Well people its that time of year again. The leaves are changing with the cooler nights and all species of fish are starting to move south again to the winter holdover grounds. The fall fishing definitely started out weak in most of the areas that we fish but has come full circle the last week or so. Many of the days along the Islands we're tough in late September as the MV Derby guys invade and you have to share. We did have some fabulous days of fishing out along the Islands however with some days giving up a few fish just over 30lbs on both fly and spin. With that being said I decided to not run over to the Islands as much until the derby ends and started fishing back here along the Sakonnet and Newport shoreline again which has been a welcome change. The big question from all clients has been "Where are the albies"? Well yes the albies did come in but for a short time and on the days when the fish would stay up for more then 2 seconds making it tough for the fly rodders but a not to tough for the spin anglers using metals or Yozuri Live Bait you could in fact catch them it was just very tough which is usually the case for these fish. WE did manage to land about 20 total this season which is a far cry from landing 20 a day last season. These fish stayed for about 2 solid weeks on and off and then they just left as fast as they arrived. However, last week I had a day with Earl when fishing for bass a huge school of late October run Bonito made a push by the rocks we had been fishing and we did manage to get tight to a few of these guys before they left the scene. Tasty Critters!

The last few days I've not been booked which happens every year in October. The fishing is great but I think many people by this time have had enough and the books just get loose so its time for me to try and enjoy a few days fishing. My thoughts are this, you work very hard during the season as a guide and see many opportunities come and go but that's part of the job so when you can get to go fishing with other people its great and my fish of choice to chase is tuna. The waters off Cape Cod have been great all season long but this time of year when the bigger baits like half beaks or bunker are around the tuna just go nuts and the tuna fishing can be amazing. Many days are filled with huge schools of fish jumping 5-8ft out of the water after halfbeaks and if you can get close enough quick and get a surface plug or fly into the mix its party time! I had Phat Matt and Harvey Simon aboard on Saturday and we encountered a huge school of tuna that were feeding like bass just sipping sand eels off the surface and if you got a lure next to them they would just explode on it. We hooked 5 and landed 3 for the day and Harvey's fish was just a big butterball weighing what we figured to be about 90lbs. Overall this was a great season for BIG tuna on LITTLE tackle. Man I hope we can get out a few more times before the weather just gets way to grumpy for the Parker and the season is over. These fish are the best thing in the ocean period!

Most of the fall action has been just been awesome most days. I have had some really tough days but the better days seem to out number the tough ones making it a solid fall season overall. I think with the amount of bait and fish still north around Boston and south heading into the Canal we could have some great bass fishing here along the Islands and north estuaries of Buzzards Bay again in the coming weeks. The fall fishing is in full swing and I have some openings from now until Halloween so give us a call and plan to get out to enjoy some fall run fishing as the 2008 season is about to come to a close.

Well as usual another long time since I updated to fishing report for everyone which is not anything new but many thanks to Dave Gale for busting my kahunas tonight so I'm doing so now. The last few weeks have been up and down with major motor issues and a tropical storm rolling by and it has been wild to say the least. I hope this black cloud of bad luck with boat is finally moved one and things start to get better again. As for the fishing on the other hand its been just getting better by the day it seems. The lack of bait has been a huge concern until the last few days when huge amounts of bay anchovies and schools of peanut bunker are starting to show in better size. Today was the first time all season I can really say we saw fish starting to school up and eating schools of bait. Most of the time I'm in the rocks drifting just teasing fish or looking for fish to be holding in structure. This is great but when this time of year comes around you start to look for fish to be moving more and migrating and catching better numbers versus size or many times both with many different species. The heavy north wind today brought some cooler air and with that we got into our first really good push of bait and migrating fish which is great!

The past few weeks I've been flat out busy with bookings everyday which is wonderful so no complaining here. Dave Gale went huge again in some really rough seas last Friday but managed to get tight to one of the bigger bass of the season again. Another huge bass on fly gear for Dave as he is without a doubt the top fly rod angler this season for big bass and he gets the job done when it counts. Great work once again Dave now please lets catch some albies on the next trips. I also had Dave Gonder and his wife Heather from Canada. They made the trip down this week to do bass fishing one day and a Cape Cod Tuna run the next day. We got some last minute intel from Phat Matt and decided to make the run on Tuesday and it was a good call. After a few hours of waiting and hunting it finally happened. A really good school of tuna between 60-120lb blows up near the boat and we finally get tight to one. I felt bad as Dave is a custom rod builder and made an awesome rod for the trip and unfortunately got tight on my Calstar but either way after 30 minutes of fighting he landed an awesome 100lb fish. Nice Work! The following day we decided to fish for bass along the Islands. Flat calm conditions have not been good to me out there but we did manage a few nice bass and had a fair amount of bluefish to play with at the same time.

Today I had John Rukavina onboard for his annual fall trip to New England. He books 4 days and spreads them out and thanks for that as today was NE 20-25 and tomorrows forecast looks even worse but we'll give it a try anyway. The fishing today was really limited as we had to stay close with all the wind and heavy seas. John's an excellent angler so you just drive the boat and try to get some shots off when the fish are up. I decided to stay close to home and its a good thing we did because we ran into the first real school of fast moving fish today... FINALLY ! People have been calling asking and I really figured its getting late and these fish are just not going to show but they finally did today which was wonderful. John hooked and landed a bunch and we finally called it a day after taking a beating in close to shore which is not a good thing on a north wind running in the lee. Well lets hope tomorrow is as good as today's conditions and the bait and fish are as active. Let the games begin I think the first real signs of fall are here. I have some awesome dates in October open so get an email over and book some time to fish. This is your last chance for the "08" season and remember its a long winter guys!

As I type this update I'm hearing reports of the first solid showing of Bonito and even Albies all along the South coast . Many reports are coming in from the Vineyard and Long Island but still I've not seen any on my daily hunts between here and the Islands which is no fun because everyone wants to chase them. I still get many calls and emails but I'm serious these small inshore tuna have managed to stay out of sight pretty well to this point. I really think the lack of bait we usually see along Newport and other areas has just not come together this season so far and until then I think the actual numbers of fish breaking on top may be very small. This makes it hard to locate them and in turn you spend hours looking for a fish that might just not be there or is there and not showing so you blind cast for hours with no results.

On a more positive note, the bass and bluefish have been great most days. For the last few weeks many days of fishing have been 6-8 hour days and during much of them the fishing has been better then expected. Anglers using surface lures have done very well at first light along many of the usual haunts and when the tidal flow is right even later into the morning. I've had some days with multiple 30lb fish taken after 11am this year which is solid proof if you work the structure right bigger fish are around you just need to make them eat or at least take a look at what your throwing.

The big problem the past few weeks has been the unpredictable thunder storms that just seem to evolve right above the boat. I had a great client Jim Allenchy about two weeks ago lined up for an all day trip. I looked at the forecast the night before and decided why not we can give it a try in the morning and see what the conditions are like as we go. We'll anytime your greeted at the ramp by no other boats, an empty parking lot, and a very red sky you should rethink things. I figured the run would not be all that bad and it wasn't. We start fishing at around 7am and things are not all that bad. Find some decent fishing finally when the sky decided to go from a light shade of gray to almost night and opens up above us with rain like a tropical monsoon . Thunder and lightning and from what I could tell a few good water spouts appear and its suddenly like Armageddon on the water. Well we run for cover along a safe beach and wait it out only to start fishing again to see another cloud coming so we decided to call it a day and made the really rough ride back. I must give Jim credit he never complain if anything loved it from what he said and he did land a very nice fish in what I would consider a tropical storm and lost what could have been the largest fish to date to a huge rock and poor boat handling on my part.

Other then the serious weather I feel the August fishing has been awesome overall. The bass bite has been tougher the last few days with the full moon and seaweed almost everywhere you turn. I think in the coming days with these cooler night and first signs of fall here the fishing should turn on again and I hope to see some Bonito or Albie first hand in the coming days even if I have to break down and run to MV with Phat Matt for a recon trip in his little boat. As I mentioned I have been busy and looking at the calendar all I have left is 5 DAYS between now and October 1st which is amazing considering the state of the economy and peoples spending habits. I'm trying to my best and it appears to be working I guess. I look forward to seeing everyone who's booked in the coming weeks and if fishing during the cooler months of the migration are what your thinking about please book your October rates now. I have some very nice dates open in October around good tides which is a shock but they will fill in soon. Stay Tight!

Well first off I apologize about the delay in the fishing reports. I had some engine issues with the boat about two weeks back which have been smoothed out now and I have been flat out busy and just tired so there ya go! With that being said the busy part of things has been great and so has the fishing. The weather was not great last week with heavy swells and big winds so I was able to get a few things done around the house and at the Saltwater Edge. The rest of August is all booked and I have a few days toward the end of the month open but that's it so things are looking good for August.

Today was another trip with Dave Gale and his son Evan. Evan is a plug fisherman so he's got the upper hand when it comes to distance and presentation to the bigger bass. We had ideal conditions for hunting big bass this morning with a fair amount of fog, overcast, and not much boat traffic. The tide was perfect in our first spot and on Evans third cast with a big wooden spook he goes tight to his first bass of the 2008 season which weighed in at 18lbs! Not a bad start kid! We picked through the rocks and found many more fish just milling looking to eat anything that swam by. After awhile we decided to move around some more and try to find the big girls. A few spots this past week have been holding some monster fish and I've found that the first hour or so before the tide rips really hard has been best in these spots. Well we worked and worked and finally after a few good drifts we found the bigger fish. Now Dave is on the bow and Evan is working from the back using the spinning tackle. Dave has been fishing his 7 wt fly rod most of the morning as we really didn't find any huge fish early just some smaller ones so why not use the 7wt when you can. Well, when this pack of fish decided to rush up to the boat Dave's small 7wt was not a good weapon of choice but he casted anyway. A fish I'm guessing is about 45" comes up and slowly inhales his small E-Z Body baitfish pattern and he's off to the races. Meanwhile, Evan is reeling in another nice fish which he also hooked from that school of fish. After a few minutes of battling and some amazing rod work by Dave using his tiny 7wt he manages to turn this big girl around and starts gaining some backing and fly line. We now get a good look at her and we know she's big but how big. Dave slides the fish boatside and we put the 60lb Boga on her and Wham! 38lbs of pure 7wt fly eating pleasure pulls down on the Boga! Another great day of fishing for Dave and his son Evan.

Yesterday I had Tony Amado. Tony is from New York and most of his fishing is done for Largemouth Bass, Salmon or Atlantic's so when its time to hit the salt for Striped Bass he can't wait. We decided to get an early start due to the forecast of bright sun and no wind. I figured the tide would be better later in the morning so we putted around in the rocks catching smaller fish and having a great time. Most of this style of fishing is cast, cast move. I'm convinced if the fish are in the area they will let you know if not move. We did just that for most of the morning just moving around trying different patterns at different depths and caught tons of bass and a few small bluefish. When the tide was finally right for hunting for the big bass we moved in and did the first drift in a very good spot. After a few cast with little to show I was thinking that the fish finally moved on. No sooner did I say "Think its slow in here today" a really nice fish follows the fly to the boat and tries to eat but Tony runs out of room to move the fly and no go. The next cast he goes long and after a few strips he gets tight to a nice fish in the 20lb class and he's all smiles! We had a few really good drifts with mixed results but we did manage a few serious critters on fly gear from many of the the rocks that morning. Nice work Tony.

Finally a few minutes to put together a quick report which many have asked for over the last week. Well, the fishing has been great with many mornings filled with low visibility and better tides with the new moon approaching and I have loved it. My focus has not been the tuna in the bay even with all the phone and inbox still coming in after the wild trip and with Tattoo and Phat Matt's. To be honest the bite has been very tough in Cape Cod Bay. Tons of tuna are in the bay just not really feeding aggressively again yet. These fish are "running" or waking at or just below the surface. When the tuna are doing this they are not only difficult for the untrained eye to see, but can be very tough to get to eat a fly or surface plug or anything for that matter. I've decided to hang tough for a few weeks and see what happens. Even with all the phone messages and emails coming in its just tough for me to take people out for a very expensive whale watch. That's how I roll and I know tuna fishing is a big investment for me and my sports so hang tight they chew again soon. I must say that the numbers of tuna off Cape Cod right now is really epic and when they all finally get hungry and start to surface feed again it will be a gong show like none have ever witnessed. With the tuna bite being slow my main focus has been the local bass bite. I've been launching here at home which has been fantastic and running out to the Islands or rock piles in cooler waters in search of bigger fish when the wind is behaving. Right now anywhere along the northern side of Buzzards Bay we have water temps in the high 60's to almost 70 degrees in many places. Early morning or at night you can catch larger fish in warmer waters but it seems like during the day many of the fish will be smaller and very abundant. For bigger fish I've been making the run out to the cooler waters of Vineyard Sound and its paid off big. I hate running all over but many of my serious clients want to hunt for large so large we will find.

Many of last years late July early August spots are starting to hold fish but other areas that I've not fished since I was about 10 years old are holding fish and has become a nice change of pace. These areas have had a fair amount of smaller fish finning on the surface on mornings with little wind and fog. These slick water areas around fishy looking structure have been just amazing with almost sight fishing conditions with unreal water clarity. Many of these fish are not really big being anywhere from 8lbs-15lbs but an excellent way to get the skunk out of the boat and its solid action until the fog burns off or the sun gets high. Last years action out along the Islands and south over near the Vineyard was spectacular. Even with the commercial season just about to open here in MA waters, I really feel that the bass fishery will be better this year over last summer. It seems I've had to work a bit harder to locate the bigger fish but they are much more willing to eat flies and lures during the daylight hours when you find them. Many of the fish have been loaded with sea lice which still means we are seeing fish moving in from the deeper waters south of Buzzards Bay which is a wonderful. Many bass sharpies will agree that June is a big fish month and I'm sure for many it is but I have found that July and August can be equally as good along the currents and rips along any of the boulder fields near cooler waters. The next week or so is booked solid and I hope the weather pattern continues to hold producing good fogy morning with I hope good sea conditions and SW wind which makes the fishing a bit more enjoyable for everyone. I also want wish everyone a Happy Independence Day!

One Quick Note:

Please remember to book your trips in advance. I've really had to turn more people away this year due to them waiting longer to book. Booking in advance can be tough for many but to wait and try when things are happening is just not a good idea. I think its better to have a date set versus waiting for me to call you when the bites on. These days are far and few between as I'm really starting to do get the hang of this or something as people book trips more then ever now which leaves me with very few days to fun fish or call when its going off! I really do enjoy everyone's company I just hate to try and move people around to keep everyone happy or worse turn my regular repeat clients away. This is just not good business and its tough to see happen so please book ahead. I still have open dates in July and August and I really feel the next two weeks of fishing could be epic. Not to mention I hope to start seeing some Bonito in the next few weeks or so. I hope we have a banner year for the small inshore hardtails this year. Last season will be a tough on to beat that's for sure!

Well lets just say the last 12 days since the last update have been wonderful. The bass fishing remains to be good. This past week was a nice change seeing that now the bass are starting to move more into the structure making it nice to drift around looking for them versus running after birds. Many of the mornings when the wind is not blowing hard have reveled smaller bass starting to fin on the surface looking for small crabs or lady crab larvae. Every year in the late spring and early summer small lady crabs spawn out and the larvae starts to float on the surface film. When the conditions with light to no wind and cloud cover or fog this time of year you'll have bass anywhere from 5lbs-20lbs finning on the surface in huge schools. This phenomena is wild to witness as all you really see is the top of the fishes head sticking up out of the water and like solders in march they are all side by side swimming into the current eating small crab larvae. Some times you'll see a few fish other times hundreds. These bass can get real spooky and tough to get to eat but with a little coxing you'll get results. It really started to happen this week and it last about a month as over time the crab larvae grows and they start to sink deeper in the water column making it tough to see them on top.

Not only did we have great bass fishing this week but after some recon trips to Cape Cod Bay the Bluefin Tuna have finally showed in catch able numbers. The first trip was late afternoon on Father's Day. After a phone call from a good friend and guide I made a quick dash up to the bay to witness some of the most amazing feeding by Bluefin Tuna I've ever seen. The Bluefin had a huge school of Bunker out in open water and boy did they take full advantage of a high calorie meal. The Bunker were helpless and the tuna took full advantage just cutting through the school like a hot knife in butter. Hundreds of tuna from 80-400lbs just went buck wild on these for 45 minutes straight and we got it all on video. All of us hooked a few fish in this may lee but it was difficult to keep anything on as so many fish in the school below would be cutting you off with their tails or mouths as they tried to feed. Anything you had on your line would get hammered as many of the fish we had eating right at the boat most of the time were way to freaking large to handle on the gear we had anyhow. What a freak show really it was like something out of National Geographic for 1 hour straight! Unbelievable really I still can't get it out of my mind how they just went nuts eating all these bunker and all that was left was scales floating by the boat. WILD!

After witnessing this carnage I had to try and get out again for more action on Monday so Phat Matt and Mike Dauphin aka "Tattoo" of Tattoos Tackle got out early in search of what I witness the day before. The morning was slow with not much surface action but later in the afternoon the wind picked up and so did the tuna. Phat Matt has not had a good relationship with Charlie so when he got his first chance at one I hoped it would go tight and stay buttoned up. Well finally Matt's chance arrives as the fish start to rage right near the boat and he tosses a Blue/White Tattoo Sea Pup into the mix and as he reels it back to the boat this giant fish explodes on it right at the boat and its game on. I remember saying "that fish had some shoulders Matt" as braid just melted off his VS 250 into the deep ocean. Meanwhile as Matt goes tight to his first tuna of the year Tattoo is also hooked up in the back of the boat we have our first double hookup for now. Both anglers are fighting away as I try to get video and prepare the gaff for some landing of tuna and quick pictures etc. Well after about 10 minutes Tattoo's fish decides its not really ready to get landed and breaks him off just below the leader and we are both in shock. After a few choice words we both know we need to see if Matt needs help and start to cheer him on if this is what you want to call it. I was bummed because I'm not sure why but Tattoo also has a tough track record with these fish of not liking to get landed or hooking up while in the school and I was thinking the curse was finally lifted but not on this fight.

Now our focus is turned to Phat Matt who is really taking a beating by his first tuna and its HUGE. Well lets just say after about 20 minutes Matt lift the fish for our first peek at what is about to be the largest spinning rod tuna I've ever seen along anyone's boat let alone this one. Well its now time we have color and the gaff is ready. Matt being an excellent angler makes the fish bring his head up using reverse rod pressure and angle changes and it could not have been better. I take one look at it and say to myself, "Wow we are going to have our hands full with this one for sure" as I take my first go with the gaff. Missed it o no! Well, after another small battle and line winding Matt finally brings this tuna close again and I make a swing at it and land a perfect gaff shot in the lower jaw. Now the fun part, trying to figure out how we are going to get a grumpy 165lb Bluefin Tuna over the side of this boat. Not easy to do and it finally took a tired angler and two crew members to work collectively to do it but we landed what I have to say is the largest tuna caught to date on light tackle spinning tackle. Way to go Phat Matt and Tattoo for making this possible.

Later that same day the fishing just went bonkers as it had the days prior around the same time of day and both Matt and Tattoo hooked many fish anywhere from 80lbs-100lbs with many breakoffs and boatside released fish for an amazing start to the 2008 tuna season for PNP. Finally after two years in the making a successful tuna trip for both Matt and Tattoo who both have heard about this fishery but never witnesses it first hand and they finally did and loved it! That day of fishing will not be soon forgotten I'm sure of that. At the end of the day we decided to weigh it in at Red Top in Buzzards Bay on the way home. Dressed the fish weighed in at 165lbs and it drew quite the crowd while hanging on the scale with Matt and Tattoo standing next to it. What an incredible week of fishing really and this was the kick off to a great upcoming summer of fishing for PNP. I hope to have some open dates for people who understand this fishery and some of its ups and downs while we still can chase them. Its not everyday you hook these fish or if you do hook one land it. Its not every trip you even see fish breaking on top feeding like steroided albies or waking fish at best. They are tuna and they move all the time or they will die. These trips are very expensive and time intensive for one day of fishing so be ready.

This past week was a nice change for me and I felt as if I was more in tune with what the fish had to offer. I hosted John Rukavina in town from South Carolina. John and I have fished together a bunch both here in the Northeast as well as in North Carolina and elsewhere. John flew in short notice before the holiday weekend and was penciled in to fish most of this past week. He is a fantastic fly rodder and travels a bunch in search of quality fishing and good times and we always try to have both if possible. The wind has not been nice to the guiding community all month long so when the forecast called for heavy winds out of the SW we took Monday and searched Cape Cod Bay for schools of bass that might have moved through the canal over the week. A few other guides in that area mentioned to me the bass bite was good so we went ahead and tried. Well it was a huge waste of time really. The forecasted wind cranked up right at sunrise to about 35 knots and we had become limited on where we could run without loosing all our teeth in the process. With that being said, we decided to call it a day early to rest up for the upcoming few days of fishing closer to home. Tuesday was not looking good with more heavy wind so we banked on the rest of his stay to be good with the forecast allowing for some early morning action before the wind would pick up. With a nice weather window for later in the week we finally got out and found a ton of life. Many of the areas I know this time of year are great for holding bigger bass finally started to house some heavy hitters. John had constant action on Wednesday with bass and bluefish under about a mile of birds and using sinking lines and big flies, he landed some beautiful bass and bluefish getting his fly down deep when it mattered.

Thursday was a completely different game. We got a late start due to a boat ramp issue and before long we had the boat on plane in search of the same school of fish from the day before. We had ideal conditions with a light SW wind and a great dropping tide. No sooner did we pull up on yesterdays numbers the screen lit up with huge numbers of fish between 10-30lbs just everywhere in 18ft of water. Perfect depth to get a fly line deep to have a chance at something big. After a long week of working hard we finally had a great morning of amazing fishing. As the tide turned later in the morning the fish moved in closer to the structure which made it even better to blind cast flies. We didn't see as many fish as we did at sunrise but some really large ones followed the flies and we did get a few nice fish to eat. As John was casting away blind for some time he hooked a smaller fish that spit the hook boatside before ever running any line off. As this happened out of the depths came a fish that dwarfed anything I've seen this season and took the fly sitting still while John was getting ready to make another cast. The fish began to take a good run with John having all his fly line stripped in on the deck it was a chore to try and get the line clear and get a solid hook set on this big girl. As all the chaos began somehow the line managed to get around the reel seat and the rod and reel was ripped from his hand nearly flying overboard with "Walter" attached to it. Luckily, the outfit landed in the boat but even after that he had the fish on for a few more minutes before she broke him off in the rocks. We both looked at each other in amazement as we would guess this fish to go at least 45" easy. Things happen and in order to have big fish landed on fly gear or any gear for that matter you need to have everything go smooth and this one was far from smooth but really awesome to watch.

Friday was another great morning with Dave Gale and Ramie on board for some light tackle action. We launched and made a run to the same area that the fishing had been hot the past few days and right when we got there the finder was on fire. The action was not as long lived but again many bigger fish willing to eat a fly which was nice to see. We had solid action most of the morning and after about 2 hours the fishing slowed so we moved around to try and find some more schooling fish. Once the tide turned we made our way back to the areas that had fish early in hope that with the incoming tide we would find life. The fish were still around just a bit tough to get to eat as the sun was high and we had very little wind so the water was very clear. Dave did manage to land his biggest bass of the season at 15lbs and many other small fish. As the morning progressed we had a nice drift over some amazing structure that was just sure to be holding some bass. As the boat slide in close and was drifting in about 4 feet of water you could just see the fish everywhere under the boat. Huge numbers of fish of many different sizes just cruising down below. We tried everything but they just would not eat. This was an amazing sight to witness and I hope to see them again very soon just attached to someone's line. Well lets hope the weather and wind allows for some solid fishing this week and stay tuned as the action is about to bust wide open.