Cape Cod & Buzzards Bay Fishing Report 6-12-14

It’s the full moon in June, and that usually means it’s big striper time on the Cape. Unfortunately, it looks like somebody forgot to tell the stripers that. Boat and beach fishing for stripers right now is fair. Fish are being caught all over the Cape, but with the exception of a few hotspots, the fishing is definitely slower than past years.

Outer Cape and Cape Cod Bay

One of those hotspots is Provincetown. Big schools of big stripers are wallowing in the dense schools of sand eels off Race Point and Herring Cove. Dan from The Hook Up in Orleans saw a big fleet off the Race when he was returning from a tuna trip on Stellwagen last weekend. Dan said there had to be 80 boats, but all were catching fish.

Jim at Nelson’s Bait and Tackle in Provincetown said there have been fish schools of striper up to 25 pounds that boat and kayak anglers are hammering with vertical jigs, swimming plugs and trolled umbrella rigs.

There have been some rumors of very big fish coming off the Race as both Tom at Red Top Sporting Goods and Dan at the Hook Up heard of 50-inch-plus stripers in the area.

Surf fishing around the Outer Cape is good and getting better, said Jim at Nelson’s.  There are big numbers of smaller fish feeding right in the wash, and the occasional keeper-sized striper is mixing in as well.  Bluefish are also beginning to make their presence known on the Outer Cape.

Barnstable Harbor is holding big number of schoolie stripers that fly- and light-tackle anglers have been enjoying. The fish have been keyed in on small sand eels, so use slender lures or flies for the best chance at hooking up.

Keeper-sized stripers are being taken along some of the Cape Cod Bay beaches on bait after dark reported Jeff from Forestdale Bait and Tackle. Sandworms and fresh bunker have been the most productive baits.

Live-lining mackerel off Barnstable Harbor is still producing stripers as large as 20 pounds.

South Side and Islands

The bluefish are still thick off the South Side reported Todd from Falmouth Bait and Tackle. The key to catching them lately has been casting as far as possible off the beach, or fishing in a boat. Mike from M and D’s fished South Cape Beach with his daughter this week, and the two scored 18 fish, all at the end of long casts. Jeff from Forestdale Bait and Tackle said it was the same story at Oregon Beach.  Fishermen who could cast a popper or metal way off the beach hooked up, while anglers throwing shorter came up empty. Boat fishermen have also been hammering the blues Jeff said.

Daytime fishing around the bays has produced some decent bass.  Jeff heard of a 32-incher taken in Popponesset on a live eel this week. SP Minnows are also drawing strikes from South Side stripers.

Martha’s Vineyard is still producing big stripers, with fish larger than 20 pounds being taken from the beach after dark. Steve at Larry’s Bait and Tackle said the said one of the most consistent places to find stripers in the surf has been Chappy. Fishermen casting plugs after dark had been scoring good numbers of teen-sized bass. This week, Steve said, schools of blues moved into Chappy. Fishermen still caught bass, but for every bass fishermen hooked, they hooked five bluefish. Bluefish or not, that kind of fast, mixed-bag action sounds great.

Schoolie stripers are in many of the ponds and estuaries on the Vineyard, and fly fishermen and light-tackle fishermen are catching big numbers of small fish.

The fishing on Nantucket has been changing daily, like the wind direction, reported Cam from Bill Fisher Tackle. Stripers to 20 pounds have been taken from the Nantucket beaches, and the rips have been holding some big numbers of fish on occasion. Bluefish have been very good, Cam said, but the bass fishing is a little slow for this time of year.

Bottom fishing has been good in Vineyard and Nantucket sounds. Big sea bass and big scup are plentiful over rough bottom.  There hasn’t been much to report on fluke fishing yet.

Cape Cod Canal and Buzzards Bay

Big sea bass are still feeding heavily in Buzzards Bay.  Both Red Top and M and D’s weighed in 6-pound black sea bass this week. Catching a limit of fish has been no problem, and you don’t even need bait. Bucktail jigs, metal jigs and Berkley Gulp have all been effective at tempting sea bass lately.

Tom at Red Top said the scup fishing has also been good with porgies to 3 pounds eating squid and clam strips on high-low rigs.

There are still tog being caught in the West End of the Canal and in Buzzards Bay, reported Tom at Red Top, but as the water warms, the blackfish bite is slowing down.

“Breaking tides” in the Canal started Wednesday of this week, but through Thursday afternoon, the fishing had been slow. Fish are being caught, but there has not been the blitz-type fishing anglers have come to expect from the Canal during the prime tides in the spring. The fish being caught have mostly been on jigs, fished right on the bottom.

Tom from Red Top said there is no shortage of bait.  Mike from M and D’s even said there were some tinker mackerel that moved into the Canal on Wednesday, bringing a slew of small stripers with them.

Todd at Falmouth Bait and Tackle said that there are 20-pound fish being caught on a daily basis in the Canal, but not many of them.

Boat fishermen are doing well along the Elizabeth Islands by live-lining scup and trolling with wire line.  While there are not a ton of fish being caught, there have been a few very large fish taken, especially toward Robinsons and Quicks holes.

Freshwater

The trout fishing is slowing down as we move into summer, but largemouth bass fishing is still great with big bass still being caught all around the Cape.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Back in January, when I first saw the tide charts for 2014, I circled this Thursday through Sunday as can’t-miss days at the Canal. Though the Canal has been very slow, just one tide change could bring in the fish—though I’ve been saying that for almost a month now. With more stripers in Cape Cod Bay than Buzzards Bay, focus Canal efforts on the East End, as any bass coming in will likely ride the nighttime west-moving tide into the Canal.

More reliable striper fishing is taking place at Race Point, both on the boat and the beach. The South Side is the place to be to get your bluefish fix, just remember to bring long-casting lures and a 9- to 11-foot surf rod as the blues have been way off the beach. The black sea bass fishing is great, but it will be slowing down soon, so take advantage of it while it’s still hot.

A note from reader Jack King: “On Memorial Day weekend I had a great morning fishing with my son, son-in-law, and a good friend in Cotuit. My son-in-law, a combat veteran who served two tours in Iraq spent the day with family and friends on this important occasion honoring our veterans, to him a brotherhood. Two custom rods were taken from that location. One rod was a 9-foot surf rod with a Quantum Cabo reel with the name Donna King hand written on the rod. He also had a 9 1/2 foot 8 wt. fly rod with an Orvis reel and the name Jay Williams hand written on that rod. Perhaps the person who took the rods planned to hold them with plans to return them when the rightful owner was located. Someone reading this may recognize at least one of the rods because of the unique color turquoise thread wrap or the names mentioned above. If these rods have been located, please do your part to thank a vet and contact me by email kind1@comcast.net or by phone 413-2041731. Thank you.”