(Sung to Simon & Garfunkel's The Sounds of Silence) "Hello ladder my old friend, I've come to fish you with again". So, today I pretty much went against all the advice and things I said I wouldn't do. It was Flatwing's first full day on the island and of course he wanted to get going. We discussed several options based on some local intel and things Custom and I have seen since we got here.
After some I'm-ready-for-the-Lowcountry-grits, which my wife makes better, it was off to the races. In yesterday's post I said I wasn't going to Red Beach and wasn't going to try and sight fish until real late in the dropping tide. Well, I think I was perched on that ladder at first light just as the tide was still filling in.
Custom had his specials of the day picked out and they were on the menu and ready to be eaten. The problem we’re having is there doesn't seem to be a lot, like hardly any, bait around. A cloud of sand eels here and there and some small baitfish hugging the usual sod bank or traveling back and forth with the tides. Basically the only things that are moving are the horseshoe crabs.
We're about 22 minutes from Look Street in VH to the Aquinnah side of Menemsha Pond. In the early morning and without traffic, and without those super annoying bicyclists, it's a nice ride. Remember I said I was going to wait until later in the tide, like 130 PM, well the above pic was snapped at 612 AM, so much for that.
I started out putting the knee pads back into my everyday-water-logged-waders. I'm wet in both feet and my underwear is moist so the leak must be somewhere in my groin area. These are my favorite waders yet and Orvis have stopped making them. They better be good on the repairs because I will sending them back, in fact I may call them today. I have some other things to talk about as far as repairs, you'll know about that soon enough. And in other Orvis news, Orvis has stopped making their indestructible stripping basket.
If you go on their website and type in "stripping basket" the above is what you get. I don't want ECO-friendly when it comes to a stripping basket. I want one that is hard, durable, can be drilled through, and lasts forever. Bad move Orvis, on top of bad moves.
The reason I needed those knee pads is because when I stand on the ladder my knees rest on the top rung. After a day without them, because they were drenched, I had red marks on my shins from rubbing on the waders and aluminum.
If you know then you know and what you would know is there was a lot of water in the pond when this picture was taken at 8 o'clock. The wind was a tad stronger than we thought coming from the dreaded SW which created enough of an annoying shimmer on the water. But even so if you kept to the sides you could see a passing bass, if there were any.
And as far as fly selection there's mixed feelings on that. Go big, like a size 1/0 or go home, or throw size 6 crabs and baitfish flies? Yesterday my Flexo Crab wasn't any bigger than a quarter so I opted for a Brad Buzzi albie fly. It didn't matter in the end I never made a cast with it. On the first drop I saw a trio of fish that came from right to left off in the distance.
I was perched pretty high up on the ladder and close to the boys. At one point I could feel the stressed aluminum start to twist below me, I was going over again. But this time I somehow rode it down like I was on a surfboard and was able to stay bone dry. "Are you alright over there Colin?", asked Custom. I answered "Yes", but then said to myself, "Alright this ladder has got to go."
I had moved down and pretty far out on the flat thinking I'd just wait them out if my ADHD would allow. That lasted 10 minutes. So I put all my gear on the ladder and went it search
for the original Vineyard ladder. One that I knew was stronger. So I walked over the dunes and through the heavily tick infested brush on the hunt. And then that's where, "Hello ladder my old friend....", popped up in my head. Needless to say I'm been humming it for about 18 hours now.
She was sitting right where I left her a year ago. What that tells me is no fly anglers chose that stretch of dune to use as a toilet, only to be pleasantly surprised when they found a ladder to use while there. She was rusted tight, kind of like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz, and I could have used a little oil on her joints but I finally got her to open her legs. That came out kind of creepy.
I swam her back out to the ladder I brought this year and was surprised how tall that one is. That just solidifies my belief that there aren't all that many fish up here this year. Being that high above the water should really help me pick out the fish, and in three days I've seen just 43 fish. 43 in fish with about 20 hours on the water, so 2 fish per hour.
So I swapped out the ladders and returned this years to where last years stood. It was getting near low tide so I shouldn't have needed the extra height. When I got up on the ladder I noticed it was lower, which reduced the amount of water I could see through, and it was much more stable. Like I could look side to side without throwing off the center of balance and tossing me into the drink.
At 1043 AM I took the above pic of two guys who had just blind casted consistently for three hours without a tap. They were done and I followed them out. I wasn't sure if this was a food break or done done with this place for the day. It becomes a risk vs gain type of thing. Like should I stay or should I go?
I tried to stay optimistic and offer up a good prediction. "The wind has been dying with the dropping tide and the sun is high and bright?" The they said low tide was over two hours away I kinda thought to myself I was done as well. In the end they split and I stayed.
And what did I do with my time? I took the most glorious nap in the back of the Suburban. I haven't had a truck with a cargo area in a long time and this thing is great when you need some shut-eye or are too cheap to get a room. The SW wind just caught the tail end of the truck so it was nice and cool and all in the shade.
I woke up before the alarm that I had set went off. I had slept for about 90 minutes which was great. I was ready to go and find them and at least annoy them. I checked the wind app before I went out for round two....
11 knots is 12.7 mph, not too bad, zero would be better but I'll take it. It looked like it would be low water, high sun, some wind, which is not too bad, if there's fish around.
The trouble with the low water, and wind at 11 knots, with some gusts here and there, is it creates whitecaps across the flat. That creates shadows that creep along the sand below. Throw that in with 100 mating horseshoe crabs and let's just say it's not as fun as it should be, but hey, that's fishing.
At one point I was moving from spot to spot with the ladder dragging behind when I saw two nice fish within range. I dropped the ladder, got off a good cast, but they just swam off. I made a longer "going away" cast but I had lost sight of them. After just about two hours I was done. Total fish for the day was 8 fish seen, no real shots, and only about five casts with any hope.
Back at the parking lot I met a guy who came over and said he fishes the pond every morning by kayak. He confirmed what we had found, let's just say no bait, not much for fish, and less than perfect conditions. We talked for a bit before we said our good byes. As I pulled away he flailed his arms and stopped me and said, "Do you have your fly rod?", adding, "I know that sound when it slides down a truck".
So I got out and found my new Orvis D 9 ft 10 wt laying there. It looked perfect and I thanked him and put it in the Rodmount rod holder in the back of the Suburban. As I drove past Lobsterville I noticed my
rod tip was missing so I went back to find it.
A quick search revealed it wasn't on the ground but dangling in the middle of the rod....yep, I had ran it over. So that and the waders will be going back to Orvis. And oh yeah, I didn't tell you about my new Orvis D 9 ft 12 wt.. While trying to twist off the sections one of those flimsy line guides twisted out, so that'll be a nice package heading back to Vermont. Luckily I have a spare Orvis H2 9 ft 10wt with me to use. I should have brought my stocking foot waders as a back-up, and I would have if they weren't packed away for South Carolina already.
I stopped by Abe's on the way home as the Two Joe's were visiting Kismet Outfitters. When they got back we came up with a plan, some nappy naps now, then dinner, then off to fishing.
Well we accomplished two of the three, as in the naps and the meal. When it came to fishing Down-Island in the evening we realized it was all dead low, the wind had picked up, and really, I just think we were a little deflated from another disappointing day at Menemsha Pond. We just hung out for hours which in the end was enjoyable and time well spent. But going forward we need to think like a fish and come up with a plan. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, it seems to just keep going back to Menemsha Pond might just be insane.
And while we chowing down on sausage and peppers sandwiches Abe was Up-Island digging into Theresa's meatballs that she slaved over for the trip. Even with the batch I lost on the way up here we still have a bunch in the freezer for some night later this week.