|
Date: July 4, 2020 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon minus 1 day Tides: Dead low at first, through and past high tide; low slack to start of incoming tide in evening Boat: Landing float first, but then amybaby22 With: Alone, although joined by A in the evening Target: Striped Bass Time: 4 AM - 7:30 AM; 10 AM - Noon; 5 PM - 7 PM Conditions: Cloudy start, quick clearing, but thick, persistent fog settling in by 8 AM. Air and water temps about 65 degrees F. Building southerly wind and cooler off-shore water maintained foggy conditions. Once again for these reports, please consider an approximated 12-hour Tide Clock, with each High Tide at 12 o'clock, and each Low Tide at 6 o'clock. This will divide each complete cycle into four quadrants, with mid-tides at 3 and 9 o'clock. Let's call Quadrant I the period from High Tide to mid-ebbing tide; Quadrant II from mid-ebbing tide to Low Tide; Quadrant III as predicted Low Tide to mid-flooding tide; and Quadrant IV from mid-flood to predicted High Tide. From past experience, I know that the best fishing at my spot on the landing is during the lower portions of the tide, i.e., in Quadrants II and III, with the very best action usually occurring about 1.5 hours before or after the predicted Low Tide. Quadrant IV is better than Quadrant I; but a worthwhile fish can happen at any time or tide, especially if bait (usually in the form of mackerel) is available for the fish. And, every spot fishes differently; so now, with a boat to fish from, I can try to go find some fish under any set of prevailing conditions! With a 5 AM low tide, my morning session from the landing was prime; I'd be fishing the best periods of Quadrants II and III. Things got off to a rousing, quick start with two 20-inch class stripers in the first 15 minutes. These both ate sand-worms suspended beneath my lighted slip-float. But after the initial action, things slowed. As I kept an eye on my float, I casted a variety of baits. A charteuse-and-silver Kastmaster produced a couple of hits, a follow or two, and a solid 21-inch striper. Notably, all the touches occurred on a slow retrieve and specifically on the fall. Between 6:45 and 7 AM, I enjoyed another flurry of action on sand-worms. While not the kind of action or size of fish I'd dreamt about, I now had five stripers before most folks were awake; and I still had the day and many opportunities in front of me! After some breakfast and more coffee, it was time to launch the boat at Falmouth Town Landing. A drove amybaby22 to the landing while I returned with the empty trailer and brought my gear down to the float. After spending a little time acquainting myself with the now-installed ten-inch Garmin ECHO Ultramap HD (my sweat equity from the day before should pay off for quite some time), I hit the water for some high-tide bass. Foggy conditions kept me close, and after a half hour or so poking around flooded grass near Mussel Cove with no success, I headed out to the reef that extends from Waites' Landing. The edges of the kelp-covered reef had produced a few stripers for me in 2019; I thought I should at least check it out. The extreme full-moon high tide and persistent southerly wind had the reef completely submerged. I tried to position my Hogy popper near any color changes or visible objects. In the thickest part of the kelp jungle, a 22-inch striper annihilated the scurrying popper in one of my best-ever visual strikes. This fish thought a lot of itself, too, as it pulled much harder than its length warranted. Shortly thereafter, I moved over to the fishy-looking reef complex at the west end of Clapboard Island. One bass followed but could not quite commit to the popper, but otherwise nothing reacted to my casts. The fog persisted, but A and I wanted to try making bait (mackerel) in Hussey Sound, and then live-line the baits to bass along rocky shorelines. Our timing was off, and I knew it. Our arrival at Hussey was just after slack low tide, and there was little water movement; the reliable mackerel fishing here coincides with moving water. Nevertheless, we trolled a spoon-weighted sabiki rig at about 3 mph. It took almost an hour to get the first bite, and we collected three macks for bait before they inexplicably disappeared again. We moved to the familiar shoreline of Vaill Island, where one of the macks got hit; but the circle hook turned into the bait's head, and I pulled the bait out of the bass' gullet without the hook touching flesh. Oh well, we had our chance; but now it was time to beat the increasing fog and darkness back to the landing! What do I have to say about this? This was a full and pleasant day. The amybaby22 provides a mobile but stable platform to new places, techniques and opportunities, and I intend to investigate these while refining the techniques with which I've already enjoyed some success. The day went too quickly, and the fishing was never consistently great; but it's still a building block for future success and enjoyment. I especially appreciated the quiet solitude I shared with A on Hussey Sound. While there wasn't much going on, we still caught a glimpse of some porpoises, enjoyed the bell buoy, got along well and relaxed, together! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Steve LachanceRI --> NH --> MI-->MA-->ME Archives
June 2024
Categories
All
|
Proudly powered by Weebly