Video captures hundreds of seals on a Cape Cod beach

04-13-2016

Whatever the number (no, not 18 trillion), the seals stretch out in a long line just beyond the reach of the waves crashing on the shores of Monomoy Island, the eight-mile long spit of sand that stretches down from Chatham off Cape Cod.

“Miles and miles of continuous blubber,” Knight wrote alongside the video he took and posted to Facebook on Sunday. It’s since been viewed over 200,000 times.

He told The Boston Globe he’s never seen so many seals in the area.

“They used to be in harems and small chunks dotted down the beach, but this year … it’s just astonishing,” he said. “It’s an infinite forever stretch of seals.”

View the video here

On Forage Fish… Managing the Unmanaged

01-15-2015

Are large-scale fisheries for sandeels, silversides, bay anchovies etc. coming to a coast near you?

Really, if you fish, at all, this is important… for a very basic reason — If there’s no bait, there’s no fishing. If you spend more than a few days on the water every year, you know this to be the case.

Before I get to all this, you may have noticed I haven’t written a blog in a while. And yes, we had a recent win on striped bass (Charlie covers that pretty well here: ASMFC ALMOST GETS IT RIGHT WITH STRIPED BASS). The lull is for reasons too complicated to get into here, but we hope to be back up and running full steam by early 2015.

Getting back on point, here’s the short version on where we’re at with “the bait” or what the pointy-heads call “forage”.

Yes, some bait species are currently managed by the Federal Councils or the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). Most, however, are not. Absolutely, there have been and are issues with the way managed forage species like menhaden, river herring, shad, sea herring, mackerel, squid, butterfish etc, are managed, but they are indeed managed. I want to be very clear here that other forage species such as sand eels, bay anchovies, silversides, halfbeaks etc., are not. And that’s kinda scary.

Full article here

To Our Longtime Customers And Friends

12-17-2014

It is with a heavy heart that we wish to inform all of you that First Light Anglers will be closing on or about the first of the year. Derek and I want to thank everyone who has supported us through these eighteen years, and allowed us the great pleasure of following a dream we both had since childhood. We have made many friends, and had more than our share of good times behind the counter, and will miss our daily interactions with all of you very much. We will be guiding this season independently but our retail operation has come to an end.

To that end, we would appreciate your support once again. Beginning tomorrow Dec 13th everything in the store will be priced at wholesale cost. Flies will be five dollars a dozen for freshwater and ten dollars a dozen for salt. We have a ton of used tackle for dirt cheap prices from four weight fly rods to 130 reels. Everything must go from artwork to fixtures, so please come by and help us clear the shelves. If you are unable to come during regular hours please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you.
We will have free beverages till 9pm on Wednesday Dec 17th for anyone interested.
Thank you all for such a wonderful run! Nat and Derek

Tuna Bite

08-08-2014

Well it was great to see some fish caught last weekend for the Bluefin Blowout, some real slobs! Just as it seems to get going the fish don’t seem to settle in and stick around. Every day a few fish seem to be coming in off Jeffries but no one place seems very consistent. Another problem is the slime is bad on most of Jeffries so you are constantly checking and cleaning lines. It looked like the bank was going to start to show signs of life but the dogfish have moved in pretty thick over the last couple of days. Still hearing rumors of some small fish around and I just had a guy in the shop who got spooled in Ipswich Bay while jigging for cod. Good news is the bait is still thick with good amounts of mackerel and whiting around. I have also had reports of a few smaller fish seen out around Tillies and Wildcat. Sounds like south of Martha’s Vineyard there are piles of 35-40″ bluefin around, which makes me incredibly jealous!! Good luck out there! Weather looks awesome for this weekend!

Early August striper fishing has some highlights!

Although the fishing overall has remained relatively slow there have been some good surface feeds over the last 4 or 5 days. I got a handful of reports of fish up in Plum Island sound feeding on the surface first thing in the morning. It sounded like the best actiion was from the mouth of the Rowley river up into the Parker. All the fish have been in the 18-25″ range but they are eating poppers, plastics and flies readily. I did also hear there was a good surface feed in the Castle Neck river a few mornings as well so that may be worth a look. It sounds like the mackerel are still out by the bell buoys off of Ipswich and Essex and there are plenty down off of Halibut Point, Thachers and the groaner off of Gloucester. Salem sound has also had some pretty decent surface feeds from the mouths of the harbors and then down towards West beach off of Endicott college. Again mostly schoolies but great to see the surface feeds in early August. The rock fishing has been slow for the most part. You can pick away at them with mackerel or lures around the high tide, but you do need bounce around a bunch until you find some fish. The best fishing of the week lasted 3 or 4 days out off of Nahant and Swampscott. It sounds like it has quieted down but there were some great surface feeds on mackerel and herring and pretty much all of the fish were 30-40+”s. You could chase the birds around but it seemed almost as good to just find the feeds and then drift and jig with lures as you would mark big schools passing under the boat. Just really nice to see some bigger schools of nice fish.

Striper fishing a bit slow with some highlights

07-19-2014

Overall the bass fishing has been pretty slow all week long. The mackerel have become more difficult to find although they have still been off Rockport harbor, Straitsmouth and the Londoner. Fishing in the rocks was pretty tough most of the week with a few highlights of some bigger bass around. I did get three different reports that there was a good surface feed along the Beverly to Beverly Farms shoreline this morning with the bass feeding on small herring. Little soft plastics, poppers and especially flies worked best. Didn’t sound like many big fish, but I’ll take the surface action. There have been some schools of blues out off of Halfway rock which may be why the mackerel have scattered. The Ipswich bay side has gone pretty quiet as well with guys picking away at them but nothing crazy. There have been some decent schools of pogies up in Plum Island Sound and on Joppa so that has to keep a few big fish around. The water has been oddly cool all week, hopefully it and the fishing heat up!! Good luck, Derek

May 18th BBQ and Wade Fishing

04-18-2014

The shop will be holding its annual open house and BBQ on Sunday May 18th starting around 2pm. The BBQ will last until around 5pm and then we will head down to Crane’s Beach for an evening of wade fishing. All skill levels are welcome, both fly and spin!! Everything is free but if you feel like bringing some type of food or beverage for the BBQ please call or email the shop. Thanks, Derek
978-948-7004
derek@firstlightanglers.com

First Light Anglers teaching Fly Fishing Seminars

03-29-2014

First Light at the Hamilton-Wenham Library 4/8 & 4/15

7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Fly Fishing Seminar April 8th and April 15th at the Hamilton-Wenham Library

Contact: Rebecca Shea 978-468-5577 rshea@mvlc.org

Captain Derek Spingler & Captain Nat Moody teach and demonstrate the fundamentals of fresh & salt water fly fishing and casting. There will be time for you to try casting, too! Topics Covered: Fly rod, reel, and line selection as well as fly selection for salt & fresh, Knot tying & Leader designs. Space is limited, registration is required! FREE

Library is located at: 14 Union St, South Hamilton, MA 01982

Fly Casting Classes April 19th with Bill and Sheila Hassan

01-25-2014

April 19th Fly Casting Classes with Bill and Sheila Hassan
Bill and Sheila will once again return and do their very popular casting classes. Cost: $75.00 Please call the shop or email to sign up. (978)948-7004 or info@firstlightanglers.com
Introduction to Fly-Casting
This outdoor class will focus on developing the fundamentals of good fly-casting, the most important skill for successful fly-fishing. It will cover the assembly, use and maintenance of the equipment, the roll cast, the basic cast, false casting, and shooting line. All fly-casting equipment is provided. Students should bring hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, rain jacket and appropriate footwear for being around water.

Distance Fly-Casting
This class is geared to the saltwater fly-fisherman, looking to increase the distance of their average cast. Distance seminars will cover the essential elements of distance casting: proper loading and unloading of the fly rod, forming tight loops, lengthening the casting stroke with drift and the double haul. Students should bring their own gear, 7-10 wt rod with a matching weight forward floating line is ideal (no sinking lines please).

All classes meet at the shop 3o minutes before class time!
Top quality equipment is provided for all classes, or feel free to use your own!

April 19 (Saturday) 9:30am – 12:30pm – Introduction to Fly Casting
– First Light Anglers. Contact Nat or Derek at the shop for details and to reserve your spot.

April 19 (Saturday) 2pm-5:00pm – Distance Fly-Casting
– First Light Anglers. Contact Nat or Derek at the shop for details and to reserve your spot.

Fly Tying 2013/14

11-29-2013

Well it’s that time of year again to start our Winter fly tying classes. As always, all skill levels are welcome, so whether you are a seasoned tier or just thinking about getting into it swing on by and check out the great line up of classes we have for the winter!

Fly Tying Classes 2013/14
All classes are held at First Light Anglers on Wednesday nights from 6-9pm. Classes are $15/class or $150 for a season pass.
Tying Materials provided for each class
Call the shop at 978-948-7004 for more details

December 4th – Rick Little will tie some of his favorite local bugs and some smelt patterns. Rick will start the night with a slide show titled “Bugs and Smelt- Favorite Flies and Streamside Musings” and then we will tie a few patterns related to the show. Should be a great way to kick of the season!

December 11th – Capt. Jay Shields will be tying reversed tied flies for saltwater.

December 18th – Pat Brown will be tying freshwater pond flies.

December 25th – No Class

January 1st – No Class

January 8th – Capt. Eliot Jenkins, of Greasy Beaks, will be tying his favorite local striper flies.

January 15th – Les Hilyard will come and tie some of his favorite Rangeley Lakes streamer patterns.

January 22nd – Capt. Peter Yukins will come and tie some of his largest and smallest patterns for striped bass.

January 29th – Capt. Derek Spingler will teach a class on tying with EP fibers for both salt and freshwater.

February 5th – Capt. Dan Gray will tie up some of his favorite trout patterns from out west and back east.

February 12th – Rick Little will return to tie up some of his favorite New England trout patterns.

February 19th– Capt. Nat Moody will tie some of his favorite inshore and offshore flies for stripers and tuna.

February 26th – Capt. Eliot Jenkins will return to tie some of his favorite albie and bonito flies.

March 5th – Capt. Jay Shields will return to tie up some of his favorite Spring freshwater favorites.

March 12th – Les Hilyard will do a two night introduction to classic Atlantic Salmon Flies.

March 19th – Classic Atlantic Salmon flies part 2.

March 26th – TBD

April 2nd & April 9th – TBD