Editor’s Log: Boat Fishin’ Ain’t Easy - The Fisherman

Editor’s Log: Boat Fishin’ Ain’t Easy

A few weeks back I was out on Buzzards Bay with a charter captain whom I really respect. I’m just going to refer to him by his first name, Corey. We left the marina at 5 a.m. and headed toward the Canal. We pulled into the first spot and he looked at the water temperature. “They might not be in here anymore Dave,” he said, “The water is already getting close to 70 back here!” We motored around and I threw plugs while Corey looked at the screen. We found a few schools of bass, but they weren’t in the mood to play. I watched him looking at the wind and then we motored a quarter mile and he instructed me to make a few casts—nobody home there either.

We rounded a point and set up over a random patch of dark bottom, a flotilla of boats mingled on an outcrop to our north. Corey pointed, “That’s where they were yesterday, it’s amazing how these guys expect the fish to be on the same numbers the next day!” Corey watched through binoculars as the dejected fleet do-si-do’d around each other and caught nothing—there was slight tinge of satisfaction on Corey’s face as he lowered the binos. “Let’s get out of here.” he said, starting the motor.

We made a longer steam this time, away from the magnetic forces of the Canal, away from the boats taking turns drifting the same rips. We stopped in the middle of nowhere. “See that buoy?” he asked, “Cast right on it and be ready!” Ten casts and the fish he expected were not there. We steamed further into the watery wildernesses of Buzzards Bay.

“This is a spot I don’t bring many people to,” Corey said with a smile. He then gave me a short dissection of what was in front of me. The fish were there in numbers. We landed bass up to about 28 pounds there and saw two behemoths that were probably in the low 40-pound class. “Too calm,” he said, “Those fish would’ve ate the plugs in the wind.”

We left abruptly, the fish still showing interest. The clouds were burning off now and I was beginning to regret not bringing sunscreen. We started heading back to where the trip began but, when a boat Corey knew raced us to the spot, he uttered a few choice words and said, “Let him get set up and then we’ll sneak around.” We waited 10 minutes to let this guy get set up. Then Corey drove the opposite shoreline, past the racer to a shallow flat way up inside the cove. The fish were there too—lots of them—some big followers again, but we topped out at about 22 pounds with some gator blues. The other boat noticed and we left abruptly again.

This time I thought we were going back to the dock and I was gathering my gear to be ready to offload. But he made a southerly turn and, after a long steam, we were drifting along a desolate shoreline—not another boat in sight. “These are my pet fish,” said Corey. The place was loaded with bass, but the calm water and bright sun kept the giants off the plugs. We saw three huge fish there, well over 40—maybe bigger. And we caught at least a dozen each from 15 to 25 pounds.

We ended the day with a pretty solid tally, but Corey seemed disappointed. I wasn’t. I was glad it took some moving around to put a good catch together, because it let me see how he worked and it showed me how many spots the best charter guys have. Boat fishing is not easy. It also gave me some new things to look for and consider in my own fishing. My goal is always to learn something when I make a fishing trip and I learned more on that one boat trip with Corey than I’ve learned in a very long time.

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