fmw
06-22-2003, 10:28 PM
On Friday at 5 pm I thought I was going to have a terrible weekend of sitting inside my apartment in NYC. In an effort to avoid depression, I made a last minute decision to head east and was rewarded. I didn't make it out in my boat but did a bunch of what is one of my favorite things in life to do: catch bass from shore at Sammy's Beach.
Sand eels are in. They were especially thick in the sandy flat and "pocket" abutting the breakwater. I walked up to the beach there early Saturday morning to find bass crashing and baitfish spraying. The water was flat calm as it was in the lee of the east wind. As so often is the case in this situation, the fish were very finnicky and I had to change flies a number of times and really didn't catch all that many compared to the show I witnessed. I never really found a killer fly, switching among small clousers and epoxy flies. I think I ended up with 4 bass 22"-27". As the bass fishing began to wind down, a bluefish blitz picked up in the 3 Mile Harbor Channel and I caught a half dozen or so blues. A great feeling standing on rocks next to the breakwater fighting a bass while a blitz was going on behind my back.
Went back Saturday night for about 45 minutes and had one small bass and was repeatedly cut off by (and also caught a few) blues that were in the "pocket" area that were inhabited by bass during the a.m.
Despite staying out till 1 am, I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed this morning for one more round. It was a misty rain, windy and now with a chop as it was coming from the north. The same bass show started and the bass were still very finnicky. It didn't help that blues were mixed in and I got cut off a few more times. I lost a bunch of flies over the weekend. I ended up with four more bass, 24"-27" and some blues. Some of the bass were picked up dredging my sinking line in the 3 Mile Harbor channel where the fish were not as finnicky.
In all, things look good for the next several weeks. Theres now a lot of bait, a good body of fish around and still cool water temps. Despite all of the crappy weather, I think when it is all said and done that we may remember this as a very good spring fly fishing season.
Sand eels are in. They were especially thick in the sandy flat and "pocket" abutting the breakwater. I walked up to the beach there early Saturday morning to find bass crashing and baitfish spraying. The water was flat calm as it was in the lee of the east wind. As so often is the case in this situation, the fish were very finnicky and I had to change flies a number of times and really didn't catch all that many compared to the show I witnessed. I never really found a killer fly, switching among small clousers and epoxy flies. I think I ended up with 4 bass 22"-27". As the bass fishing began to wind down, a bluefish blitz picked up in the 3 Mile Harbor Channel and I caught a half dozen or so blues. A great feeling standing on rocks next to the breakwater fighting a bass while a blitz was going on behind my back.
Went back Saturday night for about 45 minutes and had one small bass and was repeatedly cut off by (and also caught a few) blues that were in the "pocket" area that were inhabited by bass during the a.m.
Despite staying out till 1 am, I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed this morning for one more round. It was a misty rain, windy and now with a chop as it was coming from the north. The same bass show started and the bass were still very finnicky. It didn't help that blues were mixed in and I got cut off a few more times. I lost a bunch of flies over the weekend. I ended up with four more bass, 24"-27" and some blues. Some of the bass were picked up dredging my sinking line in the 3 Mile Harbor channel where the fish were not as finnicky.
In all, things look good for the next several weeks. Theres now a lot of bait, a good body of fish around and still cool water temps. Despite all of the crappy weather, I think when it is all said and done that we may remember this as a very good spring fly fishing season.