This past Friday I was able to jump on an open boat trip east of Chatham with Capt. JR of Bobby Rice’s Reel Deal Fishing Charters. The wind was blowing 15+ knots and it was rough but we went for it. Once out 20 miles we started seeing some life and set out the gear. Before 11 am we landed 2 bluefin tuna. We kept a 61 inch tuna and released a 51 inch one. Bobby Rice’s boat next to us went 4/4 on the day keeping one and releasing the rest. The only other boat near us went 3/3 that morning as well. We headed in after lunch feeling fortunate with our catch considering the wind and seas.
On Saturday the wind was blowing out of the north which made Nantucket sound not so bad. My wife wanted sea bass so we headed out on our boat for one last shot of the season at black sea bass. We fished for about 3 hours in the mid afternoon and caught many short sea bass and a bunch of blue fish. We managed just 4 keeper sized sea bass on the trip but considering the onslaught of blue fish, we may have been lucky with the 4 keepers.
The bluefin tuna fishing out east of Chatham is about as good as it gets right now and I am looking forward to tautog fishing in the next month in the rocky areas of Nantucket sound.