American Chaos, Fish Don’t Seem to Mind

2020 continues to be a bit of a sh**show in the world and our country. So much polarization, violence, hate, it’s truly a sad time. Fishing is a nice reprise from it all and an escape. To go outside and watch the sunset, watch the tides roll in and out, and watch fish feed, is a reminder of the beauty of our natural world unaffected by politics, crime, and human rights issues, and I find it extremely meditative.

Anyway, enough of that sappy stuff, onto the fishing. There are some better fish being taken in shallow in the islands the last 3 weeks. But you really, really have to work for them. I won’t lie. It’s been a grind out there. Plenty of fish but they’re spread out, and not as many big ones as I’d like. This year has been a good reminder of how Mobile striped bass are, one day they’re there, one day they’re not. One day they’re in Darien, then they’re in Westport, and some days they’re mid sound. They follow the bait and the bait has been somewhat unpredictable. Fishing some primo tides around new/full moons and sunset/sunrise will certainly amp your chances, and the bad weather days (fog, wind) have been good to me too.

This year has been full of ‘exotics’, and no I don’t mean exotic dancers or the Tiger King, I mean rarer species in the sound. Namely Shad, Atlantic mackerel, and weakfish. There have been blitzes (birds diving, surface commotion) that have confused a few anglers when the fish refused to take standard bass or bluefish offerings. Instead these were Shad and/or Macks, who will only eat the really small stuff (tiny jigs, soft plastics, sabikis). Weakfish have been caught by a few anglers targeting bass.

Lastly, and perhaps what everyone is waiting for, is what’s the story for big bass fishing. Who’s getting trophy fish, where, how. I will say this: generally chunking has not been great, yet. A few good reports started to trickle in so that may change. Live bait fishing has produced good ones. Either moving from school of bunker to school and dropping live ones to test the waters at each, or, 3 waying live ones on structure. This is a mid sound game. The fish should get more aggressive by the day. It seems it’s better fishing earlier in the day on bait now, and towards the end of June this will move to sunset.

Those who follow my blog know, June into early July is the time nail a big fish. Get out there people. Full moon on Saturday, big tides and current, big bass. Full moon is usually better to me during daylight hours not the morning, but we shall see. Tight lines