My Biggest Bonefish

My Biggest Bonefish

Without a doubt, this is my biggest bonefish. From the tip to tail, it measured at least 30″, and I figure it weighed around 10 pounds. The location you ask? Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas. It’s a 3 mile long barrier island to the immediate east of Great Abaco. Very peaceful, very laid-back, just you the sun and the sea. Perhaps the busiest sightseeing spot on the island is Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar, home to the legendary Goombay Smash, a high octane rum based drink capable of making you forget your name.

Now before we go any farther, let me set the record straight. I don’t have oodles of experience at chasing bones. Four trips maybe? Not because I don’t love it, mind you. You need deep pockets for this game. Just a fact of life, bonefishing isn’t cheap. And no matter how much moola you drop, be prepared for the possibility you hit a week of high wind, and see very few bones. It can happen.

On this particular day, I had hired a guide for a half-day on the water. It was morning, overcast, wind reasonably light, and the tide arriving. We fished a large flat inside a bay, open at one end to the sea . In fact you could see breakers entering. As we neared the far end of the flat, the guide yelled “big bone coming”. I looked and spotted a shadow that seemed too big for a bone. I actually thought it was small shark.  But as it neared, I dropped a fly in front of it. Wham, hookup! That bad boy took off like lightening, streaking across the flat toward the mouth of bay, desperate to reach open water. It was quite a battle on a 7- weight fly rod, but all ended well. Yes, time for a Goombay Smash.

 

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Squibnocket Bass Stand

Squibnocket Bass Stand


Photo Credit Frank Woolner

If you have ever fished Martha Vineyard, or even read about fishing the Vineyard, you have likely heard about the famous striped bass stands at Squibnocket Point. Note I said stands. Years ago, there were actually 8 of them in a line. Built about 1869 for use by wealthy gentleman mainly from Manhattan, who sought large striped bass using peeled lobster tails as bait. Lobster as bait? Well in those year small lobsters could be purchase $1.50 per hundred! Imagine that? These anglers were members of the Squibnocket Fishing Club, which closed it doors in 1888, as the bass fishing declined.

There is a lot more to this history, but I wanted to show you how those stands were fastened to Squibnocket Point. Obviously, there were no power tools in 1869. So you had to drill into those hard rocks by hand. Quite a slow, arduous undertaking in a slippery location awash in seaweed and surf. I bet they drilled small diameter holes first and then gradually widening each of them to accept a vertical cast iron support. These supports became the legs off which you could suspend a platform.

Now these legs needed to be firmly in place, or the stand would wobble and fall with our warning. Dangerous. As the photo to the left shows, this was accomplished by driving spikes in alongside the supports to lock the legs in place. Probably had to be retightened from time to time. And cast iron rusts quickly in salt water, so likely the Club had to clean and oiled the supports regularly as well. In the 1950’s the last two stands were rebuilt. I took this photo roughly 30 years ago, and the cast iron is nearly totally gone.

 

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New Hampshire holds off on New Regulations for the Trophy Stretch

New Hampshire holds off on New Regulations for the Trophy Stretch

While up in Vermont, I heard that the New Hampshire Fish and Game is holding off for this year on allowing lure fishing in Pittsburg’s Trophy Stretch. Well, there’s hope I guess that the Trophy Stretch will remain fly-fishing.

Fly-fishing is a 100-year-old tradition in these waters.  It’s the principal economic sport that built the lodges, built the fly shops, and supports the guides. To destroy this tradition is ludicrous, and short-sighted. Knucklehead! New Hampshire has about 19,000 miles of streams and rivers. Is having a 2 miles stretch for fly anglers, a stretch that has been in extremely popular for century, asking too much? You got to be kidding me! If Fish and Game got smart, they would be promoting this valuable resource, helping to attract more fly anglers, helping to sell more licenses-both resident and nonresident, helping to support the lodges, the accommodations, the restaurants, and the fly shops.  Now that makes sense.

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Connecticut: Another Poor Spring for Stripers

Connecticut: Another Poor Spring for Stripers

Looks like another dismay start for stripers in Connecticut. We are just not getting the dependable runs we used to enjoy in the lower Connecticut River.  I have posted on this before, once back in 2023. and in 2020. When coming up the coast, bass appear to be bypassing Connecticut and heading straight to Rhode Island. No, I do not have any definitely proof to back this up. For what it is worth, this just my observation alone.

What would be causing this trend? Two things immediately come to mind. The first is forage. We have little in the way of menhaden, despite efforts by the ASFMC to improve that stock. Whereas Rhode Island has done noticeably better with bunker. And Connecticut herring runs are declining fast. The second issue is climate change. The waters of Long Island Sound are heating up year after year. While forage is likely the bigger of the two issues, the two may be connected.

And let me mention one more thing. There are few schoolies in the present bass population. And they made up a fair portion of the bass we used to see in the lower Connecticut River. That’s mixed in too.

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A Team of Nymphs

A Team of Nymphs

We all know people who strictly fish dry flies. Coconuts. It’s like only eating one kind of food and thinking you are a gourmet. Oh well, let them suffer. Truth is this: you should pick the most effective method for the situation. That’s angling reality folks. And many times, the right choice is a team of nymphs.

A Girdle Bug & Small Nymph

Not long ago, I fished with guide Chris Jackson on Massachusetts’ Deerfield River and guide Owen Ward on Vermont’s White River. And both guides suggested the same rig. A team of nymphs. In fact, the very same two nymphs! On the leader point a size 10# weighted Girdle Bug and on the dropper a small bead-head nymph.

So why this team of nymphs? On big rivers, the Girdle bug serves three purposes  It is large enough to be seen from a distance, in other words trout can find it. It’s presents a big  fat meal. And its heavy enough to get your flies down where the trout live. How about that wee nymph? Well if you encounter trout actively feeding on small insects, the dropper fly fits the bill.

 

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