We hit it good. The flats fishing was off the charts for a few days, and the late afternoon bluefish bite was every cast on a couple of days as well. Of course, we also got into a bit of night-bite bass action. Which is typical for MV in June.

All of the above said. The highlight of the trip was by-far the flats bass bite. One day in particular we had hundreds if not thousands of bass stream by us in knee-deep, crystal clear water. It was insane! The visuals were killer!!! Cast and strip as fast as you can, then pause, and strip faster. That was the key. White deceivers! Despite the numbers of fish and competition, not all ate. In fact the number of follows and non-eaters was amazing. But when they ate, it was off to the races. All fish were decent size - - and covered in sea lice.

Other than that, we got into the standard evening low light bass bite and late afternoon blue bite. We slayed blues on spin.

June 16, 2010 - Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts

It is safe to say that the fishing was off this year on the Vineyard. The group put in a lot of time on the sand, and came away with some fish, but not nearly the amount we've come to expect for this time on year on the spit of sand known as Cape Poge.

Some history...when we first started to hit the piece of water more than a decade ago, we really had no clue what we were doing, but yet always found fish. And sometimes a lot of them. Over the years we've come to expect the traditional night-time spots on Cape Poge to light up as the usually dependent sand eels move into the shallows, with the bass tight to their tails. However, the last handful of years this has not been the case. We have not found the hot night bite in the traditional spots, nor have we found the bait in the quantities we've come to expect. This year was no different, except for a couple of nights when we did find plentiful quantities of sand eels and squid. Overall though the presence was lacking and when the bait was there, so were the fish..

What was not lacking was the wind! It was all over the compass and it was strong!. One day it was SW. The next, hard NE. Schizophrenic to say the least.

But despite the derth of fish, the crew all landed a few with the biggest going a taped 39". A few mid-30s also rounded out the mix.There were some blues around, and some nice ones at that.

Let's hope this downward trend in the catch is just an anomaly, and not a decline in the overall population of striped bass. That said, there is no denying a downward trend though in numbers landed over the past five years for this group.

June 22, 2009 - - MV Report 2009

Our annual trip to Cape Poge out on Chappaquiddick has come and gone. It seems like each year this trip goes by in a blink of an eye! So much fun, and usually lots fish willing to eat our flies.

This year the trip was by far the coldest we've ever experienced. We were pretty much plagued with a steady east, northeast, north wind the entire time - - which had a bite to it. East Beach on Poge was not fishable with the fly. Which was too bad because we had heard from reliable sources that there were big fish around. The wind caused us to move around a lot. Each day the wind changed directions, and no pattern set-up over the course of the days we were on the Island. In fact you could tell the fishing was somewhat off due to the fact that we ran into few, if any other anglers.

Due diligence paid off though for the group. Everyone caught multiple fish, with most taping out to the low-to-mid-20s. Biggest fish was about 34-35". We caught bass and blues at the breach in Katama Bay. Hot fly for that location was an olive over white deceiver. Otherwise the go-to fly for the group was a sparse olive over white clouser. Lets just say clousers just catch fish!

One night we did have a flurry of action at the Gut on the outgoing. One big fish was lost on spin, but for the most part throwing black clousers or heavily weight black streamers on a 300-400 sink line did give up fish. The outgoing tide at the Gut combined with a strong east wind created a huge flush of water. Man was it ripping thru there!

One of our favorite spots out on Poge never did light up, though our last night it did provide some fast action of about 30 minutes with the group picking up a half dozen fish, along with a handful of bites.

Like I said a pattern never set up. We had to hunt for fish at each location we stopped. With most spots only giving up one or two fish. You had to work for each and every fish this year. Actually this was very similar to last year. And in fact I can say that the fishing in early June on the Vineyard has been in a decline since the late-90s, when we first started to hit the Island. Face it, I think we were spoiled with the action we had nightly back then. It was silly fishing!

One other note...we did not have the plover closures like we did last year. This allowed us to get to the Gut, which was closed off last year. Though we did hear that just a few days after we left the Island the birds started to hatch so roped off areas are now in place.

Some random shots: Sunset hook-up; 40" flats bass; silverside. Below: Grassy pond bass.

June 14, 2008 - MV Report 2008

We are back, and as is normally the case with MV - - it does not disappoint. Though this year, the fishing was let's say...odd. No consistency at all to the bite.

Scenario - - We'd get one here, and one there, then no hits for hours, then all of a sudden we bang a few bass, then it would shut down for a while. We'd then relocate to a new piece of water, and members of the party would flail for a while, with nothing, then someone would step in the water between the guys who were throwing...and proceed to pull out a couple of bass. Odd.

Anyway, the final tally - - two fish over 40"; a handful in the mid-30" range; and quite a few in the high 20"'s and less in four days of fishing. Overall the avg size of the fish was bigger than we've seen the past few years. Highlight was getting into some mid-day flats action. Now this is some killer stuff - - watching enormous bass wolf pack across a flat and turning on a dime to smoke your fly! This is like dry fly fishing on steroids! Sick!!

Hot flies were smaller and sparse patterns. At night go-to ties were the tried and true all black clouser as well as black bunnies. Daytime, white clousers. Baitfish was plentiful with massive schools of sand eels here and there along the outer beaches, and in the ponds there were silversides. We had one squid hit a fly, so we knew they were around. Some scup too since they were hitting our flies regularly one eve. As was the case last year, the blues were nowhere to be found. And for the first time we ran into quite a few plover induced beach closures. Word is the plovers are early this year. Makes sense. The oyster crackers were also nesting - we saw some eggs and chicks during our travels.

The tail of the tape don't lie. No BS here at FFPA!

The Lehigh...We have a couple of trips this weekend so look for an update in the near future. Word is the river is still fishing well despite the high heat from earlier this week, although we would like to see a bit more in the way of low-flow augmentation. Releasing more water though will deplete the coldwater pool quicker - - so we need to find that happy medium. Water temps coming out of Francis E Walter continue to hold in the mid-to-high-50s, which is great for this time of year. The Upper Gorge should have some hot fishing! Olives are on the water as well as Sulphurs. Dry/dropper rigs with a beadhead hanging under a big, bushy high-floater should move fish during the day when not much is looking up. Low light should produce good dry fly action. Long range weather looks fish-friendly - - with not much in the way of heat, so maybe good trout fishing will continue until the Fourth. We will see. No whitewater release this weekend - - so get out there and hit it.

By the way FFPA a few weeks back had the pleasure of rowing a handful of dignitaries for the Lehigh River Work Day hosted by the Lehigh Coldwater Fishery Alliance. Check out the pics at the LCFA site to see how everyone made out.

In order for the fly angler to get your vehicle onto the Vineyard you must be one dedicated fisherman. The travel and logistics never gets easier. The drive to Woods Hole is always hell, but in the end, MV is always worth it. The fishing this year, was very similar to last year...with hardly a blue to be found, and the largest bass taping out to just shy of 30". You know, you can tell pretty quick what the fishing might be like, once you adjust to 'Island Time' and get dialed in to all the usual spots. This year, for the second the second year in a row our first spot we always try turned up no blues. None of the fly, and none on the irresistible bluefish bait - the Ballistic Missile. If this location produces blues, then it is time to get the wire handy for the remainder of the trip. The next spot we hit once we round the point on Chappaquiddick gives us a good idea of the sandeel population hanging on the outer beaches. This year they were there.... this is a good sign!! Nighttime and the presence of micro sandeels in the shallows can make for some pretty sick nights. We've experienced this in the past, but for some reason, the nights just did not produce like they should. The daytime hours definitely out-produced with bass being found along beaches, in the ponds as well as the deeper channels. In fact the ponds were loaded with baitfish. We got fish on all the usual patterns - specifically clousers, deceivers and bunnies. At night when we did find the fish, black patterns produced. One frustrating night had us flailing away at a large school of slapping stripers. They were most likely eating sandeels.... but we could not fool them. We never did make it over to the new cut at Norton Point. The word is you have to stay out of the water. It is a death trap with all the migrating sand. Great trip as always! Everyone got into good numbers of fish.

We are booked this weekend with a couple of Lehigh float, however these are now pending due to lack of water. Last weekend the Corps only ran water for one whitewater release. And it was a cut-back release at that. The Sunday release was cancelled. We are in wait and see mode right now.

Word is the river is still fishing well with good water temps. The olives are still hatching in great numbers, and with the low water, you can bet the fish are looking up. If you are looking for good dry fly action, on big water, hit the Lehigh now in the lo-light hours.