Full Moon WeekFinally a great stretch of weather as long as we were off the water by early afternoon as the pattern for the week was end of day thunder storms. Great week to be on the water as temperatures on land were in the low 90s. The mornings were super and the seas were calm.On Sunday 7.1, I took out Sam, Carolyn, and Chrissy with hopes of showing Chrissy some Maine striper fishing. She and her family have a long history of fishing in Long Island Sound but has yet to experience a Maine striper on light tackle. Well, guess who started with the hot rod? Chrissy gets the first with a healthy 31" striper and continued to have her bait hammered by multiple fish and ended up with 4 stripers for the day and missing many more. I think Chrissy really enjoyed herself as the ringing in my left ear finally went away a couple of days ago, she even gave me a striper lap-dance!Of course, Sammy and Carolyn came on strong after Chrissy's hot start and combined for 8 stripers up to 34". Great fighters with Carolyn having a striper peeling off half her spool making us think she had a 40+" fish that ended up being 34", I was surprised. We had plenty of fish around the boat and had several doubles and almost had a triple. We were looking at a striper hassling Sam's bait. I looked around to check the others and could not locate Chrissy's balloon. "Hey, where's your balloon?" Sure enough a striper had taken her mack and pulled the balloon completely under, fish on! The disappearing balloon happened twice. Ended the day with 12 stripers landed and many more missed. Great day on the water and a super way to introduce Chrissy to Maine stripers on light tackle.On Monday 7.2I took out Allan, his son Bryan, and his son in-law Eric. We started the day working hard to get our mackerel for bait but eventually put enough in the wells to go striper fishing. Hit the beach west of Old Orchard and let some mackerel out for a swim. Took a few minutes but got a take on Allan's rod. As we were waiting to set the hook, a sloppy jalopy stinky 2 stroke boat trolls right over his fish and it drops the bait. It's a big ocean, a little courtesy please? Not to worry, Bryan hooks up and lands the first striper. Things became a little quiet so we try another spot only to be chased off by a Life Guard who felt we were a little too close. Moved a little east and set up again with Bryan landing a nice slot fish for the dinner table. It hasn't been easy getting table fare this year as Maine's regulations is 1 striper 20-26" per person, they have just been too big. Bryan's striper just made it at 25 15/16" and went home for a very tasty meal. Eric's rod goes off next and he has a good one on. After a long battle that was well fought by Eric, I lip and bring onboard the largest striper of the year at 38". Great looking fish with wide shoulders and a healthy glow. My Nikon froze up on me and had to use the phone, wish I had a better picture.We were into overtime and getting ready to wrap up the trip when Allan's rod goes off. Allan does a good job and brings a large striper boat-side in overtime at the buzzer! Great way to end the day right before the rain with a good crew.On Tuesday 7.3I took out Sam and Ernie who have been busting each others balls since childhood. The verbal abuse commenced with catching mackerel for bait and continued till we returned to the dock. It was difficult for me not to laugh out loud and pile on no matter who was getting the business. This was the day we felt the effects of the full moon as there were stripers around but they were not aggressive. We had a lot of stripers pick up and drop baits quickly. The guys did manage to stick one each and enjoyed a really nice day on the water.On Thursday7.5 I took out Sam, Ernie, and Bobby on the day after the full moon with hopes of finding more aggressive stripers. We step our game up and leave the dock at 5:00 AM. We start off well with running over bait even before making it to our mackerel spot, put a few large ones in the well and try one other spot for smaller snacky sized ones. We run over to our proven Cape spot and don't get even a sniff, errrrrr full moon. We take off with hopes of better luck at one of our beach spot. After setting up at the beach spot we start getting action with stripers chasing baits but not taking or quick grab and drops. We decide to change strategy and go for the quick hook sets. Bobby strikes first and hooks a nice striper in the low 30" range. Ernie misses a couple good takes that we should have stuck, one gave us dramatic surface smashes. Bobby hooks up again with a striper that freaked out after it was hooked and gave him a great fight. I really have to give it to Bobby, he has a natural ability to properly fight large fish on light tackle. Ernie's bait gets a little more harassment and of course Bobby hooks up again. Sammy worked hard all day but didn't get much love, I guess you can't be "The Frog" every time. Bobby gets all 3 fish on a day that everyone worked really hard.

July 6, 2012