FISHERMAN'S CALENDAR
C—clear water; SH—slightly high; FG—fishing good; FF—fishing fair; FP—fishing poor; OG—outlook good; OF—outlook fair; OVG—outlook very good.
STRIPED BASS: NEW YORK: Night fishermen taking bass in Montauk surf but real action hasn't started; OG when water cools, but peak fishing may be short-lived when big migration starts.
NEW JERSEY: FF and OF in surf from Barnegat Light to Beach Haven Inlet, where 1,500 fishermen are out to catch stripers and a 20-foot cruiser (grand prize in local derby); FF/G at Shark River Inlet from ends of stone jetties to (and under) first highway bridge, from dusk to dark, with yellow doodlebug favored lure. FF/G at Bradley Beach and Long Branch surf for school fish to 10 pounds, with surf-clam bait best. A few big bass boated by trollers below Sandy Hook last week and outlook is for improvement.
OREGON: FG at Isthmus Slough in Coos Bay for stripers to 40 pounds on pilchard or bullhead bait, and OG.
SOUTH CAROLINA: OG through November in Santee-Cooper area as striped bass school below diversion canal; metal-and-nylon jigs bumped along bottom best tactic.
NORTH CAROLINA: School stripers averaging 5 pounds (up to 10) now abundant in Croatan, Roanoke and Albemarle sounds, near Nags Head and Manteo, and taking bucktails nicely. OG through November for trollers.
PACIFIC SALMON: BRITISH COLUMBIA: Buzz Fiorini of Seattle neglected tackle business long enough to set spin-tackle records at River's Inlet with 34-pound Chinook on 4-pound line, 53-pound 6-ouncer on 6-pound line and 53-pounder on 8-pound line. Fine dry weather and low rivers have kept silvers in salt water and FG from Campbell River and Cape Mudge to Howe Sound and Saanich Inlet.
CALIFORNIA: Trollers still limiting 10 to 12 miles off Golden Gate and OVG until November storms.
WASHINGTON: FG, OG for silvers to 16 pounds on cohoe flies from Hood Canal waters; cloudy day with slight chop on water is best. Silvers are hitting well at almost all stream mouths in Puget Sound; try flasher-and-herring or big flatfish as well as flies.
BLACK BASS: PENNSYLVANIA: Eastern and central streams still too high but Allegheny area spy says FG and OG in eddies near Franklin and Oil City, with minnows or deep-running plugs.
TENNESSEE: 65-acre Lake Bedford in Bedford County, near Normandy, continues to produce lunker largemouths to 10½ pounds; lake is operated by state fish-and-game commission, who say phosphate-rich soil promotes fast growth. Delmer Nichols of Old Hickory removed 7-pound smallmouth from Kentucky Lake (below Pickwick Dam), but Rowland Rawley of New York City topped it with 7½-pounder from Dale Hollow; FG and OG.
MISSOURI: Lake Clearwater C, SH, FP, OF/G when cooler (as it may be by press time). Lake Wappapello, FP, OG.
LOUISIANA: Go to Lac à Sein 3 miles W of Marksville in the late afternoon so you'll be in the boat and fishing just after dusk. Rig almost any bass fly or bug on flyrod, cast toward shore. Head back for dock, tired but happy, when you've caught all the 3- to 6-pound bass your wrist can stand.
CHANNEL BASS: FLORIDA: Cleveland Pitcher Early Wynn took 22½-pound redfish on troll in Gulf off Venice, but most action was at Venice Inlet jetties, where run of 8- to 12-pounders provided FF on bait and feathered jigs; OF/G. A few reds reported in surf at New Smyrna on east coast; OF.