|
Date: June 2, 2024 Body of Water: Casco Bay Boat: amybaby22 With: N and J Target: Striped Bass Time: 9 AM - 3:30 PM Tide: High at about 8 AM, Low at about 2 PM Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon, New minus four days Conditions: Beautiful! Bright and generally calm with a mild southerly breeze; 50 - 70 degrees. Water temperatures 55 - 60 degrees F (+/-). I was joined by new friend N and his wife J for a day on the water in search of striped bass. They were undeterred by the reports of my recent trips and were very patient with my small, crowded boat! We faced some tough conditions, including a cold night, a mid-day low tide, and super bright, clear conditions. Still, we ended up having a great day! Our first stop was Prince Point. We each casted a swim-bait, fluke, or popper. I was hoping to either see or move a fish, but despite things looking good, that did not happen, so we made the big move to the Presumpscot. I had intended to push as far upstream as possible, but my little skiff was unable to get up on plane and so we were limited to just 10 mph. That made the long trip upriver impractical and so we focused on the flats outside the river's mouth. Tide and wind were opposing, making boat control difficult. We settled into simply covering water, whether it was over the 20-foot channel or in just a couple of feet on the adjacent flats. N just missed a boat side swiping fish I about three feet of water. The near miss buoyed our spirits as we continued our search. After a fruitless pass with the tube-and-worm in the deeper water above the bridge, we continued casting the flats. When a group of active birds closer to the mouth of Back Cove caught my attention, I attempted to navigate their way. At about 3/4 low tide, I just couldn't get all the way there, but I did find a small gut that led me deeper into the flats. Both N and J reported seeing individual fish, so we settled into a pattern of drift-and-cast in this very skinny water. Fish on! N fed a fine 27-incher a fluke in about 18 inches of water. We were happy to break the ice on the day's bass! We continued our search for another half hour or so, but I was getting antsy with the very low negative tide. I didn't want to get stuck here! Plus, I had worms for the dock, and we were in a position to arrive at just about slack low tide. The cool (58 degree) green water looked good, the worms were fat and juicy, and with the Spring Tide, we had a good chunk of time in front of us. And we were rewarded with two quick bites that N and J converted into nice mid-20-inch bass landed. I was glad to get J her fish, and N was getting into light tackle fishing for stripers! The day was now clearly made, but there were more fish to catch. Each of us landed another fish, and mine was a whopper at 13 inches. I was fortunate to be tending the line for our last bite. I wound down and got tight to what I knew to be a good fish. And then it took off! I was lucky it went straight "out" from the float, but there was no stopping this fish on 12-pound test. She was already well beyond the first line of moorings when I asked N to prep the Portland Pudgy to chase this fish down. And that we did! With N at the oars, I was able to regain some line and we settled into a battle between moorings. Soon enough, I firmly grasped her lower jaw; at 41 inches, she's the largest I've caught from the landing float; and from the Pudgy! The hook was firmly in the corner of her jaw; she was in fine shape. After a quick photo session and revival, she swam off strong. We fished for another 15 minutes or so to close out my tidal window, but we all knew and agreed that our fine day was done! What do I have to say about this? A full night's sleep, good friends, great weather, seven stripers and a big one! It was quite the day, made all the better by N and J's enthusiasm and graciousness. They will be back, and I will welcome them gladly! This was one of the two largest stripers I've ever witnessed from the landing, and it may be no coincidence that these both occurred in early-mid June. In fact the other fish in question was landed on a suspended worm during Quadrant III of a similar mid-day Spring Tide in June, 2022. I think the truly big girls might slide out of the Presumpscot after chasing herring and cruise along the Falmouth shoreline to recover. Not a bad pattern to have in my back pocket! 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