Our regular Cape Cod fishing forecaster, On The Water editor Jimmy Fee, is on vacation this week. Technically he’s on his honeymoon – so congratulations to Jimmy and his bride Pam.

At the wedding, we joked with Jimmy that while he was away, he’d probably miss out on all kinds of great fishing – that the striper fishing in the Canal would go off, and that the offshore bite would catch fire – and we told him that we’d text him reports and photos to torture him.

Well, it turns out that the striper bite in the Canal has been excellent. And there was a good window of weather for offshore fishing, and many boats had excellent days catching tuna, mahi and marlin.

However, Jimmy had to be thinking that we were playing a joke when we forwarded news of a sailfish caught by a surfcaster in the Cape Cod Canal.

Cape Cod Canal

The biggest news in the Cape Cod Canal this week was the incredible, unbelievable, unprecedented catch of a sailfish by Canal surfcaster Justin Sprague. Justin was at the east end of the Canal at sunset on Tuesday evening when he saw a large fish swimming at the surface. Thinking it might be a shark, he tossed his swimbait in front of it and was blown away when he hooked a billfish that streaked toward the center of the Canal and greyhounded several times before ultimately becoming tail-wrapped, allowing Justin to drag the fish to shore. According to Mike at M&Ds in Wareham, it’s the first time he’s heard of a billfish landed in the Canal in the past 28 years. If you want to check out proof of this incredible catch, there’s video and photos of the fight and the landing.

The news of the sailfish this week distracted from what would have been a newsworthy week in the Canal regardless. In last week’s forecast, Jimmy wrote that “With the new moon coming up on August 6 and good tides … Canal fishing should continue to improve.” It’s actually been a fantastic week of fishing in the Canal, with great action on stripers throughout the whole week. On Thursday morning, there were reports of stripers on top in several locations. Most of the fish were on the small side, but they were aggressively hitting topwater lures, swim shads, and Sebile Magic Swimmers. Larger bass to 35 pounds were landed closer to the East End of the Canal, where stripers are coming in from Cape Cod Bay to feed on the Canal’s abundant squid and mackerel, according to fishermen at Red Top in Buzzards Bay. Nights are also producing big fish on jigs and live eels. Mike at M&Ds shared that many Canal regulars were coming in to the shop today as a fresh Thursday delivery had brought some particularly large eels.

Buzzards Bay

Buzzards Bay is giving up a mixed bag of small stripers, bluefish, fluke and scup. Buckos in Fall River reported plenty of scup around Tiverton, Westport, and Sakonnet Point. Snapper bluefish have appeared in the Westport River and the Sakonnet River, while bigger blues are hanging off East Beach and Mishaum Point.

Fluke fishing is very good in Buzzards Bay on the edges of the Mashnee Flats and in channels and deep water off Wings Neck, Scraggy Neck and Nyes Neck. Expect mostly throwbacks with a few keepers, said Todd from Falmouth Bait and Tackle. Bucktail jigs tipped with Berkley Gulp or squid strips work well in these relatively shallow areas.

Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds

Fluke fishing is fair to good on Middle Ground and Lucas shoals. Bass fishing along the Elizabeth Islands has been quiet, but there have been some positive reports from the Vineyard around Gay Head and Devils Bridge.

Schools of black sea bass have been reported in Vineyard Sound, and they haven’t been behaving like bottom fish. There were reports this week of black sea bass hitting sub-surface lures meant for bonito on Hedge Fence and even a report of sea bass blitzing under the surface under birds. The bait that’s making the sea bass act funny is juvenile butterfish. Now that bonito have entered our waters, there’s a good chance they will be the next fish to move into Vineyard Sound and make a meal of the baby butterfish.

At the moment, the Hooter, 3 miles south of Muskeget Channel, is still the hot spot to troll up some bonito, but those fish could filter inshore any day. Speed-trolling Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows and other classic bonito plugs has been the top method.

Outer Cape

Chatham is still the place to go for stripers, and now that the Massachusetts commercial striper season has closed, it’s been a lot less crowded. Diamond jigging was the go-to method for the commercial fleet and should still produce some fish, but many anglers like charter captain Seamus Muldoon of Jailbreak Charters have been doing well trolling tubes and spoons for bass in the 18- to 25-pound range. Big schools of big bluefish to 15 pounds entered the scene this week, reported Captain Muldoon. The blues have made the striper fishing tougher but they have been a ton of fun for his clients.

After excellent fishing through July, the waters around Provincetown have been very quiet, according to a Report from Nelsons Bait and Tackle.

Cape Cod Bay

The biggest bass in the area are hanging in Cape Cod Bay at the moment. Trolling tube-and-worm rigs and bunker spoons off Sandy Neck Beach and Scorton Ledge has produced 40- and 50-pound bass in the past week. The night bite has been good with live eels off Sandy Neck. Look for this bite to light up when the wind comes out of the north – which looks like this weekend, Saturday night into Sunday.

Offshore and Bluefin Tuna

Bluefin tuna fishing has been up and down, but the bite on Thursday was good for Capt. Eric Stewart of The Hook-Up in Orleans, who went 1 for 5 at the Regal Sword and landed a 72-incher. Several charter captains were able to get fish this week on jigs and spinning gear. An influx of smaller tuna from the south should ignite the bite as we head toward mid-month. At least one boat on its way to the Canyons reported an incredible number of bluefin tuna on the surface at the edge of the shipping channel due east of Nantucket.

Stellwagen Bank has been quiet, although there has been the occasional 500-pound-plus giant landed by a commercial rod-and-reel fishermen.

Best Bets for the Weekend

You can’t expect to catch a sailfish, but you should poke around the east end of the Cape Cod Canal in the coming days to try to get in on the surprisingly strong August bite. Cape Cod Bay should be a good bet this weekend for boat fishermen, especially if the wind swings around and comes out of the north. It’s also time to start looking for bonito in Vineyard Sound, although you might have to head to the Hooter for consistent action.