Heavy winds kept offshore reports to a minimum this week, but a window may be opening Saturday into Sunday and Sunday into Monday. Overnighting is the name of the game in the canyons this time of year, and if you aren’t chunking, you aren’t fishing. Butterfish and sardines are the chunk baits of choice, but live baits caught on site, like squid, will offer the very best odds of a bite.
There are still some mahi and marlin around making it worthwhile for anglers to troll during the daylight hours. Longfin albacore are abundant as well, and they too could provide steady action on the troll. For yellowfin, however, chunking is the name of the game.
Swordfishing continues to be excellent. Many boats spending the night in the canyons are reporting broadbill encounters. Hooking a sword is more a factor of a properly presented bait than excessive chumming. Send a live bait or carefully rigged squid to the depths for these purple billfish.
Bluefin fishing on Cape Cod is reaching its fall peak. Commercial anglers are running into good numbers of sellable (73-inch or better) fish, both in Cape Cod Bay and in the waters around Race Point. Live bait, especially bluefish, is the choice offering. Smaller bluefin can be spotted on the surface in the waters off Nauset and Chatham and on Stellwagen Bank. Jigging is picking up some fish, as is trolling spreader bars or weightless soft-plastic stickbaits.