Green Hit...

One of the main inquiries that crosses my desk over here at FTV headquarters is "Old Man, why do you insist upon periodically failing to produce content for a weeks time or more?" Generally, my answer to that is "hey man, I'm but a yeoman in a funky old guide boat, I'm giving you my foremost effort but sometimes your tired feet get buried in the quagmire ya know." That's true, however this recent hiatus has been due to a visit from some trout bums and a heinous case of tuna fever. Ryan Davey and his crew (pictured in the spread along side Jimmy, Mister, and the marlin dreamer) are great. If you've seen any of these guys flicks you know how they roll; somehow managing to make a sport as goofy as ours look cool. This year they're traveling up and down the right coast making a documentary about striped fish called 'Between the Lines'. I'll be sure to drop the knowledge when it's coming to theaters near you. I fell off the push tower during filming, so clearly you won't want to miss it. Tuna fever is a curious ailment you know Kevin, it makes you buy shit you don't need and blow off shit you should be doing. Hey look though, every now and again even the Fishing the Vineyard bairns have to come back inside the 20 fathom line and make some money. Fortunately for us, the fishing on kid rock remains relatively strong at the current juncture. Juve stripes are staging over the reefs, enjoying the mid summer climes and menu options. Yellow eye is there when you need him and there are still some studs in the amalgam. Furthermore, Mac-Tuna are now available in targetable amounts. At no point yet have I gotten on the radio with the Coast Guard to tell them that we're being invaded by the green plague or anything, but when we were leaving the ramp this morning I told my johnnies we were going bonito fishing, and this time I meant it.






"If the sun don't come, you get a tan from standing in the English rain"

Captain W. Brice Contessa
www.contessaflyfishing.com

FTV rteport 7/22-23/2010

Have had a couple of good days with the schoolie bass again. Sorry, no pictures due to the UDL in the back round. As a bonus we have been catching a few tautog with the stripes. No bonito yet, but should be any day now.

Capt. Jaime

www.boylermaker.com

Long Strange Tuna Trip

People are always asking me "Hey, old man, what does the Fishing the Vineyard squad do when they've been working to hard and need a vacation?" The answer of course is go tuna fishing. Pictured in this spread are Johnny from Philly, Thomas and Robert-Douglas from Eddyville and the Bologna Snacker from Leg State University. Tuna fishing is kind of like being a fireman; long periods of inactivity periodically interrupted by short snaps of blistering heat. We hooked 2 tunafish on this errand, employing various methodologies that ran the gamete betwixt oldschool and new. One fish was fought to boat and lost, the other parted shortly after its initial run. Regardless of how many interactions I have with them, the drastic brawn of a tunafish will never cease to amaze me. We also wrote Haiku poems about our friends and enemies, had a amplitude of picnics (which were exceptional because there's no ants out there as Rob pointed out), contemplated how we could have forgotten to bring Trivial Pursuit, and berated the whales and seals for being banished to the sea after being deemed inadequate to cohabitate with the rest of us land mammals. All in all a peachy holiday with a terrific crew, hope to get back real soon.

'Grab a pack and hit the trail'

Fishing the Vineyard

FTV Report 7/21/2010

A Rock Bass for Rock Star Nick.

Had a nice bass blitz on these guys today. I have never seen striped anchovies up here this early. This is the bait that the albies go crazy for in North Carolina. Hopefully the bones will follow them in!
Take care,

Capt. Jaime

FTV report 7/20/2010

Hi Everyone,

First let me apologize for not keeping up with the report and blog posts. It’s been a very busy summer between charters and trying to move into my new house. Yes, I have finally planted myself on this rock permanently.

I must thank the Captain “ Old Man” Brice for keeping up with the blog. Since I’m not nearly the wordsmith he is I will just keep adding my pictures and simple comments. So be sure to check it often.

Now for a quick fishing report:

The bass has been good as long as you go early, they have been ranging from 20-32" with a few bigger ones in the mix. Flats’ fishing has been tough with the hot water and hazy sky. The top water blue fishing is off the charts this summer with up to 14 pounds. I’m expecting bonito any day now and if this weather keeps up we should have Mahi and skipjack in close.

If you are interested in getting out before summer comes to end I still have some good dates open.

Take care and tight lines,

Capt. Jaime

Fishing the Vineyard Report 07/19/2010

Pictured in this spread are Pamela and James from the Granite State. This husband and wife bluegrass duo (he plays 12 string and she plays mandolin, can't make it up Kevin) had never fly fished in saltwater before their trip to campus mothership. Fishing first timers can go a couple of different ways. When people come in with pre conceived notions, misaligned chi, or are unamenable when it comes to the instruction scenario, usually the results are poor. When people pack a positive attitude, appropriate expectations and their listening cap like these 2 did, things tend to turn out quite well. Fly fishing is a funny game ya know. To say that it's an experience as opposed to results based exercise is a grotesquely colossal understatement. On this jaunt we apprehended 4 small fish and it was one of most notably auspicious and fruitfully victorious excursions in recent memory.

'All you need is love'...

Brice Contessa
www.contessaflyfishing.com

Fishing the Vineyard Report 0715/10

Pictured in this spread are Justin and Layla from the UK and Dr. Eric from the Green Mountain State (birthplace of Chester A. Arthur and Calvin Coolidge, bet ya didn't know that). The conditions on the mothership the past couple of trips have prohibited us from sightcasting for any prolonged period of time, but hey, we've been making some pretty tasty lemonade. Open water bass fishing is still hanging tough, especially for this time of year. And the teeth are still plentiful when you need um. The visibility looks better going forward, so hopefully I'll have a flats report in the near future.

It's funny ya know, people are always asking me "hey, old man, what do Fishing the Vineyard kids do while they're waiting for the mac-tuna to become prevalent inshore?" In the spirit of keeping this thing informative I decided to compose a little photo essay to answer this very question...


Sometimes we take field trips. Here's Robby the other day at the Green Room.



We've been known to roast a pig or two.



On Tuesdays, it's arts and crafts at Jaime's new house. This little camper made a mask...isn't it cute?




Once in a blue moon we even go people watching in West Tisbury.




SAVE OUR SOUND...

WBC

Fishing the Vineyard Report 07/12/2010

DukesCountySightCasters

Martha's Vineyard Island, MA

07/12/2010

Set 1

Foreplay>
Long Run
Big Bait Ball Jam
Rocky Pick
Fly Famous Seagull>
Blues and Lonesome
Crowded Control
Runaway Jaime

Set 2

Push on 'till the Flats>
Big Brown Furry Crab Fly From Skok>
Mind Left Striped Fish Jam>
Backing Down the Eel Grass Line
Joy
Slave to the West Chop Light

E: Good Times, Good Times

Entire show featured Pat from Hoboken (pictured in the surrounding pictorial vignette) on nine foot eight weight. Special guests Mudrat Ramone and Karl of the Bluffs on steel wheels for Set 1. Old man on pushpole for Set 2.

Fishing the Vineyard Report 07/10/2010

The crispy forehead pictured above is Mayor Weld from Bronxville. This cat likes to spend his time away from work gassing Stoli, losing his sandals, and getting in altercations with azure beasties like the one featured here. Fishing on the Vine remains relatively consistent at the current juncture. The water is getting warm now, and folks are already starting to talk about green fish...no confirmed kills that I know of yet but I bet that's gonna change sooner rather than later.

Tune in, turn off, drop out...

W. Brice Contessa
www.fishingthevineyard.com

Dukes County Sight Casters Report 07/07/2010

Pictured in this spread is long time Fishing the Vineyard friend, contributor, and worthy tournament adversary, Mister from Pennsyl-hio. This full time fly pole junkie splits his year between chasing chrome in the lake Erie tribs and pounding the beaches of campus mothership with striped fish on the brain. I gotta say, he's pretty good at all this briny shit, especially for being from fly over country. He's also pretty hard to read generally, but I'm pretty sure he had a good time.

Till next we dance...

Capt. W. Brice Contessa
www.contessaflyfishing.com

Dukes County Sight Casters Report 07/06/2010

To anyone who comes into contact with me lately, my passionate love for El Nino is surely as palpable as my libidinous disdain for windmills. Hot, calm, sunny, stable weather. Mid day lows. Heaven. Pictured in this spread are Stu and Kim who came all the way from the beaver state to go for a fish on the mothership. Make no mistake class, the last couple of club outings for the Dukes County Sightcasters have been met with mixed results. If it was easy Kevin, everybody would be doin' it. Loads of toads grubbin' pink food...got that. Sometimes feeling like I'm fishing at the bottom of the exit ramp off the Mayflower...got that too. It's funny watching a 20 plus sliding down the flat lookin' for ladies, only to have a nerf ball land on his head or split window blow through and try to give it a hair cut. If you let that stuff piss you off it's gonna be a long summer, just gotta keep on keepin' on kids. But I digress. Good shit; touching a hand full, ogling a myriad. Great summer job...

Harmonious Equanimity,

Captain. W. Brice Contessa
www.contessaflyfishing.com

Independednce Day Massacare

Lets be honest, nobody likes England. What better a way to celebrate 234 years independence from that bloated, priggish tyrannical kingdom across the pond than to partake in an activity as uniquely American as baseball and/or apple pie; bottom fishing. Pictured in this spread are Tommy and Robby from the MV east, Sophie from St. Louie, Brooke from Christmas Cove and Drew from Gotham. Even the sea robin tickler got into the fray right around hour 11, when he abandoned the bait station momentarily to cajole the prehistoric teradactyl of the deep pictured above. Today's bag was comprised of, but not limited to, a nice mix of left-eye Lopez, rockbass and split-rock porgy. The first drift over the digits yielded a triple hook-up and the fish of the day, the shag carpet displayed below by Sophie B. who was clearly a rug trader in another life. After a drift that productive all the souls on board are thinking the same thing; this is gonna be a sick brown-out Cap, obviously I should shoot my neighbor a text and make sure that little bastard makes some room in his freezer for the bag I'm bringing over. Sadly though, the rest of the day played out more like the Boston Massacre than the Battle of Yorktown for our militia of guerilla fluke fighters. 3 more drifts were met mostly with by-catch, shorts and a few more button keepers for the box. Soon, the crew was tattered and exhausted and the leadership decided that in order to avoid a Valley Forge type scenario that it would be best for Captain Tommy to hurl F/V Tuna Helper back through the sound like a silver dollar across the Potomac. He did, and the crew was rewarded with fish tacos and cold barley sodas. Happy fourth of July...




















God Bless America,

Captain W. Brice Contessa
www.contessaflyfishing.com