Launched in Bourne just to get out and look around for a while, water temps up behind Stoney Dike, and inside Onset harbor were around 41 degrees on the outgoing tide. Widows cove was still at 39.3 degrees. Brrrr. Didn't mark any bait or see anything except birds here and there. Cormorants working outside Pleasant bay, maybe on herring. Think we'll start seeing some fish in the next week or so based on the warmer temps coming up!

4/21/2003

Launched in Bourne again, nice 65 degree day, water flushing out of Buttermilk bay was 48 degrees, did the grand tour around Onset, and up into the Weweantic, water was 47 degrees up inside  Onset, the Weewee was 51 degrees up near the power lines. Thought I had a bump once, but nothing to show for it, took a cruise up the canal just for giggles to see if we could mark any bait in the rips etc, went as far as the herring run and turned around, water was a constant 43.8 degrees and some small pods of fish down deep, no bait clouds spotted anywhere...Gonna be a few more weeks I think to see some fish! Test swam some new plugs again today, REAL sweet!

5/18/2003

Finally got the boat back, NOT DONE, but took it nonetheless. What is it in the marine industry when someone gets your money they don't care anymore. 2.5 weeks and basically nothing to show for it.  We launched out of Bourne again today, Terns late morning at Mass Maritime rip on the last hour of incoming but no fish, couldn't see what they were on, but just picking off the surface like they do when Albies are around in the fall. Fished the flats outside of Onset Harbor, lots of birds around again but nothing to show for it, water was 51 degrees there. If anyone finds a black/silver popper it's mine :)  Shot around the Dike up to Little Bird, didn't see anything there at the slack high, worked around the north shore behind the Dike and didn't find anything, water was 53 degrees up there. Went up the Weweantic to the power lines, water was 54 degrees up there, had several follows to the boat on a swimmer, then boated a nice bright 20" schoolie on the first part of the drop. Headed back out after an hour of no fish, coming around the Dike I see 3 terns dappling on top, first cast I slam a nice 30" fish, the FIRST Keeper of the season and on the replacement boat. Fish seemed like they were moving up behind the Dike but they were hard to keep up with. Must have been a small pod of bait. Great day on the water with the Family! Hopefully with some warmer weather this week it will warm up enough that we'll be able to get some great top-water action going!

5/25/2003

Fished MMA at high and dropping, rainy cruddy wx, feels like winter! Water temps have cooled with all this rain, down to 49.5 on the flush out of Pleasant Bay! Got one dink off Mashnee island, one dink off the end of Abiels, and one dink on Shell point on the drop. We need sun and SW winds!

5/31/03

Left Bourne this afternoon on a spur of the moment decision to take the afternoon off with my son, wx looked very iffy but the forecast said rain later not in early afternoon, so we went out, passed 30 boats coming into the marina at once while we continued out, rain started and rained for 10 minutes, LOADS of birds on the last of the dropping tide at the MMA rip, all dipping but no fish could be found under them. Drifted Hog Island with one schoolie, we continued out and the wx improved for the better, no boats left in the bay...and huge pods of birds working the Mashnee flats out to the end of the dike, all at slack tide. We found thousands of stripers and bluefish in the 15-25" class boiling and many fish eager to eat our Olive/white poppers and Ledgerunner smoke colored plastics. For almost 2 hours we had fish boiling and jumping out of the water and some great top water action. Incoming tide brought warmer water to 54 degrees and we found fish everywhere we went until dusk when we decided to call it quits for the day.

Sad moments of the day....seeing a dead Tern in the middle of the channel next to the dike, another near the dike, and still another on the shore at the Bourne marina. Oil spills suck! Seeing such a beautiful bird as a Tern lying upside down in the water and looking freshly dead is enough to make you want to cry :(

6/12/03

Launched in Bourne, maybe they'll finish the railroad bridge some day. It didn't open til 7 so we got a late start, fished upper Buzzards waiting for it to open, got a few twinkies for our efforts. Headed north as soon as we could, fished Barnstable flats in the fog all day, fish after fish after fish. Today was a quantity day vs size. Most fish were 15-24" with a few sub keepers mixed in for a difference. Saw someone that caught something close to a 50 lber today too. High tide and the drop on the east and west bars were great! Ran out to Brewster flats, one dink, and pretty quiet. Ran back to Barnstable and immediately found fish again! All in all a great day!

7/04/03

Well work has kept me off the water for sometime, but been itchin for some fishin so we decided to brave the crowds on the holiday in search of some bass.  Launched at Bourne and headed up the canal, suspicious looking birds at the east end of the canal but no fish under them that we could find. Checked out the last of the drop at the outlet of Scortons, no bait seen anywhere so we kept going to Barnstable. We really wanted to fish the flats today! Got to the general area around slack low, had a few fish here and there, then when the tide turned so did the fishing. Fast and furious for around 4 hours with fish from 16-30" LOTS of birds with the fish hanging at the 12-20' contour line. Not a huge amount of boats but everyone that was there was very respectful of each other with no running and gunning and an occasional troller. Was nice for a change to not have to constantly worry about where the next boat was as everyone was spread out nice. Fished the east end of the flats til it quieted down there, then we moved over to the west end of the flats and got into some nice fish at the 20-30' level of water.  Lure of the day was a rainbow trout sluggo on a 3/8oz jig head. Not much plugging action today as fish seemed to be keyed on the abundant sand-eels that were present.
My arm hurts so it was a good day :)

7/19/03

Launched in Bourne for the first trip of the year to my favorite spot, incoming tide, found fish in the 12-20' contour, poppers in blue/white and olive/white were real kickers! Thomas had his personal best striper ever caught by himself, weighed 25lbs and the lil guy hasn't let me live it down yet! We logged 102 miles on the water today! Afternoon didn't bring much in the way of fish, think the previous days low pressure system took care of that!
Summer doldrums are here! Think early/late with low light conditions being the best!

9/22/03

The fall run is HERE! Fish have been very aggressive and the top water bite has been fantastic! Olive/white poppers have been working the best! Many acres of bluefish can be found anywhere in Buzzards Bay or Vineyard Sound. Poppers are a blast with these fish in the 8-12 lb range. The Elizabeths are chocked full of fish right now!

10/20/03