My buddy Tim and I hit a MA 9 beach this morning from 7 till 11:30.
We each went 1 for 2. Nothing big, with both fish being in the 24-25" range, so 4 lbs or so.
Chartreuse over white or light gray was the ticket today.
Tim's fish put up a pretty good little battle.
Mine, not so much. It tracked the fly to within a couple of feet of the beach before it committed. Great visual, but once hooked up it did the prerequisite 3 or 4 360 degree death spins then one big jump which resulted in the fish landing on the beach. 10 secs, done and headed to the bbq.
Really nice day one the water with nobody around.

It was a bittersweet day for me. Today would have been my dad's 82nd birthday. Though he didn't flyfish, he taught me to fish and always took me along starting at a young age. I think he would have enjoyed the action today, regardless of the length of the fight.

Here's a pic of today's catch.

Perfect bbq size. Yummmmm.

Ok, I'm a little slow here. What's a "MA 9 beach"

a beach in Marine Area 9...

Nicely done, Brian! Way to fly the Bauer flag bro!

Will get lot's better soon. Have heard of 8lb's caught in the last couple of days in area 9.

...including one I flogged up this morning. They are most certainly here and hopefully they'll stick around for a while. More so than any other year, these fish are the softest biting Coho I've encountered. They are simply not grabbing the fly and turning. Stingers and eye popping strip sets seem to be key.

Strange how each year is different.

Today's fish was on a sparkly Shock & Awe:

Nice work Bill!

Hit a bunch of really nice cutts last night, but then ran into a pod of adult Silvers that kicked my 5 wt's ass while out in the tin boat.

I'll be better tackled tonight.........

this workin stuff sucks.

nice feeesh

Things are picking up out this way, Cutts are starting to show up in force, and Silvers are showing though not in large numbers yet. Best patterns have been candlefish flies, and last night I teased up a couple of Silvers with poppers, but couldn't get them to take. Silvers are running 5-8 pounds, with a few around 10 or so. Cutts are still the mainstay at the beach, but moving the boat a bay over this weekend to get serious on the Silvers.

The candlefish are thick out here, and the flies look something like these ;

Those look great. The fly I've been getting them on has a body very, very similar to your last fly but with a heavy cone head (Shock & Awe).

I typically fish with an intermediate line (Streamer Express) out here, and fairly shallow so don't use many weighted flies, but did tie some some up with cone heads and barbell eyes.

I want to get a few Silvers on poppers, so breaking out the dry line a bit more often these evenings.

John,
Poppers are a great way to find out if fish are around....and not hook them.
Then you can go back to the dark side with your Streamer Express and start hooking fish.
Nice patterns by the way.

Bill,
Way to keep getting it done!

I actually got an adult Silver to take a meaningful swipe at a popper last night, he 'might' have even felt the hook............

Saw a pod of around 20 or so and couldn't resist a few casts with the popper.

I actually did really well on resident Coho this year in July using poppers over eel grass beds. I was getting a solid hook set on about 1 out of every 3 or 4 strikes. In years passed it would take 8-10 strikes before I got one to stick. Nonetheless, once the ocean fish showed up I got serious and went to the dark side...and haven't left since.

Still want to get some Silvers on top, so have to fish poppers to do so.

The adult Silvers are showing up here, so it's hard not to stay with the Streamer Express, but doing the popper thing is enough fun that when I see 'em, I fish it.

I am seeing them consistently right now..........