Clinging

I've been hoping to hear of big stripers within a reasonable day's trip from home. The fish are moving south quickly, but there are opportunities for big fish into December sometimes. I've been hoping to hear word of the right conditions in different areas that would call in big bass, but these things just aren't happening, at least not on time. Because I'm not one to use fishing reports to determine whether I should fish and where I should fish (something I feel people should start getting away from), I've been basing most of my predictions on what has happened in past years, what the current conditions are, and pure luck. I'm holding on to little shreds of hope that there is a 30lb migratory striper still in the sound and that if I keep fishing, maybe she and I will end up in the same place and she will eat my fly. So far, not so much luck in the cow bass department. Plenty of small ones... plenty of diaper stripers.

Dan and I fished "way out" the other night, and fish were scattered everywhere there was moving water. The action was continuous enough that we got to play with the fish a bit, seeing what they did in Dan's headlight and how they behaved during the fight. We actually determined that all the fish made a hard left turn at a specific point in the fight, and sure enough they were diving towards an almost invisible depression... which happened to be full of fish. We also got to see a small fish chase down and refuse my fly in the light, which I was not expecting. A bright light usually puts the fish down.

As it gets colder and the days get shorter and shorter I am beginning to feel the pressure. I so badly wanted to get a 40 inch striper on the fly this year, and I can tell you I was given more chances at that than most fly fisherman are in 10 years. There were two during the herring run, one that threw the hook 4 minutes into the fight and one that ate the fly at rod length, a few on the flat in June that I couldn't convince, one under a RR bridge that I trout set on, a particularly large one in late summer that I pulled the fly away from... I could go on but it hurts too much. There were also some very poor decisions made; spots left early, flies and leaders I should have changed, moves not made, moments excitement that got the best of me. I learn from all of it but I've had a hard time the last week or two convincing myself that I did all I could to seal the deal. I'm obsessed.