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August 25, 2011
Ben Emory at Sports Port is a local’s local. when he’s not taking his grandkids out crabbing, he’s a daily fisherman, the type who goes out of his way to drive by the water way — always checking, knows what the tide is doing, reads the wind. you get the idea.
So he was behind the counter the other day, telling anyone who would listen about the 11-pound blue he just landed when a guy came in and told him he was going to fish Dowses. fair enough, and Ben starts getting the guy rigged up for scup. no, no, this guy says he wants to catch a striped bass.
Well, that could be tough. Ben does some quick calculations: Dowses, August, bright sunny day, 9 a.m., dead low tide. Ben is unenthusiastic. Then the guy says he wants to buy a popper. a popper, thinks Ben, hoo-boy.
Ben advises him that low tide is not exactly the best time to go, a popper is not the ideal lure this time of year, etc. The guy won’t hear of it; he wants that popper.
The guy rushes off, and the day proceeds. People buying nightcrawlers, buying live eels, talking Red Sox, talking blues. Lunchtime comes and goes. later, that same guy shows up, all excited, and tells Ben he just landed a 27-inch bass down at Dowses on that popper he sold him. Ben’s eyes kind of narrow into slits. Really?
“Oh yeah, it was great. but then it broke off, so I need another one of those poppers.”
Uh, yeah sure, fella, here you go. The guy rushes out, says he wants to make sure he catches the next low tide. of course, low tides that are usually slower than the beer tent at a Mormon revival, but nothing’s stopping this guy.
The next morning, the guy sees Ben at the docks, and practically races him to the shop for the opening. “I got another one!” the guy shouts before Ben even has the door unlocked.
You did, huh?
Ben at this point is pretty sure he’s dealing with either a lunatic or a pathological liar. “And he was wearing a Yankees hat,” adds Ben, shaking his head. but sure enough, the guy proceeds to swing a 31-inch bass out of his cooler. Landed at Dowses, on a hot, sunny day. in August. at low tide.
The guy asks if Sports Port will fillet the fish for him. Ben says they can’t, but offers to sell him a knife. Ben shows him the fillet knife, but now it’s the guy who’s skeptical. The knife looks flimsy to him. “You sure that thing’s gonna cut through the bones and everything?” of course, you don’t need to cut through any bones to fillet a striper, but Ben just shakes his head. Sometimes every single thing is incorrect and you still catch fish. just ask this guy.
So while Uke Springsteen opening for Ween at the Beachcomber looks increasingly like a once-in-a-lifetime event, it’s time to ask …
What’s Going On?
1. Buzzards Bay/ Cape Cod Canal — The west end of the Canal has held some fluke. The bass bite in the Canal is an early morning one. nothing crazy, but pretty consistent fishing around first light. Occasional, few-and-far-between bonito in the Canal this week, too. Buzzards has some blues.
2. Islands — The Vineyard is slow for bass, but guy throwing eels in the rocks have picked up a few around Devil’s Bridge and Gay Head. Seabass off Oak Bluffs. And of course, Hedge Fence remains the best spot right now for bonito. There have been unconfirmed albie reports, too, and legitimate, doubly confirmed Spanish mackerel landings, so it’s definetley that amusing fish time of year. Nantucket has bonito. great Point has been the scene for some huge bluefish blitzes.
3. Cape Southside Beaches and Estuaries — Scup and snapper blues strung along the southside of the Cape. Sound familiar? Slow for larger fish, but reports of peanut bunker in Popponesset Bay are encouraging.
4. Nantucket Sound — Occasional bass are coming up on tube and worm combos. but pretty slow overall. Blues here and there, Suconesset was one spot mentioned.
5. The great Backside Beach — Not much action from the sand, you might catch a passing boil, but no huge schools this week. it remains a boat bite out this way, with the water off Chatham pretty full of bass. They’re biting deep, in about fifty feet of water. The Monomoy rips have been slower, but starting to improve. Tuna out east, biting on spreader bars, with fish to around 58-inches.
6. Cape Cod Bay — We’ve had some north winds, and in addition to making it feel like fall on the sand bar this week, it also tends to blow in some bait. Scorton Ledge was hot again this week, with tube and worm combos effective, and bunker spoons as well. One guy was drifting eels late at night in Scorton Creek and was rewarded with a nice 34-inch bass. Tuna off the north edge of Billingsgate, but they were pretty slim in the Bay. Three large fish, possibly basking sharks, were reported swimming in formation off Sesuit early this week.
Freshwater — One guy was drifting his kayak around Pimlico and picked up a couple of nice rainbows. And the bass fishing has been pretty solid around Sheep’s Pond.
Catch ‘em up!
Information for this column was assembled from a variety of liars, exaggerators, mis-informants, ne’er-do-wells and roustabouts. in other words, from fishermen.
Rob Conery can be contacted at .
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Looking to get a boat soon(start cheap and upgrade over the next year and a half as money builds up), so ill probably be asking about that alot (ill try and avoid the "which should i buy" questions). I feel like I have a excellent grip on tactics and presentation and can read conditions well, but their is always more to learn.I look forward to learning here and hopefully giving some information back when i can. ThanksChris
