Charter captains and guides consistently catch fish because they spend a ton of time on the water and understand the patterns our fishy friends follow during specific times of the year. So, odds are good that when you head out on a charter or guided trip, you’ll catch some fish. But do you want just good […]
Read more
We fish in November because after months of relentlessly pursuing something, it would be uncomfortable to quit it cold turkey. The whole “not fishing” thing is something that needs to be eased into. November then, serves a few different purposes—the primary one being the longing for “one last fish” at the tail of the migration […]
Read more
“Meet at the dock at 5 a.m.”
Or at least that was the plan. It was late May, and the first reports of migrating striped bass in Plymouth Bay were making their way around the local fishing community.
Read more
Success in October is a narrow beam of light. Urgency. Last round. You don’t have to leave but you probably should before the month is over, because the bass are few and the weather is usually less than ideal.
We press out into the full moon night with two hours of darkness ahead of us. It’s muggy for October and the boat pushes soundlessly through the water; dirty yellow circus lights from the powerplant to the starboard, clean moonlight refracting the still water to the port.
Read more
The bass pictured above, the one Captain Bill is struggling to hold up? Yeah, we probably shouldn’t have caught it. Maybe once or twice a season, you get a shot at a fish like this. And if you’re lucky, everything goes right and you land it. When you do get the shot, you better not […]
Read more
Folks–if you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I wasn’t able to get much fishing done this weekend. On Saturday, I got married to this beautiful girl. It was a perfect wedding (we didn’t even mind the light mist at the outside ceremony), and the reception was a wild time. My brother, the best man, […]
Read more
This was one of those mornings where everything just lined up. Mid outgoing tide at dawn? Check. Light west wind? Check. A couple buddies willing to drive down to meet me at the dock at 4:30am so we could load up on mackerel before we missed the tide? Check again. The Bay was pea soup […]
Read more
My brother sent me a few pictures today and reminded me of a trip we took across the Bay at the end of June a few years back. Here’s a little teaser. My friend Ryan ended up in the water retrieving a striped bass. Intrigued? Good. During the off-season, there’s nothing quite like looking back […]
Read more
In the beginning, there are rivers. These rivers, winding up from the sea into estuary grass and wooded shoreline, mark the hesitant start to our striper season. But it can’t just be any river. No, successful anglers (or, ‘sharpies’) hold these undisclosed grottos close to the waders. The secret of pre-migration striper fishing is well-kept […]
Read more
The Mal de Mer had been in the water for three weeks, nearly alone in the harbor against the breakwater, joining the lobster boats and other commercial fishing vessels in a sea of otherwise empty moorings. Early May had been unseasonably cold and stormy and the few fishing trips we had taken had ended up […]
Read more