7/12/08 by Corey Pietraszek
Well it has been another spectacular week of fishing here in Buzzards Bay as well as along Newport. Once again I had Dave Gale and his good friend Mark yesterday for a few good hours of fishing. I guess before I start with the update I should just explain why the importance of having a good trip with Dave is critical. Dave started booking trips years ago and the funny thing was every time his trips would come up the weather was usually as foul as could be, hence the last name “Gale”, or the fishing was just not good. Last year we started to break the weather curse and got better windows without 4 ft seas or 20 knots of wind and got tight to some better fish. Well, Dave and I had one morning last year around this time that was unreal as far as quality and numbers of bass go. On one drift Dave make a well placed long cast into a boulder field that had been holding good numbers of giant bass for about 3 weeks. Well this day these fish were all charged up and they wanted to eat big poppers in the worst way. A fish I’m guessing would have went well over 40lbs, emerges from the pack and consumes his popper right at the boat. He does an amazing job of setting up and clearing the fly line while still maintaining solid pressure on a huge bass which is key. Dave knows my style of fishing and that’s this “lock em up”. I fish a very tight drag all the time and I rely on my rigging and rod angle and pressure to know when and how to pull on a bigger critter. I figure land the fish sooner then later and I do it with all species of fish I pursue and its worked well and not so well but I will continue to operate this way regardless. Well, Dave to has started to like this style of fishing and this particular morning has a very snug drag which is great to see for both him and the fish on the end. Well even with that being said the fish just runs a straight path for the largest rocks within 20 miles and cuts off the fly line with about 40 yards of backing with it. Dave and I just sit in amazement while we try to figure out how we might find a flyline in my gear bag or a tern might fly by and drop a brand new Airflo intermediate in the boat while passing to get him fishing again. No such luck but what an experience for him to witness it go down. But we also wanted to to try and save a fish a few weeks of towing hardware around which must have sucked.
Well Dave fishes a few days a month to say the least and the following week he invites a good friend and accomplished fly caster to get out with him. We do in fact have great conditions again and the fish are happy and his buddy ends up landing a 30+lb fish on an 8wt. Now Dave is convinced he is jinxed and has sunk into what many anglers refer to as the “rut”. No way to live really and I think I might have to get Dave some medical attention at this point. Well this season things have come full circle for Dave and he is not only casting when it counts but can see and understand when and how to manipulate a fly for larger fish and its paid off. I’m excited to say he’s finally on the upside of that “rut” and has learned and become on of the better guys for this style fishing.
Well the fishing continues to be as good as it gets early in the mornings. We did have some swell on along the south facing shorelines for most of the week but the water quality changed almost over night for yesterdays fishing which was great to see finally. Dave and Mark had solid fishing from about 5am until 9am when things really slowed down. Most of the action for the guys tossing big plugs like Tattoo Sea Pups or needlefish have done great. The key is this you need to cast far from the boat. Big bass don’t like boats hooked or not hooked. They are very aware of whats happening in the water much like if you live near a highway your used to hearing it where as your family comes to stay and can’t sleep the whole time do to the noise. Its ambient and I feel the fish are the same way at least the bigger guys in water under 15ft deep. Great week this week overall and I hope the swells move along quick as I know commercial season open tomorrow and well have plenty of boats to compete with for the next few weeks until that slaughter is over. Well for all who have trips this coming week I look forward to seeing you and like I mentioned in the last update I do have some solid dates open during the next few weeks as well as into August so get your plans together now and lets catch some fish!
