Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay Fishing Report 10-18-2012

Big Blitzes in the Canal

Great Tog Fishing in Buzzards Bay

Even though we’re getting late into October, the fishing hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down…yet. Striper fishing is good, freshwater fishing is phenomenal and the bluefin are still hanging around. Pepper in some fast action with blackfish, and you have one great weekend of fall fishing on tap.

South Side of Cape Cod and Islands

By all accounts, fishing on the South Side of the Cape is still great. Christian from Falmouth Bait and Tackle said he’s been doling out eels all week to regulars who’ve been hitting the jetties and outflows from Green Pond to Trunk River. During the day, school-sized fish are being caught fairly regularly. I watched a school of 20- to 30-inch stripers harassing spearing in one of the salt ponds on Saturday. They were hunting under a big school of Atlantic needlefish, which were also snapping up the spearing.

After dark, some bigger fish are taking the eels. Jack at Bad Fish Outfitters in Falmouth said fish to 26 pounds have been caught this week, and there are almost certainly some bigger fish moving through.

There are plenty of schoolie stripers in the Osterville area as well. Anglers will have no trouble finding and catching 16- to 24-inch stripers, but keepers are a little tougher to track down according to a report from Sports Port in Hyannis,

The Bass River saw some fast action this week when schools of stripers and blues intercepted peanut bunker trying to make their way to the Sound.

No word on albies this week, but there are still bonito roaming around both Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Striper fishing on the Vineyard seemed to be improving last week. Fish in 20-pound range were weighed on a daily basis during the last week of the Derby. Bait on the bottom will be your best bet at one of the bigger fish, but plugs after dark offer a good chance of connecting as well.

Cape Cod Bay

Barnstable Harbor is loaded with school-sized stripers and small bluefish.  Light-tackle and fly-fishermen are having a ball with the fish. Occasionally the action will spill over onto the beaches at Sandy Neck where small fish will be eating silversides under flocks of birds. The folks at Sports Port reported action around Paines Creek in Brewster as well.

Buzzards Bay and Elizabeth Islands

The big news in Buzzards Bay is the red hot tog fishing. Anglers tied into double-digit blackfish this week throughout the bay. Realistically, any hard structure in the bay could be holding keeper tog at this time of year. Popular areas like Cleveland Ledge certainly have fish, but they will also attract more fishermen.

Eric from CMS in New Bedford reported that even shore fishermen are getting in on the tog bite.

Bass and bluefish are looking good. West Island has had fish, same with Fort Phoenix. With all the fish moving through the Canal, Eric expects to see more stripers invade the area over the next few days.

Nothing to report on the Elizabeth Islands, good or bad. Lousy conditions may have kept anglers away last weekend and early this week.  The time is right for some bass to be moving through though. Robinsons and Quicks holes ought to be holding at least a few bass willing to scarf up a live eel.

Cape Cod Canal

Big-time blitzes of small-time stripers ripped through the canal this week. The average size of the fish had many anglers swapping their Canal rods for something more suitable for the 14- to 24-inch fish. The stripers have mostly been hitting anything thrown at them, but at times can be surprisingly discerning, given their size. Smaller lures like soft-plastics on jigheads, metal spoons or bucktail jigs will get the most hits, but anglers looking for a topwater hit will get it as well.

Given the size of these fish, I suggest sticking to single-hook lures when targeting the schoolies. It’s even wise to go a step further and crush the barb to minimize the damage to these juvenile fish, so they can come back and blitz as cows in a few years.

Reports of bigger bass in the dark have trickled in, but many anglers have had trouble getting through the smaller fish.

Bait in the Canal included butterfish, peanut bunker, snapper blues and small herring.

Sunrise has had the most intense blitzes, but it seems like the schoolie action has been going all day. Stan at Red Top suggests fishing either the East or West ends, as that’s where most of the blitzing is taking place, but there were fish blitzing yesterday afternoon dead smack in the middle of the canal at the Herring Run. Be mobile and look for birds and breaking fish.

Bluefin Tuna Fishing Report

After a few days at the dock, Captain Eric Stewart made his way back to the tuna grounds on Wednesday where he found a 55-inch bluefin and a good-size mako shark around the BB Buoy. Foul weather kept tuna tanglers on shore this week. Wednesday was the first fishable day in some time. There are still tuna around, however, and should be for another couple weeks.

Freshwater Fishing Report

From the sound of it, trout fishing couldn’t get much better. Cool nights have brought holdovers close to shore and recent stockings have added even more trout to the mix. PowerBait, worms and shiners are working, as are spoons and flies. Jack at Bad Fish Outfitters said it’s taking him no time at all to fill his three fish limit with PowerBait, after which he switches to the fly rod to catch even more trout. Dan at the Hook Up in Orleans said Crystal Lake has been good, as has Peters. Later in the morning has been better than sunrise. This week nice-size rainbows, big tigers and small brown trout made up most of the catch.

Bass fishing has also been good. Jack at Bad Fish said largemouths are feeding heavily. He’s been catching good numbers of bass on every trip, finding fish up to 5 pounds pretty consistently.

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

I would shoot for a weekend trifecta of trout, tog and stripers. You can knock out stripers and tog in Buzzards Bay by fishing in the Westport area, and follow up by hitting any number of trout-stocked ponds in Southeastern Massachusetts.

If you want to hunt for your last big striper, get some eels and try some of the South Side outflows or try fishing those eels or heavy jigs in the Canal after dark.

Blitzing fish are always fun, no matter the size, so the Canal in the morning should be on your agenda as well. Remember, these little stripers are going to grow into trophies if we take care of them now. Take care to release them; don’t drag the fish through the rocks before unhooking them, and don’t throw them cartwheeling 15 feet through the air from a perch high up in the canal rocks.

There’s still a few good weeks left on the saltwater side, but don’t delay in getting out there. This weekend could be the peak of the fall action for many gamefish species around the Cape. Make sure you get out and enjoy it.