7/1-3: Some Bass at Shelter Island

[Tuna]

Saturday and Sunday, I fished the same mini flats around Shelter Island I went to the previous weekend.

Both mornings, on the way out, I ran into schools of blues and took a few. Sunday's morning feed was large, a school about 10 feet in one direction but nearly 100 yards long. School split into several separate schools after other boats found it and joined in. Small blues, but still fun watching 10 blues go for a fly.

On the mini flats, there were a fair number of good sized pods both days, but they were not hitting as aggressively. Even using a light, small sparse clouser, the pods would spook if you misjudged the front of the pod and landed the fly in the middle. There was one point on Sunday where I had repeated shots at a pod of about 30 fish. Despite many follows, I never hooked up in that pod.

Though the fish were not hitting aggressively, their numbers led to a handful or so of landed fish each day. I had one 10 pound class bass (first in several weeks) I saw in less than a foot of water cruising alone and got a cast in front of it and it finally hit after following the fly 10 feet. Most of the other larger bass I saw, however, wouldn't take (some of them just ignoring whatever I threw at them). The 4 to 6 pounders were a little more cooperative.

Monday I decided to fish the crack of dawn, hoping to see some more large bluefish feeds. I got a few small bass casting the edges of the channel in 3 mile harbor, and hooked and lost another off mini flats on Shelter Island. But that morning, no blues visible anywhere I went.

Gonna miss fishing July 8 weekend - gotta go to a coworker's wedding.