Suprise Sea Bass

[live bait]

Friday morning headed for the race. Although the place is dominated by big bluefish this time of year I was hoping it would give up an August striper as it had in the past. Halfway through first drift, fish on, small fish not fighting like a big blue or striper, much to my suprise a 4lb sea bass had inhaled my offering & hit the deck, that was the last for the tide. The rest of the tide was what I would expect from the area, big, brute bluefish. After a few hours of this I decided that bringing the big guys up from well over 100' is a younger mans sport, & decided to head west through the Gut into the eastern sound & try & put a sea bass catch together. On a nice clear day arrived at Plum Gut to find it fogged in, during the slow travel towards the sound the fog became dense, anyone who has seen my reports in the past knows I'm not a fan of the combination of Plum Gut, dense for, & the prospect of the ferry, time to find a way out. I decided to turn around & head for the bouy that marks the entrance to the gut from the bay side, knowing the ferry boats would pass well west of that bouy as I could hear the loud ominous horn of one of the ferry boats. Not a fan of the fog. Once in the bay the fog cleared although I couls see the Gut still fogged in, time to head for the trailer, all & all a good day. Capt. Mike has commented more that once that Plum Guy is a world of it's own, & unpredictable.
John

 

[captmike28]

Yes, John it is a 'micro climate" all to itself. I too was out there later on Friday morning. My job was to take a group from Save the Sound Conservation group and some news reporters out to observe a dive operation taking place on the north side of Plum.
Arrived at Orient to pick up passengers at 10:30 and visibility to the west and south was well over 5 miles. Left the dock around 11 and you couldn't see the lighthouse from the ferry terminal!. Got to the Gut and then Plum started to come into view and by the time we got to the central part of the north side of Plum the fog had almost completely lifted. Always an adventure out there!
BTW, I too have caught several nice Sea Bass by accident while drifting bucktails through both the Gut and the Race. In fact I know a few experienced guys that actually fish those areas on slack water with bait rigs and hammer the biscuits. Something to keep in mind.