6/24 - 6/25 Monomoy - Doesn't get any better!!!!!!!

[adrian]

I was fortunate to have a couple of day's on Monomoy with Kris Jop and I can only descibe the experience as totally awesome! After what Kris described as lousy weather for most of the spring, Saturday saw perfect weather. About 15 mins. out we saw gulls (not terns) working what Kris reconned were squid out in the deeper water (15 ft- ish) - we actually saw a few in the water. The stripers were there in numbers and BIG GUYS! I tied on a ridiculously large squid fly (8 inches )which I had tied for Tuna and was rewarded first cast with a 32 incher. Sunsequent activity was fast and furious but the frenzy never lasted more than 10 - 15 minutes in any one place. We moved inshore a bit over about 5-6ft. Water clarity was great and the fish just kept on coming. Initially they were finickey until we tried small sparely dressed sandeel patterns (Kris had tied some beauts with Icelandic Sheep hair about 2 1/2 inches & the diameter of a matchstick). Strikes came fast and furious for a while. Moving closer inshore, the fish were there but a lot harder to fool. For the day, out of about 20 fish (I stopped counting after 12), only two were below keeper size. The biggest fish we saw was riding shotgun to one of my keepers as it came to the boat and was easily twice the size!

Sunday was almost as good as Saturday. The nice part was that whilst more wind made deeper water a bit uncomfortable, the fish in the shallows seemed more willing to hit a well presented clouser. Sight casting, visual takes and long, long, runs. Best fish was again well over 32 inches. Great visual take in two ft of water before it set off for Nantucket!

I saw fish in the shallow water channel next to the cut but went marching off without my bonefish flies (which I has taken specially for such a situation). I could only get them to follow for a while & then they'd shy away at the last minute- fine and far-off is almost certainly the answer for these guys in skinny water. My advise would be to not go undergunned however. I was using a 9wt and 10lb fluoro most of the time and it took quite a while to get these fish back to the boat. Anything less would just mean a prolonged fight and more stress on the fish.

There were also a lot of small blues about - 3 to 4 lb just to add interest.

I've had some great experiences at Monomoy but this was the stuff of dreams. Sitting back at my desk in Manhattan it's hard to believe it happened.

I will post a pic or two when I get chance.

I am very very jealous of all you conclavers who will be up there next week-end. Have a great time!

Anyone looking for a great guide for Monomoy need look no further than Kris. His knowledge of the flats and fish behaviour is extensive and he's also a very nice man!