One thing I can say about this past week is that I have been able to catch up on my rest and sleep. While my sleep-wake cycle has been off a bit, these afternoon nawnys have been a great reset. I've been up everynight between 2 - 4 AM, fished early at times through mid afternoon, but have always found some time to reboot. And those catnaps are more like a journey into a comatose state than just resting my eyes. It will be hard to reset back to my old ways which is usually getting to bed by 8 PM, up at 4 AM, and then running a full and nap-free day.
Today is our last day, it's the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs. It's 237 AM as I write, and in about an hour the three of us are going to hit it in OB. The weather doesn't look good today with a SW wind predicted to 25 mph. After OB I'll hit Tashmoo for one last shot for a sight caught fish. But first I'll have to say and thank my new-to-me Suburban who made her first trip to the Vineyard. Pretty, spacious, and some how not to bad on gas, she did everything I needed from her. The wheel bearing I put in seemed to be the trick, the only thing I have to do now is figure out the A/C, especially before the summer, of which part of it will be spent down in South Carolina. While things look like all systems go with the house sale, and three purchases, we're not out of the woods and it would only take one thing to cause the whole deck of cards to collapse.
I got to Tashmoo at 0630 wanting to beat the wind and catch it at the end of the outgoing. With the wind and low sun getting a shot I knew would be difficult but I'd rather be standing on a ladder then laying on the couch, or worst yet, blind casting somewhere.
At The Shed the other evening local legend David, "DT", Thompson gave me two crab flies that he had tied up and has had good success with. So I tied on the one on the right and made my way out into the ankle to calf deep water.
At times the sun would pop out and light up the place increasing my cone of vision from atop the ladder. I moved a bunch trying to find the right angles and maybe where the fish were. I picked up off the flat, where I had seen four fish, and headed to the back of the pond.
But back there the visibility was tough, tough to the point that my head felt like it was on a swivel. At one point I swear my head did a 360 rotation during a left to right sweep. My head was always being cocked left to right trying to get the glasses and the reflection, or lack thereof, just right. In the end I saw six fish, with one decent shot that I worked but couldn't find my fly to feed the good sized bass.
When the tied flipped the blanket of clouds set in and I knew I was done, but I wasn't. I made way out front and fished the jetty, Jersey style, as the tide ripped inside the pond and around the east side. Custom had tied up a bunch of small baitfish patterns at the shindig the other night and he gave me one to try so I tied it on and gave it a go. You can get a feel of the conditions as you look at the bucktail dancing in the wind.
I fished around the tip of the jetty without a tap before moving to the elevated section of the beach. I was protected from the wind and had good visibility but saw no bait and no fish. It's a
great place to search for fish while looking at the boat action on Middle Ground with a backdrop of the Elizabeth Islands. It was there this week that one of the kids I met found "hundreds" of bass coming up onto a flat. He was in his boat and was caught up more in a swimming than fishing mode, but he did catch a few on the fly rod.
Before I pulled out I checked out the inlet on the start of the incoming. It was wind against tide with a steady cloud cover so having put away the ladder was a good idea. When I got back to the ranch the Two Joe's were up in the rack after having fished first light. Flatwing caught two small bass, ones that Custom refused to take pictures of.
It was an afternoon of naps for Custom and me while Flatwing went out scouting around. The winds were brutal everywhere you went and he took some video of conditions.
The only people happy yesterday were the wind surfers. While he was out I ran over to Stop & Shop to grab stuff for dinner and a coffee at Cumberland Farms. Great coffee, and better yet, solid cups and lids.
We were on the phone with Levi joking around when my hand came up short as I went to grab the cup and 24 ounces of coffee spilled and found it's way all around the kitchen. Needless to say the spilling was just a bummer, the cleanup just sucked.
We ended the day with a nice steak meal Flatwing whipped up. It was a good day, except for the fishing and spilled coffee, for a good nap and good food. After my morning session I was able to get home and finish up the final exam so it was good to close the page on that. We came up with our final fishing plan. This morning we'll be out there at 4 AM in OB, and then I'll break off for one last shot at Tashmoo. Again, predicted are clouds with a cranking SSW wind, not perfect by any means.
And lastly the commercial season for striped bass opened up here on Tuesday. The other night at Abe's I met a guy who said he went out fishing that day "Looking for commercial". It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about. But in Massachusetts license holders, including recreational fishermen, can take part of the 683,773 pound-quota set for the 2026 season. "Commercial" fishermen can harvest up to 15 greater than 35 inch fish each Tuesday and Wednesday until the quota is met.
While we bitch about New Jersey's Bonus Tag Program but can you imagine if we had a commercial fishery for striped bass? Mass's 683,773 pound quota comes out to 37,987,38 18 pound fish removed from the biomass, coupled with similar commercial fisheries in Rhode Island, New York, Delaware, Maryland, the Potomac River, and Virginia. Add to that the coastwise slot fish and Jersey's Bonus Tag fish and that's a lot of striped bass navigating through people's intestines and not in the water, and not spawning. As we've seen in New Jersey, and up here as well, there's just not a lot of smaller fish around. When fishing it's feast or famine, meaning finding that isolated spot that is holding fish, and mostly larger ones.
So in a bit we're heading out to fish the final day. Then it'll be a nice afternoon nap before the packing up begins. Tonight the Two Joe's go head to head in their "Battle of the Regal Vices" over at Kismet Outfitters. We've already talked about plans for next year. The annual trip to the Vineyard will hopefully continue. We're less then a year away.
And finally a shout out Happy Birthday to our daughter Lauren who turned 24 yesterday. It's been a big year for the birthday girl as she graduated Rowan University with her bachelors degree and will soon set off on a journey heading south. Luckily Theresa was able to take a break from the house sale related stuff to catch up with two of her three kids for the celebration. That's one thing we'll have to get used to heading to South Carolina, the informal gatherings and catching ups. But with the kids in different states it'll take some planning, and lots of phone FaceTime video to stay connected.