SB SIZZLES!

August 29, 2001 - Not anticipating much I took a gamble and perused the west side flats of South Beach in Chatham this past weekend, a venue that I had abandoned to commercial shell fishermen in recent weeks, due to elevated water temperatures, an influx of seals and a general forage deficiency. The late August sun is typically not the most conducive to dramatic sight fishing opportunities but the thought of being sentenced to yet another weekend of travailing the surf to the south left these old bones yearning for a more gentlemanly approach to the game.

The entire west side was absent of wading anglers, only the occasional, distant shallow water craft nullified the almost perfect sight fishing environment. And the fish were there, in numbers reminiscent of the salad days of June. A skinny water amphitheater left all to my lonesome, the scenario was directly out of a Tabory classic. Bait crashing stripers under clustered terns in water barely deep enough to moisten a bellybutton.

At the risk of articulating pedestrian clichés, if you "pay your dues" and endure, eventually you will reap the reward of being in the "right place at the right time."

In essence, I enjoyed three hours of the most pleasant angling of the striper season. Fish that were notoriously passive to well intentioned offerings during the torrid days of mid summer had turned aggressive and would seek out my mimic, no matter how inaccurate the presentation. The session left me bewildered and physically fatigued. In the end I was content to merely observe these impressive creatures frolic in the receding tide, an intruder in their domain.

SURF SIDE
South Beach surfside continues to produce impressive catches of striped bass both in size and in numbers. Bumped into western Mass resident, Pete Gray, who has quickly mastered the Chatham drill. Pete enthusiastically recounted the events of the previous day when he and a companion combined to release upwards of 50 specimens. As of this writing it would be literally impossible for any seasoned salter not to enjoy some modicum of success in the foam. Bright sun, clouds, rain, fog, wind, it really hasn’t mattered, stripers continue to be available in numbers on the southwest corner of the beach.

NEWS FROM NEWPORT
Mid day blues and keeper bass have kept former central Mass angler, Joe McNamara occupied during recent weeks. Joe has been toiling the Bretton Point area and reports that 24-32 inch bluefish are common, with bass in the 30+ inch range not considered head turners by shore bound anglers. Second Beach is enjoying a healthy population of both species early and late in the day. "Water off the cliffs is crystal clear and most strikes are easily visualized unless they are in white water. Closest thing down here to sight fishing on SB…"

BONES
While the hard tail season has been sluggish at best, put your hands together for Worcester native, Peter Kovago. Pete landed his first north Atlantic bonito of the season while striper fishing off Monomoy Island this past week. In general, action has been very erratic on the south side of Cape Cod and generally can be rated only poor to fair. We anticipate things to improve dramatically within a week or two. In the mean time there is an extraordinary number of choppers and linesidders to help keep fly angler’s occupied.

Good fishing and safe wading,

JB