Boston Fly Fishing and Report: June 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Vineyard Stripers!

The flats of Martha's Vineyard hold some bruiser fish. Floating or intermediate lines and unweighted flies are key for fooling shallow water stripahs. This one was caught on a 6wt and a sand eel pattern in 18" of water.

Big Scup

Scup=good bait for stripers and fun to catch on your fly rod when nothing is happening

The bite was slow during the day so we caught Scup on small clousers and then transported them to a more Bassy location. Once there, they were live-lined ghetto style. I continued to throw the fly but it proved fruitless amidst the mid-day sun. It wasn't very long before I saw a huge boil behind my Scup which was quivering on the surface. I retrieved the now half-scup and re-baited with a smaller one which promptly got ripped by a sweet bass. My light steelhead rod was under gunned in applying the brakes to this class of fish. Luckily, a shallow bottom, free of debris and structure proved to be a perfect location for fighting fish on light tackle.

I had the pleasure of fishing with Gary Lewis and some other heavy hitters from Oregon on Sunday. The fishing in Wellfleet was humbling, as we saw no signs of life until late evening. A high pressure had all but shut the fish down for the morning and mid day bite. Gary managed to hook up briefly in a small pod of busting fish but it didn't stick and we went back to the dock blanked. These guys are hardened steelhead and salmon anglers who can throw the fly for 8+ hours a day and still remain optimistic even in the bleakest of situations. They were total gentlemen and throughout the "skunking" that we were experiencing, inundated me with a plethora of 1970's Oregon fishing stories...which were AWESOME. Gary is a top notch guide and has given me all sorts of helpful information over the years.