Before long, the weather will be cooling off, the leaves will be turning, and our favorite saltwater gamefish will be turning their noses to the south. Some cool weather this morning reminded me of that, and drove me to promise myself that I’d savor these final few weeks of summer fishing on Cape Cod.

Buzzards Bay Fishing Report

Weakfish popped up again on Cape Cod this week, the most recent catches coming from Cleveland Ledge where anglers were fishing for sea bass.

Bucko’s Bait and Tackle in Fall River didn’t have much to report, other than a number of very small stripers feeding on spearing and other small baitfish around Fall River and Westport.

Cape Cod Canal Fishing Report

The new moon, and associated strong tides fired up the Canal fishing last week, but as the moon waxes and the strength of the current wanes, the fishing has slowed down. Todd at Falmouth Bait and Tackle reported breaking fish as of Thursday morning, but not nearly the frenzy of the previous week. Mike at M and D’s in Wareham said the canal had good fishing until Wednesday morning, when things turned off.

Cape Cod Bay Fishing Report

School stripers in Barnstable Harbor are providing fun light-tackle action. Small soft-plastics or flies are the best lures at the moment. Outside Barnstable Habor, bass up to 40 pounds are being caught by fishermen trolling tube-and-worm rigs reports Jeff at Forestdale Bait and Tackle. The key is being on the water early. As the sun rises, Jeff says, the fish stop biting.

South Side

Popponesset and Cotuit have been producing the occasional schoolie stripers, but there have not been a ton of these fish. Snapper bluefish, however, have been incredibly abundant throughout the Upper Cape’s harbors. A small piece or spearing or squid or a tiny spoon has been the trick to catching the tiny blues.  Scup are another option for shore fishermen as they have moved into many harbors as well. Squid or sandworms are key to catching the scup from shore.

Boat fishermen have been catching larger bluefish, some up to 12 pounds, in the shoals and rips around Nantucket.

Succonesset Shoal is producing keeper fluke and black sea bass, and various shoals and wrecks in the sounds are giving up fluke and sea bass. Middle Ground has had some fluke as well, but most have been throwbacks.

On the Vineyard, the shore fishing has been tough, but fishermen are still catching some bass along the North Shore of the Island reported Coop’s Bait and Tackle. During the day, some stripers have been feeding around Lobsterville Beach. Fishing off Edgartown has been pretty good for boats chunking or trolling wire line.

Fluke fishing around the island is okay, but big black sea bass are biting well in the Vineyard Sound.

Bonito fishing continues to improve. Tons of bait at the Hooter has made it the bonito hotspot at present. Hedge Fence has been producing a few “bones” as well. There were also rumors of some decent bonito fishing off Falmouth Heights.

Lower Cape Fishing Report

The striper bite off Chatham has slowed a bit. There are still some fish off Chatham Light hitting diamond jigs, but it seems like the big schools that set up shop there for the past month have moved on, being replaced by bluefish.

The fishing around Provincetown has been slow. John at Nelson’s Bait and Tackle said usually by the second week of August, the fishing at the tip of the Cape is picking up again, but that has not been the case this year. At least not yet. The table is set for any bass that happen to move in, with squid and sand eels aplenty of P-Town.

Offshore Fishing Report

The offshore bite is red hot for just about all pelagic species. Fishermen heaving south of the Vineyard, down to the canyons are finding big numbers of longfin, mahi, a few bigeye, and even blue marlin and wahoo. Closer to home, the bluefin are biting well at the Regal Sword. Captain Eric Stewart of the Hook-Up in Orleans had an 82-incher on Thursday morning, as well as a 50-incher. It seems as though some “smaller” tuna in the 50- to 60-inch range (as compared to the 70- to 80-inchers that have been most abundant this season), have moved in. Stewart also trolled up a 48-, 50-, and 62-inch tuna on Wednesday.

Freshwater Fishing Report

Trout are still on the feed if anglers can drop a bait to the deepest parts of the pond. Jeff at Forestdale Bait and Tackle reported anglers catching trout on nightcrawlers fished deep. Big largemouth bass are still happily eating shiners fished under bobbers in just about every Cape Cod pond.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Though there aren’t big numbers of fish, the bass caught trolling in Cape Cod Bay have been big. Drag a tube-and-worm rig at first light for the best odds of hooking up. Head to the Hooter if you want the best shot at a bonito. Trolling small spoons and minnow plugs will draw the most strikes. If you can get offshore, do it. The weather looks mild enough to support a trip to the canyons early next week or even over the weekend. The bite has been red hot out there.