Channel Edge Charters

Monday, February 08, 2010

Fall 2009 Cape Cod Fishing Tale

September 2009 Cape Cod Fishing Story

We arrived on the Cape for another fall vacation on Labor Day. This year Pat and I are here a little earlier than previous years. As usual I have been doing a lot of shore bound fishing at various locations. Tuesday I visited the local Orvis shop in search of fishing hot spots. Chris told me that the fishing has been good but that as usual this time of year there is not a stable pattern for finding stripers or blues. The sharks and seals have affected the fishing along the Chatham-Monomoy coast. Last week there was good striper action when he waded on the Brewster flats on the good morning low tides.

I decide to try a few of my favorite places. So Tuesday I tried some jetty fishing out side of Wychmere Harbor. I went to the overlook at the Chatham light in the morning. There was a fisherman down on the beach and one getting ready to go down to chase a school of fish, probably blues that were chasing bait along the channel. The fish were moving pretty fast, working in towards the fish pier. Neither fisherman got near enough to get a good cast in before the fish disappeared. I decided to look at Morris Island and try some other spots. The tide was near low and I didn’t see any signs of fish action there. I tried the Wychmere jetty but did not have any action with my light spinning rigs. I also tried the jetty at the Herring River with the same result. There was no bird action that I could find anywhere I looked. I went back to Wychemere and took out the fly rod hoping to find some snapper blues on the outgoing afternoon tide but nothing happened. So, my fishing success for the first day was zip! But it was very pleasant just to be out fishing in the beautiful Cape Cod environs.

Wednesday morning I visited Morris Island, just inside of the upper end of Monomoy. It was windy and as I looked around, using my binoculars, I failed to see any signs of fish. I did see one fishermen coming back along the beach. I hung around to talk to him and he showed me a nice 7 or 8 pound bluefish that he caught down the beach. He said the blues had some bait trapped and he caught a few. He also said there were some sharks there. He was wading and up to his waste so he was nervous. I would not have stayed in the water. A day or so later, I had some luck. I caught an 7 or 8 pound blue on a Kass Master that I cast way out to the edge of the channel where I saw some breaking fish.

The high tide was around 3:30 PM so went over to check the jetties at Red River Beach. It was getting very windy, blowing from the Northeast. I knew it would be tough to fish at Morris Island so I decided to check the Saquatucket and Wychmere Harbor areas. When I arrived there were white caps just outside jetties and it was blowing pretty hard from the East.

I saw a lone fisherman out at the end of the western Andrews River jetty. It looked as though he was unhooking a fish. I noticed birds working further out. I got out my binoculars and confirmed that the fisherman had, what looked to be, a bluefish. That was enough to get me moving. I took out my 7 foot medium spinning rod and a small selection of lures including some rigged soft baits, a couple of metal spoons and a white popper. As I was walking the beach towards the base of the jetty I saw the angler fighting another fish. I worked my way out to where he stood. He looked to be getting ready to leave hefting a couple of 5 or 6 pound blues. He told me he had caught other blues and some stripers earlier that he released. I made a few casts with a spoon without a hit. Then I tried the popper. Still no hit! I switched to a rigged soft bait. Bang! I had a fish on. It was a nice striper schoolie. I soon caught a couple more and then I felt a stronger hit. It was a bluefish of about 6 pounds. The action went on for a bout an hour before it began to slow. By that time I was running out of soft baits because of the blues tearing them up and was using only the spoon. I caught and released a total of 10 blues and 9 stripers. One striper was about 25 inches long. It was great fun! I am looking forward to my days ahead here on the Cape.

The weather continued very windy with off and on clouds Thursday and Friday. The wind has been coming from the East. That is not the most favorable for fishing. My experience verified that view since I only caught one very small bluefish over those two days. I did see one bait fisherman with a nice bluefish which he got in Wychmere Harbor on the high tide. I tried the jetty where I had good fishing on Wednesday but had only one tap on spoon that I cast out. I didn’t go out to the end of the jetty because of the high tide and strong causing waves to break over the rocks.

Saturday was windy and cloudy in the morning. After a few futile casts at Red River beach I decided to try Morris Island again. I put on waders and a waterproof fishing jacket because rain showers were predicted. As it turned out the sun almost broke through while I walked and waded the beach. I did not see any sign of fish being around and
had no hits on my lures as I worked around towards Hardings Beach. I met three fly fishermen resting on the beach. They were here from Denmark and had been fishing all week with not a lot of luck. They told me they had landed one bluefish that morning. I fished all the way around the island to the point where Stage harbor and the Oyster River empty out to the bay. It is normally a high percentage chance to find fish but not when I was there. After fishing there for about an hour I started walking back along the inside beach and then across towards the refuge parking lot where I parked. It was a long and very warm forty five minute trek with waders on. Oh well, that is how beach fishing is.

Saturday afternoon I fished the Wychmere Harbor outlet and waited out a heavy band of showers. All I caught was a couple of mini-bluefish.

Sunday morning the wind and rain were gone. It was cloudy with light fog. The tide had been going out for about an hour when I arrived at Red River Beach. There were a couple other fishermen on one of the jetties and one out in a kayak. I walked out on one of the small jetties. I caught about a half dozen mini-blues. I decided to go back and try the jetty where the Andrews river empties out in Saquatucket Harbor. It was a good move.

As I worked my way out on the jetty I had a good hit on a Kastmaster spoon. I had a couple more after that. I did not hook any of the fish. I decided the hooks were too small on that lure so I switched to one of my rigged Fin-S softbaits. I soon had a good solid hit. It was a striper about 18 inches long. After that I caught and released 10 stripers ranging from eighteen to twenty four inches. I did not get any bluefish but had one of my softbaits chopped off by one. It was a good time!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report
August 17, 2009

Last Saturday morning I cruised down the Plum River, behind Plum Island to try the Parker River area. The tide was almost high so there was no problem running through the shallow spots. It turned out to be slow fishing in all the areas I fished. I met a good friend who said he had had good striper and small bluefish action the evening before. We both continued to fish the areas as we moved up the river towards the Route 1A Bridge. After the tide changed I connected with a small striper and not much later I nailed a small bluefish. Over the next hour or so both Steve and I caught several small blues before we were forced to run the Plum River back to the Merrimack before the tide got too low.

The morning tides were not good early in the week. One morning we fished outside the jetties and picked up a couple nice stripers. One was close to keeper size.

Over last few days we fished the Parker River again since the morning tides were high and it was convenient to run through the Plum River. There have been lots of small bluefish in the area. We caught them on poppers and sluggos. In the later case the sluggos took a beating but got some terrific hits by the blues. My clients yesterday had a good time. It was good to fish the Parker and avoid the heavy Sunday boat traffic on the Merrimack River.

This morning, as the heat wave continued I fished outside the mouth of the river. There were good sized stripers and bluefish slamming small bait . At times there were blitzes as the bait got trapped and forced to the surface. I caught sever stripers and one 8 pound bluefish on the fly rod. It was a good morning. I forgot how hot it was I was enjoying myself so much.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report July 30, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 30, 2009

The fishing continues to be good. I had some time off but went out Tuesday and Wednesday mornings on my own. The morning tide was high but outgoing so Tuesday I started by exploring Joppa Flats. It was pretty quiet. I couldn’t scare up a striper anywhere as I moved the boat around to various recent hot spots. I then checked the Salisbury side across from Buoy #13. Again, there was no action. I decided to move down closer to Plum Island and spotted some terns diving down to the water surface. Sure enough there were stripers attacking sand eels. I made a quick cast with my spinning rod with a sluggo. I immediately had a hit but lost the fish. After a few more casts and hits I brought in a 20 inch schoolie. The stripers were moving around fast but their location was given away by the birds. I changed to a rigged jig head with a Fin-S and had more success at catching the stripers. One measured 26 inches.

During the melee I had one very interesting thing happen. I had made a cast and while the line was still in the air a tern caught it with its wing. Some how it wrapped around and as the weighted lure sank the line pulled the tern under the water. As I was trying to reel it in so I could hopefully release the bird the lure was grabbed by a striper so for a brief time I had both a striper and a tern fighting the rod. Fortunately the tern freed it itself and I still had the striper hooked and was able to bring it to boat. I have had terns get caught before but never had to simultaneously fight a tern and striper. Strange things happen!

Later that morning I switched over to my 8 WT fly rod and caught several stripers. I would say that the average size of the fish was about 22 inches. They all looked healthy and well fed.

Thursday morning I went out later and went to the same area. This time I found the stripers further up towards Joppa Flats in about 3 feet of water. I caught a half a dozen when I could find enough water near them to get the boat in close enough for a long cast.

So, the stripers are around, and as I mentioned before, the season is better than the same period last year. I haven’t seen any bluefish but haven’t been outside the river mouth recently.

That is it for now.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

July 22, 2009 Fishing Report

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 22, 2009

Fishing in the Merrimack estuary area continues to be good. Much better than this time last season. The stripers are around in abundance with many big fish in the mix. Last week we had some poor weather. However, it was not for a prolonged period. Joppa Flats produced some big stripers and continues to do so. Of course the bait fishermen have been scoring well outside the jetties. I heard that a striper weighing over 50 pounds was weighed in at Surf land. There is probably a photo on their fish catch board. I think it was a bait catch on a boat.

My own experiences included catching a hefty 40 inch striper on the flats last Friday. It was my best so far this season.

Last Saturday I took out a guy and his son vacationing from Germany. Fortunately he spoke pretty good English so it made for a nice trip. Both he and his 14 year old son caught stripers on Joppa Flats. He lost a really big striper when the fly pulled out as the fish neared the boat. They caught stripers using flies and light spinning tackle.

The last few mornings the high tide has moved into the late morning so the stripers have been much more difficult to catch. A friend who fishe very early this morning said he did very well with several stripers over 30 inches. I think he was using live bait. At times I am tempted but I still prefer to use flies or light spinning tackle.

The season is passing quickly it seems. The poor weather we had in June made for many fewer fishing trips. Hopefully we will have more normal weather for the remainder of the season.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Merrimack Fishing Report July 13, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 13, 2009

The weather has turned nice. Since last Friday boaters and fishermen have been enjoying being out on the water. Outside of the river the seas have been flat. The morning tides have been approaching low at mid morning so most fishing action has been down near the jetties or outside the mouth. I have taken clients into those areas after finding no action in the river where last week we enjoyed good fishing but poor weather.

Friday was the first bright sunny morning. We had a difficult time finding stripers willing to hit lures or flies. I think that the bright sky after so many dark ones caused the fish to be weary. Bait fishermen drifting from inside the jetties did a little better. By Saturday the fish were feeding again and everyone was catching fish. We found snapper blues chasing sand eels. The rollers, caused by the low outgoing tide made fly fishing difficult but my client managed to get the fly out into the action to connect with the blues. Later we moved out near the sandbars off of the south jetty where they caught stripers and larger bluefish (4 or 5 pounds). The weather was great and it made for an enjoyable fishing experience for my clients from Utah. Stirling and his twelve year old son had a good time and I enjoyed guiding for them.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Merrimack Fishing Report July 1, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 1, 2009

Since my last report the weather has continued to dismal and wet. Some days were cooler and with wind out of the NE or E which only made being out on the water more unpleasant. Late last week my clients fished hard under the poor weather conditions for little reward. It was frustrating for me not being able to get to places due to conditions or getting somewhere only to find a few fish or finding fish but unable to get them to take flies or lures. I kept thinking that the weather and then the fishing would get back to normal soon.

The bad news is that the weather continued to be lousy through the weekend but the good news is that the fishing improved. Saturday morning one of my clients caught a “Merrimack Grand Slam” defined as a striper, shad and bluefish. The bluefish was a total surprise as it was caught on Joppa Flats. It was a nice 8 pound fish. I had heard reports of blues outside the river mouth but not in the river.

Monday one of my clients caught a really nice big striper that measured 39 inches and weighed well over 20 pounds. Wow, at last! They also caught stripers down river near Salisbury.

This morning, my clients had a real treat as we had striper action all morning out in the fog. One striper was a 28 inch keeper (that we released) and many smaller fish probably averaging a little over twenty inches. The action was pretty steady over the four

hours we were out. I now feel like it is becoming a more normal Merrimack fishing season.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Merrimack Fishing Report

Merrimack Fishing Report
June 21, 2009

I am tardy getting this report out. A week ago I was in Virginia for a long weekend, attending a reunion of the Eastwind Association. The Eastwind was a USCG icebreaker that I served on for two years out of my four year tenure in the Coast Guard many years ago.

The June fishing in the inshore waters of the Merrimack River estuary has been slow this year. There have been some nice big stripers caught but not in the numbers of past seasons. The weather may be playing a big role in this but I recall that the middle of last season was not good, although it was good fishing in June. Who knows why June is not what it has been in past years? It could be a normal cyclical thing or perhaps it signals a decline in the striper population. I think we will just have to wait to find out. There haven’t been any official fishery decline notices that I know of.

I do not want to give the impression that those of us that love striper fishing should not bother going fishing. Back in May we experienced some very good fishing with stripers averaging in the mid-twenty inch size range. In fact I was concerned at the lack of the smaller 18 inch or so schoolies that usually hit any fly thrown out. But yesterday my clients did catch 6 or 7 schoolies around 16 inches.

I heard that there have been some bluefish caught outside the river mouth so the blues are showing up a lot earlier than last season. That is good news. Anyone who has caught an 8 or 9 pound bluefish on a fly or light spinning outfit knows about the action that they provide.

As I close this report I guess my message to you is to get out and enjoy our fishery keeping in mind to release your catch if it is undersize or you do not plan to have it for dinner.