Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay Fishing Forecast 8-25-2011

 

The collective Cape Cod community has been holding its breath as it waits for Irene to blow past. Hurricane tracks as of Thursday had the hurricane t-boning Long Island, grazing the Cape with its eastern side, which means heavy winds and high waters. In combination with large new-moon tides, it looks like I may be fishing the breaking tides in the Canal from route 6A. But enough speculation.

Tuesday’s earthquake must have shook some appetite into the bluefin because once again tuna are feeding heavily around Race Point, Peaked Hill Bar and Stellwagen Bank. The striper hotspot is the same place it’s been all summer – Chatham and Nauset.

Cape Cod Canal and Buzzards Bay

Mike from M and D’s in Wareham said the Canal has been giving up good-sized stripers on a daily basis. Mornings have been the ticket, regardless of tide. Breaking tides are slated for early next week, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some great fishing took place following this storm. Big storms can kickstart the fall migration, and the way bass have been balling up in Cape Cod Bay over the past couple weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a big move through the Canal next week.

Other interesting Canal news was a couple hard tails caught this week. One online report stated an angler fishing the west end culled through two dozen bluefish for a single bonito. Bluefish or bonito, 25 fish in an outing sounds like a great day regardless of the species. Another report from Roy Leyva at River’s End in Yarmouth said that another angler had a false albacore up to the rocks in the canal before losing it.

Southside and Islands

Fishing on the Vineyard has been very good reported Coop from Coop’s Bait and Tackle. The bonito bite was starting to pick up. The bones, as of yet, had remained a ways off the beach, not coming within striking distance of shorebound anglers. The bonito’s partner in crime, the false albacore has been conspicuously absent, however. When I mentioned that the albies had been here by this point last year, Coop reminded me that everything has been running about two weeks late this year. So there’s still hope for a strong albie run, but I wouldn’t expect to see any before Irene pays us a visit. Baitfish are just starting to fill in the harbors and ponds on the Vineyard, so when the albies do arrive and the bones decide to venture in close, there will be plenty of food to keep them there.

Fluke fishing on the north side of the vineyard has been excellent on the incoming tide. Better yet, has been the black sea bass bite. The sea bass are running large and are schooling in big numbers. The tire pile in Nantucket Sound is holding some big sea bass as well.

Striper fishing is so-so at the moment, but anglers are finding fish between 20 and 25 pounds in Vineyard Sound and around the island.

Big, slammer bluefish are running around Nantucket and between the Vineyard and Nantucket, and are being caught trolling and jigging.

Nantucket Sound is giving up some big fluke according to Roy at Riverview.

Mid and Outer Cape

The striped bass bite off Nauset is “still on fire,” reports Roy.  Garrett at Goose Hummock in Orleans agreed, saying the fish are being caught in 25 to 70 feet of water. Vertical jigging is working as is trolling with wire line and jigs. First light is producing some topwater action with the bass as well.

A customer at M and D’s in Wareham weighed in a 100-pound bluefin caught 5 minutes from the ramp in Chatham on a 9-inch Slug-Go. The angler spent the rest of the day catching stripers off Chatham.

The bass action around Race Point has been spotty said Matt from Nelson’s in Provincetown. Bluefish have been tough to come by and keeper stripers are not around in very big numbers, though some are being caught.

Bluefin

The bluefin bite at the Race has been much better. Anglers are finding feeding tuna from Race Point to Peaked Hill Bar to Stellwagen Bank reported Matt at Nelsons. The hot presentation for the “football” bluefin has been live mackerel, of which there is no shortage in Provincetown Harbor. Squid are also in the harbor according to Matt.

Dan at the Hook Up in Orleans was on Stellwagen Bank this weekend, but didn’t raise any fish. He saw several live bait anglers hook up, but the tuna were not interested in trolled lures it seemed.

Off Chatham, things were a bit slower, but tuna were still being caught. Captain Eric Stewart at the Hook Up in Orleans tagged three slot-sized bluefin with Dr. Molly Lutcavage on Saturday east of Chatham. There are a lot of the slot-size tuna around at the moment, which bodes well for the fishery for years  to come.

Best Bets for the Weekend

I think for this weekend, I’ll leave the best bets prediction up to the National Weather Service. The word “evacuation” has been tossed around all week, so you might not be able to fish the Cape this weekend if you want to.  I will say, if you’re a surfcaster and don’t mind a little wind and rain, the hours leading up to a big storm can be sublime, just use your head and stay safe.