However she still commented that 6:30am was too early, even though by this time on a normal fishing day I’d be just about ready to eat lunch. Nevertheless I was excited at the prospect of having her fishing by my side.

I had visions of an all-out blitz, or something to at least give her some insight into why I roll out of bed at 3:00AM a few times a week. Even if we did encounter a blitz I bet Gelany would probably still think I was crazy!

At the least I wanted to help my fiance understand the excitement that fishing the morning bite can bring. Worst case scenario, I hoped I could hook up with a few fish, and then let her reel them in.

We cruised out onto the brilliant blue water just before the slack of high tide. There was a steady breeze of around 5 mph blowing from the Southeast which made the air bearable, if not pleasant.

We pushed the Mal de Mer at 30 kts on a rippled-calm sea, keeping a constant eye on the horizon for signs of life. However, nothing was revealing itself. With the tide starting to drop, I thought now would be our best time to find a surface feeding frenzy.

An experience like that would surely make Gelany think that fishing was anything but “boring”. However, after not seeing a single feeding bird, I began to have my doubts.

We ran over to a fast rip that had set up, and let out a few swimming plugs to see if we could find some bass on the troll. I clipped on a bone SP Minnow to the port rod, and a LeMire trolling plug on the opposite.

At 2.5 knots, the SP was doing its erratic side to side wiggle and rolling lazily like a big wounded baitfish. The spread looked good!

There have been big runs of squid in this particular rip in recent years. I hoped the squid would show up during this trip, along with a striped bass or two.

After a few passes through the rip with no luck, I began to think the bass were not here. The Lowrance also came up empty. At this point, we were running out of time.

Gelany had promised some friends we would pick them up at the dock at 9AM to cruise around and head out to the beach. I was desperate. I wanted more than anything to put us on some fish.

To shake it up, I trolled past the rip and up into shallower water. I thought maybe the bass were waiting at the top of the ledge to catch unsuspecting baitfish. In 6 feet of water we got a hit, and drag started peeling from the spinning reel.

“We’re on!” I yelled. I set the hook and handed the rod to Gelany. As typical in shallow water, the bass came right up to the surface and thrashed around. After a few runs, we had a fat 27” on the boat. We took some pictures and released the fish.

With a half hour left on the fishing clock, we decided to try one last spot that had proved to be either red hot, or ice cold depending on the day...

I’m not sure what draws the bass and bait to this spot, as it is relatively non-descript. It’s a large bowl in 40’ of water at the end of two major channels that rise up gradually onto a shoal. I found it one day while barely paying attention, probably tapping through Facebook on my phone while I trolled.

I slowed the boat to a crawl and watched the Lowrance screen. Unfortunately there was nothing on the sounder. I had just decided Gelany and I would have to settle with just one fish for the day when suddenly, at the very last second, the screen lit up with bass!

I dropped a white Al Gags ‘whip-it eel’ down to the 40’ depth, feathering the spool, stopping the lure occasionally to let it flutter in the tide. When it reached the bottom I flipped the bail, made one crank of the reel, and felt the telltale thump of a bass inhaling the lure. I set the hook and we were on again.

“Drop that other lure down to the bottom and reel it up.”

Gelany took the other rod, this one armed with a 6” Bill Hurley Cape Cod Sand Eel, and dropped it down.

“I think a fish just tried to get it!” she said.

“Close the bail and start reeling.” She did just that and no sooner, I heard her drag slip and her rod was arched over, almost touching the water. We were doubled up! I got mine up to the surface and it looked to be bigger than the previous fish. When I went to lip it, it made one last run and spit the hook.

Gelany fought her fish, and got it boat side after a few nice runs. She held up the healthy fish for a picture and released it. 

We lost the school briefly and moved back to the top of our drift, on the northern side of the bowl. Gelany’s eyes were glued to the Lowrance screen. “They’re back...Twenty feet down...Streaking up”. I looked at her and smiled, but she was too focused on letting her jig sink through the strike zone to notice.

We hooked two more fish each and after some hesitation, we decided to motor back to the flotilla to pick up our friends. We hoped that the bite would stay hot so everyone could get in on the fast fishing...

When we got back to the spot, we quickly realized that the fishing wasn’t only still hot... it was on fire! Bass were pushing bait up onto the newly exposed sandbar, and chasing frantic squid clear out of the water. The Lowrance was filled wherever we moved.

Over the course of the next hour, we caught fish on everything we threw; mostly topwater plugs and SP Minnows. The fish were feeding on smaller silversides amongst the squid, but they did not hesitate to take large lures.

The strikes on the plugs were quick and ferocious. Often times they would come before we could even take a turn of the reel handle. We focused on the smaller fish on top, but I believe there were some larger ones hanging on the bottom.

After we had caught our fill, we made the decision to head to the beach due to the heat and humidity. 

We spent the rest of the day on the sandbar. I even got a little fly fishing in before the sky got too menacing.

Just north of us, a nice storm cell was rumbling through. Sheets of rain hung in the distance like it was painted onto the sky. The wind changed direction and began blowing from the North. Soon after, we heard the distant drum beat of thunder.

​Time to go!

We packed up the boat, picked up the anchor, and made the cruise into the harbor in a line of twelve other boats. We reached the dock just as the storm hit.

Tight lines!