Squid Hounds on the Vineyard

I have been wanting to check out the island known as Martha's Vineyard for 13 years. We got into fish on day one.  This Striper is not even a keeper.  This type of a trip really refreshes and resets you for getting back to work for lots of summer overtime inspecting.  

Holding yet another animal.  This snapper was crossing a busy road in Warwick, Rhode Island next to our hotel.  The river was high and it is likely she was looking for drier, sandier soil to deposit the eggs.  We plopped her back in the Pawtucket River but it is likely she was still very determined to lay those eggs wherever she was headed. 

Bri exploring the many colors of glacial deposits at Aquinnah Cliffs - at the southwest corner of The Vineyard
Contrary to popular belief Martha Stewart does not own Martha's Vineyard - it is actually operated by a board consisting of several 16" Striped Bass - they run that place.    

I don't care about all the unsavory rumors about Providence, Rhode Island.   I still like it a lot.   It's still solidly near the top of the list of places to move to.  Now If I could just stop being old, lazy and afraid. 

We seek out oysters everywhere there are oysters.  Federal Hill neighborhood of Providence was a great place to get them.  I think our non-accents really stuck out.  Campari on the rocks is very much a candy ass drink. 

Simple weedless lures.  The pink "Albie Snax" squid imitation at the bottom fished painfully slow with twitches produced the most fish on this trip.  The "squid hound" Stripers and Bluefish are primarily feeding on squid this time of year as they migrate north along the Atlantic coast.  

Two excessively talented fisherman - Paul Paisley and Phil Knoll.  I stand in awe of their nearly intangible instincts and skills and feel privileged to know them.  Decades of saltwater experience between the two of them.   I watched and I hope I learned.  Paul and Phil - caught fish regularly the whole time.
I attempted to absorb some of the zen and some of the wisdom.   

Something that is never supposed to happen.  A Tautog pursuing and slamming a huge lure on the flats.  Tog only eat live bait and they mainly eat crabs.  I live for rare occurrences like that.  In midwest speak - Somewhat akin to a Channel Cat hitting a topwater Largemouth lure.  

Go ahead and don't believe me that this water is in Massachusetts and that we caught Stripers all day in it.   The fish ate with full sun on the water.  

Dreadnaught: The Bluefish.  Biggest and by far the meanest fish of the trip.  Marc caught this huge Bluefish on Chappaquiddick  near that bridge where one of the Kennedys did that one thing ..... Big Bluefish are rarely landed without steel leader.  This fish would have been hunting the 16" bass we were catching in the back bay.  One of the few fish we kept and ate on the trip.  

The prize mug of glory - Marc took home for quietly catching the biggest fish.
We will all be gunning for this mug next year.   

Each fishing day starts at 4 AM.  Fiddling and properly futzing is an important part of then driving off-road to the fishing spots.  Once on island - Marc and Jon's 4WD vehicles gave us a lot more access to places like Chappaquiddick.  

Bri and I designed the shirts for this year.   

Hey man - I am not inspecting a crawl space !! Larsen's Seafood on The Vineyard

The man you could easily describe as the brains of the operation.  Rockbreaker, fisher of big water and part bluefish - Jon Piasecki - herded us cats into line.  A wealth of wide ranging knowledge - Jon  has a chessmaster arrangement of tide tables and a map of the island in his head.  

It me.  Killing time at a mall in Rhode Island before the return flight home.  You go on a watch list as a kid if you decide to ride this instead of the perfectly fine regular horses.
I think Martha's Vineyard will now be an annual tradition.