Reports

4-30-07 My son and I took the boat for a little shakedown yesterday afternoon. New electronics work great. After monkeying around
with the gps and sounder settings for a while we, headed out into upper Buzzards Bay to do some recon and perhaps some
"Toggin". While we were running a bit south of the canal entrance, I was happily surprised to find that, even at top speed the
sounder was able to pick up bait pods and fish. I pulled up and we turned and followed the bread crumb trail back to where we
marked the fish/bait. We cast into the area and were rewarded with the first fish of the year! (all caught by my son who is now
razzing me to no end). These were small, bright fish with lice. I was amazed at the amount of bait we where marking. In a week or
two this area is going to be a sure thing. We hit a few tog spots with no luck and then headed back in. Back near the ramp I was
again happy to find a huge school of adult pogies. This is a great sign of things to come. Water temp was 53.

5-6-07 This was an afternoon trip with my good friend Bob and his brother John from Minnesota. We launched
around 3:00 and found the afternoon SW had kicked up a bit, but it was still very manageable. We found birds right
off and John and Bob landed four fish on the first drift. John was excited , these were big fish for him, as he is mostly
a trout fisherman. We were off to a great start and I figured we were in for a hot afternoon. This is where I broke rule
#1 "Never leave fish to find fish". It's been a long winter and I should have checked the rule book before heading
out.

After doing some scouting with the glasses I spotted a larger cluster of birds about 2 miles to our South. We decided
to run over and check it out. It turned out to be birds over bait but there was nothing chasing the bait to the surface.
We made 20+- casts with no luck. We then headed back to where we had originally caught fish only to find the
action and tide had died down. We made several drifts in the general area but never found the fish again.

By 5:30 the SW had picked up to 20kts and it seemed to shut things down a bit. We had some lunch and picked our
way back to the dock. It was nice to be on the water and both Bob and John got their first fish of the season, but I
would have liked a few more. I will brush up on the rules prior to my next outing. Final tally four fish 24-26" One
broken rule.

5/11/07 I got out af work early and decided to check out some of the great reports from Buzzards Bay. I hadn't been out there since things broke open earlier
this week and I was chomping at the bit for a few bass. After making a few last minute calls with no luck for a partner, I was off on my own. At about 2:30, I
launched at the Taylor Point ramp, I am not sure that it put me any closer to the fish than Wareham, where I usually launch, but it's a nice ramp and there is
plenty of parking.

I found the fish at the West End in much the same place we had found them last week, only in larger numbers. I had fish on almost every cast for about 1 1/2
hrs. I only had to reset my drift twice as the tide and wind were keeping me on the fish for about half a mile. Most of the fish were 24-28" with a few 20's and a
few 30-32 in the mix. They were hitting EVERYTHING. Jigs, Slug-o's, Poppers. I wish I had brought a fly rod as it would have been a hoot. The most effective
lure was the Spro jig in pink. After about 40 fish and having a BIG grin on my face I decided it was enough with the bass.

I had noticed the Tog fleet was out in force and since I just happened to have a few green crabs in the livewell, I figured I would check it out.
I anchored over a nice hole with a few big rocks and continued to catch fish on every drop for another hour. The togs weren't huge but three 20" fish ended up
in my cooler. I put the boat back on the trailer and got home in time for dinner.

Get out there this weekend if you can. I am not sure if there is enough bait to keep all these fish holding in the area. Between that and the change of weather
from a strong Southerly flow to a North is sure to shake things up.

5/24/07 Fished the afternoon dropping tide with my good friend Bob. The pressure was on to catch a few nice fish for the cookout on Saturday afternoon. The
steady 15kt SW wind made for sloppy conditions but was just what the doctor ordered for pushing the bait/fish into upper Buzzards Bay. We launched around
2:00 and got to the not so UDL around 2:30. Things were slow at first as high was around 3:20. We had a pick of smaller fish on the flats in the West End for
about two hours. After the tide turned we did a little scouting in a spot where we knew the fish should be. We found birds and bait in tight to the beach. We
drifted through the area for about 2 1/2 hours catching fish on almost every cast. Yo-zuri minnows and Rapalas worked best but the fish were also agressively
hitting poppers. All in all, we landed 30+ fish and had 4 nice keepers for the 60+ people that will be at my house on Saturday for a BBQ celebrating my son's
college graduation.

6/3/07 Made the run to Race Pt yesterday. Fished with BK and Bob. We cleared the Gurnet in the dark and
reached our destination just as the sky was beginning to brighten. It was nice to be the only boat working the
area. The tide was flowing out and there were hundreds of gulls and terns working the rips. We set up a drift in
about 25ft of water and began catching fish immediately. Working a 6" Tuff-Core Sand Lance, near the
bottom, would get a fish on almost every cast. We were having a great time catching nice fat bass to 32" and a
few feisty bluefish on light tackle spinning gear.

A few other boats showed up and the tide slacked, so we decided to find a quieter spot and headed a little
East. A few miles away, we found huge schools of large sand eels in about 60' of water. There where some
Minke Whales working the school with us. We were marking a few fish around the eels, but not many. We tried
jigs and sand eel imitations but we only had one hookup, a strong fish that made a some long hard runs before
spitting the hook. We scouted a few more spots but found nothing but rain. We headed back to the race and
found a quiet spot that was holding fish. We caught a few more bass before we had to head home, we needed
to be at the dock by 10:30AM. We found a more small fish in Plymouth to end the day. Final count was about
40 bass and a few blues. A great time was had by all.

6/7/07 After seeing miles of sand eels in the area on Sunday, I knew things where going to turn on soon.
Well, today it broke wide open. We left the dock at 3:30 and were at our destination before sunrise. Things
seemed quiet at the Race, but the tide was just beginning to move. We poked around a bit , checking a few
spots where we had caught fish on Sunday. The sunrise was beautiful but the fishing at the Race was slow, so we
decided to head a bit further East to where we had seen all the bait last time out. It turned out to be a great
move. We were soon into a nice school of bass in the 32"-36" range. The fish were feeding on sand eels in 30' of
water. There where terns and gulls wheeling and diving as far as you could see!! Tsunami swim shad's and Spro
jigs were just the ticket.

As the tide picked up, things just kept getting better. The 10kt NW wind and outgoing tide made our drifts quick.
We moved from school to school catching four or five fish before having to reset. We scouted for the largest
concentrations of birds. We spotted a huge flock of gulls a bit farther offshore and found a massive school of fish
in 110 feet of water. The fish were suspended about 40' down. The big Tsunami Swim shads did the trick. We
had a solid hour of double headers with fish from 36" to 42". The bass were inhaling the shads on the drop. We
lost count at 30 fish but easily landed 40 or so. There were a few chopper bluefish mixed in also. We left them
biting .

6/9/07 We launched in Plymouth at the civil hour of 6:00AM. We were over by P-Town by 6:45. Conditions were
flat calm with a light E breeze. It was nice to see a few other RT guys out there. Like Thursday, there was a ton
of bait in the water, and hundreds of gannets, gulls, terns and shears wheeling and diving in about 50 feet of
water. We were marking a few fish but not like the other day. The tide was slack and we waited for it to start
moving, catching an occasional fish, but nothing over 34". Things remained slow for a few hours so we decided
to check out Stellwagen. We set off for the bank leaving biting fish behind (I know, never leave fish to find fish) .
About half way there we crossed paths with Capt Mike Matthews. I hailed him on the radio and he told us he
had been on the bank trolling but things were slow and not to waste our time. Thanks for the info Mike.

We decided to have some lunch and then headed back to our original spot. When we arrived there were five or
six boats working a mile or so of diving birds. We decided to try some jigs. We landed a few fish in the 30"-32"
range. We were marking some big fish, I dropped the spro jig to the bottom, lifted the rod tip a few times and felt
the fish inhale my jig. I set the hook and held on as the fish went on a hard run. This was a much bigger fish
than we had been catching. There wee a few more hard runs before the fish turned and swam toward the boat. I
got a good look at the fish as it came up. It was a corker! When the big striper saw the boat it made a bee line
for the bottom, peeling off 30 yards of line in short order. I worked the fish slowly back to the surface and it was
soon in the net. A nice fat 42" 25 lb+ cow. This is my biggest fish so far this season!

We jigged for a little while longer but a threatening weather front chased us back to the dock earlier than we
had originally planned.

All in all a good day but not the numbers we had Thursday. If we had not left to check out the bank and had to
run home early, I know we would have caught a few more slobs.

6-16-07 We Had Jerry, Nick and Josh on board today for a half day trip. After the NE blow I wasn't sure if the fish
would be in the same spot they were last week. We ran over to RP in windless conditions. We checked a few
spots but found that last weeks hot spot had been invaded by dogfish. The crew worked hard to get through the
doggies to where the bass were. Josh, the youngest member of the group, fished like a pro. He landed his first
striper. We tried to get him to kiss it before letting it go, but he would have no part of it. We checked a few
more spots and then made a run to the Stellwagen. We trolled for the remainder of the trip and everybody had
fun catching big bluefish. Spoke to a few guys on the radio who where into some nice tuna. I think it's TUNA
TIME!

6/22/07 Today was a split Tuna/Bass Trip. We left Plymouth at 5:30AM and were on Stellwagen Bank by 6:15.
The wind was kicking but, with the planer boards, we were able to run a 50 foot spread. We trolled for about 2 1/2
hrs, hooking only big bluefish. I never marked a tuna. Not much life on the SWC this morning. By 9:00 we
decided to call the tuna fishing and headed to P-Town to do some bass fishing. By then the waves were a steady
3-4 feet. The down wind run to P-town was great and we caught some nice bass and blues before the ever building
seas forced us to call it and run for home. The ride back across the bay was long. Breaking 4-6 footers most of the
way home. The boat took them like a champ. Overall, a good day OTW. The weather made for some tough
fishing but everybody caught fish and had a good time.

7/1/07 Today fas the first of a three day Bass /Tuna Marathon. I had Carl S on board today. Reports
that some nice sized tuna were caught off P-town yesterday had us excited. We started the day buy
jigging for bass on the back side. We had consistent action on bass and bluefish for an hour. The
biggest bass taped out # 38". We moved out a mile or so and started trolling a nice spread with bars
and birds we never marked much and there was little life. After an hour we decided to run to the SWC.
There were several boats trolling but no hookups. At noon we began to head back into CC Bay. About
6 miles off we started running int small pods of football tuna. We got off a few good shot but never
hooked up. The fish were up and down very quickly. We had to be in by 2:00 but i bet the afternoon
was great out there.

7/3/07 The bay was alive with tuna today. There were reports of footballs from Graves Light to Barnstable Harbor. Marty and Jim were
with me today. They are both experienced fishermen but neither had ever caught a tuna. We found schools of tuna on the surface after
noon, in the middle of the bay. These were more aggressive fish than we had seen in the previous two days. The fish were feeding on
sand eels and after some experimenting we found something they would eat. A 4" Tsunami Shad was the answer. Jim cast his shad
into the middle of a feeding school and began to reel. In a flash he was tight to a tuna and peeled line off the spinning reel like a freight
train. Landing one of these 50lb+ fish on light tackle is no easy task. Jim fought his fish like a pro. It had him around the boat four or five
times before he got it to the surface. A quick picture and back in the water. We ended the day at 2:30 with two fish in the boat. If we had
more time, I am sure Marty would have hooked up too.