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Another Great Day On SB

2K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  flydoc 
#1 ·
Just feel fortunate to be able to enjoy this TOTAL environment! Ventured to the land of SB with Carol (wife) who enjoyed the sand, sun and shells on the beach....Amy (daughter) who saw and hooked up with numerous cooperative fish, Garry (a good friend).
Met up and fished with the classy Simms clan...always a true pleasure! Saw Juro taking his client on a mini death march :)....saw Adrian arrive on the shores in his yak which was equiped with everything except a rocket launcher (at least I didn't see it).
Many thanks to the Simms, Adrian, Keith and Juro for the congrats given to Amy re her engagement....that really made her feel great ("like family")...she said.
As I said...a TOTAL great experience!
Ron
 
#2 ·
Great day, great tide - but my guess is that the refuge was in between major waves of migrating fish and the residents are far from settled in. I did not find them where expected although my guest on the refuge did get some classic shots at pods of big fish and singles and landed three nudging the legal mark and had some real cows on the fly that did not eat. He was an athletic / hiker type so we did the circuit around SB tip. The outside was a dud.

The Simms clan quotes George Ryan as saying that a couple of days prior (Thursday) had the most fish on the flats in all his years of guiding on Monomoy; and Sean Ransom had a special guest on the outside beaches with ridiculous numbers as well. Paul Cheever, the Simms, Fishhawk were all there and saw many thousands of fish. Yet it was slow on the weekend as that phase of the migratory population moved on to terrorize the north shore or Maine. Mike Doogue - they are coming!

I've also experienced days where the fish were pulled into a gathering by bait and thus stayed off the flats, and that's also a distinct possibility based on that 2 hour long sand eel / whirling tern display on the middle shoal. There was a tremendous amount of bait out on that isolated shoal, but since that new cut behind the old J bouy bar got serious we could not explore that fracas on the flood although Quentin was real close before crossing back to the mainland just in time. On the refuge an infusion of bait will draw a huge percentage of the bass to it, so much so that they seem missing from adjacent areas.

But I stand firm on the migratory phase lapse opinion, with 40 pound fish coming through the canal and the fishing hot in Jersey we still have a long way to go before the migration is over.

The wind shifted north / northeast for the day but is back on the SW track again. I hope it brings the summer fish up.

Observations:

Outside structure on south beach is boring at best. The bar everyone thought was gone is still there about 1.5 miles south of the crossing, and the section north of the crossing is more interesting that south.

Nauset on the other hand is as good as I have seen it. The sand structure I was amazed by a week ago is largely gone, but it might be back tomorrow - this is probably one of the most unstable shoals on the entire east coast. However I still maintain the opinion that in the dog days it will be a sand eel mecca.

South beach flats are quite interesting with the biggest feature being the separation of the old J bouy bar from the mainland c/o a significant cut to the main channel adjoining a deepened backwater in a reverse L shape.

The problem this introduces is isolation from the mainland for waders. I suspect one could still hang out on the middle shoal through the whole flood but the bad news is he/she would HAVE to as there is no crossing until the drop. This could also be a problem in the event of an unusually high tide so not advisable without some form of flotation.

I was pleased to see that the amount of flow on the incoming was not trivial, nothing like two years ago but still enough to get any fish in the area excited. There was a lot of flood pushing against those first few shoals and that old boater's beach hole has grown huge.

The vegetation seems to have increased overall as the flow diminishes, although it's still too early to tell. I suspect that the dog days will be very doggy like last year.

The blue hole up near the K-L stretch seems to have grown into a very large basin behind the flat. I will bet that fish will play in that on peak flood before the temps get too warm for good oxygenation and that could be a lot of fun.

Schoolies everywhere on the dropoff as usual. Oh yeah and that large mass of fish out on the moorings in the AM was big pogies. You know what that means.
 
#3 ·
Juro.......thanks for being politically correct and adding "she" to the "he" :)
Given her success...contrary to popular opinion....the pink hat appears to serve as a beacon for the fish:hihi: ...not to mention sand eels tied purple over pale green over white....go figure???? Artistic and effective.
Ron
 
#4 ·
I did more paddling Sunday than fishing but it was interesting to see all the changes. The structure between Hardings and West common flats had changed quite a bit. The high points from last year are somewhat flattened out but the channels are still there so plenty of interesting structure to be explored by the careful wading angler. I had intended paddling into the crib via the Nortern arm of the West side channel but ran into solid sand about 1/2 mile from the clam flat. The bottom of the old channel is jet black and occupied by countless horseshoe crabs.

It was a long paddle South to get into the crib system but once there, the main Channel looks to be still well defined. The South branch that hugs the S Monomy shoreline looked inviting but the wind had picked up from the East and I wanted to check out the inside. Paddling into the wind and the sun resulted in some encounters with nice fish but by the time I put the paddle down and picked up the rod the shot was compromised. I was wishing I had a spin rod on board - maybe next time:lildevl:

I landed on the shoal that used to be the Seal's haul-out spot. Its now a very nice flat (if you have floatation) with various shallow scoop/ ledge structures. I had a couple of good shots here and managed to pull the fly from the mouth of good fish twice :roll:

I didn't go all the way South since there were so many boats already there but will definitely be headed back that way.

On the final paddle back up to the Tub, the wind dropped completely and the water was like glass. I spotted a few finning fish in the weeds and wished I'd brought my 5 weight. Long leader and small flies did the trick. Casting to one fish, the entire area erupted as a hundred plus bass all decided they didn't like the intrusion.:smokin:

Finished up the day with nice fat 25 incher with good shoulders and covered in lice

p.s. Ron, tell Amy I like Purple too over rootbeer/olive/yellow/white. :)
 
#5 ·
I would have to agree with the general consensus about Thursday. I have never seen that many fish on the flats and it was at times ridiculous. Out of the thousands and thousands I only saw 4 that were clearly legal fish but it sounds like the Simms located some better size. The surf was good on Thursday with slightly larger fish in the mid 20 inch-to-legal class and excellent visibility.

Saturday in comparison was very slow and I still only saw a few larger fish mixed in with the schoolie pods. It was still a far cry from the salad days of all-legal fish moving through at a regular clip. Lots of anglers standing too deep had many of the schools spooked and swimming at full speed by the time they crossed my position.

Still no bluefish :confused:
 
#6 ·
Now I'm really itching to get out to SB! I've fished Morris island the past two weekends because of the conditions not being sight fishing friendly. I did fish the stage harbor inlet Saturday and caught two fish in the 25-30" range, along with 20 or so schoolies. I spotted two cows in the 40" range (unfourtunately the line was out, damned blind casting mode...)..
 
#7 ·
Good!

Juro,

Glad to hear that they are coming my way!

This is the point in the season when I am jealous. A few twinks in NH for me yesterday while Chatham is loaded with bass.

I am dedicated to learning my home waters but the lure of Chatham is calling me. I miss the good ole' days out on the Mecca and such.

Go get em' while the action is hot!

Mike
 
#8 ·
juro said:
The Simms clan quotes George Ryan as saying that a couple of days prior (Thursday) had the most fish on the flats in all his years of guiding on Monomoy....
Thursday was great fun! The fish were primarily small, but we did see some big ones. The challenge was to present the fly to them... there were thousands of fish and a schoolie would invariably grab the fly.

I was fishing with Dennis Kelly down by the Southway. I was "downstream" of Dennis in an area where the schools were coming up-current onto the flat. At one point, in the midst of the hordes of schoolies, I saw four big fish coming. I cast to them, made a couple of strips, and then hooked up!

I leaned back hard on what I thought was one of the big boys. I almost pulled the lips off an unlucky schoolie. :roll: Lucky I didn't fall in....

I yelled to Dennis to alert him to the approaching keepers. He replied that he had them in sight. He casted and smiled; I knew he had the fly right where he wanted it. Strip, strip... "Got him!" he yelled, leaning back on the rod just like I did. Another unlucky schoolie nearly got airborne. :chuckle: And so it went, through the outgoing, low and incoming tide.

Thank goodness they weren't all big fish. I would have had to call home to quit my job and put my house up for sale!

Good fishing,
desmobob
 
#10 ·
chatham floatila?

I was wondering if any of you guys that are fishing the surf side of South Beach have been seeing boat activity out off shore. Last year we did not get a lot of action out there until late in the season. I am wondering if things are different this year.

Has anybody heard about any action out at Bears Shoals or the Rip out on the point of South Monomoy?
 
#11 ·
Craig.....I didn't see any boats surf side on SB the last 2 times I went. No fish visible either day as well although one guy I hooked up with had one good day surf side this year (last week).
It seems to me that the season is later this year....i.e. blue fish haven't showed yet in Chatham...they are usually there 5/15 to 5/20 ish.....stripers are presently only coming on the flats for brief moments (with the exception of what the Simms clan saw one day last week)....my last 2 trips had stripers on the flats for about 2 hrs in the a.m.....nothing in the afternoon.
I'm no expert given that I have only 5 yrs under my belt.......but my guess is that the season is starting late due to cold water/frequent days with north winds and rain storms and low day/night time temps in comparison to seasonal averages. 3 weeks ago I saw massive #'s of sandeels....last 2 times, not a one.
I really don't think that there has been a consistent weather pattern as of yet that sets the wheels in motion with some consistency....of course....that day could be today. Sure is fun checking though :) 3 to 4 days of consistent S-SW winds with temps in the upper 60's/70's should start what we are all hoping for.
Ron
 
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