|
Phase 1 Date: June 11, 2022 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon minus 3 days; waxing gibbous moon Boat: amybaby22 With: A Target: Striped Bass Time: 7 AM - 10 AM Conditions: High tide at 8:49 AM. Generally clear with high haze; gentle wind and 55 - 60 degrees. Water was clear but green; water temperatures 57 degrees (+/-). After a leisurely start to the day (no alarms, no rush), A and I headed to Broad Cove for some relaxing tube-and-worming. My first pass was up the "gut" and although I was seemingly marking fish, we had no takes. I adjusted to a specific depth range for my next pass (12 feet +/- and preferably with scruffy, live bottom; my tube was about 55 feet back), and quickly the rod bowed to a very strong and feisty striper. This fish crushed the lure and fought way out of its size class. Things were looking good! But Broad Cove yielded only this single striper. I donated several more worms, but these fish just weren't taking with any consistency. I switched to a white, top-water walking bait for a while and alternated in some casts with a small swim-bait, but nothing responded. These can be fickle fish; fortunately, they can also feed with reckless abandon. After a while, I knew it was time to change, and so I decided to catch high slack and the start of the ebb in Mussel Cove. We arrived at Mussel Cove at slack high tide. A fly-fishing boat blocked the entrance to the upper cove for a while, so I patiently worked our way in with lures. As they moved down, we moved up, and A suspended a worm in deeper holes. We even trolled the tube-and-worm back out without revealing anything other than the unexpected absence of stripers. Trolling along the Falmouth Foreside shoreline on our way back to the landing, I had two worms plucked off the tube without connecting... just like last week. Despite visible piles of bottom oriented fish, they just were not oriented to feeding heavily. Back to the dock after this very pleasant (if not exactly productive) session, our reward was the potential of a three-hour nap. It had been quite the week! Phase 2A Date: June 11, 2022 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon minus 3 days; waxing gibbous moon Boat: shore fishing from float With: A Target: Striped Bass Time: 3:30 PM - 4 PM Conditions: Low tide at 2:49 PM. Quadrant III. Generally clear with high haze; gentle wind and 55 - 60 degrees. Water was clear but green; water temperatures now 64 degrees (+/-) at the float! We returned to the landing for a picnic and then the prospect of a mackerel hunt. When I was done with my sandwich, I checked the water temperature at the float and was surprised to see a sizable jump in temperature. Given that and the current favorable tide, I decided to float a worm before we headed out in the boat. Three quick fish to 25 inches in three drifts emphatically confirmed their presence. We left then biting, though, as others congregated on the landing. It was turning into a warm, gentle, beautiful evening. Phase 2B Date: June 11, 2022 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon minus 3 days; waxing gibbous moon Boat: amybaby22 With: A Target: Striped Bass Time: 4 PM - 7 PM Conditions: Low tide at 2:49 PM. High Tide at 9:07 PM. Flood throughout. Generally clear with high haze; gentle wind and 60 degrees. Water was clear but green; water temperatures 58 degrees (+/-). A and I targeted mackerel for the first time this season. We hit the area off the east end of Clapboard Island, between Sturdivant and Basket Islands. Trolling a Sabiki anchored by a two-ounce Hogy Squinnow jig, my first pass quickly caught a double. When I dropped down again, I filled the string with four or five more. This was looking too easy! After another twenty minutes or so and just a couple more in the well, it was time to live-line these mack-snacks to any stripers hanging around the rocks. After a little bit of a slow start at the east end of Clapboard Island (was there too much bait here? My screen showed an awful lot!), I connected with the first mackerel-eating striper of the year. This fish was not alone, either, as subsequent passes caught the attention of other bass. We landed four (including 27- and 28-inchers) and missed few strikes, too. With the onset of the June Full Moon Period, it seemed like summer fishing had settled in. What do I have to say about this? This was, perhaps, the most complete and pleasant day we've shared since moving to Maine. The fishing wasn't extraordinary, but it was pretty darn good at times, varied, and a provided a nice reason to simply be outside for the best parts of the day. Once again we were joined by eagles and seals. Bunker showed themselves in numbers, the modified live well worked like a charm and no longer floods the deck, and in summary, all was good! 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