Since I wasn't looking for bass I decided to spare my wife and not get up and out at 345am. I slept in and got to the water at 5. It was still incoming and flat. Perfect popper conditions. So, since I was there I gave the popper a shot, just in case. Worked the beach and two sets of rocks without a swirl or a touch. I switched over to one of the Clousers I tied up last night and went to work. Slow, meticulous trough covering work.
The coolest sight of the day was watching the above sea robin fully extended grab the fly as it came out of the trough. It ate and then turned. I was a good fight and, at least until that point, I wouldn't be skunked for the day. I went on to catch a sundial but the fluke were elusive. Nice conditions as the tide ebbed but I just couldn't locate them.
I jumped in my truck and did a spot change and after a few casts felt a good pull on the Clouser. It wasn't a fluke, or a stargazer, or a sea robin, It was a bass. Really? I released the fish and then went on a fly changing spree, going from the Clouser to Joe's Crab Fly to the Archer's Mole Crab and got no attention. I went back to the electric chartreuse over white Clouser and at 830 in the sun I got another striper. So now what? Back to bass?
