September 4-6, 1999 -
Stripers, Blues, and Now False Albacore are Cape-side. The bass and blues are massacring the baby herring in all the river mouths. Silver Sides are the forage of choice in and off the Vineyard and it still seems to be sand-eels in the bay...lots of herring in there too...

August 28, 1999 -
Q. Why are these bluefish so finicky? I go through my box of flies like I'm after bonito...
A. BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT BLUEFISH... they're Amberjack.

I got into a school of young amberjack at the mouth of Bass River the other day. They kept a close eye on my pattern until their palate was appeased by a baby herring fly. Its all they touched and even IT had to be presented very carefully.

Hooked and lost a bonito in the same place and couldn't keep the snapper blues off my fly. they are everywhere.

May 5, 1999 6:45pm, Mouth of Bass River, West Dennis Beach.
Weather had cleared from the 2 day storm, still grey, but much less windy and only occasional drizzle. The temperature was noticeably warmer tonight too. I still had feeling in my fingers for the entire session. The outgoing tide was starting to gain momentum and a large amount of weeds were drifting by close to the jetty.

I cast over my left shoulder for about half an hour into the light North East wind with no problem. Compared to the previous day, I about doubled my distance. At about 7:00 I got my first fish and again, in true early West Dennis form, this fish had power. It ran my intermediate 9wt line out with the drag screaming. When his dorsal fin showed on a roll close to where I was standing, I was excited to see how big it was and for a moment, I thought I might...by...chance...have my first legal of the season. Well short of the legal limit, this fish measured in at 21 inches. I have had 36 inchers fight less than this fish.

My next fish came at darkness. This one was a little bigger. He rolled near the surface right after the strike and I saw he had some size to him.(Size compared to the 16-18 inch fish I have been catching so far). Worked this one in and measured it to be 23 inches. Got one more 16 incher immediately following. All fish on the rattler. Waiting for the beach blitz.  

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May 4, 1999 The storm, stalled offshore, had hampered my fishing plans for Monday, but tonight there was a break in the downpours. The air was relatively warm - 52 degrees, but the wind was blowing hard from directly North in Osterville. I estimate it was between 18 to 25 mph and gusty. I got to Dowses and was able to get a fair cast out into the current (outgoing tide) before the wind knocked it down. I got one 18 inch fish here, and as the wind picked up and the temperature went down, I decided to look for a more favorable spot.

I arrived at the mouth of Bass River and tried upstream, but still the wind knocked my cast far from where I wanted it. In fact, it was worse here. I walked to the jetty elbow and found conditions a little more favorable there and on a strong outgoing tide, took 2 more 18 inch fish. These first West Dennis fish didn't let me down. For some reason, these fish have much more power than the up-river fish. Both of these took line off my 8 wt Sage, and strongly resisted being landed. My rattler fly retains its effectiveness for early season fishing. Oktoberfest also landed one of the Bass River Fish.

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May 1, 1999 May First started off with some beautiful weather and a whole bunch of fish. Bass River, Swan River and Herring Rivers are all producing. The weather has been cool this year and the water has been in the mid 50's up to now. Water temps in the Bass River reached 58 degrees by Saturday evening and the action heated up by nightfall. Everyone was hooking up with fish up to about 14-18 inches on average. Small olive eel or baitfish patterns are working well.

The Bass are hungry and the warm weather has spurred them into a frenzy. Now, with the storm stalled off the coast, the fishing is only for the die-hards at best. Very windy and cold with un-ending downpours. One good thing is that you get the beach to yourself.

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