A few years back while we were in Martha's Vineyard Steve Farrar gave me a few of his "Farrar Flounder" flies. I fished them a few times up there but as you know we've really not had the the good sight fishing opportunities so I haven't landed one on it. This morning I was in between flies and saw it in my fly wallet and gave it a go. It goes to show that fluke are just nasty and cannibals, truly a species that will eat it's own young.....or it just thought it was a crab.
If you'd like to see how Steve ties this baby flounder flies check out the video.
Started out in the dark figuring I could get a bass as the water came over the bar on the start of the incoming but, not. I had a two-fly rig set up working....which didn't work but I thought it was a good call. When I saw conditions I thought a Banger/Dropper might work but when I looked in bag there was no poppers there. Thinking it wouldn't have mattered, or at least that's my excuse. Today I landed the baby flounder eater and another short. Today was a quicker outing as the flood tide with the west wind approached like watching paint dry. You couldn't get knocked over in the surf if you wanted to.
I was looking on-line and found the below pic with a post from JohnnyK with his local beach report. Keeper bass on the mole crabs. We think alike as my fly rod is marked the same way during the summer, 28" for the bass (just to know) and 18" for the fluke (just for dinner). There seems to be a lot of internet fodder about reddened sores, areas, lesions on the bass as of late. Many guys see red and go straight to mycobacteriosis, the dreaded Chesapeake Bay striped bass disease. While
mycobacteriosis can cause external lesions, the disease kills the fish from the internal lesions and the damage it does to the spleen. There are many bacteria and parasites, and maybe even reactions, that can affect striped bass and give them the red spots and lesions anglers are seeing on the beaches now. Imagine if I stripped all of you guys down and did a skin assessment, besides not being pretty I am sure there are spots, bumps and bruises that are just benign. Below is a photo from the Virginia Institute of Maine Science.....that's mycobacteriosis. If you catch it shoot it. Actually if it looks like that freeze it and take it to a local tackle shop or get it to your local DEP or marine science lab.
Today will be my last day on the salt water for a while as after two days of work to start the week we're off to the Adirondack's and Saranac Lake. Most of the kids are making the trip, one's going to Spain with her friends family, and it'll be a nice week as always. I just banged out a 90 on my Pharmacology mid-term exam so some things are going well. Speaking of going well, for some
reason I decided to have my back waxed again. They tell me to come back in 4-6 weeks but I never have the guts. This my third time in 4 years. It is torture, no matter how good my cerologist (person that applies wax and then rips it off) is. While the treatment isn't pleasant, it sure feels nice to have no hair on my back. I hate back hair. Funny as how we age the hair on own heads stops growing or falls out but hair in our nose, eyebrows, ears, and back starts to flourish. I got mine done at Waxing the City in Red Bank, check it out HERE if you like pain, but then nice smooth hair-free skin.
See you back on the beach after the 20th.
