Gordy,
Last night I was fishing from the
beach and I experienced something I had never seen before and I thought you
might have some knowledge on the subject.
Although it was a full moon the
cloud cover was thick enough to make the night totally dark, I was casting
into black water. Tide was rising about 3 hours above
low.
About 9 pm I noticed some waves
down the beach near a jetty breaking and lighting up with a really impressive
blue/white light.
As I moved closer I could not find
a light source that could be causing the strange color, brilliant blue/white.
I figured it must be the
phosphorus (I think there is another term, luminescence?) in the
water.
I then moved to the other side of
the jetty and immediately noticed some very eerie large flashes of light deep
in the water, Popping all over the place. What a
Show!
(There is some new TV show I don?t
know the name about aliens, green lights falling into and swimming around in
the water off Fl, which immediately came to mind)
(Don?t know if you can catch an
alien on a fly?)
But I convinced myself it was
fish, (I thought stripers in this close in the evening, turned out to be
Blues) and their rapid movement caused the pops of light.
Really COOL ? some of them right
at my feet, What was really interesting was the action of the fish as they
attacked,
- The fly had to be
retrieved very slowly, unusual for blues, (typical for night time, just
didn?t expect blues)
- Blues feeding on
shore in the dark
- As they attacked
they always would flash in a curving motion with a sudden burst but not the
same as during the day. I?ve always heard that blues attack from the tail of
the bait and I know that to be true however this may not necessarily be a
direct line approach.
My initial thought was because of
the fairly slow and cruising motion of the fish that it had to be strippers,
Really glad I turned on a light and looked before I stuck my thumb in his
mouth!
While we are on the subject I have
always understood that strippers (bass) take their baitfish from a head on
position. I understand that this has been documented from the stacked
silversides in a bass?s belly all head first.
Anyway, I thought I would ask you
what you know about phosphorescence, blues at night and tail vs head on
feeding.
Might also note that a quick strip
of the fly would light up a trail behind the fly and the entire floating line,
but not the mono leader.
It is always a renaissance to
witness nature, but you have to be there to experience it!
Guess you could call this an
?ILLUMINATING EXPERIENCE?
Jim