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Cape Cod &the Islands
June 14th, 2004 |
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| FishWire Coordinator: | Dave Churbuck |
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From Donald Duck to Orvis
In the beginning there was Donald Duck, Son of Zebco. Kid gets the worst rod and reel in the world, for he isn’t trusted with a real hook, and has to frustrate himself with a rubber sinker until Donald Duck dies and the whole mess ends up in the trash with the $30 badminton set and the Big Wheel. This leads, thirty years later, to nostalgic senility and the desire to perpetuate the cycle by inflicting the same thing on Junior.
Steal father’s tackle. About the time that one becomes independent enough to be permitted to ride one’s Huffy to the dock or beach without supervision, one comes into contact with sin and corruption in the form of other children who always have better bicycles and fishing tackle. In one’s first effort to keep up with Paternal tackle theft leads to one’s first "real" rod. This is purchased, with great ceremony, at the Temple, also known as the local tackle shop. This is the Bar Mitzvah of the Fishing religion, the slaying of the Lion by the Zulu boy, the Sioux Sweat Hut. If fortunate, purchaser is father and not mother, for mothers are ignorant of the way of the first real rod and default to Donald Duck (or his Idiot Brother, Shark Reel) or the Drop Line. Father, in effort to impress upon his offspring his expertise in the Rites of the Temple, will Real Rod sustains boy-man until the issuance of the First Pay Check. This milestone marks the coming of age of the boy-man and his initiation into the Cult of the Annual Percentage Rate, who’s God is Lord Visa. When boy-man becomes man-boy and parts with his own lucre for fishing tackle, evolution accelerates, and if misfortunate, man-boy becomes a Tackle Addict, an affliction for which there is no known cure but the Evil Mate.
Man must return to the Temple weekly and must buy new offerings to the Fish God for Man cannot live with one rod alone. Every occasion for worship requires new ecclesiastic offerings. The Church of Wasque and Bearse demands wire and parachutes for it is known that Saint Striper feeds not on monofilament alone. The Synod of Fluke requires the venerable Fluke Rig. And no bluefish shall be unhooked safely without Captain Andy’s De-Hooker. Eventually all hell breaks loose. Enter the Dreaded Fly. Man decides to try fly fishing. It isn’t enough to merely catch fish. Now it becomes imperative to catch fish in the hardest possible way, aka "Sport." This splinter sect of the Cult of Tackle is the Priesthood of the O woe to he who walks the righteous Path of the Fly, for he is condemned to a lifetime in the Cult of the Annual Percentage Rate, of fierce and unrelenting vitriol from the Evil Mate, of the scorn of the Base and Coarse Baitmen. Obsessed by the Bible of Orvis and Bean, he frequents new Temples and forsakes the youthful ways of Lord Donald Duck forever. Unless, of course, he was born filthy rich and given a Sage RPLXi with a Tibor Everglades on the occasion of his fourth birthday. But what’s the fun in that? And who wants a name like Chauncey Withington with Roman numerals on the end of it anyway? A Porsche is only fun to drive in middle-age if your first car was a Vega. On to this week’s reports. Finally feeling like summer out there, hey? Anecdotally, it seems that the surprise species of the spring has been the sea bass. Which leads us to the word of the week: protogynous hermaphrodites. That’s right, eat a sea bass and you are consuming nature’s very own sex change; for all sea bass are born female and eventually turn into males. There, don’t you feel smarter because you read the FishWire? Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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Then follows the Drop Line. Beware of fishing rods that are square and come in a plastic bag. The Drop Line leads to one’s first experience with yucky bait. Find a clam, and lo let there be bait. Smash the clam open with a rock, wrap the cheapest hook known to man with wet piece of clam, dunk over side of dock or boat. Catch sea robin, refuse to unhook monster and cry. Extra points and a guaranteed life-time aversion to fishing if the first sea robin is substituted for a mature eel.
the Joneses, one borrows the old gent’s high-end St.Croix graphite rod with the Van Staal mortgage payment on it. Other children are impressed and jealous and either break the rod tip or help fulfill Penn’s Law of Reels, which states: The Probability of A Reel Landing In Sand Increases With Its Value and the Youth of Its Holder.
swallow his wallet and overspend on an "Outfit." Father would not be caught dead with said "Outfit", which is as sophisticated as a Russian Tractor and made in a Chinese sweat shop. First Real Rod is accompanied by First Tackle Box. First Tackle Boxes always must contain white and red plastic bobber and white and red enamel spoon. Fish scaler, stringer, and a plastic frying pan filled with split shot are de rigeur, which is French for "useless but part of the deal."
The Evil Mate is a nonbeliever who hates the Temple and hates the Rite of the Tackle Box. Consorting with the Evil Mate necessitates the learned behaviors known as Stashing the Tackle and gives rise to the oft-told: Food on the Table Myth. But hey, can’t live with them, can’t go fishing with them either.
Fly. Woe to the Fly Follower, for he is condemned to wander the earth with The Tackle Which Maddens All Men. The Fly Follower Renounces the Bait of the Drop Line, the Eel of the Drop Line, the First Real Rod, and all other temple rites save the Ceremony of the Fly. The Food on the Table Myth is debunked, and the Fly Follower begins to proselytize the liturgy of Catch and Release, and deems all finned creatures to be inedible (unless prepared by the restaurant at $30 a plate).Cape Cod Regions
| NEWS |
| These are great days for big fish. So many places and so little time. Time to break out of spring habits and start hitting the big beaches and rips. Middle Ground has been cooking. The Place That Shall Not Be Named in the Drinking Village with a Fishing Problem is coming into its own. Nantucket's place to be is the jetties. Vineyard is generally infested. Canal not so hot these days. Northside is hopping and Captain Terry got up close with the species of the week -- a big basking shark! |
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Captain Joe LeClair of North Eastern Anglers (http://www.flyfishcuttyhunk.com) emailed to report: BobG posts: "I hit one of my little private areas in the Wings Neck area tonight with the fly rod. When there was an active herring run in Red Brook, this was a consistant spot to take large fish, even on flies. But, this run died several years ago, and big fish are sort of an anomaly these days. "The smalls (18-24") made a nice showing this evening. As has been the case since late a April, this area always seem to have a good supply of small bait. In spite of that, I never see bass breaking on them. The bass tonight were deep, and in close. Hanging right at the edge of the drop-off. Most times only a 20' cast was needed." Captain Bob Paccia at Shoreline Guide Service reports: "Buzzards Bay is alive with bait. Huge schools containing millions of tiny 1½”-2½” sand eels are making there way though our waters. Numerous small pods of “fall-back” alewives and blueback herring are hugging the edges of the canal trying to avoid hungry stripers and blues. Fallbacks, are those ragged looking ones that have run the gauntlet to spawn in fresh water and have returned back to the salt. Squid of all sizes move in and out with the tides. And interestingly, some schools of mackerel have also moved into the west-end of the canal. Although it is normal for the east end to hold mackerel at this time of year, I am surprised to see some large schools in our neck of the woods. And, yes there were some large bass pushing them right down the middle of the canal. "With all of this variety of bait around it is important to be “matching-the-hatch”. This is true whether you are casting a fly, tossing a plug, dunking a chunk or live-lining baitfish. Remember, older and bigger stripers have gotten that way by avoiding offerings that just doesn’t look “right”. Also keep in mind that if your presentation is poor, you probably won’t hook-up with a savvy cow bass that has seen it all. For example, I see so many fly casters and pluggers who are sight-casting to breaking stripers and they cast out beyond the fish and retrieve the artificial right over the breaking fish. Does it make any sense to have the bait swim towards the fish that are planning to eat them? Usually, frightened bait swim away from attacking predators, not at them. This sounds like common sense now, but in the excitement of a blitz it’s easy to get frazzled. "We continue to do very well using large (6”-14”) weighted herring and now even some similar sized mackerel patterns. I prefer using full sinking lines that are one or even two weights heavier than the fly rod is rated for. This combination in conjunction with relatively short 5-7 foot tapered leaders makes it possible to make long casts (70-100 feet) using these very large weighted flies. It also allows you to use a minimum of backcasts. This is especially important when casting for fast moving saltwater fish. You can’t waste time. On my boat I encourage my clients to practice keeping their backcasts to a maximum of three. "On one of the trips this week with good friend and repeat charter Bill Maykel of Rochester, Ma, we had just finished catching a number of stripers and bluefish, when we saw breaking fish off to our left. When we got there and both hooked up immediately and to our surprise, we were bringing in 4-5 pound black sea bass. These are a prize eating fish that are usually caught bottom fishing with squid strips, clams or green crabs. I have never seen these fish so aggressive as to be busting on the top chasing small sand eels and small squid. We were using Clousers on 1/0 and 2/0 hooks. I went back later in the morning and found them on top and just as cooperative." |
"Had several great days of fly fishing this past week. At one point we were throwing topwater poppers on the 12 weight to schools of 20-25 lb. Stripers for 4 hours. I think we hooked several stripers on squid flies that were up to 40 lbs. but I know we landed Stripers on squid flies up to 30 lbs. Water temps are now high enough that the fish are feeding much better earlier in the day. In addition on the days we have bad weather and heavy wind we are getting shots at the big bass all day. I think a majority of the bass are still to come around the islands and things should stay hot for another 4-6 weeks."
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Middle Ground has been fishing strong on squid patterns but the fleet that takes up battle stations on the rip can be overwhelming at times. Tons of discussions on the forums about how to fish the place with rubber and squid patterns should you find a slot to back your boat into. Waquoit and the pond entrances are predictable and sure shots, especially on the outgoing tides. |
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There hasn't been a lot of new coming out of the Canal this past week. But Bill Downing reports: "Did the graveyard shift at the Ditch both east and west end, E winds and all, and it was predictably dead. Fish would tap jigs occasionally but not aggressively. The W current was just screaming. Most of the time, 4 oz was not enough to stay down unless you practically threw it 180 degrees up current . I did see two small keeps caught, so some are around if you can tend bottom and get out where they are. No surface breaks at daylight, although they were breaking a bit at night. "Later, went to the undisclosed south side inside location and loaded up on smalls to 20 inches or so, including one blue." |
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The rips are the place to be. Succonnesset has had some nice legal bass whacking at squid patterns. Sea bass down deep around Lone Rock. Good eating. Inshore the action is predictable, but the bluefish have pushed into the harbor. Lots and lots of micro bass in the channels, but I suspect bigger bass are there, just at hours I am unwilling to fish. |
Cotuit is infested with five pound bluefish. Pick a calm day and you'll have some flyrod heaven. Unfortunately, the spring winds haven't given up too many calm days, but on Tuesday morning it calmed down enough to let your humble correspondent break out the ten-weight and pick off a couple on a popper, my first top water flyrod blues of the season.
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Captain Leslie Smith of Backlash Charters, emailed to say: "Fishing around the Vineyard continues to be good, as it should be this time of year. Fish are coming from all sides of the island. Nice big bass in the 30 lb. plus range came in last weekend from the north shore, with smaller fish coming from east of Chappy. Tom Shoal has slowed a bit, but fish are just starting to show up in the rips off Wasque. Middle Ground is still producing and there are small blues almost everywhere. We need some warmer weather and an end to the dreaded easterly winds to kick things into our normal June pattern." MkDeceiver posts: "Ran to Oaks Bluff area early...Not much, picked up Sea Bass for grill while jiggin up bait...Then ran to Robinson's hole...Rat Blues...Then ran to Quicks hole area....Nothing....Then Ran to Devils Bridge....No 30 lbers, but a fish close to 20lbs on bait(not really my style, so I watched).... "Then finally, with wind at backs and turn of tide, the seas smoothed out a bit. Ran up Vineyard Sound and ran into acres of blues by West Chop. Couldn't manage to find Stripers, but the 4-7lb blues were fun on my Fly rod....Then Middle Ground for 2nd half of Incoming....Before 10 boats showed up it was pretty good. My friend scouted on the tower and I threw into the rips with big White Deceivers...Got a couple mid-to high twenties fish and then took off as the place was getting hammered." |
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Bill Pew at Fisher's Tackle on Nantucket took some time after the lunchtime rush to tell us: "There a good mix of bass and bluefish over here. The bass are showing up quite nicely inside the jetties on the outgoing tide and fishermen are getting them with live eels and Pearl Bombers. Fly rodders are catching then on Deceivers on the inside of the west jetties from the flats. Things are coming along quite nicely here. "Out at the 40th Pole there are lots of small and medium sized bluefish between three and seven pounds. The surfcasters are catching them on tin -- like Hopkins -- and top water plugs. "On the wadable flats off of Eel Point a number of fly rodders have caught a few bass, but nothing of any outstanding size. "There is an interesting harbor fishery happening inside of Polpis, where for the past three weeks people have been catching bass on light tackle with small Clearwater poppers. One intrepid angler who works at the airport tells me he had a 20-pound fish on this week, and one considerably larger that wrapped itself around a mooring and broke off. They're using eight to 12-lb. test to get these little 3/8th oz. black and silver poppers out to the fish. "Finally, we have a report of much larger fish out at Great Point on Thursday morning. Some of these fish are claimed to be in excess of ten pounds. We haven't had any fish that size yet this season." Antboy reports: "Yesterday, I did something that I rarely ever do. A friend and I hitched up with a charter boat Captain out of Nantucket. The fishing was great, the company was incredibly entertaining, and one of the most hackneyed expressions proved true once again: you learn something new everyday. "The short(er) version is this-- We met up with Capt. Shawn Bristow at 4:30 am, and while this guy was very laid back, he was as prepared as you get. We motored toward MV for a bit, and once Shawn cut the motor and told us the goods, we were in to fish in no time. We used squid type patterns down deep that were at least 12" long, and I baoted plenty of fish over 30" up to 36". What really amazed me was how much I learned from Shawn. Even the smallest bit of advice made the biggest difference. At the risk of sounding like his agent, I was blown away by how much knowledge this guy had crammed in his brain, and I would highly recommend him to anyone." |
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The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy
Randy Jones of http://www.yankeeangler.com , has signed on as Reel-Time's S.E. Cape Cod correspondent. He writes this week: Tip's: 3 fly lines I always carry to cover all my bases. Clear - for shallow water or educated fish, Floating -during slack tide (dead high or low) surface feeding or Blues, Fast sink fly line for deep water or sometimes the beach (dependent on surf-size of swells - waves) ." Bill Downing posted in the forums: "Then I hopped a certain ferry that begins with an "R" for a certain flat that begins with an "S." By then the wind turned hard NE, the air and water temp noticeably dropped and so did the bite. It was nothing but blues, mostly cutoffs, for the rest of the morning. Next time I'll bring a bite guard." |
"Still a nice migration of fish moving through the area. Seeing more resident bass that are becoming a little fussier in the shallows while we wade the many S.E. parts of Cape Cod. If fishing shallow, I've done best with real looking sand lance patterns. All Marsh, tidal rivers, actually all of the Cape, North, South, Outside area's all producing. Flies, lures all working fine. Seeing more Blues around the S.E. part of Cape.
"Even on a gray, cool morning on a certain well-known flat, I managed a 36-inch striper on a chartreuse-white half-n-half on a run that went right down to the reel arbor (there was current), another nice one that surfaced half way in and threw the fly, and a bunch of bluefish cutoffs. Yep, them things are now there . Lotsa other bass and blues were finning right in front of me and ignoring everything.|
Captain Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters took a busman's holiday this week and went fishing by himself on some northside flats. He had a Close Encounter of the Good kind with a shark: "When I finally felt like I had taken all the photos I could of the big shark I went back to fishing. I had a steady pick of 18" to just-legal fish on the usual flies and lures. I decided after an hour or so to go back to the first flat and see if the crowds and the airboat had let it settle down. "Final tally, plenty of fish. Nothing of any real size, the largest being just legal. The conditions were perfect for drifting around the shallows. The water was a tad colder than I would have liked only reaching 60 in most places. Small sand eels were everywhere and so were the small bass that were eating them. The fish ate just about everything I tossed, including flies and topwater. I just couldn’t find the right big fish lure. "Overall a nice calm day by myself with no pressure. The fishing was good and the sighting of the big shark in the shallows was once in a lifetime for me. IT made my whole day to see that immense creature up close and personal." Surfmaster reports: LowWall reports: "Fellow reeltimer Vossman and I Launched at Blish Point at 6am, Harbor loaded with Boats and Shore bound fly guys. Headed right to the Shoals. Not like your typical June morning, Cold and Windy. We caught one small blue, We moved in to some Flats areas and located some small pods of sand ells and caught a bunch of stripers from 12-30in. Fished real hard for very few fish. All fish were covered with sea lice. Sand Eel clouser imitations and sluggo’s were the Flieslures of the day. Tons of seals out there, Saw one group of about 6. Dead crabs everywhere. All in all a good day!" |
"This big critter was apparently looking to avoid the crowds just like me. I was shocked to find a shark of this size in less than 4’ of water. Most of the time that I was photographing the big creature it’s back was partially exposed. It had apparently pushed in shallow to feast on the clouds of sand eels that were massing on the sand flats. I took nearly 100 photos while the shark worked the skinny water around me. He seemed undisturbed by my boat, as he would often pass within several feet of me as I sat with the motor off. He just moved around the channels and occasionally would push right up onto the shallowest areas 
in search of a meal. While I’ve seen plenty of Basking Sharks in the past this was a whole different ballgame. I was able to see every bit of the animal in the gin clear water. Also the time it was near me was much longer than any past experience.