Tuna
06-29-2003, 11:02 AM
Sometimes, the stars align and everything clicks.
That wouldn't describe my 2 days out, although I had an "adventure" (Bob may dispute), a good fish and a potential concurrent lapse of judgement.
Good friend Bob came out, with my overall plan being to wade flats Friday and, if things were heating up too quickly, move the boat to Montauk Saturday and work structure.
Friday started great, with 3 mile harbor showing more signs of life than ever. Most of the signs were bluefish and Jeff Palmer, who had been out a while when we bumped into us, told us the many bass he had seen had a one day case of lockjaw. But still, it was wild to see so many pods of surface feeding fish.
It was still a bit early to see while wading, so Bob and I took a drift at Sammy's Beach. Tons of sand eels and many pods of small bass, but they were picky and spooky. I had Bob on a very small sparse brown clouser and he turned a fish but decided to watch a few minutes.
I used his rod/fly combo and finally turned 2 fish of a pod of 3 - got a hit from a micro, but lost it. Cast back to it and was rewarded with the absolute smallest bass I've ever caught sight fishing.
Bob then got the biggest hookup of the 2 day trip, and hence was born our adventure. I had brought a single spinning rod which I had thrown a lure on with the thought I'd debarb the hook later.
Bob had just moved the rod and a wave made him lose balance and a low grunt later, he had the barbed hook deep into a finger. He didn't bite on my suggestion for the only stay out operation option - push the hook all the way through, cut the barb off, pull the hook back.
So we headed back and visited the Wainscott walk in medical shop. Bob was severely bummed and declared himself idiot of the day - the folks at the clinic concurred, but did so with wit and humor and broke his funk. I just viewed it as an adventure (heck, it was his finger, not mine) and a chance for some AC in the now sweltering heat.
About 2 hours since Bob's big hookup, we were on the water again, 3 mile harbor even more active with surface fish than earlier.
I had originally planned to go west, then east if the water was too warm. But Sammy's had been very warm earlier, and it now being past noon, I decided we'd go straight to Gardiners.
Wading Gardiners was a great way to beat the heat, but I saw only a few bass in over an hour and blew every shot I had.
We then tried Acabanac and while approaching saw someone on a flats boat take a bass. We waded in his direction and it ended up being David Blinken, who got another hit as we waded inside of him. I told him of my plans to move my boat to Montauk the following day and he suggested (as in prior seasons) I was going out too early and just needed to use smaller flies.
Bob had a few shots before David pulled out, but I kept wading along the shore without seeing anything but an attractive woman following me slowly along the beach. A few minutes later, my chance to show off arrived, as I saw what looked like a decent bass just 4 feet from me. I swung a short cast to it, saw it turn as the fly sank, stripped once and it hit hard. It took off like a freight train into backing, and the lady behind me started up a conversation... She was interested in fly fishing and had gotten some gear in Colorodo where she lives but hadn't tried yet... Was I a catch and release fisherman? (I said generally yes). What was the fish (a nice bass). She was here to work at a health spa as training for a health spa job she would have back home at the end of the summer and so on and so on.
All through the conversation, this bass was giving us both a show, rolling on the surface before running into backing again and repeating it between brief lulls in our chat. The more I fought it and saw it roll, the more I realized it was a better fish than I had thought.
Got the fish and showed it to her (I like showing women my big bass), and she was a bit surprised to see what was probably about a 30 inch fish taken from shallow water. We chatted a bit more and I suggested that if she wanted to learn how to do it, she might want to contact David Blinkin ("the guy who was fishing in the boat who just left") as he is a very good guide.
Huh? Major league brain freeze? How often does a young, relatively attractive woman, interested in fly fishing, strike up a conversation with a dirty old man?
Rather than continue the conversation or do something practical like get something other than her first name, my love for flats fishing led me to continue my wading outside of where she could easily follow. I was rewarded for my implicit values decision by a grand total of one sea robbin a half hour later.
(Note to self - next attractive woman claiming to be interested in learning how to fly fish, offer to teach her how to fly fish yourself or at least get a phone number.)
We were losing sun, so I dragged Bob off to Goff Point where we played with blues for a while and called it a day.
All evening I replayed images of that fish. Not the largest I got sight fishing this season, but the one I will remember the best. There's something intimate about being in the water with the fish, and being so close when they strike.
Saturday, it was my turn to play idiot of the day. Rather than fishing where we knew there were fish, I dragged Bob out to Montauk in search of larger bass. Leaving 3 mile harbor for the season, we saw blues feeding all over.
Didn't stop once until we got to the lighthouse.
Within minutes, I got a 20 inch bass, chunky and covered with sea lice. I thought it a sign of things to come but that, my friends, was the day.
We did chase some blues in the rips (we would have done better in 3 mile harbor) and Bob saw a few bass near the shore on the south side, but it was SLOW out there.
One thing that shocked me was how many of the dark bottom spots I fish mid summer were bare. TedS had hinted this to me sometime earlier. Areas which used to have 30 square feet of weed bed near shore (the "mines" I've brought many a nice bass out of) were gone or reduced to small patches. Sure hope some of it grows back as the waters out there warm, but it looks like I may need to get creative while waiting for the pelagics to arrive.
That wouldn't describe my 2 days out, although I had an "adventure" (Bob may dispute), a good fish and a potential concurrent lapse of judgement.
Good friend Bob came out, with my overall plan being to wade flats Friday and, if things were heating up too quickly, move the boat to Montauk Saturday and work structure.
Friday started great, with 3 mile harbor showing more signs of life than ever. Most of the signs were bluefish and Jeff Palmer, who had been out a while when we bumped into us, told us the many bass he had seen had a one day case of lockjaw. But still, it was wild to see so many pods of surface feeding fish.
It was still a bit early to see while wading, so Bob and I took a drift at Sammy's Beach. Tons of sand eels and many pods of small bass, but they were picky and spooky. I had Bob on a very small sparse brown clouser and he turned a fish but decided to watch a few minutes.
I used his rod/fly combo and finally turned 2 fish of a pod of 3 - got a hit from a micro, but lost it. Cast back to it and was rewarded with the absolute smallest bass I've ever caught sight fishing.
Bob then got the biggest hookup of the 2 day trip, and hence was born our adventure. I had brought a single spinning rod which I had thrown a lure on with the thought I'd debarb the hook later.
Bob had just moved the rod and a wave made him lose balance and a low grunt later, he had the barbed hook deep into a finger. He didn't bite on my suggestion for the only stay out operation option - push the hook all the way through, cut the barb off, pull the hook back.
So we headed back and visited the Wainscott walk in medical shop. Bob was severely bummed and declared himself idiot of the day - the folks at the clinic concurred, but did so with wit and humor and broke his funk. I just viewed it as an adventure (heck, it was his finger, not mine) and a chance for some AC in the now sweltering heat.
About 2 hours since Bob's big hookup, we were on the water again, 3 mile harbor even more active with surface fish than earlier.
I had originally planned to go west, then east if the water was too warm. But Sammy's had been very warm earlier, and it now being past noon, I decided we'd go straight to Gardiners.
Wading Gardiners was a great way to beat the heat, but I saw only a few bass in over an hour and blew every shot I had.
We then tried Acabanac and while approaching saw someone on a flats boat take a bass. We waded in his direction and it ended up being David Blinken, who got another hit as we waded inside of him. I told him of my plans to move my boat to Montauk the following day and he suggested (as in prior seasons) I was going out too early and just needed to use smaller flies.
Bob had a few shots before David pulled out, but I kept wading along the shore without seeing anything but an attractive woman following me slowly along the beach. A few minutes later, my chance to show off arrived, as I saw what looked like a decent bass just 4 feet from me. I swung a short cast to it, saw it turn as the fly sank, stripped once and it hit hard. It took off like a freight train into backing, and the lady behind me started up a conversation... She was interested in fly fishing and had gotten some gear in Colorodo where she lives but hadn't tried yet... Was I a catch and release fisherman? (I said generally yes). What was the fish (a nice bass). She was here to work at a health spa as training for a health spa job she would have back home at the end of the summer and so on and so on.
All through the conversation, this bass was giving us both a show, rolling on the surface before running into backing again and repeating it between brief lulls in our chat. The more I fought it and saw it roll, the more I realized it was a better fish than I had thought.
Got the fish and showed it to her (I like showing women my big bass), and she was a bit surprised to see what was probably about a 30 inch fish taken from shallow water. We chatted a bit more and I suggested that if she wanted to learn how to do it, she might want to contact David Blinkin ("the guy who was fishing in the boat who just left") as he is a very good guide.
Huh? Major league brain freeze? How often does a young, relatively attractive woman, interested in fly fishing, strike up a conversation with a dirty old man?
Rather than continue the conversation or do something practical like get something other than her first name, my love for flats fishing led me to continue my wading outside of where she could easily follow. I was rewarded for my implicit values decision by a grand total of one sea robbin a half hour later.
(Note to self - next attractive woman claiming to be interested in learning how to fly fish, offer to teach her how to fly fish yourself or at least get a phone number.)
We were losing sun, so I dragged Bob off to Goff Point where we played with blues for a while and called it a day.
All evening I replayed images of that fish. Not the largest I got sight fishing this season, but the one I will remember the best. There's something intimate about being in the water with the fish, and being so close when they strike.
Saturday, it was my turn to play idiot of the day. Rather than fishing where we knew there were fish, I dragged Bob out to Montauk in search of larger bass. Leaving 3 mile harbor for the season, we saw blues feeding all over.
Didn't stop once until we got to the lighthouse.
Within minutes, I got a 20 inch bass, chunky and covered with sea lice. I thought it a sign of things to come but that, my friends, was the day.
We did chase some blues in the rips (we would have done better in 3 mile harbor) and Bob saw a few bass near the shore on the south side, but it was SLOW out there.
One thing that shocked me was how many of the dark bottom spots I fish mid summer were bare. TedS had hinted this to me sometime earlier. Areas which used to have 30 square feet of weed bed near shore (the "mines" I've brought many a nice bass out of) were gone or reduced to small patches. Sure hope some of it grows back as the waters out there warm, but it looks like I may need to get creative while waiting for the pelagics to arrive.