Fishing report Narrow River 10/13/07 and 10/14/07
Peanut Bunker Frank and Everett with nice beach Bluefish
Hi everybody this past Saturday we fished The Narrow River. We started fishing on the beach just in front of the Dunes Club at around 10:30 am on a high, outgoing tide. This outgoing tide allows your fly line to be in a state of tightness, causing tension by the water pulling at it while retrieving the fly. For all casting positions, fanning out your casts straight out in front or parallel to the beach, both right and left of the caster, it makes detection and setting the hook easier. While walking to the water we could see bait fish laying all over the beach, dead, washed up by the waves, peanut bunker 3” to 4” in length, a good sign that there was plenty of forage for the fish.
There was only one other fisherman, a spin caster throwing a surface popper from 75’ to 200’ off of shore. He was taking fish, one after the other, Bluefish from 7lb. to 9lbs on average. We started catching Blues within a matter of minutes. The bite was on, fast and furious. The bait, peanut bunker could be seen all over the place, on shore, being wash up by the waves, inside the waves themselves, and always a delightful seen, the large bluefish swimming inside the waves also chasing bait. To see the sun’s rays of light illuminating both baitfish and showing the dark silhouette of the fish inside the waves is a sight every fly fisher should see. From time to time this seen replayed itself every other wave, very exciting!
We attached knot able wire tippets of 12” to the end of our 20lb. test leaders, at one time Frank was using 30lb. hard mono, but he needed to retie after every fish landed.
We didn’t have to cast too far, at times some of the fish could be seen in water that was only 18” to 24” in depth and within 12’ to 15’ away.
After oh, about one hour the bite on shore slowed down so we moved to the month of the Narrow River. Just inside only about 75 yards or so inside from the corner of the beach is where we found hundreds of Bluefish stacked up like cord wood from one side of the river to the other. From, oh, about 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm it was non stop, cast after cast, fish after fish taking us into our backing running out toward the ocean.
We where using intermediate type fly lines and one other gentlemen was using a full floating line, and all of us where taking fish. We would cast down and across stream anywhere from 25’ to 80’ into the fiver and allow the fly to sink , the fast current kept the fly high in the water column, maybe only 1’ to 2’ below the surface. Once the cast is made I was mending line upstream to try and sink the fly faster, and at this point allow the fly to dead drift in the current. Most fish took the fly immediately, oh, maybe a drift of only 15’ to 20’ and others wanted the fly as it started swinging downstream, and others wanted the fly on a fast retrieve upstream after the swing. Because the best casting positions for hooking up where within 50’ or so, all four of us used the rotation method meaning taking turns at the head of the pool you might say. Like Atlantic Salmon fishing.
This is the time of the year to keep checking the beaches for feeding fish, both blues and stripers, from the bay all the way to Westerly. Also remember to carry some older damaged flies and wire tippet for such an encounter, bluefish can do a number on gear. Oh, and don’t forget a pair of needle nose pliers, unlike stripers bluefish have very sharp teeth.
Best always, Ed www.edlombardoflyfish.com
Best always, Ed www.edlombardoflyfish.com
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