Took a trip out to Monomoy on Rip Ryder Monday afternoon. Morning had been all sun, so it seemed like perfect conditions for sight casting with low wind and the tide turning in around 12:30. Blind casted into the trenches for a short period as the tide started to rise, thinking I would have about 3 hours of incoming tide site fishing when . . . . clouds rolled in and the breeze picked up making it virtually impossible to see the rascals. No sight fishing for Monday!
I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring parts of the island I have never seen. Scouted most of the island perimeter (all but the south west ¼). Did much more walking than fishing until 3pm when I decided I had only had 30 minutes before starting the hike back to the pick-up spot. Found a nice drop with good current. Tried every retrieve that has ever worked for me. Nothing. At 3:30 “one more cast and I gotta go”. As I reeled in “bang”, fish on, reel buzzed, nice “just barely” keeper. Now I decided I REALLY had 10 more minutes. Tried “imitating” the reel-in motion on the retrieves. Nothing. Time to go, cast, reel in, “bang” fish on. This happened a third time! Someone please tell this numbskull how to do a retrieve that makes the fly look like you’re reeling in!
Moved like hell back to meet Rip Ryder and made it with a minute to spare. The few people I met all said it had been slow, both at South Beach, and at Monomoy. (Sunday apparently was much better).
By the way, if you are heading to Monomoy, the entire inside of the island is blocked off for nesting birds. Essentially, only the perimeter beaches are open for anything that doesn’t fly and lay eggs. I found only one “path” across the island where walking is permitted. Your choices are: 1.) take the marked path directly across the island (where Rip Ryder drops you, 2.) walk around the northern tip, or 3.) walk around the southern tip. It’s possible there were other access paths, but I didn’t see them. You may want to ask Keith.
