The very best part about May fishing is, without a doubt, the variety. I could hardly keep up with the list of species that Bob at Falmouth Bait and Tackle was rattling off – blackfish, squid, stripers, bluefish, trout, largemouths and smallmouths were on Bob’s list, but also available are cod, pollock, haddock, crappie and perch.
The bass and rumored bluefish presence can be owed to the baitfish trickling into Cape waters right now. A number of herring runs are seeing good numbers of silver bullets, and taking advantage of the bottleneck at the mouth of the runs have been stripers ranging from schoolies to small keepers. Jeff from Canal Bait and Tackle in Sagamore said anglers descending on the Herring Run in the Canal have been finding stripers on the east-moving tide. Sebile lures, Bombers, and Tsunami Swim Shads have been the most popular baits according to Jeff.
Bass are beginning to spread throughout the canal, according to Allen at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay. The fish have not been showing up on the surface, so jigging with soft-plastic lures has been the key to success.
Mike at M and D’s in Wareham said the big fish are not far away. Once the water warms up just a bit, Mike suspects some big schools of big stripers will flood into Buzzards Bay. Tautog fishing in the bay has picked up substantially, and anglers are reliably getting some fish for the table. Toggin’ should continue to improve over the next couple weeks, and by the time blackfishing starts to tail off, Mike says porgy and sea bass season will be upon us.
Freshwaters on the Cape recently warmed enough for the smallmouth bass to begin their prespawn feeding binge. Anglers are having great luck with the acrobatic bronzebacks throwing jerkbaits and tube baits. Bob at Falmouth Bait and Tackle reported that anglers fishing for trout began catching big smallmouth bass along with the rainbows, browns and brookies. Smallmouths are way more acrobatic and feisty than their green-colored cousins, but the largemouth bass bite has also been good lately. With the bass on their beds, anglers are throwing soft-plastic lizard baits and jigs to aggravate the bass into striking.
Tog are hitting well in Vineyard Sound, and school stripers are spreading throughout the South Side of the Cape, Bob said. He’d even heard of bluefish on the South Side of Marthas Vineyard. OTW’s Andy Nabreski had a close encounter of the bluefish kind yesterday, and though he didn’t get the fish to the beach, the half-moon bite out of his chunk bait is a pretty good indication that the yellow-eyed devils are here. A heavy southwest blow Friday could push squid and bluefish (and stripers) into the surf along the south side just in time for the weekend.
The arrival of bluefish to Vineyard Sound is usually right on the heels of the arrival of squid, and this week, the squid showed up in big numbers – and big sizes! At the moment, anglers fishing for them from boats have been having the most success, but it shouldn’t be long before lighted docks begin attracting the calamari in good numbers as well.
The word from Dan at the Hook Up is good schoolie action in Herring River. Dan himself landed fish to 32 inches this week on a Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow. Dan fished in a large fleet of boats on Stellwagen this past Monday and reported that all the boats had fast action on codfish. At times, the jig wasn’t even able to reach the bottom the cod were so thick. Though many fish were throwbacks, most anglers had no problem filling their 10-fish limit. A few members of the On The Water crew got out on Saturday with Capt. Mike Pierdinock aboard the Perseverance out of Green Harbor and enjoyed a fast bite on cod and pollock. Heavy Norwegian jigs and Gulp teasers worked well, but if you’re headed out on, consider bringing along a lighter outfit and some Butterfly-style jigs or Sting-O jigs for some great light-tackle action on 10-pound pollock.
Trout fishing is still going strong in Nickerson State Park, and anglers can count on good numbers fishing bait or small spoons. Anglers looking for a trophy trout and with the patience to spend hours casting without any action might consider slowly fishing swimming plugs or large streamer flies, particularly around sunset and even after dark, for one of the huge brown trout that lurk in Cliff Pond.
Best Bets for the Weekend
This weekend offers the best shot so far for anglers to catch some legal-sized stripers. Target harbors, bays, rivers and warmer water with soft-plastic stickbaits, swim shads or minnow plugs. Though a full-blown blitz may be a week or so away, hitting a south-facing beach when the wind is out of the southwest could get you into your first bluefish of the year. South Cape, Popponesset, Loop and Oregon beaches are all prime bluefish spots this time of year as is the Cotuit Narrows.
Don’t forget the freshwater fishing. Smallmouth bass fishing doesn’t get any better than it is right now, so target a pond with a nice population of smallies and toss suspending jerkbaits and slow-sinking soft-plastic tubes.