Once the bass reach the flats, they quickly adapt to the marine buffet awaiting them, with entrees like crabs, shrimp and — during the right moon phase — worms. With such a variety and abundance of food on the flats, the fish forget about mackerel and herring, and they'll keep that mentality all the way into September.
Keep Your Eyes Peeled
Whether you're fishing with fly tackle or conventional gear, spotting the fish is a must. Stripers can be bashful in skinny water and are adept at cruising along while showing little or no sign of their presence — especially over muddy bottoms. Sight-fishing on the mud isn't so much casting to fish as casting to movements, like trembling water, V-wakes, boils and small bait showers.
I learned quickly when fishing over mud that even the slightest surface disturbance shouldn't be neglected. Our first fish of the day came when Wallace saw some movement 20 yards away — I saw nothing. As he poled closer, I started to make out an ever-so-slight vibrating mass lazily scooting along. At Wallace's command, I sent a small, weightless baitfish imitation right in front of the nervous water. Two strips later came the thump! The general rule on the mud is this: If you see any type of movement, make a cast and get ready.
Later in the day we moved onto the sandy flats. If it weren't for the brisk temperature and craggy shoreline, it would have been easy to imagine we were hunting bonefish on the flats of Mexico. The water was emerald green and the bottom hard white sand. This scenario presents more of a challenge; the fish are much more wary and harder to see. Just like a permit in the tropics, their silver flanks allow them to blend into their surroundings. We had pretty good luck with smaller fish by dropping flies right on their noses. Poling along the beach we encountered some massive bass that Wallace estimated in the 35-pound range. We tried everything on those fish, but like the old saying goes, they didn't get big by being stupid.
Work The Angles
The single most critical consideration on Casco Bay is the tide — both for fishing and safety. If you aren't careful, you'll find yourself high and dry in a hurry. Tides can rise and fall from 7 to 11 feet in one phase; you want to make sure you are familiar with your charts. But safety aside, knowing what the water is doing when and where will make a difference — just like on the tropical flats. Success in this fishery is based on sight, so in the early morning, when the sun is at a low angle, spotting fish on the sand would be nearly impossible. Times like this are better spent looking for blitzes and wakes on the mud — particularly during a super low tide.
Because the water moves so fast, you've got to have a plan before you leave the dock. For example, say you are fishing an extreme low on the mud and catching fish. It won't take long for that area to flood to the point where the fish are deep enough not to disturb the surface. Casco Bay sits 800 miles east of Miami, so by 10 or 11 a.m., the sun is pretty much directly overhead. This is a good time to seek out sandy flats that are still milking a low tide. If you have good sun directly above the clear water, you will be able to spot fish even as the tide rushes in.
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