MENHADEN INVASION

September 9, 2008 - I finally had the opportunity to string together 3 successive days of fishing recently and experienced varied results. Day one, Lenny Renauld of Sterling and I were forced to surrender to the relentless 20-30 knot NNW "breeze."

Day two, with the persistent NNW still evident, and with a reformed strategy, the Pleasant Bay inlet adjacent to Chatham Light was to be our venue. Both confirmed early risers and on the water prior to sunrise we had hoped to avoid the promised midday blow.

To be quite frank, both anglers were lacking confidence regarding any possibility of pursuing striped bass. The summer of 2008 will not be entered in the annals as one of the stellar striped bass years. Reports have commercial anglers struggling to achieve their quota, somewhere around a million pounds. Past years this rather liberal allocation would be achieved in a matter of days, so the potential for two fly rodders was not good.

We were spot-on in our assumption. Not a bass, however we did enjoy a morning and early afternoon of exceptional blue fish angling, probably bringing upwards of 30 or so bluefish to the boat.

Day three we encountered what I would consider a "clamming tide." Always accompanied by our fly gear, an early morning low enabled us to scrounge up a basket of soft-shelled clams along with a bonus basket of Q-hogs, all accomplished within about a 2-hour time frame. In our brief voyage to the clamming flats we had encountered 4-6 groups of menhaden, distinctive by their brownish hue and vigorous movement.
As we returned to the real estate that harbored our initial sighting we learned that our 2-hour layover did little to relocate the schools.

Not fully armed with one of most realistic menhaden patterns I have ever had the pleasure of delivering, Mr. Renald positioned the craft to allow me a near perfect opportunity. In 8-10 feet of water, and colossal bluefish now evident beneath the menhaden I delivered my initial cast. The take occurred within an instant, probably on the second strip. As I assumed the "fighting stance" I immediately noticed the lack of aggression in my adversary. I had fouled a menhaden "duh" and separated it from the main congregation. It didn't take long for a mammoth bluefish to initiate its pursuit. At that point all went slack and the remains of a once vibrant adult menhaden was taken aboard.

This episode was repeated a number of times before our plight went abandoned. By our estimation the menhaden were in the 13-14" range, making our peanut Bunker imitations virtually useless.

Good fishing and safe wading,
JB