TDC - Nantucket, MA

Day One: The morning of June 25th I took a flight from NYC (JFK) to Nantucket Airport (ACK) for a long weekend of fishing the surf and offshore rips surrounding Nantucket Island for Striped Bass and Bluefish. For those who have never been, Nantucket is a special place that I simply do not have words for.... so go see for yourself. I might be biased about the island; however a good portion of my fishing knowledge was obtained walking the shorelines for the first 20 years of my life in addition to working the local bait and tackle shop, Bill Fisher Tackle for Corey, Cam, Nat, and Dr. Mike. I can recall catching my first solo mission Striped Bass from a nearby beach in the pouring rain measuring 18" on a Pearl Bomber when i was 11 years old. Anyway, I arrived on island by 8:30AM and grabbed a car to a small beach cottage my family owns on the West End of the island. My 21 year old younger brother and friends are occupying the house for the summer and I did not know what i was about to walk into. I pull up to the house and see about twenty fishing rods lined up on the outside of the house with beer cans scattered across the lawn... I have arrived to my favorite place on earth. The cottage has a stellar view of some of our favorite places to take a few casts therefor a conditions report is an easy as looking out the window to judge wind and tide. I walk into my family's cottage to be greeted by my bothers feral puppy he rescued from the backwoods of Alabama immediately attacking me in addition to four severely hungover looking gents who i am not sure were aware i was arriving. Weeks prior to my departure I received countless pictures from my brother and his friends posing with fish on the beach while I sat in my NYC cubical counting hours before i departed. After settling in, drinking a few beers, getting some food and buying live eels for our night time excursion we geared up and headed out to the beach around 5:15PM for the rising tide. Depending which route you choose to take we have about a 1.5 mile walk through deep sand out to our prime fishing spots. The sandbars around the point shift every year from winter storms, so the first time out is always an adjustment to reevaluate water. We camped out on a knuckle of the point with a rip within casting distance where the guys had been killing it over the previous weeks on the falling tide. It takes over an hour of casting and walking before I felt my first hit on a Diawa SP Minnow. I take look down the beach and one of the guys has a bent rod a few hundred yards away. Any cast now. I walk toward the rest of the crew and after a few casts I finally connect as my brother heads in a different direction.. after a 15 second fight i pull the hook and am cursing myself. Felt like a Bass and i did not have any Bluefish teeth scars on the lure. I'm solo by the rip now as the amigos moved further down the beach. I connect with a fish again at the end of my cast and bring in a small feisty Bluefish weighing an estimated 3lbs. I pulled the hook from two more fish that night and was feeling defeated on my own turf, but unfortunately I was not the only one as some of the guys lost good fish at sunset on eels. Day Two: Dead high is around 8:15AM we estimated. Woke up and walked out to the beach with the plan to fish the rising tide starting around 7:00AM into the beginning of the falling tide. Feeling a little more confident after seeing the changes to the beach the day before was nothing but wishful thinking as my brother and I each got skunked with no action... that's just how it goes i guess. "I don't understand why..maybe it is the wind", he says, "its dead calm". Chalked it up to that. I was just happy to not be at my desk on a Friday morning. By 12PM we were on our way to meet Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters and Bill Fisher Tackle; an old friend of mine who has been my boss, high school teacher, coach and mentor. My brother and i were booked with him for an afternoon charter on his 27 footer appropriately named the Squaretail. "What's the plan for the day?", I ask. "Heading up to Monomoy" (cape cod), he said. Having a huge respect for his experience and knowledge of the island's surrounding waters I had high expectations for the day.. the man did not disappoint. We began our casting after a 35-ish minute run out to Handkerchief Shoal south of Cape Cod for the East Tide. Following our second drift I was hooked up to a 28" Striped Bass which we hooked up with on a Pearl Bomber Long A. Broke the seal. Not too long later I was hooked up again to a much better fish which i slightly hooked in the side with the front hooks and mouth with the back. Felt like a foul hooked fish as i could not turn her. Eventually we brought her into Corey's Boga Grip. On the next drift we saw numerous followers and had to drift the same spot again which resulted in my bother and Corey both hooking up good fish. After another hour and a few smaller bass and blues, we headed South toward Nantucket to fish the rip off Great Point before heading home. The usual characters of the Straight Wharf were out in force noticeably seeing the Albacore, Absolute, & Monomoy bringing in a few fish. We took a drift or two we got some bigger blues on board hanging tight to the shoreline. Following our quick catch and release it was time to head home. Great day on the water. Young Chris and I hit a nearby bar, Millie's, for some beers and taco's before returning to our beach shanty. Day Three: Today is my last full day on island for a few weeks and i want to go all out. After a night of drinking and a full day of work for some of the amigos i was the only one who woke up for the morning shift in anticipation of the falling tide. After a long solo hungover walk and a hundred casts later I finally hooked up on a yellow and red Gibbs Pencil Popper with a 25in Striped Bass I was giggling to myself as i sent the sleeping friends a picture of the fish they missed. Quickly released, I expected more hook ups and my excitement got the best of me and i snapped off my Gibbs on my next cast as the bail of my Quantum Cabo 60 closed on me (you know what i am talking about). I tie on the most similar lure i have being a yellow and red bottle plug and after the first cast I entice some chasers. A few casts' later following a top water explosion I am hooked up with a good fish as a wade in thigh deep water. Regrettably forgetting pliers or any tool other than my hands to end the flight I slowly step back to beach the fish on the shoreline. Now I'm pumped up... this bass was bigger than I had thought. After breaking out the tape the fish measured out at 32" and in addition to being covered in sea lice the fish had a growth around its right eye that i have never seen before I landed two more short bass around 20" before the bite died and I called it quits as the sun rose higher in the sky. I started my 1.5 mile journey across submerged sandbars, a marsh, deep sand and high grass back to the house to rub in my fishing success. Following the morning session and a much needed shower my brother and I headed to the brewery. Despite the promising drop in pressure we all got skunked that evening as a storm front and heavy winds gradually built. Day Four: Following a stormy night with continued heavy winds and rain through the morning i decided to stay in bed to catch up on sleep. Flights home were delayed of course. Cannot wait to go back!