Paul Kiefner’s 2012 Saltwater Fishing Report

Fellow anglers,

By the looks of these photographs 2012 was a great year for fishing Cape Cod and Montauk. Countless hours went into these trips, and as always, some were disappointing. Yet, we have come to expect this occasionally, and are grateful for the good trips, the gorgeous waters and the camaraderie of like minded individuals.

The 2012 New England winter was very mild, hence setting the stage for an early season with warming waters. Rick Daniel and his son Andrew, stunned by the quality of the fishing, hit the first wave of Striped Bass at the horn on May 17. Rick came back June 9 and brought Al Heyer for a repeat that never materialized due to cold water and moving fish that were hard to locate. Mother Nature always manages to re-calibrate our expectations.

We introduced Harold Longnecker to the early season Striped Bass fishing on the Outer Cape and he exhibited his angling expertise with the Got Stryper soft plastic. Harold could do no wrong and at one point caught fish on four consecutive casts. True believers Mark Kiefner and Nate Beicke joined in for the soft plastic slugfest, getting into so many fish it was comical. My wife Johanna, a seasoned angler, consistently took her share of quality fish with her typical laid back ease. Joseph Purrazzella landed his largest bass ever at Herring Cove among diving birds and whales. Chris Pashos and I struck out when the Raymarine temperature sensor read 44 degrees in Pamet Harbor one morning. Barry Lavoie had some hands on action when Monomoy lit up like a sparkler in early July. Behold the sight of aggressive bass inhaling soft plastics in gin clear water.

Transitioning into Fall, Johanna Kiefner got her first, rather large, Fat Albert at Waquoit Bay in a huge school of fish that were as finicky as I have ever seen. Bob Robichaud had a no-snooze wakeup call on a spinning rod when a school Bluefin Tuna ate his RonZ at Peaked Hill Bar and gave him some well deserved muscle aches. I know Bob is repeating over and over in his thoughts, “I hate this!” Massive schools of False Albacore several miles long at Montauk greeted Johanna and me after the twenty mile crossing of Block Island Sound from New London. It was a beautiful, flat as a table top run across the sound. True to form, the Albies were ballistic very early morning, taking lures with abandon, arcing through the air, and then settling into their extremely finicky feeding pattern. Never have I seen so many False Albacore with so few boated. Joe Purrazzella now knows why they are called Funny Fish. Despite that no one was laughing as the fish refused our select offerings for most of six hours.

The Outer Cape had one of its best Bluefin Tuna bites in years and my plan for 2013 is to concentrate on improving our tuna locating and light tackle angling skills. I plan to remove my swing back cooler seat from the Parker and replace it with a Birdsall Marine leaning post

which is more conducive to our method of fishing because it adds more deck space for increased mobility when fighting large fish.

To those who keep asking why my boat has no name, I have finally decided on a name. She will be named “Slim Beauty”, after one of my favorite, yeah right, knots.

This year, as a conservation measure, I will be practicing a strict a Catch and Release policy on Slim Beauty. Since I always feel bad when I kill a fish, I don’t want to be burdened with those negative feelings anymore and have decided to be more committed to the conservation movement, even more so that I have been. And, being that I am of the opinion that one person can make a difference, this furthers my resolve to release every fish unharmed, if feasible.

Light tackle will continue to be my fishing style with an emphasis on playing the fish quickly to release unharmed. I will continue to monitor my favorite blogs and trailer my Parker to the hottest fishing on the Cape with the intention of being one step ahead of what one often hears: “You should have been here yesterday!”

In closing, 2012 was a great year for improving our knowledge and skills, and sharing some excellent fishing with some excellent folks in our spectacular Massachusetts fishery - one that seems to get better every year.

See you sometime in May, and until then….

Sweet Dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree?

May17, 2012

Rick Daniel above and Andrew Daniel below, Outer Cape, Striped Bass

May 20, 2012

Paul Kiefner above and NateBeicke below, Outer Cape, New Moon, Striped Bass

May 25, 2012

Harold Longnecker, Outer Cape Cod, Striped Bass

May 26, 2012

Mark Kiefner, Outer Cape Cod, Striped Bass

June 17, 2012

Joseph Purrazzella, Outer Cape, Striped Bass

Johanna Kiefner expertly demonstrating the four Bs on the Outer Cape. Birds, Boil, Bend…..

June 18, 2012

Johanna Kiefner, Outer Cape, Striped Bass

Demonstrating the four Bs

…..and Bass.

Above: Where we stay - Sunset Bluff Cottage, Truro.

Below: Cape Cod National Seashore, Provincetown

July 6, 2012

Barry Lavoie above and Paul Kiefner below, Monomoy Island, Striped Bass

September 21, 2012

Johanna Kiefner, Waquoit Bay, False Albacore

October 5, 2012

Paul Kiefner, Montauk, False Albacore

October 5, 2012

Joe Purrazzella, Montauk, False Albacore

October 9, 2012

Joseph Robichaud, Peaked Hill Bar, Bluefin Tuna