Baymen Guide Services

MASSACHUSETTS FISHING REPORTS, Boston, Plymouth, Cape Cod.

3 Things you never knew about Capt. Dave of The Baymen: 1)his favorite male vocalist has always been Steven Tyler of Aerosmith; 2)he played pick-up league basketball for 14 years before blowing his knee out; 3)he played drums, piano, harmonica, and sang back-up vocals in several rock bands.

Baymen Guide Service, Inc. (781) 934-2838 www.baymencharters@gmail.com E-mail: baymencharters@gmail.com

The New England Turkey Woods were ON FIRE this morning with hot Toms! Unfortunately for us, all the action was across the ridge. To give you an idea of the intensity, we counted 125 gobbles in 55 minutes!!! That is a record for The Baymen. We worked hard to put a long beard down these past two days, but no luck – yet!

 

 

Stay posted:

Capt. Dave, The Baymen

(781) 934-2838 baymencharters@gmail.com www.baymencharters.com

*I have two days left for spring gobbler hunts in Massachusetts zone 11. Call or e-mail for more info*

On board today, I had repeat client, Jewon Wee, and his friend Romare, visiting from Texas. Both anglers showed up with with their own fly gear ready to fish. Always a good sign!

Today, we had a nasty east wind. It was choppy, chilly, and drizzly on the bay. We were underway around 5:30am and started checking all my spots, hoping the rising tide and spring blitz would over ride the east wind. “Wind from the east, fishing the least…” as a general rule more often true than not. No fish were showing at any of my spots as we started running all over the bay. As a last resort, we beached the boat and walked and fished a shoreline spot. After thirty minutes, not a bump. It was not looking good as we approached slack high tide…

 

Back in the boat, we ran to another shoreline spot and set a drift. WHAM! Fish on! What a surprise to find a fat 26” inch fish holding on structure this early in the season! We set several more drifts and boated two more bass. From there we checked a few more shoreline spots thinking that maybe thats where the fish were hiding out in the east wind. Nothing doing…

As we drifted over some structure and my charters were fly casting their hearts out, I picked up the binoculars and started to glass the bay again. I could not believe my eyes, when I saw breaking fish with birds overhead, in three of the exact spots we had checked at first light without success. But now, with the dropping tide, the east winds laid down and turned slightly north, and the bay lit up!

We spent the second half of the morning running from pod to pod of striped bass all over the bay. It was a mini spring blitz and the fish were slamming Capt. Dave’s Baymen Universal, and Dave Skoaks, Mush Mouth in chartreuse/white. I should note that the biggest striper of the morning was landed by Ramare, on the Baymen Universal!

 

After five hours of fly fishing, we called it a great morning on the bay and headed into the chop and back to Duxbury across the bay. You just never know, if you never go. Every day is different, and no two tides are the same…

 

Capt. David Bitters

BAYMEN Guide Service, Inc. (781) 934-2838 www.baymencharters@gmail.com Our New E-mail: baymencharters@gmail.com

**Charters leaving at sunrise for striped bass with fly, light tackle or bait. Daily, except Sundays**

 

 

 

Capt. David Bitters of The Baymen, fly casting to striped bass on Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts.

Photos by: Noah Lydiard

First charter of the season today, with repeat client, Cliff Ross, of Utah!

Went to bed late last night and fretted over the winds, the water temps, the time of year… I said, please God, this client is coming all the way from Utah. Calm the winds, send the fish, and let us get into them. My prayers were answered! As we cruised the bay heading for my only hopeful spot of the morning, I glanced way down bay and saw what appeared to be “heat waves” about two miles in the distance. I kept my course and kept glancing at the these ripples way out on the horizon. Finally, I stopped the boat, squinted hard, and could not believe my eyes… The first school of top-water stripers had come into the bay – on April 28th!!!

I changed course and we ran the two miles. My jaw was on the deck. About a half-acre of TOP-WATER stripers smashing bait! We set up a drift came over the fish, and Cliff makes his first cast of the season with the fly rod, and fish on!!! A fat 28” incher covered in sea lice.  From there, the fish just kept getting bigger and bigger! Cliff was casting the 9 weight with intermediate line and 15lb tippet. The stripers were slamming my Baymen Clouser and Baymen Universal patterns. Then, a massive boil and Cliff’s line goes tight. The fish takes all the line off the deck and goes right into the reel…. Big fish!

 

I told Cliff the first five minutes belong to the striper and to just keep him tight. It was a great tug of war fight for seven minutes before we got a look at the bruiser. We got it up along side the boat and I two handed him over the gunwale. A real whopper of a bass and our fourth keeper of the morning, all on the fly rod!

Cliff and I kept asking ourselves, are we dreaming??? This is April 28th. In seventeen years of guiding, I have never gotten into top-water stripers in our bay that were all big fish. We usually get a schoolie by April 15th. But never anything like this, as early as this. It was an amazing morning…

 

 

After two and a half hours of non-stop action, the dead-calm seas whipped up to white caps with 25 knots winds, with higher gusts. The bite shut down in a blink. Fish gone. We ran the bay looking for more fish, and hit a structure spot three miles away in hopes of finding fish. Nothing doing. The first blitz of the season had ended and it still feels like a dream…!

Stay Posted: The season has started in Baymen Land.

Capt. David Bitters

Baymen Guide Service, Inc. (781) 934-2838 www.baymencharters.com  E-mail me: baymencharters@gmail.com

I have been getting a lot of requests for the recipe and how to tie my Baymen Universal line of patterns. Here is my recipe and my ingredients.

Happy Tying & Catching!

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN

 

 

The Baymen Universal Recipe from 1995 design -

 

Incredients:

Bucktails – Bleached white; Honey Olive; Perfect Pink; Very Red.

Peacock Herl

Pearl Crystal Flash

Danville Flat Waxed Nylon in Black

You Favorite Hook. I like a Eagle Claw 254 SS, but have tied on just about every hook imaginable. 2/0 is my standard for stripers. Fit the hook to the fish.

 

 

 

Tying Steps:

1. Warp thread down to start of bend and back up to eye

2. On top of the hook shank, tie in Perfect Pink

3. Tie in one or two strands of crystal flash. I like to double it over

4. On top of the Perfect Pink, tie in Honey Olive

5. On top of Honey olive, tie in Peacock Herl

6. Flip the hook over. I have a Gesner Rotary Vice made by my late friend, Konrad Gesner, that rotates

7. On the bottom of the hook shank, tie in Bleached White

8.On top of the Bleached White, tie in Very Red. I tie just a very short section by the eye of the hook to suggest flaired gills.

9. Whip finish and you are ready to fish!

10. If you want to add eyes, I use Bestway Soft 3D Prism eyes, silver with black pupil. 3/8 for a 2/0 hook. Sometimes I will use Jungle Cock

 

 

 

I think this is everything in my steps. Vary the amounts as needed to create a pleasant looking fly good enough to eat. Sparsley tied fishes better than heavy, dense patterns. But is just depends. I tied a Baymen Universal Jig for light tackle that is pretty dense. I also tie a Baby Baymen Universal for trout that is very sparse. I also tied a Baymen Universal Clouser (deadly!!!) and use the same amount of materials as the standard Baymen Universal, which is basically a streamer pattern.

 

 

 

Hope this helps. E-mail or call  if any of it is unclear.

Sincerely,

Capt. David Bitters,

Baymen Guide Service, Inc. Baymen Productions

P.O. Box 366, Duxbury, MA 02331 (781) 934-2838

www.baymencharters.com

E-mail: baymencharters@gmail.com

FB David Bitters

FB Baymen Guide Service, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just got off the bay with one of the producers of The Baymen Life, a new television show about the men and women who make their living on the bays up and down the New England coast. Stunning sunrise over Bug Light and the bay… We scouted for top-water stripers. The bite is off at the moment with this cold front that has moved in. But that will all change with the next warming trend. It is going to be an amazing world-class spring blitz very soon. Stay posted!

Capt. David Bitters

Baymen Guide Service, Inc. (781) 934-2838 www.baymencharters.com baymencharters@gmail.com