TWO OUT OF THREE AINT BAD

May 17, 2007 - Well, I canvassed three of my pet spring haunts over the previous few days and located good populations of striped bass in two of them. Not bad considering the fluctuating weather conditions and unrelenting N-NE wind. Suffice it to say that the entire backside of South Beach in Chatham supports a vast amount of smaller fish and casually wading the low water mark should yield you decent numbers of bass in the 12"-18" category.

I was fortunate to locate some more portly specimens in the Strong Island confines of Pleasant Bay in Chatham. Being honest, many of these fish greeted the 25" mark and provided satisfactory sport on a light fly rod. Here a longer cast was required to gain the ample current crease where fish were holding. If this could be accomplished most often you were greeted to the jolt of a duped striped bass ample enough to be put-on-reel. This was anything but fast fishing yet provided the challenge-reward condition that I often consider the best situation in fly-fishing.

At this time it is safe to say that striped bass inhabit the entire Cape cod environment with larger fish entering the system daily.

BLUES BREAKERS CRUSADE
Almost on cue bluefish have arrived on Cape Cod's south side. These early migrants are in the 5-8 lb category and will be the most avarice you will encounter throughout the entire saltwater fishing season. If bluefish are your quarry we would suggest you visit Dead Neck at South Cape Beach and Popponesset Beach-Mashpee, Oregon Beach and Cotuit Highlands-Barnstable, West Bay Outlet-Wianno and Bass River-W. Dennis. It may only be a few days before we receive confirmed reports of bluefish in Elbowtown if they're not in attendance already.

SUGGESTED PATTERNS
Considering the fact that fish show less selectivity during the spring of the year (not stating that it's entirely inconsequential)
pattern selection becomes less of an issue. Standard Clousers in olive/white, chartreuse/white, tan/white and gray/white in sizes #1 or #1/0 should be enough to entire either species. Round out your fly box with gurglers (1/0) and a few sand eel patterns as well as a deceiver style fly in 3/0 or 4/0 to mimic larger bait and you should be good to go. Incidentally, I wouldn't go afield without a few clamworm patterns and maybe a squid or two in the event you encounter these species.

Good fishing and safe wading,
JB