FISHERMAN'S CALENDAR
SO season opens
SC season closes
C clear water
D water dirty, roily
N water normal height
SH slightly high
H high
VH very high
M water muddy
L low
R rising
WT50 water 50°
FG fishing good
FVG fishing very good
FF fishing fair
FP fishing poor
OG outlook good
OVG outlook very good
OF outlook fair
OP outlook poor
BLUEFISH: MASSACHUSETTS: FVG all along south shore of Cape Cod and outlying islands. Monomoy Point visitation includes fish to 14 pounds, while blues from snapper to leviathan size are cruising beaches on Buzzards Bay side all the way from Cape Cod Canal to Woods Hole. FVG also around Martha's Vineyard and in Muskeget Channel between the Vineyard and Nantucket. Best, though neglected, area is at Elizabeth Islands, which extend 10 miles southward from Woods Hole to the last in the chain, the thrumcap, Cuttyhunk. Last week, angling alone in narrow channel called Quicks Hole between Basque and Nashawena Islands. FISHERMAN'S CALENDAR editor took five bluefish over 10 pounds on eight-pound spinning tackle, quitting only because he ran out of plugs. OVG at Cape to November.
NEW JERSEY: Sea Bright and Shrewsbury Rocks yielding to chummers. FG also on Barnegat Ridge, although a recent frustration has been the presence of giant tuna in chum slicks. Much excitement gained and much light tackle lost, with Jersey anglers hopeful that big bluefins are returning to their waters after a seven-year absence. Surf practitioners at Seaside Park and from Barnegat Light south to Harvey Cedars report FVG for bluefish to 10 pounds. Surf is choked with mullet and that is the preferred bait.
NEW YORK: From Shinnecock to Montauk beach bugs and trollers bagging fish to 12 pounds, with OVG.
PACIFIC SALMON: BRITISH COLUMBIA: FF/G for silvers in Salt Chuck at Oyster Bay, Bates Beach, Qualicum. Nanaimo and Crofton at Cape Mudge and Cowichan Bay. Freshwater runs now starting at Nokomekl and Serpentine rivers near Vancouver, and OG. Gloomy correspondent reports poor tyee season about over, but Joe Hess of Montreal would probably demur. Last week he grassed a 54-pound fish in the Campbell River.
WASHINGTON: Anglers concerned over month-long drought and high temperatures. Tributary streams are so L that rearing capacity may be seriously affected. In Samish River, for instance, the backs of homing humpies stick above the surface even in pools. Runs in great waterways, however, are unaffected. North Fork of the Stillaguamish is bankfull of humpbacks up to Squire Creek in bankfull. FVG in lower river, with anglers leaning to Red Heart spinners and small spoons. Skagit River to Diobsud Creek above Marblemount also extremely active. Hooknose silvers to 14 pounds plentiful at Fisheries Point off west end of Waldron Island, with ponderous springs striking off west coast of Lummi Island near Lummi Rocks. There last week 14-year-old Donald Kirkpatrick of Lynden, Wash, tussled with and boated a 40-pounder. OG.
OREGON: Upper stretches of streams very L, and salmon are jamming tidal waters waiting for rain. FVG, however, in north of state with the Nestucca, where Mrs. Emmett Kleinke of Salem recently killed a 52-pound chinook. The Siletz, Alsea, Nahalem and Salmon rivers all offering fish, and OVG.
TROUT: MAINE: SC Sept. 30, but final days should be rewarding as brookies are massed over spring holes and inhaling Coachmans and Dark Montreals in sizes 14 and 16. Down-Easter hints that Sourdnauhunk Lake near Mount Katahdin is no gamble.
WISCONSIN: The Brule N and slightly R with WT 51 oversized trout rising, few anglers casting; OG, however, as some of that few last week took exceedingly nice fish. Mrs. John Anderson of Brule creeled a six-pound brown trout. Randy Stoik of Brule subdued a five-pounder, and Jack Blondel of Brule arrived home with a brownie which weighed 7½ pounds dressed.
NEW MEXICO: After a summer of being mostly H and M the upper Rio Grande is now N and C. FVG from Espanola north to the Colorado border for both browns and rainbows. Rio Grande King, Western Bee, Royal Coachman and Gray Hackle flies, spinners and live grasshoppers all taking fish. Agent recommends Rio Grande chasm via trails in the Taos area and maintains that angling artists, poets and writers from the Taos colony will amiably steer a wayward trouter to the best holes. OVG too in Rio Grande tributaries such as the lower Red River, Rio Pueblo and lower and middle Chama. The big trout are running in to spawn, New Mexicans are running off to hunt, and the fisherman can cast in beatific solitude.
MACKEREL: FLORIDA: Heatproofed anglers last week ignored the noonday sun as a heavy run of mackerel visited Biscayne Bay. Some boats reported catches of over 40 fish taken on small white feathers and jigs; OVG.
STRIPED BASS: MASSACHUSETTS: Boston south shore alive with stripers, from Point Allerton in Boston Harbor to Brant Rock. FVG at night for 30-to 40-pound fish. Eelskins the usual dependable lure. On Cape Cod 40-pounders whaling Stan Gibbs Darter in Nauset Beach surf and at east end of the Cape Cod Canal. FG for five-to eight-pound school fish on Brewster Flats. Cuttyhunk quiet, but Martha's Vineyard FG.
NEW JERSEY: Early-morning efforts rewarding surf casters and jetty jockeys at Asbury Park, Deal and Long Branch. Bass are driving mullet virtually onto beach, and OVG.
MARYLAND: Kent Narrows near mouth of Chester River offering rocks to four pounds, and light spinning or fly rod craftsmen report FVG. Popular method is chumming with manos, a local soft-shelled clam, using the peeled neck as bait on the hook. Popular time and place is flood tide between Kent Island Yacht Club and Chester River. OVG, catches of 20 to 30 fish a tide.
CHANNEL BASS: VIRGINIA: OVG as last week at Chincoteague Gilbert Stover and companions from Towson, Maryland boated six fish to 60 pounds on cut menhaden.
MUSKELLUNGE: NEW YORK: SC Oct. 15, but cool nights have already brought out the live-bait cult, one of whose members—Bill Vincent of Lakewood, N.Y.—recently boated a 35-pound muskie in Lake Chautauqua; OG.