The Season Begins...
Capt. Hap Farrell
The winter snow has melted, here and up north. The trees have leaves now, at least most of them do. The birds are active and very noisy. The striped bass have arrived in the bay and they are hungry.
This last Saturday I went out to see what was going on and found a number of large schools of bass west of where the old Target Ship used to be. This area is called the "New Grounds". I easily had my limit of two fish over 28 inch in two separate hook ups. After that a threw back a number of legal sized fish. John Shaklicks on the Luau was out also and had similar luck. On Sunday I took my wife Anne out and she landed two nice fish with one of them easily hitting 35 inches. Capt. Steve Ellis, on the Watanya, was able to get his crew a number of nice sized stripers also. This is a good sign for the coming season of fishing for the Rock Harbor Charter Fleet.
Last year the fish showed up in the same place. However, if you remember we had a real spring last year. This year mother nature must have stock in an umbrella company because of all the rain we are having. This has been a cool and rainy spring and this does affect the fish somewhat. What may happen is the fish will come and go with the water temperature increases and decreases. It does not look as if the weather pattern will change until next week. All we need is a few days of sun to warm up the water some.
The lure system that worked the best for me and for Capt. Ellis and also for Capt. Shaklicks was the umbrella rig on 150 foot wire set ups. I also landed a few good size fish in a yellow colored hootchie on my light lead core set up. It seems the fish are feeding on sand eels and small fish called silver sides. I did not see any evidence of squid. When they show up the bay should explode with fish.
As far as what may happen in the next week or two I think we'll see the bass congregate in the New Grounds west of the target Ship buoy and also right along the Brewster Flats. The south edge of Billingsgate Shoals is another area to check out. Barnstable Harbor may hold some under size fish. P-town is the question mark. Here the colder water of the ocean mixes with the water of the bay. The fish may move through this area but not stick around long. Only time will tell.
