With Irene in the past, we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming here on Cape Cod, namely the excellent late-summer mix of stripers, bluefish, hardtails and bluefin. Current information was a little scarce, as it By most accounts fishing post-Irene wasn’t too different than the fishing pre-Irene, if anything, the fishing has improved. The water was pretty dirty on Monday, but as of Thursday, most areas were free of silt and the water temperatures were climbing back to their pre-hurricane levels.
Cape Cod Canal
There was plenty of surface activity for anglers fishing the middle and east end of the canal the past couple days. Most stripers were in the 20- to 34-inch range, though some larger fish were caught. Mike from M and D’s reported that subsurface presentations were the most successful, especially early in the week, when the water was still off color from Irene. Northbar Bottledarters, bottle plugs and swim shads were some of the most popular options. Fish chasing baitfish on the surface fell to pencil poppers, Polaris poppers and spook-style lures.
The biggest bass are staying on the bottom, according to the report from Canal Bait and Tackle. They reported a 43-pounder taken from the Canal on the last day of August.
Nighttime fishing has produced some larger fish on eels according to Chris at Bad Fish Outfitters in Falmouth.
Favorable tides for finding breaking stripers at daybreak will continue through the first part of the holiday weekend.
Buzzards Bay
After some exciting fishing late last week with the arrival of exotic species such as Spanish mackerel and bonito, Buzzards Bay has cooled off, literally. Cold, murky, weedy water greeted Chris from Bad Fish Outfitters on his mid-week foray through Buzzards Bay. Not even a bluefish.
Thankfully, there’s still time for the water to warm back up, and when it does, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that the Spanish mackerel return with it.
Justin at Coops Bait and Tackle on Martha’s Vineyard had heard rumors of some false albacore coming from Buzzards Bay this week.
South Side
Vineyard Sound is in much the same condition as Buzzards Bay. OTW Editor Kevin Blinkoff tucked out of the office Wednesday afternoon to investigate the fishing conditions in the sound. Not so much as a bird, reported Kevin. The two tried trolling Hedge Fence for bonito to no avail. Even the bluefish were playing hard to get. Outside of Oak Bluffs, however, they did find some big black sea bass that could not resist attacking metal lures jigged along the bottom in 25 to 40 feet of water.
Speaking of bottom fish, Chris at Bad Fish said the blackfish bite has picked up somewhat in Woods Hole, and several of his customers have been buying green crabs to target this hard-fighting denizen of the deep.
Woods Hole has also had a good striped bass bite as of late. The strong current flow through the hole has allowed it to clean up more quickly than neighboring Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay. Soft-plastic lures have been the ticket, and getting on the water early has also been important to getting hit.
The Elizabeth Islands have been very slow for striper fishing, but live eels at night or soft-plastics at first light around Quicks and Robinsons have been producing stripers in the 24- to 34-inch range.
Bonito have been moving inshore from the shoals and are being caught much closer to shore around Martha’s Vineyard. Reports of false albacore from the “usual spots” around the Vineyard came from Justin at Coop’s Bait and Tackle. Nantucket beaches have also had some false albacore recently.
Though this is not the best time of year to fish for stripers from shore around Martha’s Vineyard, Justin said determined anglers are catching a few each night. Scale down your offering to match the prevalent baitfish and you should have no problem catching schoolies.
Mid and Outer Cape
Garret at Goose Hummock said Marconi Point to the Old Cut at Nauset is still host to a huge biomass of stripers. These fish are ranging from 26 inches to 30 pounds, and are responding to diamond jigs, wire-line jigging and soft plastics fished near the surface at daybreak.
The backside beaches are fishing fairly slow for the surfcasting crowd according to Jim at Nelson’s Bait and Tackle in Provincetown. Keeper fish are being taken by boat fishermen off Race Point. Bluefishing has been curiously slow as well. According to Jim, it’s safe to say the fall run has not yet started, but it shouldn’t be too long.
Anglers looking to mix their bluefin or shark hunting with some ground fishing would be wise to hit the 220 to 280 feet of water where the cod bite has been on fire. Some massive cod have been caught including a 50-pounder!
Cape Cod Bay
Not much word on the fishing in Cape Cod Bay. Canal Bait and Tackle reported dirty water and lots of floating debris in the bay. The hot spot is supposedly Scorton Ledge, and trolling tube-and-worm rigs is the name of the game there.
Bluefin
Jim at Nelsons is “getting tired of eating fresh tuna.” That’s how good the tuna bite off the tip of the Cape has been. 45- to 60-inch fish are feeding heavily off the Race and at Peaked Hill Bar. Live Mackerel seems pretty close to a guarantee, but the run-and-gun crew has been hooking up as well.
In the waters off the mid-Cape, plenty of bluefin have been spotted since Irene, but relatively few have been caught. Captain Eric Stewart of the Hook Up in Orleans had two knockdowns trolling on Wednesday, but neither fish found the hook. On Thursday morning, one angler fishing south of Nauset caught a 59-incher. Dan from the Hook Up is hopeful that the giant tuna will start appearing soon.
Best Bets for the Weekend
Every passing day will clean out Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound a bit more. As the water temperature climbs back to its summertime high in these waters, the hardtails, albies, bonito and Spanish macks should move back in. Perhaps some fast trolling will be in order as early as Monday, right before an end-of-summer BBQ.
Nauset is still the hot spot for stripers, so load up on diamond jigs and head there. If you get on the water early, you may even be treated to some topwater action.
If you are hoping for to add some tuna steaks to your Labor Day BBQ spread, get some sabiki rigs, catch some mackerel in P-Town Harbor and head for Peaked Hill Bar. From the sound of it, the bite is red hot right now.
Screw the fishing, that chick is smokin’!!
I thought this was the striper report, not the stripper report….
nice looks like fun would have been great to be on that boat