6/9 & 10: Sag Harbor Heats Up

[Tuna]

Fished the shores outside the harbor Friday and Saturday. Lots of bait on the shallows, including some bigger bait than a few weeks ago. Also, a new wave of bass (I think - lots had some type of sea lice on them, which I hadn't seen earlier in the season, and they seemed a bit plumper).

The warmer waters and extra bait seemed to have put the bass into a biting mood. Although I had my fair share of refusals and some bass looked like they were cruising more than feeding, some pods were definitely in a biting mood.

I saw lots of bass show their sides on the bottom, saw a few tailing bass, and saw more surface explosions in shallow water than I ever had before. Around noon Saturday was the most spectacular. I had hooked a sight casted fish and was wishing I had a guest fisherman with me as a pod of 20 fish followed the hooked one when I saw a fish or two surface about 30 yards in the direction I was drifting in. As I landed my fish, bass began to surface randomly (not all in one spot) just outside of shore. Some folks on shore ran for spinning rods but didn't wade out far enough to get their casts to the pod. I drifted in and could see bass everywhere on the bottom in 2 to 4 feet of water. Judging from my line of sight (where I could always see about 20 to 30 fish on the bottom), I guess there were over 50 bass in this pod. I landed 8 in a row before the bass began to dispurse. Although casting to 20+ visible fish is not exactly classic sight casting, the visuals of the bass following and hitting were great. Onyl drawback was the smaller fish (3 to 6 pounds) always got to the fly first.

I did manage to hook some larger bass earlier in much smaller pods, including one I weighed at 10 pounds.

All fish caught on small chartruese clouser.