Blitzes Before Montana

I needed as many salty fish, some stripers, blues, and maybe an albie, before going about as far from those species'  native territory as I'd ever been. So when my asked me if I'd like to join him with Captain Mike Roy (www.reelcastcharters.com) the next day it was a quick and easy yes. And when Noah was able to get up early enough to chase albies and bass the same morning, I had a full day to work with and the weather was looking prime for great fishing.

Unfortunately it turns out the weather that had been out competed the weather that was in the first two spots we fished. The bait was there, the tide was right, the water was chocolate milk. Albies don't drink chocolate milk. We were out of those spots really quickly. We did eventually find some clean water but it still lacked false albacore. To finish out our hunt we hit one last spot that had a low probability of giving up an albie but I knew there would be bass working schools of peanuts there, and that's just what we found. A few storms blew through and bass continually pummeled the schools of peanuts that were hugging the beach lip.

It took a little while for me to pattern those fish. The secret ended up being a white Game Changer. I feel like a broken record lately with how much I've been talking up that fly: but I'll tell you what it is pretty much unparalleled in productivity.

I caught about half a dozen nice larger schoolie bass. Some of them really singled out the Game Changer in spite of the copious amounts of small menhaden, pushing through the thick bait to get to the larger, eratic moving fly. Some of the fish I caught did still have live peanuts bouncing around in their mouths when I landed them. The last fish was the morning maker, a beautiful fish of 27 or 28 inches.

I didn't even have time to get home before going to meet Mike. We met Rick at a park and ride lot and I hopped in his truck, soaking wet and ready to catch more fish. We we seeing birds working before Mike even got to the launch. Then it was hours of bass, blues, and a few albies. Mike Roy is the man, I've not had a slow day with him yet. Though I didn't land my false albacore, I got a really great bass. Again on the Game Changer. She slammed the fly right at the boat, fought hard, and released strong. 

Photo Courtesy Mike Roy

That was my last day of fishing before flying to Montana. It was a riot, and I needed it. I knew I was going to miss out on a significant little chunk of the best time of year to be a saltwater fly fisherman in the Northeast. The question was, would it be worth it?