6/17: Bass still around Sag Harbor

[Tuna]

Saturday, I returned to the spot that was so hot the week before.

At first, although I was seeing pods of 2 to 6 fish in the same area, I could barely get a follow. Thought I was in for a day of spotting but being frustrated by bass. But before I went to other spots on the shore, I saw a single pushing its nose in the sand, and this one hit pretty aggressively.

The tide was a bit too high to easily spot bass at this spot, so I tried another area of the shoreline with less water (a spot I can't make it over at dead low), and had a few hours of decent action. I saw lots of 8 to 10 pound class fish, but at best got frustrating follows (and at worst spooked 'em with my casts). However, small pods of smaller bass were biting from time to time.

Around noon I met up with fellow RT member Dan D, who I had emailed hints on where to find bass on the flats around Shelter Island. He hadn't been able to spot them yet, so I figured I'd show him some shore area I was sure he'd spot them on.

In several ways, it was a good intro day to flats fishing for bass. There were enough around and we had great visibility from the sun so we both continued to have shots at fish, and on the other hand, there were no "gimmes" as a lot of the bass spooked or turned to the fly without hitting. A day like this is pretty typical, in that one had better enjoy spotting and scaring or being ignored by bass a lot or maybe one should fish in a different way.

While we fished together, I had even more shots at the larger class bass and Dan probably overheard a fairly steady stream of swear words on my closer chances.

We both, however, got some bass to cooperate and sure got a look at some nice pods of fish. Near the end of the day we doubled, which was a nice way to draw the day to a close.

We got our action on a variety of clousers.

If the heat starts coming, this area will get unfishable soon, as the flats around here reached 80 degrees last July 4th and the bass stopped hitting and were present in much smaller numbers.