7/24 embrace the skunk

I hit the road at around 10 pm to meet a buddy and catch the last hour or so of the incoming and a little bit of the outgoing tide at a spot we seem to have a pattern on. When I pulled onto the long narrow road leading me to my spot, I was greeted by a skunk, milling around next to the roadway. "Was this a sign of things to come tonight?" I thought to myself. As soon as I rigged up and got on the water, the bass were there and feeding. Right off the bat I got a couple hits on a small rabbit strip fly, with a gold beadhead, tied on a mustad c68sz size 6.

After the tide started moving out we moved to a small outflow that drains a small pond into a small bay, there is a pipe of 15-20" that runs under a road and stripers sit inside and in front of this pipe on the falling tide. The idea is to get on a man made structure(docks) some 35' directly down current, and cast right to the base or inside the pipe, maintain contact with your fly and wait for the take. Most fish caught here have been on the smallish side(less than 20"), but I hooked up with a few fish in the 24-26" range, here is the biggest fish of the night.

While this fish's size may not seem impressive, he was a gorgeous specimen who battled impressively, leading me to believe he was a bigger fish. These fish were great fun as it differs from the norm of places we usually fish, often overlooking a small outflow such as this for a bigger place which we are familiar with. They were a blast to fight and keep from wrapping you around pilings, ropes and boats. The Bio-lume was impressive last night, as was the thunderstorm that moved through around 12:30. As lightning broke out close, the rain came down in sheets, we sought cover in my buddies car, waiting for the storm to pass. Earlier in the night there was a boat anchored nearby blaring Dave Mathews tunes, which was also nice. After the action died down around 2 am, I lit a victory smoke on the way to the diner, where I could ponder the events of the night over a hot open turkey. To me, this was a great way to spend a saturday night.