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Moonlit night at Matunuck 9/11

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  GregD 
#1 ·
I finally managed to get out fishing after weeks of fires to put out. Truck, boat and computers all failing and requireing lots of TLC and $ to get back online.

Headed out last thursday to enjoy a night out fishing during the full moon. Started under the big light behind the Ocean Mist. Bunker and Silversides were spraying all over with fish busting out in small groups here and there. Already was a fly guy there who told me no one's catching anything and he hadn't had any hook
up's. I was there about 15 minutes before I hooked up with a 34 incher. Picked up another in about another 15 minutes. It was about 26 inches, got a couple more around 28 inches before things slowed down. Couldn't help notice a couple skinny dippin down the beach, yes those lights are bright. :devil:

Moved down the beach towards the point and the rock shoals. Several guys coming in told me the caught about 50 between them. They were kind enough to point out where the fish were feeding and told me I had about an hour till I should be off the shoal. I went for it, heading out alone offshore in the moonlit surf and found the bustin stripers in the white water. Hooking up was the easy part, trying to get the fish in and off the hook without getting knocked over in the waves and slippery rocks was a bit more difficult. Ended up walking them in far enough to deal with them safely in the shallows. Caught 4 in just over an hour all 27-30 inches in size.

Although I was soaking wet from the surf and my feet were killing me from walking in the rocky surf, I was still smiling from ear to ear. What a magical night out fishing it turned out to be. After missing one of the best camping/fishing trips of the year (The Boneclave) It felt good to finally get out and catch some fish.

Tight Lines,
Greg
 
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#3 ·
Good post!
I was out the next night at Watch Hill. Ended up pulling an all nighter, fishing sunset to sun rise. Although my actual catch rate wasn't very high for the time spent, the numbers of fish I saw feeding was astounding! It was basically an all night blitz of 28 - 34 inch bass on billions of peanut bunker. By morning, the fish that were caught were packed like bean bags with bait. They actually looked comical with their distended bellies!
It was tough getting them to find a fly amidst all that bait but a plug swam through whitewater got more attention.
It was a beatiful night with peekaboo moon and crashing six footers throwing spray up into the parking lot.
I love it!
 
#4 ·
Hi John,

The fly guy I met was using floating line with unweighted flies. I was using weighted flies and a floating line. With all the bunker and silver sides around I was using a big-eyed brown, black and white clouser with floating line to reduce surf influence and allow for quick redirection if needed. I also caught a few with a herring pattern trying to stand out from the crowd. Who knows maybe I was just lucky at getting the fly in their feeding path.

Greg.
 
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