Well this has been a crazy week on many fronts.
For starters, the fish have been all over the place. Depending on the trip we have caught anywhere from 4 to 19 big striped bass on each outing. Almost all of the fish have come on live eels on the spinning rods, with a few important exceptions. We're still looking to break the 40 pound mark this summer, so hopefully that will happen this coming week. Biggest bass this past week was 36 pounds.
To add to the crazy fishing, I had Benny from Australia with me for three trips this past week. I met Ben five years ago when I was studying abroad in Cairns, Australia (FYI Cairns is the black marlin capital of the world, while I was there numerous marlin well into the 1,400 pound range were caught).
Ben and his buddy Luke (who I also met while in Cairns) have been touring America and Canada for the past month in a black stretch limo that they picked up in Vancouver. The blokes have been to New Mexico, North Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana to name just a few of the the many states that they have graced their presence with. These two Aussies are the ultimate backpackers.
Needless to say I was all jacked up to get Benny out on the water to do some striped bass fishing. I think Ben was pretty excited as well. From what he shared with me, fishing on Cape Cod Bay is slightly different than fishing in Australia.
For starters, there was no need for us to carry a shotgun on board while fishing. Ben and his father have taken shotguns with them while fishing in Australia in the case they have an encounter with a 20 foot long saltwater crocodile.
Luckily, on the Cape we do not have to worry about the 15 foot long man eating tiger sharks that routinely cruise along the Australian coast at night. Apparently fishing at night "down under" is a life threatening activity.
And fortunately, I did not have to worry about being stung by the nearly invisible irukandji jellyfish while at the boat ramp. Phew, what a relief!
So with all that squared away we eagerly began our three night excursion on Cape Cod Bay. Ben did an incredible job and quickly picked up the nuances of catching striped bass during the heat of summer.
The bluefish were relentless our first night out, but Ben still managed to boat bass up to the 30 pound mark. He had no problem learning the ropes of tube and worm trolling, as we landed 19 keeper bass during his second trip. I think he should be coming out on the water a bit more often!
On the third trip we had another bass inhale both of our eel offerings. After a decade of fishing with eels I had never had this happen to me. Oddly enough it has now occurred twice in one week. I guess these bass are really focused on chewing eels. Maybe we'll catch a striper this next week with three eels in his mouth.
I'm pretty sure Ben had a phenomenal time during his stay on Cape Cod. Who knows the next time he will be in the States. Whenever it is, he'll always be welcome on the Miss Loretta!
Tight lines and good luck out there,
Captain Ryan
