Had what I suspect will be the end of my guiding season trip this past weekend, and a good one it was. No Monomoy sight fishing action, but a migratory intercept mission.
I usually take three basic strategies this time of year:
1) find the large moving masses of fish and bait in the daytime where they are likely to make landfall
2) target dusk, night and dawn times for fish holing up for the night in estuaries, bays, inlets; preferably with adult bunker around
3) cover a lot of ground along known migratory routes looking for the motherlode
Well while scouting for the trip I found big bunker and big fish holing up on the Nantucket Sound side and a night time blitz erupted after most folks went home. Went to the inlet and South Beach, quiet but for a few schoolies. First light the next morning - dead as could be, no bunker showing and most of the fish had moved out. Made for a boring start to the trip but things got better. Lesson (re)learned: migratory fish don't hang around very long.
After a quick look in the presumably warmer inlet waters of Pleasant Bay (wrong!) we opted to begin search and destroy (option #3) and luckily found the motherlode (option #1) along the Nantucket Sound shoreline, literally the shoreline, with fish busting and birds working and bait spraying all day long until the cold north wind and rain drove us to seek a bar for some high-fives, stuffed quahogs and a cold beer. I would think the guys landed over 40 fish between them, but who's counting.
A lot of motion on the mid-cape heading to the south cape area and if you find them holed up for the night you can put your offering in the buffet line and hang on tight.
Good time to fleece up and put a good effort in before the winter nixes the good times until May!
I usually take three basic strategies this time of year:
1) find the large moving masses of fish and bait in the daytime where they are likely to make landfall
2) target dusk, night and dawn times for fish holing up for the night in estuaries, bays, inlets; preferably with adult bunker around
3) cover a lot of ground along known migratory routes looking for the motherlode
Well while scouting for the trip I found big bunker and big fish holing up on the Nantucket Sound side and a night time blitz erupted after most folks went home. Went to the inlet and South Beach, quiet but for a few schoolies. First light the next morning - dead as could be, no bunker showing and most of the fish had moved out. Made for a boring start to the trip but things got better. Lesson (re)learned: migratory fish don't hang around very long.
After a quick look in the presumably warmer inlet waters of Pleasant Bay (wrong!) we opted to begin search and destroy (option #3) and luckily found the motherlode (option #1) along the Nantucket Sound shoreline, literally the shoreline, with fish busting and birds working and bait spraying all day long until the cold north wind and rain drove us to seek a bar for some high-fives, stuffed quahogs and a cold beer. I would think the guys landed over 40 fish between them, but who's counting.
A lot of motion on the mid-cape heading to the south cape area and if you find them holed up for the night you can put your offering in the buffet line and hang on tight.
Good time to fleece up and put a good effort in before the winter nixes the good times until May!