Started out hopeful then the discouragement set in. Not a bad day. Started out making my usual staple of food and snacks for the outing. Made the drive and got there about 630. Not much for bird
action like the mornings before. It was the end of the outgoing and I was sure to see some cruisers along the edge of the drop off. I darkened up the below photo just to show that line of the sand bar to the
drop off heading into the channel. There were fish waiting but it was just tiny hickory shad eating tiny flies. My plan was to go with 12 pound flour with the tiny sand eel flies early then to 16 pound for the
crab flies on the incoming and when the wind starting to kick in, like it does, EVERY SINGLE DAY, around 1030. It goes from a light NW to W to WSW to SSW in all or in parts, but it comes. I took a
look at the old boat hull spot and found some cruisers but none willing to eat. I wonder if the fish I saw just got off a 3 am - 7am outgoing feed on sand eels in the dark on the ripping part of the tide. Remember, these fish have eating times, digesting times, and resting times. Opportunistic, no doubt.
I took a break to eat an early lunch and come up with a plan before the wind started up. I'd plant my ladder along the edge of the flat and the deeper water to catch any cruisers and back it up as the tide and wind made seeing the fish near impossible in any timely set-up fashion. There's a little video below showing the conditions from today, not all that bad, but not all that good.
Today I saw 37 fish and had a bunch of follows and refusals on both baitfish and crab patterns. I hooked one, well almost. It appeared in the corner of my eye just feet from me and the ladder. So I swung my fly over to it and it followed and ate. All I could do was to try and trout set after his mouth closed on the fly. I was just out of fly line and leader to do anything else.
The highlight of my day was to stop at Kismet Outfitters where Stephen had put aside a Finn fly wallet for me. I'm a fly wallet guy and they work for me because of the barbless hooks. If one gets
stuck then I know I didn't pinch the barbs down. It's a shame the company, Finn Utility, went out of business a few years back. I purchased one from Kismet at the fly fishing show last year, where I met Levi, there you go Levi, and now have a second one.
As I sat in the shop and talked about fishing over the last week I almost ran back to the place and packed my stuff up and headed to the ferry. The wind, for me, has just been that much of a negative game changer. But then Stephen started talking and gave me a spot to check out. I kind of got my second wind back. The spot was good, except
for the wind which just pushed everything in the pond to my side. But I did find a little cove protected from the gusts and I could see fine. It's just no one was home. But it was a fishy spot. I then dodged the sunbathers and walked Edgartown Beach looking fore some cruisers but the only thing were those
dam horseshoe crabs paired up and moving along the bottom. After I was done and ready for a nap I stopped for my first food purchase in six days. It was a spot in OB called Winston's Kitchen. I don't
why I chose the curry chicken dinner but I did. I was just so tired I wasn't thinking straight. I really wanted some good local seafood but that did the trick to fill my stomach and clear my sinuses.
It's the bottom of the ninth inning and after one more morning in the pond I'll be calling it quits and heading home if I can jump on a day-early ferry. The below memory popped up on Facebook from five years ago. It was Day 5 of that trip, and I got one bass that day, so maybe things aren't all that off.
