Capt. Dave hanging out with client and friend, Richard Comstock, at Gurnet Point

At first light, we were into top-water action for close to three hours. We ran from pod to pod of breaking top-water stripers and fished our light tackle rubber cranks baits. We boated a  ton of fish, including two keepers on LT.

After the top-water started to slow down, we ran offshore to the #1 and jigged up a bunch of macks in short order. Then, we ran back inside the bay and started live-lining our baits over rips and structure. It did not take long to start racking up some scorching runs! We boated 8 more keepers.

Total catch for the morning was a whopping 50 striped bass, including 10 keepers! Epic, amazing, spring blitz that is nothing short of world-class on the MA coast!

Stay posted: lots more fishing with Capt. Dave, Elizabeth, and The Baymen coming your way…

Capt. Dave, The Baymen

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

On board today, I had repeat client, Fred Stetson and friends of Duxbury, MA and Vermont. Fred duck hunted with me a few season’s back for eiders. Today, he and his crew were on board for the Spring Blitz and they absolutely nailed it!

At first light, we had school after school of fish pouring into the bay in waves. Most were small fish, 12” inches and up, and some were keeper status fish to 32” inches and better. It was top-water mayhem for several hours, with tons of birds working over head and schools of bait leaping for their lives. Acres of fish at a time were on top-water, on dead-calm seas with no a breath of air. Perfect conditions for sight fishing our world-class spring striper blitz on the Massachusetts coast. If you have never fished the Spring Blitz with BAYMEN, book up a trip for May 2013. It is the best in the world…

Fred and his crew fished rubber cranks all morning long and landed fish after fish. It gave me time to test several new baits and theories. I concluded that my theory of bait color is correct: dark day/dark bait; bright day/bright bait. This is one of those general rules that develop after years of thinking and mulling over bass logic.

After landing SEVENTY-TWO striped bass on light tackle, we decided to run offshore in the flat-calm conditions and jig up some bait. We ran, jigged for twenty minutes, and had the live-well full. We ran back inside and live-lined spot #1. We raised two fish, but no runs. Spot #2: ZIP. Not a single run. Spot #3 ZIP! Spot #4: GAME ON! We could not drop baits in the water for longer than 30 seconds without getting picked up by a keeper bass. It was amazing… We dropped three baits over on our first drift, and instantly all three rods went off! It took the boys a little trial and error practice on a few runs to get the hang of the baitrunners. But after that, the fish would pick up and run for 3 seconds; we would click over; set the hook and FISH ON…!!!

We ended the live-bait fishing with three more keepers, bringing our total catch to 75 striped bass for the morning with 7 of them keepers. It was an epic morning. Another world-class striped bass trip on the Massachusetts coast with The Baymen and our charters.

Book a Spring Blitz trip with BAYMEN for the 2013 season. We are booking a year in advance and dates go fast. We have turned down double the amount of charters that we have booked this season, because people call last-minute. Book now, lock in the prime dates, and have the chance to experience the finest striped bass fishing on earth.

Tight Lines!

Capt. David Bitters

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

www.baymencharters.com

*Now Booking mid-July-August and September 2012; Spring Blitz 2013

*Now booking fall waterfowling and deer hunts

*Now booking Spring Turkey 2013

Call or e-mail for details about all of our guided outdoors adventures!

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

“Every day is different and no two tides are the same…” – Capt. Dave Bitters

DAY TWO: Richard Comstock

On board today I had client and friend, Richard Comstock of New York. This is Richard’s tenth year fishing with me. Yesterday’s crazy weather filled the bay with lots of striped bass of all sizes. We boated 22 fish on fly rods, with several keepers – some of them taking Richard deep into his backing. It was an amazing, epic morning!

Today, at first light, we found two schools of fish under birds. They were very selective (compared to yesterday) and very small fish, averaging 12”-14′”inches. Yesterday’s fish have left the bay. We did see a +30 follow our fly to the boat without taking it, but that was the only bigger fish we saw. Also, word was out about our incredible 22 fish yesterday, and a whopping 82 fish the day before with another charter, fishing LT for three anglers. Many boats were on the two pods of fish today, making it a little harder to set up drifts. We also had a stiff, north wind of about 20 knots all morning that made our drifts much faster than we would of liked.

But that’s fishing! You control what you can and  roll with the rest and learn to enjoy every moment to the fullest. We ended our morning with seven striped bass, between 12” inches and 14” inches. So good to see small fish again in our bay, after seeing almost none the past two seasons. A good mix of sizes is a healthy population of fish.

When booking with Baymen, consider booking at least two days to fish. If possible, book a spring trip, summer trip, and a fall trip to see all that our bay has to offer, in all the seasons. Like most things in life, we have to take the slow days with the epic, and learn to enjoy each day to it’s fullest measure. I could not think of a better client to have on board with me these past two days, than Richard “Fly or Die” Comstock. Here’s to another ten years,  Richard. It is a pleasure to call you a client  and friend!

See you on the bay.

Capt. David Bitters

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

Quick late trip upstream in the North River and there was simply not much activity up there…brought 2 friends out and only caught about 6 fish- 1 nice 32” fish that was caught:

5/10 PM

Made a quick trip out of the river to check my empty lobster pots L and came back in and headed down to Plymouth to meet a couple of friends down there for a late afternoon trip on the Bay- we totaled around 25 fish between the 3 of us and 10 keepers in the 29-34” class…I got shook off by one big girl and another one that left me a curly Q at the end of my line…faulty knot! L

5/11 PM

Quite simply- a very special day on the water and a perfect storm of conditions that lead to an epic late afternoon bite.  The Bay was a pretty consistent 51-52 degrees, but we found a nice big pocket of 58-62 degree water and it seemed like every fish in the area was stacked up there.  An exceptional feed and a mixed bag of bass in all shapes & sizes…totaled north of 40 fish with 24 keeper sized bass in the 29”-38” inch range.

5/12 AM

Back to the same spot bright & early on Saturday AM and found the 99% of the fish had pushed out…the temperatures had completely equaled out overnight and everyone that was down there had vanished.  We didn’t stay out all too long, but long enough to seethe fish weren’t really there…caught 5 fish- 3 micros and 2 decent keeper sized fish up to 32” (no pics taken unfortunately)

5/13 AM

Took an AM trip out on the River with my father and the bite started out rather slowly…until scanning the area and we noticed a bunch of birds milling around well inshore up a creek…we decided to give things a closer investigation and found a bunch of feisty fish and a mixed bag of size…a total of around 30 fish between my father and myself, 7 keeper sized fish anywhere from 12”- 31.5”

5/13 PM

All’s quiet on the Bay in the afternoon…only managed to get maybe a dozen micros in the area and one decent schoolie, but caught a beautiful Plymouth Sunset!

5/14 AM

A last minute trip with a friend and his boss as work got canceled for them and went back to the same location on the River that we found fish yesterday and we were not disappointed.  All the fish were hemmed up in one hole and we were able to pick offa solid 20 of them from the hole and worked them all the way out of the creek.  A few more schoolie bass in the general vicinity for a total of around 25 fish and 6 keepers or so up to 32”.

5/14 PM

Roughly the same location as the AM…with about half the number of fish, but my buddy had a great time nonetheless .

5/15 AM

Made an early AM trek down to Plymouth and was limited on time to spend down there so my father and I spent about 90 minutes or so down there and we were able to get our fill on some bass action.  Mostly micros, but a few quality fish were found as noted by this 33” and a beauty 36” bass.  Came back up to Scituate after jumping into my fathers’ boat and heading out to check the lobster traps…a big SSW wind made for a bumpy, choppy, wet ride home, but we were able to get 4 lobsters and enjoyed the seasons’ first steamed bugs…they were delicious! J

Overall, simply exceptional fishing in the area at the moment- a great variety of different classes of fish ranging anywhere from 10”-40”+ at the moment and each cast can bring a fish of any size.  Weapons of choice as always were 7.5” and 9” Sluggos in both Ice Shad and White.  A couple of trips were not noted in detail as there wasn’t much exceptional to report on, but a total of 11 trips on the water over 6 days yielded around 200 fish over the rails and a guesstimate of 55 keeper sized bass- a vast majority of those were in the 31-33” range which are simply great sport on our light spinning tackle outfits.    Simply put I am exhausted and almost glad to be back at work…no, not really

- Daniel Putnam

short report. Running crazy.

Repeat client, Richard Comstock, NYC. 22 Striped bass, all on the fly rods. Baymen Universal, Chart/White Clouser, white clouser, Baymen Clouser. Fog, intense rain, thunder storm, winds 2o knots after the storm. Birds working non-stop for six hours. Top-water.

Capt. Dave, The Baymen

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

http://www.baymencharters.com/capt-daves-baymen-universal-recipe/

World-class fishing on the bay this morning. I had repeat client, Joe McPherson & Co. with me. Joe and his crew have been fishing with me for several years. Today, they slammed it big time and hold the record for the 2012 season so far, for most fish caught and released: 82, including 7 keepers, with the biggest one in the low to mid twenty pounds.

We fished the entire morning with rubber crank baits and never left the bay. If was flat-clam all morning with a light south wind. Small pods of fish scattered all over, that would stay up for a few seconds to several minutes at a time. Once again, the bait is a one inch silverside with olive back. But we fished baits up to 4” inches and they were not selective. You just had to be on them.

A world-class morning and Joe’s charter will hold the record for the most fish caught in the 2012 season, for some time. Way to go, guys!

Capt. David Bitters

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

www.baymencharters.com

On board today, I had repeat clients, Tom Knapp, and his son, Jackson, originally from NYC, and now living on the South Shore. They crushed it today on the bay!

At first light, we found top-water schools of fish scattered around the bay, busting bait on top-water. Gulls were working overheard, and we ran from school to school picking off fish with fly and light tackle gear. Jackson caught the biggest fish of 35” inches on light tackle, that was released. The bait is very small, about one inch long, skinny, with an olive back and silver side, and black pupil. (Take note fly fishermen!). After fly and LT, we ran offshore and jigged up macks and sea herring and came back inside the bay and live-lined. It was slow action compared to the morning blitz, but we hooked into several nice fish.

We had a great mix of fish this morning from 12” inches to 35” inches. It is so good to see mixed sizes of bass. That usually indicates a very healthy striper population. A few years ago, we never saw small fish and I was getting concerned. Keep in mind this is all on a very local level in the 25 square miles where we spend the majority of our time fishing on the Massachusetts South Shore waters.

All in all, an amazing spring blitz on the bay today and another great morning on the bay!

Capt. David Bitters

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

Now booking August, September 2012, and Spring Blitz May/June 2013