Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay Fishing Forecast 7-28-2011

I’m worried I’m going to start sounding like a broken record, but the lone striper hot spot on Cape Cod is once again Chatham. Schools of well-fed stripers continue to feast off the Cape’s elbow while they get fished hard by commercial striper fishermen from as far away as Boston. OTW’s Andy Nabreski joined the fleet this past Tuesday and reported parking lot conditions but decent amounts of bass. The fish were holding in 35 feet of water and when the tide was running strong, diamond jigs were the bait of choice. At slower periods, however, Andy said savvy commercial captains picked up the jigs and went on the troll to add a couple bonus 34-plus-inchers to their tally. Elsewhere on the Cape striper fishing is slow, but blues, fluke and freshwater fishing is making up for it, and the bluefin bite has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Upper Cape and Canal

It’s always a bad sign when I call the shops near the Canal and they tell me about the fishing in Chatham. Though “breaking tides” are forecasted this weekend, there doesn’t seem to be much to be optimistic about in the Cape Cod Canal. A few of my friends who are fishing the Ditch nightly have been spending long hours to scratch out very few fish.  Eels and jigs have been the name of the game.

Buzzards Bay is as warm as bathwater, which is making for good bluefishing, but poor striper fishing. The blues are holding outside of harbor mouths according to a report from Bad Fish Outfitters in Falmouth, and are taking poppers and small metals.

Southside

More rumors of Hedge Fence bonito are coming in from Bad Fish Outfitters. Targeting fish should become more reliable with each passing day.

Christian at Falmouth Bait and Tackle said that surfcasters on the south side are tying on wire leaders and baiting up with dead eels in an effort to target brown sharks. These toothy summer visitors are incredible fighters and show up reliably each year off south side beaches.

Popponesset and South Cape Beach are two of the more popular areas for the browns. Christian said he’d heard of a couple caught and released so far, and expects to hear about more sharks in the coming weeks.

Bluefish are still biting well at Horseshoe Shoal. These big, mean choppers are taking a variety of lures, both trolled and cast. Scale down the tackle to have some real fun with the hard-fighting bluefish.

Mid and Outer Cape

This report of good striper fishing in Chatham should come with a warning label – expect crowds. Boats have been drifting in tightly packed formations over schools of stripers feeding on sands eels and tinker mackerel in 35 feet of water. It seems as though boats from all over are going to Chatham for a chance at catching some stripers to bring to market. The crowds in Chatham are a result of the striper fishing being so slow everywhere else. If you go, bring diamond jigs, and don’t forget some trolling gear. Dragging umbrella rigs or jigs on wire will pick up fish during the slower tide periods when the jig bite dies down.

Captain Eric Stewart of the Hook Up in Orleans said schools of bass have been creeping northward a bit, showing up off Nauset. Some fish even entered the surf, he said, chasing tinker mackerel onto the beach!

Plenty of bluefish are entertaining the boat crowd at Race Point reported Matt from Nelsons Bait and Tackle in Provincetown. The blues are running big, some topping 10 pounds, and are occasionally blitzing on the surface.

With the striper fishing a bit slow in P-Town, Matt said anglers are exploring new fishing options. Fluke and blackfish, two species that don’t get too much attention on that part of the Cape, are biting well in Provincetown Harbor. Squid strips and sand eels are working well on keeper fluke while sand worms and green crabs are the ticket for blackfish.

Freshwater

I broke out my largemouth gear for the first time in 2 months this week and put it to use on a small Cape kettle pond this week. I’m no bassmaster for sure, but rigged up with a Senko worm on a worm hook I brought 3 “chunk” largemouths to hand, along with a couple smaller ones in a little over an hour. Senkos are working well on largemouths all over the Cape right now, and fishing them is so simple, some, more elitist bass anglers call them “cheating.” While it’s certainly not cheating, fishing them is a bit of a no brainer. Just cast, let them sink to the bottom, lift the rod, let the lure sink and repeat. Hits will come one the drop so watch the line and set the hook at the slightest twitch. As one of my buddies put it this week, “It’s like fishing with dynamite.”

Bluefin Tuna

Chris Megan and Kevin Blinkoff from OTW as well as Craig Cantelmo from Van Staal were kind enough to keep me up to the minute on their tuna trip east of Chatham yesterday while I was at the OTW office. The trio found scattered bunches of breaking tuna just outside Chatham in 65-90 feet of water. They had a number of shots and connected with a 58-inch keeper on a 12-inch Slug-Go worked across the surface. Other boats also did well east of Chatham this week. Captain Eric Stewart came tight on four tuna on Tuesday trolling splash bars. Black and Chameleon were the colors that got bit.

Tuna were caught all along the backside to Peaked Hill Bar and up on Stellwagen.  Around Peaked Hill and Stellwagen, live baits have been a reliable means of hooking up, but trollers and casters are connecting as well. If splash bars or spreader bars aren’t getting bit, some anglers are switching to soft-plastic stickbaits and trolling them across the surface. The stickbaits are a closer match to the available forage, which lately has been halfbeaks and tinker mackerel.

Best Bets for the Weekend

If you can make it out for tuna, get there.  There is no guarantee these fish will stay around through the weekend, but there were plenty of fish on the surface as of yesterday. If running and gunning is your game, go with soft-plastic stickbaits or topwater plugs. Trolling might be a better bet if the fish are spread out or not staying up for long.  Being flexible with your game plan when on the tuna grounds is often the difference between catching and watching.

Big bluefish around the Race or Horseshoe Shoal would be my pick if tuna fishing wasn’t an option. These yellow-eyed choppers have all the attitude of a big bluefin in a much smaller package. Throw topwaters at them for violent surface strikes or troll if the fish appear to be