[RRabiner]

With apologies to Dickens - today would be filed under " of it was the worst of times/ it was the best of times"

Left the marina early this AM - fricking cold out- to a rapidly building NW breeze-

Nothing like getting dressed full foul weather gear - just for warmth in the boat yard - before I got on board - to the sound of the wind ripping through the rigging on the boats on land ( and quietly left the fly rod in the car as an offering to the wind gods that it would lay down - it didn't )

As I have been heading south all the time recently- and have been pretty much skunked ( as well as others ) I decided to play the contrarian - and head North. As I haven’t seen bait - I figured that it may still be up the bay, and that I might be the one finding it on the way down

At least i would cover alot of water - and stay out of some of the breeze

Ran up the east side of Prudence - with a few birds here or there - but nothing boding real fish underneath -

Up towards Potter's - there were a bunch of birds on a lee shore - took a few casts to them - but the breeze made the drift less than pleasant - and getting blown up on a beach was not on my top ten - so I pushed on further north.

Crossed over the top of Patience -/ actually thinking about heading further north when i saw a cluster of birds down the western side of Patience.

Slid down on a flock of working birds - ( congratulating myself that I had found the mother load - and with images of acres of bass working underneath - I started working the water )

Approximately two hours later- yes two HOURS - later I landed my first bass. Talk about stupid persistence - but with so many birds working - there had to be a bass in there for me.

I have never seen the bass so picky - I threw everything in the boat at them - with only one taker - top water spooks - poppers - shads - spoons – swimmers - deadly dicks - buck tails -

Finally - I caught the obvious " shallow end of the gene pool bass “ - when I really wasn’t even watching – I was in that automatic mode when you have been throwing for too long with nothing going on – and I really didn’t deserve that fish - but after that amount of time – I wasn’t going to stand on ceremony - a fat just sub legal - that I quickly sent back into the fray

Figuring that this pod of fish were just sitting and laughing at me the entire time - I pushed further down the western side of Prudence -

Towards the bottom of Prudence - I was rewarded by seeing possibly every bird in the 401-area code - and possibly a few from 508 – I am not prone to exaggeration – but I mean it was absolutely insane - there was every type of gull and every cormorant in the area - all in full work mode.

There were so many cormorants – that when they were not working – and in float mode – the orange of their beaks made it look like a small island – truly hundreds of them

Having been steeled to disillusionment with my prior efforts - and with little thought towards success here- I rigged up one of my " Jersey" plugs - Loud / flashy and with alot of attitude - and launched it into the melee.

With the breeze - I was forced to use a heavier than normal rod - and it throws these big plugs a long way - looks like you are bombing the area - and it makes a whistling noise as they go - so if nothing else - it was taking care of my childish attributes

The plug gets a few looks - a bump - and then a take - and we are off the to the races - and for the next two hours - I was into solid fish - brief interludes here and there - but fish.

I use the fish finder as a guide – and more a sense of the bottom –than a fish finder- but in this mix – the screen was going absolutely black with bait and fish. You could literally watch the fish swarming up like locusts from the bottom and shredding the bait balls -

The birds were oblivious to me encroaching on their feeding – and many times I was simply surrounded with birds. Lost one plug to a bird the got tangled in the line – as it seems it ran into the line / and either bit it off / or it thankfully just snapped - as I was attempting to pull it in and free it – Giving the prospect of attempting to free a gull – or a lost plug – I think that I came out on the better end of the equation

I then switched off to a Tattoo White Swimmer – as I had found that smaller plugs like the standard go to jumping minnow – even with a dressed rear hook was not getting the looks For the first hour it was solid bass – all 28 - 30 inches - and all really fat – healthy fish. Bunches of singles – loads of doubles on the teaser - and then the shift started.

Hooked up onto what seemed to be a nice pair of bass – and as I am going for the release – trying to figure out which one to hand release first – I vaguely recognized that the second fish had a forked tail – with a quick pliers release – I had just entered the “ Blue Fish Zone”

Like someone had thrown a switch –the bass were gone – and I was into huge – and I mean huge bluefish.

These were not your normal – take your kids/ friends fishing, nice fighting blue fish – these were mean – nasty – attitudinal blue fish. These were the yellow eyed -wicked witch of the west “ and your little dog too” blue fish – 10 lb – plus – that wanted to eat the plug – and then come on board and kick your ass, blue fish.

They were just mauling the Tattoo – and had no respect for 40 lb leader that had the teasers. One of these monsters toke a run under the boat – and somehow was able to get leverage on the snap hook – and open it for a release of the fish and the plug.-the clip was totally deformed – and I know it was closed.( These were all long pliers – with a boga grip -type releases – as I wanted no part of my hands near these fish

Switched of to another swimmer – and fought fish for god knows how long – until I was starting to get both tired and cold – but every time I started to get ready to leave – another eruption of fish took place – and like in the Godfather – “ I tried to leave – but they sucked me back in”. Finally – as the sun was starting to get low in the horizon – I completed the transit of Prudence and headed for the barn.

Probably spent the entire time on the lower end of Prudence within a 1/2 mile circle – with the fish just racetracking around – negating the need to do a lot of movement to stay in them. If you weren’t in them – all you had to do was to wait a few minutes – and they were back.

Sorry for the long post – but it was REALLY a fun day – a bit cold and lumpy in the AM –a quiet start – but a very busy finish

My November bass secure – I can relax a bit until December – where I will be hunting my Christmas Bass