978-546-9704
| North Coast Angler 978-546-9704 | |
| Fishing Report, October 4, 2005 | |||
  | |||
| The fall fishing pattern continues to be unusual in that the bait fish come in and leave abruptly. The stripers and blues come and go as well. Last week Capt Allan Smith and I got into a very large school of bluefish just off the southern end of Thatcher Island. The fish appeared to be feasting on tiny shrimp. We managed several nice fish on the fly. We haven’t seen any bluefish since then. The stripers are displaying similar behavior, one day you’ll find them pushing bait and the next day they’re gone. The next few weeks will ultimately determine the true nature of this seasons fall fishing. The offshore school tuna continue to be difficult to catch in the “run and gun” mode. The fish are in small groups and only on the surface for seconds. On the other hand, Capt’s Allan and Bob Smith continue to hook up with their trolling techniques. As with the stripers and blues, the next few weeks should be interesting. Over the weekend I enjoyed fishing with family; Christopher, Andreas and Alexander. We set out on Sunday afternoon with a box of sea worms and rods. We fully expected to fill the boat with all sorts “giant sea creatures” from the sandy bottom of Sandy Bay, but as luck would have it, we managed only one awesome Sea Robin. No matter, we all had a good time enjoying the boat ride and the weather. We’ll wait till next season to fill the boat with giant sea creatures! On Tuesday the 4th, I had the pleasure of fishing with Roland, Mike and Roland Sr.. We set out from the Rockport town float and made our way through the “pea soup fog” out to Straitsmouth Island. For the next two hours, the guys made super casts and presentations of fly and soft plastics along the shore line. We did not find a striper or bluefish anywhere around the entire island. We next moved to rocks off Gap Head and continued casting. As we moved in tight to the rocks, Roland made a very nice cast close into the shore and hooked a fish. We fully expected to see a nice striper come to the boat, but to my astonishment, a large, very dark form came up to the surface. A 3-4 lb Tautog had scooped up Roland’s fly presentation. In all my years fishing flies, this is the first Tautog I have seen or heard of being taken on the fly! I will check into this fine catch for more information. |
Unfortunately, the pea soup fog persisted, and made for difficult traveling down along the coast and as such, finding feeding fish that much more difficult. We decided to call it a day and headed back to Rockport harbor. We agreed to make another day of it in the future, and I am already looking forward to it!  
Captain Skip Montello | |