Let's go back in time to mid June,2007 for a recap of a guided Maine Striper fishing trip.
In the early morning darkness(O'Dark Thirty), I stand at the dock. The boat rigged & ready to go, fully loaded with all the gear, flies and other essentials. A shiny black SUV suddendly speeds into the empty parking lot and screeches to a stop, it's headlights temporarily blind me. Two sleepy Gore-Tex & fleece clad anglers stumble out with steaming cups of coffee in hand. After a short greeting, handshakes and obligatory safety discussion, we untie the 21' Parker and idle slowly away from the dock heading southeast into a dense but patchy fog, the sleep deprived anglers still grumbling to each other about the early hours that I keep . After idling roughly one hundred yards, I kill the engine and grab the pushpole, both anglers stare at me with that "what the heck are you up to" look. Without a word I simply point ahead at the scene unfolding on the glassy calm water....swirls, splashes, boils, wakes..."nervous water" all around us. Both anglers, now instantly awake grab the pair of 8 wt rods that I have stowed neatly in their under gunnel rod-tubes, frantically stripping line from their large arbor reels and both shouting where do we cast!!! I smile while casually replying...Anywhere!!! Long graceful loops of fly-line shoot outward towards the melee. The angler in the bow strips his fly twice and hangs a solid fish as the angler in the stern shouts I'M ON TOO!!! I quickly lip grab the first fish that comes to the boat and pop the clouser from its lip the second angler does the same with his fish, a quick photo and the fish are gently released into the fast ebbing tide. As we drift and pole along in 3 feet of water on the edge of this expansive flat we hook fish on almost every cast, the fish are so blitzed up feeding on juvie herring that they are oblivious to our presence.
In the distance I hear a familiar booming laugh, I look up & smile as I see a fellow guide emerging from the fog, drifting along the same edge in his rugged red 20' Lund Alsakan...his angler on the bow struggling against a deep bend in his fly rod as he quickly brings the healthy sea bright Striper to the Boat for a quick photo & release.
And so it would go for the remainder of our half day trip...nearly every flat held numbers of feeding Stripers, never once did we repeat the same drift, I'm not one to leave fish to find fish...but on this morning, we were blessed....
stay tuned for fresh new reports!!!
Reservations continue to come in for the 2008 Maine Striper & Bluefin Tuna season!!!
call today to set up a time before prime dates fill
Capt. George Harris
207-691-0745
www.superfly-charters.com
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