Surf Talk and JDRF Fundraiser

I decided to do a fundraiser on a message board called Surf Talk. It has been a success so far having raised $85. What surprised me was the tremendous outreach by other anglers out there that have been willing to donate plugs. I now have 10 prizes in the raffle. Two RM Smith plugs which run at least $25 a piece, a package of Hogy's, 5 homemade plugs that look amazing, an antique Atom plug and a couple other plugs as well. My goal when i started this was to hopefully raise $100 so I am almost there, but now I have a feeling that I may get closer to $150. As of right now I have 5 entrants in the raffle so each person will actually win two things and when I repost a new thread I will include pictures of all the great prizes and discuss the incredible odds of winning. Hopefully this will gain me another handful of entrants at $5 a piece. Here are some pictures of the prizes being offered.

Getting Ready to Heat Up - Or Cool Down

The general temperature of the Cape is starting to cool down quite a bit which means to me that the fishing will start to heat up. I have been disappointed at the lack of bluefish, albies and bonito in Buzzards Bay this year and I am hoping that those that fish these waters regularly are rewarded with a nice fall blitz. Overall I am very happy with the season I have had as it has been the most productive in terms of keeper bass that I have caught on my own ever. It will take a long time to add up to two of the amzing trips I have gone on with Steve Page where we threw back probably close to twenty-five 40" fish each trip. In a way though I do not even count that trip. I did not catch the fish. Yes, I was holding the rod and reeled the fish in etc, but I was not the one who found the fish and chose what rod, lure, line etc. to use. With the lack of fish in Buzzards Bay it has meant that I have had to make many a trip to the Elizabeth's in order to find the good fishing which has been loads of fun, but it has not been kind on my gas bill. Yes, I get great mileage on my boat and can get three to four lenghthy trips out of it, but it adds up real quick for a family of teachers. Christine has been awesome about letting me go out on the boat just about whenever I ask. I alos think that I am quite reasonable about it too and try to make it as painless as possible. In the early summer i could leave at 4am and have enough light to see so I was done fishing by 9am. Now that I have to leave at more like 5am I am done around 10am, but the possitives are that I really still have an entire day to spend with the family after I have done a morning fishing. I am thinking that I am going to have to be willing to get down and dirty this fall. Lots of layers and deal with some heavier seas and not be afraid to get a little rained on. With school in full swing I am going to need to take advantage of the weekends as much as possible. I am not afraid to take a sick day or two, but with having to be out a good amount for Thomas and music festivals etc. my days add up really fast. Before my last trip with Gene I told myseof that I would like to get just one more keeper before the season is done, but since it already happened I think I may add one more to the list.

Labor Day Weekend Fishing

I was looking forward to getting in some fishing this weekend before getting back to school. I went out early on Saturday morning with some eels and Hogy's. My plan was to fish the Vineyard sound side of the Elizabeth's. I started out casting around some rocks near Robinson's Hole where I have caught some bass before. Nothing there. I moved on to some rocks near Quicks' Hole and still no luck. I decided to move towards Cuttyhunk. This is the first time I have fished the Vineyard Sound side of the island. I went right up to the fishing club and stated throwing some eels. I saw a few fish near the surface that were pushing some bait around, but they were not interested in eels so I threw the Hogy at them and soon after I started doing that they were no where to be seen. I ended up going all around the island fishing rocks and the rip that sets up at the end. Still no fish.

On the way home I decided to fish a couple spots around Naushon to try and avoid the skunk. I did manage one small schoolie and a few casts later while I was getting out a knot I reeled in and had a fluke. My first one of those.

Yesterday I went out with Gene Bourque. There was a stiff NW wind that made Buzzards Bay pretty unenjoyable on the trip out to the Elizabeth's, but after we went through Wood's Hole Vineyard Sound was as flat as could be. Gene showed me some great spots along Naushon to fish. At one spot Gene got two nice keepers in the 30-35" range and I missed two fish and my line snapped on another upon setting the hook. Maddening. We worked our way south and Gene was able to get one more fish just under keeper size. We were almost at Cuttyhunk and decided to fish these rocks on Nashawena that looked rather fishy. This time I hooked up twice and brought in a nice just under keeper fish and a nice 30+" fish.

The interesting thing about the fish we caught was that each time one of us hooked up the other one missed a fish at just about exactly the same time. It was like as soon as one fish decided to attack another followed.

The ride back was awful. Vineyard Sound was OK in spots, rough in some and dead flat in others. After thinking we may go through Robinson's and return through Buzzard's Bay the 5 foot waves changed our minds really quick. We were able to really make good time from Robinson's down to Wood's Hole on the Vineyard Sound side, but it took nearly an hour to get from Wood's Hole to Fiddler's. What an uncomfortable and bumpy ride. But, worth every second of it.