Today was a charter that was already bumped once for weather this season. I told Brian that the weather today might be a little sporty for covering ground and that the fishing for larger fish was still a bit off in my area. Brian being a hardcore fisherman with a boat in the shop said he was going to die if he didn't get out on the water NOW! Not wanting to have him pass away before we got to fish together we made a game plan.



I met Brian at 0530 at Bourne Marina and we were off in no time. By the time we cleared the gas dock Seaker was hailing me saying that the birds and fish were all over the west end. Brian readied his flyrod and put on a large baitfish pattern. AS soon as we made the turn into the canal we had fish. There were a ton of smaller fish and Brian's large baitfish fly did a fair job of culling them before hookup. Brian's an acomplished flyfisherman and he was more interested in size than numbers. We targeted the flocks of big gulls with the hering and squid and avoided the masses of terns as they hammered the sandeels over the twinkes.



After landing several sublegal fish Brian hung a nice fish in a ripline we were drifting. We had seen some larger fish in the 40" range smash herring along this rip and it seemed Brian had found the business end of one of them. After an up and down battle with the fish in the ripping current the unfortunate happened and the leader parted. Undetered Brian rerigging his flyrod and dug out another handtied fly and we were back at it. We continued a slow pick of the larger school fish, but we were not able to hang another one of the large fish in amongst them.



By 0730 the tide died off and so did the fishing. THe birds disappeared and the fishing slowed. Seaker decided to run the 42'er long in the sloppy conditions of Buzzards Bay. Iwas less excited about a long run in my 24'er in the tight 3' seas. A call from Skipjack to Seaker advised of nasty conditions out near the holes even in a 28' sporty. But we had to do SOMETHING! Brian's a gamer and dispite the wind and waves he wanted to march on. So march we did.



I headed for Woods Hole and pushed up the throttles. We did a good job of smashing through the sloppy seas with only the occasional out of step wave jarring us to attention. We hit the Hole and found no action just a few boats passing through. SO we continued to drive on into the sound.



The sound was a little better than we had been told. It was by no means calm as we ran over to Middle Ground. We arrived at MG more because it was in the area than because we wanted to fish it. The new Navionics software has current info and it showed the water to be slow at this time, but since it was nearby it was worth a look. About a half dozen boats drifted around on the flattend out water where the rip would be, none seemed to be doing anything but waiting for moving water.



A check of the tide chart and current flow showed that the shoals off Poppy should have some good water moving shortly so we decided to run to the rips. We slogged down to the shoals and found several fleets of boats. The water was just making up and we began drifting and crabing the face of the rips. Brian was able to cast and work the fly pretty well dispite the high winds out in the open water. We saw one small fish taken nearby but the rips were thin on bait, birds and fish.



I decided we had been pounded enough and it was time for a break and some easier fishing. After swearing Brian to a blood oath I ran to a spot I knew would hold fish and a shot at some larger fish. Its a small out of the way spot that I don't generally bring people too due to VERY limited space. But after coming this far I made an exception. We ran the gauntlet involved in reaching the spot and arrived at some nice flat water and instandly Brian was tight. Small fish from the first spot. But larger fish as we moved aroudn the area.



We had several fish that were just shy of legal which surprised Brian due to the size of the area and the type of location we were fishing. There was a plugger in a kayak that landed two nie fish nearby, one just legal and one mid 30"s on a large popper, but the big fly just wouldn't take us to the 30" range. When Brian took a short break to rest his arm from all the casting he handed me the rod. Though rusty from not touching a flyrod all winter I was still able to continue the steady pace of just sublegal fish that Brian had been maintaining. We knew that there were larger fish around as a big school of herring zipped around us dogging the bigger fish and the threats from above by osprey.



Finally after a good nubmer of bass we decided to leave the shelter of the little area and head back towards the canal. We backtracked most of our route out and found even less life than before. The rips and shoals were void of life and now of boats.



The wind picked up and the ride home was a bit more "sporty" than the ride out. But we moved right along pushing the water out of the way and staying amazingly dry of spray, although the mist, drizzle and fog had us wet anyway.



Final tally around 1300 we were back to the marina. It was a long half day with plenty of fish on the fly, but not quite what we had hoped for. We both knew it was early for BIG fish especially on the fly, but when you've got to go....you've got to go! Brian and I finished up with a gameplan for some really large fish later in the season when the fish and the conditions will be more in our favor. I look foreward to putting his skills anb his large fly patterns to the test when the cows come home. Overall a solid effort with good results on the fly.