Sum Sum Summer Time

So the it's mid-summer and it's mid-summer fishing. Middle of the day and the fish don't eat, unless off course it's cloudy or something. Yesterday the fish were hungry for flies, today while fishing with my nephew and his friend, the fish were loving the Hogies. The fish seem to be between 24-26". I don't know where the Mommy fish are hiding.

Timing is everything. This summer it's been good and not so good. It was good when my client hooked a 36" striper just at the moment that I was telling friends on another boat that they should come fish next to me as there were "big fish here" when BAM a big fish hit the lure as if I'd staged the whole thing.

It wasn't so good yesterday. I was on stage for the local whale watchers when, for reasons that are way too complicated to explain, I managed to drop my boat off the back of the trailer on to the ramp. It was awful, not only because it's tough on the boat, but why did it have to happen in front of a boat full of tourists? I can hear the announcer now "yes, that boat on the pavement belongs to local fishing guide Captain Ms. Salty Fly"... The boat suffered only a little damage, as for me, I'm still recovering.

So today we traveled far only to find the first bluefish of the season. It was a flat calm morning and seemed like a good day to test out some of the farther reaches of the neighborhood. I saw the charter fleet trolling back and forth dragging their wire rigs and headed inshore looking for "grass patches". A couple of breaking fish alerted me and quickly my fishing companion and I were hooked up to some mid-sized bass. It seemed like the traveling was well worth it until the flies and lures started to disappear. Bluefish, Cape Cod Bay's sign of mid-season. The goodnews, the fish drought has mellowed. The bad news, these fish have teeth and not only pose a danger to my fingers, they can go thru tackle like you wouldn't believe. The lure companies refer to bluefish as their business partners. For me, all those tired, rusty flies that served their purpose this past spring and early summer, are re-vitalized and given a second chance. That's the news for today.

It's been a while since I've gotten to my fishing report blog, in part as I just spent a week "off the grid". About a mile and a half (as the crow flies) from my house is an old fishing colony populated with small houses, most of which feature no running water or electricity. The world out there is about sand, birds, fish and (of course) good eating! Traditionally this is a week when I wake with the sun, fish most of the day and fill in the other time slots with eating. This year was a bit different with less time devoted to fishing and more time to the socialization part of eating. Nevertheless, there was good time on the water.