CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT

August 31, 2006 - What began as a very promising hard tale season is now leaking oil. The previous 8 or 9 small craft anglers we've interviewed that have dedicate their late season efforts in pursuit of BFT's, skips, bones and albies have recorded only mixed results. The craziness that was so profound during the latter weeks of August 2005 has just not materialized this year leading to many long and bumpy boat rides. This is certain to be a short-lived circumstance as late season migrants often have a mind of their own. Most successful fly anglers will monitor migration patterns, weather, water temperatures, etc. on a daily basis and compile the information prior to planning a campaign. It certainly does make reporting on the fishing somewhat of a crapshoot considering that we are always receiving Intel after the fact.

On the other side of the ledger the bass-bluefish season continues with vigor. While my personal venues have certainly changed I am experiencing my most successful season in many years along with a cadre of other shore and boat fly anglers.
While bluefish have been absent from my usual haunt in the Chatham Harbor area for a few weeks now, stripers in the 24-30" range have obliged throughout the summer months and I would expect the action to prevail during the month of September and on into October. With the exception of an occasional transient my personal playground has been vacant of competition despite holding generous amounts of fish.

SOUTH BEACH-WEST SIDE-CHATHAM
Is it just a fleeting memory or will the sight fishing ever return to it's former glory? After revisiting this venue of many successful outings during the previous 10-12 years I have to admit that I was thoroughly disappointed. Warm water temperatures, a distinct lack of forage, decreasing water displacement and a general absence of integrity greeted me on my sole visit to the west side of South Beach in Chatham. Ron Pasternak (handle, Paxton) seemed to concur with my assessment of this once prolific sight fishery. Ron is also a veteran of this geography along with fishing bud Gary Aho, and his measured comments echoed my thoughts verbatim. In past years it was not uncommon to witness perusing stripers in the many hundreds on any given day. His most recent efforts have yielded only occasional groups and random singles, not enough to entertain his lengthy sessions.

Realizing that the 2 ½ hour drive from his residence often resulted in fewer and fewer opportunities at sight fishing these magnificent creatures, I tried to offer other alternatives within the same general confines that should produce respectable results.

Good fishing and safe wading,
JB