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Cape Cod &the Islands
July 25th, 2003 |
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| FishWire Coordinator: | Dave Churbuck |
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Blowhards, tackle shops, and the summer's fading fast
Your everlasting summer
The wind isn't helping much. I can't even get out for fluke let alone something for the fly rod (yeah. sure, fluke on the fly is a "blast"). This is usually the week I start rigging up for bonito, wrap a dozen white bonito bunnies, and start the fruitless circle of Cotuit to Waquoit to Green Pond to L'Hommedieu, Hedge Fence, O.B. ferry docks, State Beach, Poge and finally Succonnesset. Guess where I usually find the tasty little speedsters? That's right. About a mile off of the end of the Cotuit channel. When will I learn? Okay, to this week's sermon: Tackle shops. A little pigpile started in the forum this week as someone started grousing about a lousy reel repair experience they had a well known bait and tackle that is not, and has never been a Reel-Time sponsor. Fact is, few tackle shops are Reel-Time sponsors. The one's that do sponsor and contribute to these reports are usually run by fly fishermen who either focus on, or have a big portion of their shop devoted to the skinny sticks. As far as the Cape goes, there are only two "pure" fly shops and both are Orvis affiliates (Fishing the Cape and The Sporting Life). Walk into most any bait and tackle and you'll find some flies in Plano box, a couple Cortland starter sets, and maybe some lines and leaders. Some, like Eastman's, Nauset Angler, and I'm sure many others, are awesome hybrid shops. Some of the "baitier" places don't stock any fly stuff. But full-steam ahead fly only shops like Peter Jenkins' Saltwater Edge in Newport, or Chip Gouger's departed and missed Fly Shop in West Barnstable are few and far between. It's got to be a tough row to hoe trying to make it as a fly only shop. I guess the upside is that there are no eels to keep alive nor pallets of frozen butterfish to worry about thawing when the power goes out. But the inventory is expensive to maintain. In the winter I suppose you survive on tying materials; in the summer it's the walk-ins who want one of those cool looking fly rod things, and then there are the hardcores ... Someone on the forum raised the point that the "no-questions asked lifetime guarantees" warranty on rods has come back to haunt rod companies. I'm not buying a rod a year. Heck, I haven't purchased any significant new tackle in three years. I still have the original Valentine that I started with -- and except for the time I lost a custom Sage 12 wt.; 10, and 8 weight in the Miami airport -- I haven't really had to replace anything. Everybody has to love a good tackle store. I like them the most in the middle of the winter, on a snowy weekend day, when not a lot of people are in the store and the owner or staff has some time to shoot the breeze. Fly tying demos, guest appearances by fly fishing rock stars ... all are great excuses to beat back the cabin fever and maybe learn something along the way. Summertime is crazed and I've long learned not to expect more than a smile from a hassled shop owner on a nice Friday afternoon. Walking in with a seized reel and expecting it to be stripped, lubed, and re-lined just isn't realistic. For obvious reasons I can't sing the praises of my favorite shop -- I'm supposed to be unbiased -- but I will say this about it: it's little, it's been around a long time, it's not the place I would drop $500 on a new piece of graphite, but it's where I get my bait, it's where I go when I need a Donald Duck rod for a nephew or a real spinning outfit for a teenager. It's also where I go to catch up on things, to get a demo of the latest cool gizmo, to swap gossip about where the fish are, and talk in code so the other customers don't know where it is we're talking about. Just curious, so I put together a survey. Visit this link -- Reel-Time Tackle Shop Survey -- and take the time to answer the thirteen questions. I'll make the results available for all to see here.
Until next week. Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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Cape Cod Regions
| NEWS |
| Joe LeClair says the schoolie bluefin are back for all you big game hunters out there. Good luck and may all rod warranties be lifetime-no-questions-asked. Northside is where the action has been ... out of the wind. Southside? Some action down in the Elizabeths. Nantucket is rife with little bluefish and a couple flyrodded bonitos came ashore on the West End. |
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Captain Joe LeClair at Northeastern Charters, reports: "Fishing this past week has been difficult with all the wind. We have managed to get into some great action for large Bluefish and Stripers dispite the aweful weather. In most cases when the wind comes north at this time of year it really turns the fish on. With this storm over the last few days the wind |
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Curt Jessup at The Sporting Life in Mashpee Common was in good form Thursday afternoon when he phoned in this report: "A friend just returned from catching a 60 pound bluefin on a spinning rod on a scup out at the Dump. He wanted to catch it on a fly rod, but it wasn't happening. Another good friends has seen some bonito or false albacore crashing east of Tarpaulin Cove and in Lackey's. Me? I have not seen them. "Most of the guys have been working out of Barnstable Harbor to stay out of the wind. It's been okay ... not great, but there are some 24 to 29 inch fish on the flats on the incoming." |
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It's slow in the Ditch. Bill Downing reports: "Hope you guys do better than I did last night. No hits, runs, or errors. Not even a hint of bait. And two experienced Canal rats fishing near me had no better luck. "About the only thing I haven't been using is eels, which may be the ticket at this point." |
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Still fish to be found inside the bays. Brave souls those fish, the boat traffic on the weekends is humming along, but still, I see fish in the mornings popping on the surface. Bluefish off the beaches -- little tailors, the snappers aren't far behind. Heard some good news about brown sharks for those who are so inclined. But .... this howling southwesterly is keeping reports to a minimum. Should turnaround in the next week or so as the bonito pop their heads up. |
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Captain Leslie Smith of Backlash Charters, emailed us on Wednesday: |
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Bill Pew at Fisher's Tackle isn't a big fan of all this wind either. But there's fish to be found. "Still got plewnty of little bluefish, one fellow reported catching some closer to 6 to 8 pounds on the way out to the Galls in the Chord of the Bay. Great Point is still closed due to the piping plovers. "We did have the first bonito caught on the outside beach on the way to the Galls on Friday. A couple flyrodders have taken bonito at the West End. We're still getting some bass; the Sluggos are selling like hotcakes. They are taking them on the green and the silver/black ones in six inch sizes." "The water is so warm over here it is like a bathtub. So there's not too many good bass in the harbor, but they are at Eel Point, and I saw a lot on the flats last weekend. We were throwing Clousers and Merkin Crabs, but they were swimming independently and weren't paying any attention to it. Pete Kaiser, a commercial bluefin ace, was in the shop and said he's seen no indication of activity yet. Looking around in airplanes, and seeing plenty of whales and bait, but no bluefin." The report from Cross Rip Outfitters: "No BONES, No BONES Since my last report on Bonito we haven't seen or heard of anymore caught. Maybe some chance sightings but no proof of the presence of Bonito. It's blowing about 20-25mph out there today, maybe it will shake things up a little and we will see some more.My offshore sources had a couple slow days over the weekend also. James Kilmartin was out on Saturday and covered all the regular offshore spots with no luck. Same thing from our friend PJ Rubin lots of empty ocean.I got out with my Sunday fishing buddies,my mom, Phyllis Burchell and Lou Ungarelli and had a nice day of sightfishing. My first cast and Bang fish on. Sometimes you get lucky. He was about 28" and very chunky. He took a small tan and white clouser. We finished that drift and decided to hit the first spot again. This time mom was on the bow and again hopped up on the flat and Bang another hook up. Hers was bigger than mine 32". Not a bad fishing team. Lou unfortunately didn't have the same luck as we did. He had a fish turn and open his mouth but never felt him. We saw good numbers of fish and a few big ones. For those who haven't heard some of Great Point is closed due bird nesting. Spoke to the gate house and the person explained were you can go. The middle road is open. From the gauls area to the point is closed. Coatue is still open and the fishing is still good. A customer was in today and said he caught a nice Bass off Eel Point last night. Tim Griffin also told me of a keeper taken off the south shore. There are still big Blues off Miacomet to the Airport with an occasional Striper following them around. Capt. Shawn has been reporting when they hook into a smaller Blue big Bass come up trying to eat the blue. Pretty Cool to know there are some big Bass out there. The North Shore from Dionis to Great Point is loaded with medium Blues. The harbor is holding Blues and Bass. Get out and wet a line maybe you will be the one with a Bonito tale to tell. " |
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Bob Parsons has been fishing and clamming out of Barnstable a lot lately. I expect to see him on the South Side as soon as the bonito are confirmed. "Hit the harbor today a hour before low. The emerging sandbars helped cut down the chop due to the wind. Picked up a few schoolies in the channels around the islands. No way I could use the fly rod there today. When the tide was right I got my supply of clams for this weeks chowder. Moved out to the east flats to fish the rising tide. Someone misjudged the tide and wind and ended up high and dry on the flat. With the wind at my back I got great distance with a sluggo. Bunch of schoolies with the largest @27". "Back at the ramp there was an EPO doing his paper work. Certainly was not there checking boaters with only 2 trailers in the lot." KTMmmm, the free-form reporter of Cape Cod Bay writes: |