A day that had it all

 After struggling for a long period, the day before I wasn’t sure how it would play out as I jumped on the boat. We had started fishing together just after the full moon period, the tides were getting smaller, and the weather was very changeable. Given how barren the offshore action had been yesterday it was clear the fish were covering huge distances and not really holding in areas outside of the harbour. We decided to pass on the live bait collection again and got straight to business on a fishy spot on the corner of an island with a rip. Joe hadn’t got the boat into position, and I was straight into a fish on the glide bait. With another awesome sunrise in full effect, it was another great memory for me to take away from my trip.

Joe then repositioned the boat to drift onto the rip and we were both into stripers. It was very much like fishing for bass at home with the fish being on the upside of the rip. I couldn’t help thinking how good it would have been to fish spots like the this from the shore at night for fish like these, someday maybe.

Before we left the dock Joe got a tip that there was a big blitz near Boston light at 8am the day before. Given how we had struggled he decided to go and check it out, maybe they would make an appearance again. As we got closer, we could see birds, boats and stripers hitting bait. There was wind against a strong ebb flow which made it sloppy and with other boats in the area just a little bit chaotic. The other boats had ring fenced the blitz at that point and with a view to some kind of etiquette in our entrance to the mayhem we looked for a spot. I clocked a few fish on the right-hand side and Joe edged the boat in that direction. This proved to be a stroke of luck as the minute our lures hit the water we were doubled up. As it happened the fish were moving towards us. I think we were doubled up three times back-to-back with some serious fish. When the fly rod came out, I was a bit of shambles, after throwing lures then switching to 10 weight my casting was poor. I managed to slow things down after a few minutes and Joe threw a 9-inch spook with no hooks to tease the fish within range of my fly.

After coming close on numerous occasions I had my 40+inch striper

When things died down, we went slowly around the area keeping our eyes peeled for breaking fish. I decided to put the fly line out the back, Joe asked me to slowly work the fly with long pulls and a drop back. I had just commented on how good it must have been fishing when I hooked up. The fly line left the reel along with most of the backing but after a few moments I got broken. That one hurt, even after all the fish I had caught this week.

Sunrise eats, blitzes, fly rod action and a trip PB, the day that had it all. I had started to think about going home and how the last day would pan out. This would have been a good point for my trip to end but I had another day. Having been completely sated by the fishing experience over the last four days anything else would be gravy.

Officially Autumn

The weather read the script for the 1^st of September, cooler with some rain in the forecast as well as a potential swing to the east in terms of wind direction. We passed on the live bait collection; Joe had kept a few in a cage at the dock and we hadn’t needed it so far.

To start the day, we made a perfect drift along an island with the ebbing tide casting as tight to the shoreline as I could with Joe’s $110 glide bait. Joe called it perfectly on a little point of rock where he said there should be a fish waiting.  Just at that I had the first fish of the day as the sun came over the horizon, good start.

From there we were offshore, inshore, tight to the shoreline, up the coast for miles and even tried trawling large X Raps for Porbeagles around wrecks. These were being caught with some regularity using this method, so on a day like this it was worth a shot. Joe had also packed two heaver set ups for Bluefin as a few had been spotted recently. The truth is the ocean was completely dead everywhere we went, no birds, no bait. With the early starts, rain and throwing heavy lures and no action, I was starting to feel it. It was at that point I made a cast to rocky bay and snapped off Joe’s glide bait. It was in about 6ft of water, and I was set to go in for it. Joe took the boat in, and we kept an eye open for boulders. He wasn’t having me do then honours but fortunately there was some braid floating which we were able to pick up with another lure. My lucky lure, big pink had survived!

We made a run back to the islands around the harbour to pick up on the flooding tide, I wouldn’t say I was hopeful. However, when you persevere good things can happen. It had been 4 hours since I had any sign of a fish, things can change quickly.

We continued that drift as Joe tied a new FG knot and I managed to hook another big striper from a stretch of beach he hadn’t caught from before. His mate sniped the action, I had no idea where he was, he also got a good shot of us with Boston City in the background. 

And that was kind of it, or so we thought. When we got back to the moorings there was a lot of activity with bunker splashing around but no signs of stripers. That changed when I threw the glide bait in for one last chuck and it got smacked within a few turns. Joe also hooked up on a live bunker while he was on the phone. The fun continued for us both till we had enough and called it a day. You know your lucks in after a tough day and you find fish 30 yards from where you started at 5.15 am

Another blinder of a day, pretty much out of nowhere. Joe went to his house on the way back to my digs, picked up a bag of cold beers and gave them to me. These were made for a fund raiser for a Great White Shark tagging program, I got tagged. I woke up at 5 pm starving after polishing them off. Daytime drinking and early starts, I was on holiday after all.

 

Stripahs!

Day two and I’d already decided my attempts at the Boston accent weren’t going well. If I couldn’t manage stripahs and Boston Hahbah as the basics, I’d be as well packing it in. We the left the dock in flat calm conditions after Joe stopped for a coffee. Being on the water at this time of the morning is special, we were blessed with another light show from the east.

We stopped for mackerel but caught mainly coalies which Joe called pollack in this part of the world. Apparently, the stripers don’t like them as much as mackerel or bunker, so these went back. It was then full throttle and off to find the main quarry. By about 6.30 am the stripers were active and crashing through mackerel shoals a couple of miles NE of the harbour.

As we found the fish hitting bait it was a case of approach with care and get the lure amongst them or in front of them. Being up front again gave me the best of view of the melee. I told Joe it was going to happen, and he get this shot of me just as a big striper took the lure and did it’s thing. You can see the fish on the right hand side of the image, absolutely superb action.

By about 8 am it was all over. We could find bait but no stripers so we headed back in to try right up in the city.

We tried slow trolling live bait and throwing lures right under the flight path of the airport, through Boston and right up past the city. It was really interesting to see many of landmarks that I remember from movies like Black Mass and Mystic River, any fish would have been a bonus. We stopped to put some fuel in the boat for the next day, and Joe produced some lobster and brioche rolls. A great way to end another super session.

I was even starting to feel the love for this monstrosity, pink with a chartreuse tail, not a colourway I would have picked. Having also now had a chance to have a look at some bunker, the profile of that fish was very similar to lure.

Bound for Boston

For about the last 25 years I’ve wanted to fish for Striped Bass. Having tried to put a trip together or join someone else’s it hadn’t worked out, I wasn’t sure it would ever happen. Ideally that would have been on a beach or rocks and preferably at night, but it wasn’t to be. My 60^th birthday gave me the reason to eventually go and get it done.

I chose Boston as it was pretty much fly in and fish, did some research and made some calls. With that being done and the Tartan Army having left the city, a lone Scottish foot soldier jumped on a flight with high hopes. My fingers were crossed for better results.

I opted to stay in Winthrop, just outside the city and a 5-minute walk to the boat ramp of my skipper Joe Gugino. After a quick F2F intro on day one we drove down to the dock, he handed me three Costa Del Mar truckers caps, I picked the one I thought looked the luckiest and we set off into my first Boston sunrise. First stop live bait, mackerel had been thin on the ground, we needn’t have worried as I made short work of filling the live well in 20 minutes. I was thinking, was this a good omen?

With the back up bait collected it was off to find some fish on lures. With about 8 rod set ups to chose from, Joe handed me one which was set up with a glide bait attached. He went on to explain how he wanted to hate on them initially. I felt the same way. At 9 inches long and about 5 oz it was going to be hard work. Being assured of their effectiveness I started making some casts watching how the lure worked at various speeds and on the pause and twitch. About 30 mins later I had a follow and then my first Striper exploded on the lure. In the early morning sunshine, it was one of those anticipated moments you get in fishing which didn’t disappoint.

At this point we were fishing amongst the islands, and I had another couple of fish in quick succession. In all honesty if the day had ended there, I would have been happy. Joe then got a heads up from a contact that there was a blitz on a few miles outside of Boston light. When we arrived it was absolute mayhem, being a weekend there were lots of boats but also lots of birds, bait and Stripers! Keeping your eyes peeled for breaking fish and running close to them to set up your drift for your best guess as to which direction they were traveling was the name of the game. It was some of the most exciting fishing I’ve done. Casting up front gave me a great view of multiple fish following my lure, missing it numerous times, hooking up coming off and being hit again.

Day 1 had been an absolute screamer. Joe assured me it wasn’t always like this just to keep my feet firmly on the ground. I knew this to be true as invariably this is how fishing is. Like football, it’s the hope that can kill you. For today, it was fist bumps all morning and a few beers when I got back to my Airbnb. 

Great session at the weekend

 

Rumours of my demise

Just about two years since my last blog post. I’ve met a few lads recently that wondered if I was still alive, thankfully and for the time I am 😊 To be fair I’ve not pestered the fish too much this year, but here’s a few from winter, spring, and summer.

I’ve spent some time getting into MTB over the last 2 years, it's been great. I’ll never make the Red Bull Rampage scene, but I’ve had a lot of fun (and some injuries) trying.

Anyhoo, van time this weekend, if you look into my blog, good health, tight lines, and bent rods

Martin

Seat with a view

No van or fishing this weekend, we climbed a local hill for the sunset on Friday night and chilled out over the weekend. Even up there with the sun going down, I was angling with the Mrs. I think we'll be be on a ferry shortly. Just about where the sun went down, I would imagine they'll be decent winter Pollack waiting.