A Report and a Year To Year Comparison...
REPORT:
Braved the NE "Breeze" this AM and the drizzle to get 6 fish. The "highlight" was some real combat fishing reminiscent of my old days on LI, night fishing in Plum Gut. Couldn't find any fish in the river proper, but had "inappropriate" desires to fish the harbor inlet. Mind you, this "Entrance" is maybe 80 yds across, filled with lobster traps and there is a "wicked bad" current when the tide is running. So this AM at mid-tide, we're talking the maximum tidal velocity, and just to make things more interesting, a 15+ kt NE wind running directly against the tide.
Well I decided to fish the inlet because all my other spots were pretty barren. With all the traps there, and accounting for the rocky bottom and the probable high number of "lost" traps sitting there too, I felt anchoring was out of the question. This all meant I had maybe 3 casts in the "Hot Zone" before I'd have to restart my drift. Of course if I hooked up, that would be the last cast for that drift. I proceeded to take about a dozen drifts with action on each one, but there were many short hits so only ended up actually hooking up 5 times. Of those 5, 3 made it to the boat, all of them beautiful 24" fish with large shoulders that just didn't want to give up.
It was fun, but nerve wracking in that I had to dance around lobster traps with both the boat and hooked fish, and make sure the boat didn't end up on the rocks. The Pucker Factor was high. When I got back to the barn I put the exclamation point on the trip by tossing out a lure and catching a fish right from the dock, but it was a 16" runt. An exhausting, but exhilarating morning.
YTD COMPARISON OF 2019 TO 2020:
I may have alluded to thinking that this year's numbers being down from last, as well as larger fish in general this year.
Today in my boredom I ran the YTD comparison. On straight numbers, in 2019 I caught 371 bass by this date. That number is down by 100 to 271, a 17% drop year over year. On size in 2019, only 16 of those 371 fish (4% of 371) were over 23" with a single 29" keeper. So far this year, I've caught 32 fish greater than 23",(12% of the 271), but no keepers.
That's the story from Midcoast Maine. Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!!!
REPORT:
Braved the NE "Breeze" this AM and the drizzle to get 6 fish. The "highlight" was some real combat fishing reminiscent of my old days on LI, night fishing in Plum Gut. Couldn't find any fish in the river proper, but had "inappropriate" desires to fish the harbor inlet. Mind you, this "Entrance" is maybe 80 yds across, filled with lobster traps and there is a "wicked bad" current when the tide is running. So this AM at mid-tide, we're talking the maximum tidal velocity, and just to make things more interesting, a 15+ kt NE wind running directly against the tide.
Well I decided to fish the inlet because all my other spots were pretty barren. With all the traps there, and accounting for the rocky bottom and the probable high number of "lost" traps sitting there too, I felt anchoring was out of the question. This all meant I had maybe 3 casts in the "Hot Zone" before I'd have to restart my drift. Of course if I hooked up, that would be the last cast for that drift. I proceeded to take about a dozen drifts with action on each one, but there were many short hits so only ended up actually hooking up 5 times. Of those 5, 3 made it to the boat, all of them beautiful 24" fish with large shoulders that just didn't want to give up.
It was fun, but nerve wracking in that I had to dance around lobster traps with both the boat and hooked fish, and make sure the boat didn't end up on the rocks. The Pucker Factor was high. When I got back to the barn I put the exclamation point on the trip by tossing out a lure and catching a fish right from the dock, but it was a 16" runt. An exhausting, but exhilarating morning.
YTD COMPARISON OF 2019 TO 2020:
I may have alluded to thinking that this year's numbers being down from last, as well as larger fish in general this year.
Today in my boredom I ran the YTD comparison. On straight numbers, in 2019 I caught 371 bass by this date. That number is down by 100 to 271, a 17% drop year over year. On size in 2019, only 16 of those 371 fish (4% of 371) were over 23" with a single 29" keeper. So far this year, I've caught 32 fish greater than 23",(12% of the 271), but no keepers.
That's the story from Midcoast Maine. Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!!!
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