June 13, 2006

Flat calm. Everything was perfect today and I faced the dawn's first light alone on the bay. By 4:45 I was heading out of Howland's and off to the Nummet area. Ebb tide, moving fast. Fish were surfacing all around - not tons, but enough to let me know that they were there. First cast = first fish, a relatively small, but vigorous striper.

I had about 45 minutes of fishing time out there all to myself. And in this time period I must have landed fifteen stripers, all between 20 and 27". I had several large fish on the line at times, but lost every one due to poor sets. These fish, however, were going ballistic - coming fully out of the water, arching smoothly, and reentering like olympic divers. Sometimes they would take the plug on the way down!

After my stint of solitude I was joined by Dave Bitters and another boat run by one of his colleaques (Mark, I think). We all took turns drifting down the Nummet, over the rip, and hooking up. I continued on longer drifts; beginning way back (upstream) where I was hooking many fish, but the other guys focused only on the immediate area of the rip which resulted in more drive time and less fishing time.

I called it quits when the red Lund showed up and drove over the prime fishing area -- over and over. But overall, one of the finest mornings on the water this year. 25 fish in all.