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Date: July 15, 2023 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Maine Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 7:15 AM - Noon Moon Phase: New minus two days; waning crescent Tide: High at 10:30 AM Conditions: Fog, light easterly wind, about 70 degrees. Water temperatures likely in the high 60s, or possibly in the low 70s. Still no sonar; fishing blind. This day was different for 2023 to date, because I was greeted by obvious, active bait as I walked down the dock. I ended up losing 20 minutes or so investigating their capture, but neither a casted Sabiki nor a snagging hook produced. I think these were likely loose schools of menhaden. Things change with every tide, as illustrated by the multiple seals within the anchorage, likely shadowing these schools. Once again, fog kept me close. I bounced around each end of Clapboard looking for mackerel. With only a single in the well, I then went to Green Can 3 near Basket Island and focused on the stretch from here to the red navigation aid, and especially in the areas adjacent to the cans themselves. The mackerel were seemingly more concentrated near these markers, but it was still a slow pick of mostly singles. By 9 AM, I had nine baits in the livewell, and so it was time to start fishing. The tide was still flooding, with an expected slack period around 10:30 AM. The fog had thickened and so I stayed close and went to SW Sturdivant. Once I figured out the predominant current direction, I deployed a bait and bump-trolled several hundred yards of known, productive shoreline. The bait got nervous a couple of times, but was never attacked. If I were going to chunk, I wanted to get set up and get established before slack; a little before 10 AM, I was spot-locked over about eight feet or water, with the modest current moving past my stern and into a rock-and-weed complex. I let a single mack swim free-lined behind the boat while I started to chunk. I sweetened my offerings with a somewhat steady drizzle of free bits while I flipped a sweet piece of tail meat behind the boat. I would free-line this until it reached bottom, and then repeat. It didn't take long at all (two or three drifts) for the first "eat", and I avoided a skunk by landing my first bass of the trip (and Striper Cup week), a modest 22-incher. From a parked platform and on light tackle (Shimano Vanford on a medium action St. Croix Avid Inshore rod), even a fish like this is fine sport. After a short lull, I had fast action until about 10:30 AM (predicted high tide). I landed four more bass between 25 and 27 inches and I lost another. All took the bait within 20 feet or less of the boat's stern; the bass certainly didn't seem put off by the electric motor. While I was hoping for another slack-tide lunker, I went almost an hour without another bite. But that bite came from the session's largest fish (30 inches) and so was worth the wait! My last fish of the day (No. 7) was an average fish that took the last available bait while in the rod holder; I was busy maintaining a chum slick while cleaning up and getting ready to return to the landing in the thick fog. I ended the session with seven bass on eight bites; and I'd used my entire supply of macks for the day. Pretty, pretty good (and efficient!). Note to self; seven of the eight bites came on the coveted tail section of meat. These are pure meat, sizable, and untainted by guts. What do I have to say about this? I am getting a kick out of this "spot-lock and chunk" combo. I look forward to trying it in a more open/boulder-ey setting with wave-driven current and perhaps larger fish. I shared with a friend that I thought my trolling motor/ spot-lock had added 30% to my overall catch. He too, had installed a similar set-up for this season, and he thought I was short-changing this assessment. He's using his successfully for safe, bold-shoreline fishing as well as offshore for bottom fishing. I look forward to sharing this with somebody else in the boat; maybe we'll do a "heads vs. tails" competition to see what the bass prefer. Meanwhile, I am rigging a couple of additional rods for this technique. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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