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Date: August 30, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay - Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon plus 8 days; waning crescent moon Tides: High Tide at 5:32 AM; Low Tide at 11:25 AM Boat: amybaby22, but then finishing on landing float for the best part of Quadrant II With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 5:30 AM - 11 AM Conditions: About 65 degrees; cloudy; westerly winds in excess of 10 mph; water was about 65 degrees +/- I'd arranged for the day off work, and my goal was to take advantage of the brief weather window in the morning and find some stripers. With high tide approximately corresponding to sunrise, I delayed my start until safe navigation sans lights was possible; and picked up a popper and hit the Falmouth shoreline. My third cast of the morning was eaten. A high-tide bass had tucked itself into a shoreline pocket against a dock. An excellent start, even if the bass was only 20 inches or so! Moving down the shoreline with the current, I peppered likely spots out to about 10 feet of water. I missed a strike alongside another floating dock soon after the first fish. I had to work a couple hundred yards down the shore before I picked up my second bass of the morning. This guy, too, was small, and after a few more minutes without any more action, I relocated to Prince Point, which has often been good for a topwater fish or two during the higher tides. Unfortunately, I moved no fish as I searched the entire windward side of the point and ledge. I relocated to the deeper channel off Clapboard Island to look for mackerel. Finding none at the island's west end, I moved to the east end and tried again. I caught only a single, bite-sized mac in about an hour of overall effort. Simply based on proximity, I hit the east end of Clapboard. Here, my live-lined bait got smashed on top, right near my "new" waypoint from the previous day. After getting tossed into the air a couple of times by misses, the mackerel got eaten. When I came tight, the bait slid out, hook buried in its side. The bait was dead, but worth "plop" casting and dead-drifting. I did so for a half-dozen casts over my original "money" waypoint at the east end, but nothing responded. I pulled lines and motored over to near the mouth of Mussel Cove. Here, I baited a tube with a leftover blood-worm and started a slow troll along the Falmouth shoreline. With about 50 feet of line out (eight "colors" of my patterned braid) in about 12.5 feet of water and at a speed of about 0.75 mph, I finally connected with a tube bass. I continued past the landing float before repeating my pattern again, but without any more bites. Since I'd saved the dead mackerel and the tide was now entering the productive portion of Quadrant II, I chose to end my day with some chunking off the float. I started with the head on bottom while floating a messy mid-body chunk off the float; and switched to the tail section on bottom for the end of my shift. Good call; the tail got eaten just before 11 AM, and I finished my day with perhaps the largest striper of my morning, a fat 22-incher. What do I have to say about this? The motor continued to run poorly and restricted my radius for the day. I arranged an appointment for her in a couple of weeks, so I hope to finish the season on strong and confident notes. Plus, I'll investigate the fabrication/installation of a trolling motor mount for her bow and bottom paint, too, so I'll make the most of this unexpected maintenance "opportunity". While the fishing wasn't fast or furious, and the bass certainly weren't too big, it was still bonus, weekday fishing! I relaxed and enjoyed myself, and feel that I made some good calls for the day's conditions. It's a little late in the season for my first Maine Topwater and Maine Chunk stripers of the year, but at least I checked them off the list, and I did convert my leftover worms and single mackerel into bass. Not bad! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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