Hi Folks, It has been a wet one so far this spring. I am behind on my painting and other spring work. The Miss Jillian went into the water last week on Friday and she now sits at the mooring in Chatham. You can probably see her if you go to the Chatham Fish Pier web-cam link on my website’s link page. I took some time this spring to install a new hydraulic steering system. That required some refitting of the engine hatch to make it right. Now if I feel rich, I can purchase that new Robertson-Simrad autopilot that I have wanted. When you are running the boat solo, you have to do both the captain’s jobs and the mate’s jobs at the same time. The extra set of hands that the autopilot provides can be a real stress reducer. It is quite handy for the long runs to the tuna and cod grounds too. I can’t tell you what the latest fishing has been like other than to report what I have been told, because I haven’t been out on the waters yet !The outer beaches should be good, but the fish are moving fairly quickly still. You might be into them for an hour or catch one or two and then they will be gone. A surfer I know told me Sunday that he had “Millions of fish swimming all around me, DUDE” !!!!!! But then he may have just smoked a big fatty too ! His eyes were a little red and glassy.
Cape Cod Bay seems to be doing well, my friend Steve, has had 6 or 7 successful charters to date. He did say it has been horrendously crowded though ! I heard Tom and Bob, charter skippers from Saquetucket, on the radio early Saturday morning about 7 AM as they were fishing south of Nantucket Sound. Tom said he only had one keeper the day before. I don’t know where they were, other than they said they were trying to get out of the wind. I suspect that they were headed to the south of Martha’s Vineyard. All I know is that it was blowing 15 –18 knots at that time, and it increased to about 30 knots later that morning. Seems like a hard 2-hour ride back into the wind to me ! I did hear that there were some fish on the Bishops and Clerks and on the Vineyard at the Wasque.
I also have heard the Monomoy flats boats talking on the radio as well. I am sure they are chasing pods of bass around on the west edges of the flats. There will always be the occasional school of surface crashing bluefish at this time of year, too. As long as the wind cooperates, this is a great area at this time of year.
Pleasant Bay seems to be the most consistent spot for me to take a charter, when you figure the weather and the fishing. There are lots of smaller fish in here and when the tide is right there can be some consistent action. Hopefully there are some keepers in here as well. Usually, behind Strong Island there are a few nice sized fish to be caught the first week of June. I will try a dead drifted herring and the usual Fin S fish, lead head and grubs, or a Zara Spook to catch my charters some fish. I can always drift a sand eel or two down the channels as well. My first charter is Saturday, so we will see what happens.
Lastly, I am happy to report that I found my first Native American artifact by Salt Pond in Eastham yesterday. It is just the start of a lance point or a small hand axe and it appears unfinished but I found it and I think it is pretty neat !
Good Fishing to You, Bruce
