few before pointing her rod directly at the bait during the retrieve. Then, she started hooking up! She still lost a couple before I missed my sole chance on a topwater for the day. Then she got dialed in and landed a couple; unfortunately, these biters were small! I didn't want to "waste" our limited time with such small fish (if that's possible; but we were both on a time budget), and so as the outgoing tidal flow increased, we relocated to the cut behind Menauhant Yacht Club. I immediately connected with a one-ounce Crippled Herring spoon bounced along with the current. But this fish was tiny, too! While I was busy with the next one, I noticed a mini-blitz taking place immediately along the opposite shoreline. Now with four micro-stripers for the day, we crossed the channel and found a wealth of tiny bait along the undercut sod bank. This fishing was almost too easy, as either the swim-bait or an olive epoxy jig tossed into the current seam right along shore was attacked almost immediately. These were all small bass in the 14-inch range, though. Soon we were at 9 for the day and 999 for my lifetime. Should we leave these fish to find a more suitable specimen to commemorate 1,000? Or, should we stay and hope that a more respectable fish would be next to grab the lure? We had, indeed, seen a couple of much nicer fish here and elsewhere during the morning's effort. We chose to stay; and when my epoxy jig stopped and momentarily seemed glued to the bottom, I thought maybe this had been the right decision. Soon a gigantic sea robin came into focus, much to K's horror, disgust and dismay. But we didn't have to wait much longer for the next striper. As No. 1,000 came alongside the gunwale and I grabbed the leader (completing a legal, saltwater catch-and-release capture, in my book), it popped off. No picture was possible! But that was okay, this fish had been no bigger than any of the others this morning. And when No. 1,001 came on the next cast, it was a twin; good enough to capture the moment! I next pulled a nice scup out of another mini-blitz. We decided to ride the current out of the cut, and K immediately hooked the best bass of the day (but still just a middle teenager) in this very picturesque setting. After a short period of inactivity, decided to move and hunt bigger bass to end the day. We tried Waquoit's main outlet, but boat traffic and the lack of action kept us moving along. We motored to the middle portion of Succonnessett Shoals, and we fished the south side here with tube-and-worms. Trolling with the current as slowly as possible, we were able to reach bottom with five segments of lead core line. But other than sponges and mung, we never hooked up. Next, we moved into about ten feet of water and trolled quickly (3.5 mph, +/-) with a pair of Yozuri stick-baits. I'd heard that some sizable bluefish were present, and this seemed as likely as finding a bass in the depths. It didn't take long for a rod to jump and for a surprising amount of line to spill off the reel, and quickly too! We saw the blue jump a couple of times in the distance, but just as I settled into the fight, the rear treble bent out and the fish swam away. We now had some confidence, but nothing else happed as we approached Waquoit's main outlet. We decided to call it a day; we still had enough energy to deal with the likely situation at the ramp and Boston traffic. This turned out to be a good call, by the way. What do I have to say about this? Any day I can share with K on the water is a good day, and to have her aboard for No. 1,000 made both the day and the "event" more enjoyable and memorable. Yes, the stripers for the day were small, but they were fun! And what else could we ask for on such a relaxed and beautiful day? Meanwhile, I am still learning about these fish, their habits and habitats, and also about the abilities and capabilities of amybaby22. At 14 feet and with a broad shallow draft, she clearly excels inside; but even a chop of a foot represents a barrier to comfortably and efficiently moving around outside the salt pond cuts. That's okay, I will learn to pick my opportunities. If I have to spend some days watching stripers dart out from underneath sod banks to grab a lightly presented lure or fly instead of casting or trolling big baits in big water for bigger fish, I can be happy with that. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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