Greetings from Winter Island Campground here on the North Shore of Massachusetts! As is the case with all good things, our trip is coming to an end. It's been a great time, and we are having fun recounting stories and continuing the friendships that were quick-made over the past week.
We left off three days ago right before this chapter of our trip out on the salt flats of Cape Cod. The past few days have been devoted to chasing Striped bass out on the Cape, a notoriously difficult task that proves challenging to all anglers alike. We traded out our 5 weight rods and reels for 9 weights, rigging them with sinking lines and saltwater flies that imitate crabs, minnows, and sand eels rather than the various freshwater buggers we had been tossing at bass. Rigged up and ready to rock, our group was buzzing with excitement and some optimistic apprehension of what the days had to offer. Timing our arrival at the flats with the outgoing tide, we hopped in the water and began walking around in search of fish, or signs of their presence. This can take the form of tails poking out of the water, huge blowups on the water's surface as fish eat cruising bait, or flocks of birds flying around over a school of fish that scare baitfish to the top of the water column. We quickly saw these signs, walking further and further through the water towards the Stripers. Once in range, we saw dozens of fish most of which were of good size. Our group capitalized, making long and careful casts to skittish fish, and most of our group landed at least a few Stripers, an impressive feat for any fly-fisherman.
With a few days of technical fishing behind us, we left Nickerson early in the morning for our charter trip on the North Shore. These guides are some of the best, if not the best, Striper and bluefish guides on the North Shore, who quickly woke the boys up when they pulled up on a group of hungry fish just a few minutes into the trip. Using both fly and conventional gear the group combined for numerous 45+ inch striped bass (really really really big!) and even the occasional bluefish, known for its bullish personality and sharp teeth. Returning to the campsite that afternoon we enjoyed some simple campsite pleasures like swimming on the beach, playing ultimate frisbee, and fishing off the rocks before making dinner and hitting the sack.
Today is the final day of the trip. We started off this morning with a service project along the beaches of Parker Island. Giving back to the resources we are lucky to enjoy is a big part of fly fishing. It was great to see these young anglers enthusiasticly buy into this. We will spend our final afternoon of fishing on the Jappo flats of the North Shore before concluding our trip with the banquet dinner.
We have had a blast working with this group, and it was a pleasure to meet them and see them grow as both anglers and as young men. Thank you for joining us on this epic adventure and a trip that none of us will ever forget!
Tight lines for now and ever,
Shane, Hunt, Jacob, and the crew
