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| FishWire Coordinator: | Mark Cahill |
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| The Fight is On!
Fish fighting skill, it's the Catch-22 of fly fishing. There are lots of mistakes you can make fighting fish, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I've probably made them all...more than once. First off we should think about drag. I set mine at 1/2 the break strength of weakest part of the system, the tippet. This goes back to the days when I used to tuna fish, and it's a good rule of thumb. We'd use a drag scale to ensure we were getting every possible bit of drag, without putting us in danger of breakage. Of course, with hundreds of yards of line out, you do need to be aware that there is a doubling affect on the drag due to the friction of the line through the water, and also through bellies created as the fish moves in a different direction of the boat, but for stripers on the fly, this isn't an issue. Lefty Kreh recommends that you use your lips to set the drag. If you can pull line off the reel with your lips, it's set about right. The thing to remember is that you are trying to turn the head of the fish. To really put the metal to the fish, apply side pressure, not vertical pressure. If the fish goes one way, you apply pressure in the opposite direction. If you're in a boat, the guy at the helm should always be concious of where the fish is, where the boat is and should be ready to navigate around lobster pots, etc. in a manner that will keep the line clear. Same goes for rocks, etc. On shore, be it a beach or a river bank, many anglers will try to remain in the same spot. The fish is going take off down the beach, down stream, etc., you should follow him, if practical. Steelhead fishing one time, my buddy Gerhard had to chase his fish through 3 pools and under a bridge, but he did land him. So why is it so important to think about these things now? Well, you may want to take a look at the photos from the New York and New Jersey Fishwire this week; those fish are headed north and I expect we're all going to be getting some shots at some big stripers really soon. Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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Schoolies make for great fun and practice. They also can create bad habits for fighting bigger fish. The cardinal rule in my book is that you should never, ever touch the drag while engaged in a fight. You have to assume you set it right, and to be patient. Big fish can take a long time to land. The only time to increase the drag is when you are reaching the bottom of the spool and in serious danger of getting spooled. Boston Metropolitan Regions
| NEWS |
| Still waiting on the big fish that usually follow the mackeral. That ought to happen any day now. Most of the action seems to be happening in the warmer waters of the harbors, rivers, etc. One good warm spell should change that. |
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Boston Harbor
Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters reports from the Harbor...
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Memorial Day 2004: What a difference a day makes! I had to cancel my charter on Saturday due to strong winds and
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South ShoreNo reports from the South Shore this week...
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North Shore
Capt. Derek at First Light Anglers in Rowley had this report: June 3rd- Overall the fishing remains decent. The volume of larger fish and fish in the rocks of Cape Ann still remains low. There are some decent fish being taken at the mouth of the Merrimack and on Joppa, but even that seems below average for the first week of June. The largest fish seem to be coming from the deeper water off of the Merrimack across to Halibut Point and the Salvages. This is where the larger schools of mackerel have been and anglers live lining have taken fish up in the 30# class. Not huge numbers of fish present, but a nice size class. We have heard reports of some good surface feeds on the mackerel also off of Graves Light. Nat and I are off to check it out tomorrow morning and well try and keep you posted. All the rivers are fishing OK. There are lots of small to medium schoolies, mostly being caught on the incoming tides. There have been a handful of legal fish being taken in the Parker, Ipswich, and Essex rivers but none seems significantly better than the other. The front side of Crane’s has been fishing OK as well with a couple of decent surface feeds. Most of the bait in the rivers remains relatively small sand eels and silversides in the 1-3” range. The larger herring and mackerel have been more offshore; however, the river herring and alewives should be dumping back out the river in the next couple of weeks. At present the best report is the weather which for once this spring looks constant and calm for the weekend. The tides are great for the river mouths with morning lows around 7-9 am. We will be out on the water day and night for the next month so please feel free to call the shop and pick our brains about the latest details. Thanks and good luck, Capt’s Derek & Nat (978)948-7004 derek@firstlightanglers.com Randy Sigler at Sigler Guide Service reports: |
We're off to the races here in Marblehead. The smaller bass are in solid along the rocks. Great fun on the fly rod, with doubles quite common. Where later in the season we'll find one or two fish in a pocket, this early fishing offers swarms of fish in many of the common holding pockets. We've had a couple fish in the 25" - 30' range hit, but most of the fish are 22" - 25" ... great fun on a 7 wt. Just about any pocket where the water is churned up from the surge becomes a likely holding spot. The key is to get you fly right into the froth, give it a couple of seconds to sink, and then give it a good popping retrieve out.  |
The Merrimack River
Capt. Charlie Crue of Channel Edge Charters reports: The season is definitely here! The past week my clients scored with many stripers. Most were small but we have been getting several keeper size fish on each trip. On spinning gear white soft baits have been producing good action. On the long rod, white flies, clousers or deceivers, are connecting with some nice fish. The weather has been tough with either wind, or cold rain, but the striper action has been terrific. Last Saturday I guided for a couple of Dad’s with their 12 or 13 year old daughter and son. The weather was clear but the wind from the northwest was close to 25 mph. They caught a few stripers on the flats while being buffeted by the wind and waves. I decided it was just too nasty and we went up the river to the Eagle Island area. There the action was slow but the wind was tolerable. Late in the morning the wind subsided a little so The next day the wind was less and my clients, Jim and his wife Sandy, enjoyed the great action. They caught many, many stripers, including three keepers. We released two and kept one for them to take home and cook. The weather turned nasty again so I postponed a trip and then took a couple of local repeat clients out to fish the flats on Wednesday. They enjoyed almost non-stop action including the catch and release of several stripers 29 to 31 inches (8 to 10 pound fish). My new fly, as yet unnamed, produced very well. Mackerel have been caught outside. They are reported to be big. Some anglers are concerned that they are so lager that they won’t be good bait for live lining. Captain Charles Crue |
Merrimack River Report #2 June 3, 2003
we returned to Joppa Flats and they enjoyed some good schoolie action.