Some guys just have it like that. Custom Joe is one of them. He just photograph's really well when it comes to fishing. While most of us have tons of fish and fish holding photos of ourselves most of them just fall short in one way or another. In pictures with Custom you can see that his smile and happiness is not staged, it's genuine. Over the last few years we've worked on his finger placement and fish holding techniques and he takes the cues well, and the quality of the pictures has improved. When I see his face I can only go back 50 years ago to a cute little kid over his Grandmother's house for the Sunday family meal of meatballs, pasta, and sauce. And as each family member that enters the house they grab his cheek and give it a squeeze, and say, "Joey my boy, you're just so handsome".
So on the other side are guys like me, who don't photograph well and have no history of getting my cheeks squeezed. That's me above taking the morning to write the students final exam for next week. I started around 5 am and worked as the boys got ready and went out fishing. I have to get this done and this morning will do more of the same. But as morning wore on I got the itch to fish somewhere, anywhere.
With our rental in Vineyard Haven making the run Up-Island to Menemsha is more of a journey then a quick outing. So I decided to stay local and hit Tashmoo. It's literally less than 10 minutes away. I arrived around 1130 and found conditions pretty good. Dropping tide, bright sandy bottoms, high sun with sporadic cloud cover, and a wind that was there, but settled down with the dropping tide.
There was another guy on foot and two in skiffs patrolling around looking for fish. I set up the ladder at a point where the sand meets the darker vegetation covered bottom. I wasn't up in the air but for a minute before I saw my fish fish coming towards me going from left to right. I made a cast leading him that got no notice and then just as he disappeared in the darkness I saw him follow my crab fly out. I stripped, I twitched, and then paused it before he refused it and moved on.
Over the next two hours I planted the ladder down in several spots and walked across the flats. It was a good day, saw nine fish, had five that showed interest, with three solid refusals. I had a crab fly on, obviously not the right one, and wonder if a baitfish pattern would have got it done. I didn't see any bait, that's why I went with a crab fly.
If you know then you know. Each year various state's publish their own, "Most Dangerous Roads". Massauchetts should include that small section of a dirt road leading to Lake Tashmoo as one of them. If you take it slow, or fast, it really doesn't matter, in the end you're going to get jostled around.
When you look at from the driver's perspective it doesn't look all that bad, but be warned. At some point your head is going to hit the roof which could displace your cervical spine or whip you from side to side only to have your head hit the side window exposing you to the chance of suffering from a subdural hematoma. And since it's one lane there's always someone coming from the opposite direction.
The three of us were running on the same cylinder. Rest in the mid-afternoon before hitting it before the sun went down. In the morning while I worked and then hit Tashmoo the boys were out in OB where we would return to later in the day. Custom caught the fish up top and Flatwing broke off a good fish while I worked.
We found a parking spot by the stairs near Inkwell Beach in OB. Inkwell, or Town Beach, has a long and strong history dating back to the Nineteenth Century as it is a well known and travel destination for black, or African American, travelers. While the names, like Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City, may have had derogatory undertones during their initial labeling, these locations have become annual destinations that have been passed down by families for decades.
We had to navigate just enough of a small crowd of late beachgoers to find some water that hadn't been splashed through throughout the day. We made out way down towards the Oak Bluff's ferry terminal and I chose to poke around through the pilings looking for patrolling bass while the boys made their way out onto a sand bar.
I saw a ton of bait circle-eighting around the wood and could feel the warmth from the eyes that were trained down on me as people waited for the next ferry. Two came when I was there, one was from the Steamship Authority and the other a passenger only Seastreak ferry.
I did this for a bit making a handful of casts before moving out to check on the guys. Flatwing had a solid follow without a commitment and Custom just did his thing, cast after cast after cast. He tells me he can't do what I do, stand and wait, and needs to be in motion while fishing. You can't catch fish when your fly is dangling in the fingers in your non-dominant hand, that's why he catches more fish.
So I moved down to Town Beach and saw the "jetty", as they call it, leading out from the beach entrance. When I got to it I could see it was kelp covered from beach end to the tip, which can only mean one thing...slippery. But groin tips are just so fishy. So I started out.
I fished both sides around the tip and the pole without a tap. I did see bait, in fact OB had the most consistent bait we had seen, a mix of sand eels and, I don't know what they are, but I'll say minnows. Luckily I made it up and back without taking a spill. Not only is the kelp slippery, but the stands are like hair covering the rocks so it's hard to see the gaps in between the, One wrong step and it could be a easy ankle, foot, or leg fracture.
Like we've said there just doesn't seem to be a lot of fish around. Before calling it quits we stood there and came up with a plan. Grab a slice at Giordano's before heading
up to Menemsha. The slice hit the spot and if I were doing a Dave Portnoy, "One Bite Everyone Knows the Rules", pizza review I'd give it a 7.6. No flop, not running or greasy, with a nice
crisp and crunch as you made your way around to the crust. The $4.75 a plain slice, I guess that's just welcome to Martha's Vineyard, but for me, a tad much, but Custom treated anyway.
While we had high expectations about Menemsha there was some things we forgot to factor in. Tide rushing in on New Moon, NW wind from 15-20, and tons of people on hand for the sunset. There was some people out fishing, from fly rodders on the rocks and docks, to kids
tossing live bait, to a line up of spin guys down by the boulder field. There were some birds working and word has it there's bonito around in the early morning. With two hours left in the flood tide the harbor was chock full of water, and construction equipment as well. You can see the water up above the boards with plenty more to have came in.
In the end we decided to not stay and headed back to Senge. But before we left Flatwing made me pose for an awkward picture at the Swordfish Harpooner Sculpture. You wouldn't see Custom posing for pictures like this, maybe I should do the same. Horrible.
Today it'll be more of the same, work for me in the morning and then a quick run over to the local waters. The boys are hitting State Beach at first light before working a plan we talked about last night but I can't remember all the details. We'll have good sun, but some wind around as well. It seems it will die with the dropping New Moon tide so that should be good for me up on the ladder.
My prediction today is we will all have the opportunity to have a picture taken with a fish in hand. Today may even be a numbers day, like more then one each. But success for me isn't hooking, fighting and landing them, but just finding them and seeing if they are interested, or not, in what I'm throwing. I still believe this trip could be a big fish trip, so we'll see about that.
We have some socializing to do while we're here and tomorrow night we'll be hitting Abe's "The Shed" up in Aquinnah for a gathering of like-minded fly fishermen. Then on Friday at Kismet Outfitter's the Two Joe's will do a head to head fly tying tie off before we head for home Saturday morning. There's still days of fishing to be had with a mix of sun, rain, and clouds. It's all real good, I'm just happy to be up here. And thanks to my wife who's holding down the fort, and tackling all the house selling and buying stuff that's going on everyday. Thanks bud.