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718 Monomoy Island, flats, fly, wade, South Beach, Chatham

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#1 ·
7/10
Decided to hit the surf off South Beach first thing since it was high tide and foggy. No sight fishing today.
Birds working close to shore within casting range but no hook-ups? As soon as we went to the channel we started to hook-up immediately, using 5-inch sand lance, clouser type patterns. Decided to leave fish to find fish?
Took Outermost shuttle over to Monomoy to fish the dropping tide and see if the same hordes of sardine packed Stripers were still around. Yup, just a few less then days earlier. Each day I'm seeing a few less fish around. Martin was pretty excited today not only with the fishing but he also recently won a Subaru station wagon free in an Orvis sweepstakes! The trick today was to use big heavy clouser eyes, throw it 80 feet, on your back cast, with the 20-25 knot wind helping, maintaining a tight loop, hauling and counting to 30 before retrieving. This produced some nice ones.



7/11
Larry and the crew had a field day banging away at'em all day on spinning rods with 6-inch sluggos, white and gray. 3/8 oz. white jig heads (These imitate the larger Sand Lances that have been around lately.) One keeper landed and 2 big ones lost due to a bent out hook and knot breaking. Lots of smaller ones to keep it interesting. Larry decided to keep one for the dinner table so I asked him a favor. Please call me with the stomach contents. When he called he sounded somewhat surprised and said there was only one thing in its stomach. It was loaded with tons of crabs in quarter to silver dollar size! Noticed 7 types of bait today that are all catching fish. 2-3 inch Micro Eels, 5-6 inch Sand Lances, ½ -1 inch Shrimp, 2-5 inch Squid, Crabs, 4-5 inch Silversides and 3-inch Chubs.

7/12
Today were Tom and son Todd's first time ever fly-fishing the saltwater. What an eye opener. Tom's first fish measured 34 inch's and Todd's 3 biggest were all 28 inch's. All sighted and cast to in 3 feet of water or less. A so-so # of fish were sighted, somewhat slower than Ive been used too. A good # of fresh fish that came in on the last batch of exaggerated tides are bye-bye, due to the smaller tides we are presently having. They will be back on the next big tides. Much was learned today, which I'm sure will continue to help father and son enjoy numerous saltwater outings in the future.


7/13
Dick, Dave and Chuck were excited to fish the flats with almost perfect conditions. Almost, meaning no wind and sssslloowww tides. Water was so flat we had fish spooking 60 feet away and sometimes running for the hills when we moved the rod to cast! Tides were very slow, so a noticeable lack of fish was evident. Fished A.M. incoming was slow but got better in the afternoon when we moved to a low tide staging, transition area. At one point we were heavy into fish for ½ hour, biggen's too! Only 125 fish sighted today, had shots at a lot, few hooked. My partners today were all over 70 years old and they even out paced me on the flats, pretty good for a couple of old farts. Ha


7/14
After checking several internet weather sites for wind direction and sun odds. I was left with trying to place Fred, Marilyn and Charlie in an area with both sight fishing and blind casting options near by. Luckily the weatherman was wrong and the sun was our friend all day. As we walked out we checked 4 different creek channels, dips, troughs that they cruise through in search of food on the rising tide. At each spot we found a few fish to try to present the fly too. I have walked past these areas many times at the low and never thought that it could hold fish. Only until I looked at the overall flat and studied where they enter it, and the slight change in depth did I realize the path that they would use at each stage of the tide. Had shots at another 20 or so big'ins, but no luck. Picked up a few fish in the course of the day, but again found the fishing slow. Sometimes, I guess I need to lower my expectations when these slow July tides are upon us.
Another GREAT day of camaraderie was shared while being surrounded with the breathtaking beauty of this incredible world class destination fishery!

7/15
A day of well deserved rest, away from the office. Ha


7/17
Most of the day was spent blind casting into areas that had a compressed, concentrated water flow. Areas where the water is funneled and has to speed-up to get over or around an object. Most Bass equate moving water with food, as it's this moving water that delivers their next meal to them. These areas are considered prime feeding stations, similar to your favorite restaurant. The resident Bass dine on whatever the days tide serves them.
Worked two areas that had this signature dinner bell and was rewarded with a dozen fish. We did sight fish for 20 Minutes on the return walk to the boat pick-up and spotted 5 fish. Most seasoned flats anglers and guides all agreed that it was a slow day for catch'in but as usual an OUTSTANDING day for learn'in!!


Fishing Forecast:

Look for larger amounts of bait, fresh fish to arrive between July 29 through August 6 (approx.) with the next exaggerated tides.


We should all try to remember that we are stewards of our environment. If it were not for conservative minded people 20 years ago, we would not be enjoying the fruits of their labor today. Please remember that a fish is too valuable a resource to only be caught once. (Lee Wulff)


THANKS!


Happy Hookin;


Randy Jones
 
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#2 ·
Thanks Randy! Always good to hear your reports.

I saw a pod of squid last time out. They were drifting with the current in a rigid, almost satanic formation... a pentagon with one in the middle. Their color was a clearish tan /grey with purple fringes and eyes that appeared to be glowing. Their formation caught my eye as it drifted by, so leaned in the direction to get a better look... and they all took off in different directions. From the time I first spotted them to the time I spooked 'em, they stayed in an almost perfect geometric spacing from each other. Really a wild sight.

Monomoy is truly an enchanted place!
 
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