Thanks to club member Pat S, for sending in a few pics from recent club fishing pics - they have been added to a new photo gallery -- just click the link on the left to view them.

If you have any pictures you'd like to add to the gallery, just email them in!

If you can't get your fix on the water, check out the growing list of e-magazines in the "Favorite Sites" section of the web page.  The newest entrant is "Blood Knot" magazine, featuring a mix of fly fishing photography, videos and articles for both fresh and saltwater anglers.

Thanks to the club's unofficial historian and shutterbug Chris P. for sending in these photos from the recent shore trip to Plum Island.

Click on the Photo Gallery link on the left to view the pictures from this, and other recent club events.  If you have any additional pictures you want to share, feel free to email them in and they will be added to the gallery.  Thanks!

 

Thanks to Capt. Skip Montello of North Coast Anglers the club trip to Cape Ann was a success!

Looks like everyone had a great time, and actually caught some fish.. a novelty on most club trips :)

Be sure to click on the 4 arrows at the bottom to view the video in full screen mode - then click on "360p" to select "480p" to see the highest quality version.

The club has added a new section to the Website that members can refer to when looking for information on rigging, tackle, knots and other angling advice. To view this section, click on the words Rigging Tips in the column of menu choices under Main Menu on the left side of the club's Home Page. The first items to appear here are a couple of updated articles that originally appeared in Moon Tides last year: one on making saltwater leaders and a second on switching between bite and standard tippets using loop-to-loop connections. Check them out and let us know what you think.

 

From time to time, we will post additional how-to items and articles in this new section that may be of interest to club members. If you have comments on this section or want to suggest other topics for  the section you can post them on the club Fly Line forum at NEW RIGGING TIPS SECTION.

Welcome to 2010!

 

You will now be required to "register" as a recreational fisherman in the National Saltwater Angler Registry starting January 1, 2010.  Generally speaking, all fishermen who are fishing in tidal waters will be required to register, unless they are fishing on a head / charter boat.  The registration is free and can be performed online.  However, there are a few different exceptions, notably if you are 16 years of age or younger, or currently have a Highly Migratory Species (HMS) tuna permit.

NOAA has set up the following website which provides all the details.  Simply click on the "Do I need to register?" button on the top of the page and it will walk you through the process.  If required, you can then register online.

NOAA National Saltwater Angler Registry Web Site

 

The next step, starting in 2011, will be to purchase a saltwater fishing license from the state you are fishing in.  For those in Massachusetts, there will be a $10 fee.  The Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries has also set up an informational web site where you can learn more about the license process and rules.

Massachusetts Dept. of Marine Fisheries Recreational Saltwater Permit Web Site

Don't forget to send in your pictures and reports.  Even though this has been a tough season, there are still some nice fly rod fish out there :)  This one went 45" and about 37-38#, my best fly rod fish.

-- Tom

Thanks to Capt. Ray for the above picture.  You'll have to insert your own caption for this one.

Visit the Cast-a-Fly Charters web site for the full fishing report.

Hope everyone is enjoying their "Summer" thus far.  To me, the weather has made it seem more like we have had four months worth of April.

My season has definitely been a disappointment to say the least. 

May, as we all know, is when the first schoolies arrive and its easy to catch large numbers of fish on any given day.  As an overly anal-lytical log keeper, my numbers of fish caught in May 2009 are 1/3 of what they have been in comparison to the previous 10 season average for the month of May.  That is for the same amount of effort, same locations, techniques, fishing times, etc.  Also keep in mind that the 10 season average includes two consecutive years where the Merrimack River was completely flooded and almost un-fishable for most of the month.  To that point, I caught 1/2 as many fish in May of 2009 as I did in May of 2006, the year of the great Mother's Day Flood that wiped out my marina and where we went weeks without having an incoming tide.

Where I fish, June is when fly-rodders have the best chance of picking up 40"+ fish.  I can usually target a block of 3-4 days in June where the time, tides, moon and everything else is in alignment and typically take these days off from work.  This year, the fish never really got into a pattern, and it wasn't worth taking the time off.  There were three mornings spread across the month where the big fish were there and willing to hit a fly, and one of these we came across by accident on the way back from fishing another area.

That isn't to say there weren't a lot of big fish caught on soft-plastics, but even the guys using spinning gear sometimes had to spend an entire tide cycle working an area before they came into a pod of fish, and I think both fly and spinning fishermen found that big fish found one morning at a given tide and location were not a guarantee for similar fishing the next day or even tide cycle.

The other thing that seems off is the lack of smaller stripers in June.  Typically in June you can find plenty of smaller stripers mixed in amongst the pods of larger fish.  This June I've spent many mornings really working hard to scratch up a half-dozen schoolies, where typically you would catch two or three times as many while targeting big fish.

Obviously the weather has been playing a factor, with all the rain adding a substantial amount of fresh water into the estuary systems.  I'm sure that this is having an impact on the baitfish, especially in the larger river systems like the Merrimack, and might be contributing to the lack of fish, but I don't think this is the root cause of the problem.  Outside of the freshwater impact, the cooler temperatures and ever-present overcast skies certainly created more favorable fishing conditions then we typically get with the bright, sunny days of a typical summer.

From what I have read in other's reports, people are seeing the same thing up and down the striper coast.  There is a lot of talk about whether the problem is real or perceived and what the root cause might be: pollution in the striper's breeding grounds; the impact of commercial fishing on both the baitfish and the stripers, as a result of both targeted fishing and by-catch; inaccurate data driving poor fisheries management policies; the elimination of the larger breeding females due to overfishing; and the list goes on.

Only time will tell if there really is a problem with the striped bass and what impact there will be in the future.  The sooner people recognize that there may be a problem, the sooner a plan can be put in place to identify and address that problem while there is still time for it to have a significant positive impact on the striped bass fishery as a whole.

For another perspective on the issue, Ted Williams wrote an article for Fly Rod & Reel magazine with his view on the state of the fishery in Massachusetts, here is a link to the article on the Striper's Forever website:

Striper's Forever - Ted Williams Article

I'd be interested to hear what other people think about their season thus far, feel free to post a message in the NESFR Forums.

 -- Tom Sheehy