David Churbuck’s Reel-Time FLog

I haven’t fished my "undisclosed location" for a couple nights, but did hit it at sunset on a slack tide with a predictable lack of results. With business travel coming this week and next, I won’t be able to fulfill my goal of hitting the place every night.

Over the weekend I went to Menemsha with my cousin, wife, and son. Ate a lobster roll at Larsen’s, netted some peanut bunker at the head of Lake Tashmoo, then fluked at Middle Ground, Hedge Fence and Succonessett. We took six nice fish at Succonesset, fileted them inside of Sampson’s Island, but had some delicious swordfish off the grill from Larsen’s that night.

No fishing on Sunday, just beach relaxtion. Some good schools of adult menhaden inside of Cotuit Bay and there were birds working south of bar off of Loop Beach that had me tempted to throw a few casts, but alas, the beach had me in place.

This fall, rather than run all over Cape Cod looking for fish, my plan is to fish a single inlet here in Cotuit on a nightly basis (when I am working from home or on the weekends) and chronicle the learnings. This is a good spot with very restricted access, but having permission from the property owner, I have it to myself for the most part.

It features fast moving water, a deep hole, fronts Nantucket Sound, and has been the scene of some epic past successes by myself and others. Waders aren’t required, so it’s very convenient.

Last night - 9.12.06: fished a sink tip with a grizzly deceiver with some bumps, a snapper blue, but no big successes. May switch to a floating line so I can mend against the current.

A buddy told me Sunday afternoon that he saw "bonito" breaking the surface inside Cotuit Bay. I’ve heard it before, but man, do I wish I had brought the flyrod to the beach. The tide was very high due to the full moon, the water was rich with bait (including what looked like mullet close into the shoreline).

Seems like primetime is upon the south Cape.

A few years ago someone vandalized the spillway of the dam at the headwaters of the Mashpee River — the stream that carries water out of Mashpee-Wakeby pond and which is also the main highway for the thriving herring population. That run, which crosses under Route 130 in Mashpee near the old Flume Restaurant, is one of the healthiest on the Cape.

Well, healthy until some irate homeowner, upset with the water lapping at his swingset and barbeque, took a chainsaw and cut down the boards that regulate the flow of water out of the pond. That happened several years ago. Now, according to the Cape Cod Times the residents are foaming once again, ticked off that all the spring rain erasing their beaches and putting pond water in their backyards.

Sigh. Herring or property — guess who will win this one?

Saturday morning I putt-putted into the fog off of Cotuit and saw a dozen people standing on the bar off of Loop Beach casting at the finning blues. Happy not to have to go far, I shut down in front of Sub Rock off of Sampson’s and was quickly onto a nice 8-lb. blue. Lots of mung in the water, and I was concerned about red tide stuff, but after three fish in the cooler I made my way home for a weekend in the flower beds. Used a home-made ten weight with a floater and an orange popper to do the deed.

Smoked the fish and vacuum-sealed them last night. Bluefish pate to follow.

Boats have been working the shore off of Osterville and Cotuit for a few days now. Sadly, one of them capsized and killed its only crew member yesterday out at Wreck Shoal.

That’s sad. Good news is squid and where there are squid the bluefish and bass are right behind. I may go out and jig me up some calamari later today and pack along a Ballistic Missile for a few casts over the shallows in front of Dead Neck to see if the choppers are back. Smoker is ready to go! Bought a vacuum sealer last week to put away a summer’s supply of bluefish pate and smoked filets early.

I haven’t wet a line in search of a striped bass yet this season, figuring I’d wait for a sure thing before tiring my arm out with casting practice. There are some reports of so-called "fresh fish" coming in from Cotuit Bay, but the season has yet to begin in my mind and I’d rather focus on the ponds for stocked trout and the coves for quahogs than waste my time catching little stripers.

Last week, when the weather was summer-like, I tried Collier’s Ledge for tautog with no success — there were six seals bobbing in the water watching my every move and then the Centerville River for winter flounder. One fish was all my friend Bob and I were able to dredge up before the flowing mung discouraged us and we powered back to Cotuit into the teeth of a stiff southwest breeze.

Two days later I tried casting into a rough breeze at Shubael’s Pond. The PowerBaiters were catching trout, but I was not.

Quick tip learned from an old timer on preserving clam rakes — paint the tang and stainless with a few coats of boiled linseed oil. Same goes for the wire peck basket. I will try it later today as I tackle the spring clean-up of my shop.

My buddy Fred fished the Narrows in Cotuit yesterday afternoon near the top of the incoming tide. Nice day — in the sixties — but I sensed it was a tad early so I begged off to take a bike ride instead. Fred swung by the house to report "nary a bump."

April stripers are very hit or miss. I think I’ll start getting excited by the end of this week and need to do some prep work on my tackle before I head out and start practicing my casting.

I went clamming yesterday and didn’t see any fishermen on the water. Lots of boats on trailers with rods in the racks, so it is indeed becoming that time of year.

Foggy day in Cotuit, woke up in a bad mood. So I thought I’d spew some random stuff that gets me ticked off about fishing.
1. Commercial striper fishing in Massachusetts. Do away with it. Make stripers a gamefish, and let the striper hatcheries put fish on people’s tables.
2. Fishing derbies and tournaments. Fishing is not a competitive sport.
3. Massachusetts’ two-fish, 28" limit for stripers. Take it back to 36"
4. The guy who seines all the menhaden out of Cotuit Bay every summer.
5. The Bourne herring run and the circus it creates every May.
6. The Bourne chamber of commerce canal striper tournament every May. See number 2 and number 5.
7. The loss of public access to the shore.
8. Dickhead waterfront property owners who freak out if you wade in front of their palaces. They have no souls.
9. Jet skis.
10. Run-and-gun albie and bonito fishermen.
11. People who troll through my spot when I’m on fish.
12. Tuna seiners.
13. Still not knowing the true identity of "Bassturd"

TownOnline.com - The Cape Codder - Local News

Great article about the South Beach blowout.