Reports were a little more spotty this week, at least for bass. Big schools are moving through, but they are moving fast. Great fishing the day before does not guarantee good action the following day.
Cape Cod Canal and Buzzards Bay
Monday was one of those days at the Canal. Huge numbers of small fish attacking everything in sight. Most mornings, fishermen are getting some short stripers in the Canal. Stan at Red Top in Buzzards Bay said the action has been peaking between 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. Stan cautions that a lack of breaking fish doesn’t mean a lack of fish. Even if you don’t see anything on the surface, it’s worth casting. Many of the fish have been deep, and jigs like the Savage Sand Eel have been working well.
The nights have been hit or miss. Stan and a friend jigged the East End last night without so much as a hit.
In Buzzards Bay, tog are the most popular target right now. Popular areas like Cleveland’s Ledge are getting picked over, but smaller, lesser-known structures still offer the chance at a limit catch and a big white-chinner.
South Side and Islands
Jeff at Forestdale Bait & Tackle said the fishing late last week was some of the best he’s experienced all season. Big numbers of stripers, many keeper sized, invaded the South Side bays, feasting on juvenile scup and silversides. The action has slowed since, but fish are still being caught, and another big school could arrive any day.
Jeff heard of some big bluefish coming from South Cape Beach. Bait is best, and most of the blues have been taken on pieces of cut mackerel.
The fishing in slowing down on the Vineyard reported Steve at Larry’s although shore fishermen are still catching bonito, albies and stripers. For albies, East Beach was the place to be this week as shore fishermen were treated to some great action. Stripers are biting best on the south side of the island, where fish into the teens were taken this week.
There is no shortage of bait on the Vineyard. Edgartown Harbor is loaded with squid. There are adult and peanut bunker around, and silversides are everywhere. There are also clouds of krill off the south side of the island. When albies key in on these microscopic crustaceans, they can be nearly impossible to fool with artificial lures.
“Bass are everywhere,” reported the crew at Sports Port in Hyannis. The bays, the harbor mouths, the sound beaches are all holding stripers according to the report. The fish are small, with the largest reported taping out at 32 to 34 inches long.
Outer Cape and Cape Cod Bay
Small stripers are abundant in Cape Cod Bay. At times they are driving bait to the surface, and blitzing under flocks of sea gulls. The fish are being caught from Paines Creek and the Brewster Flats all the way to the Cape Cod Canal. Most are very small, ranging between 14 and 22 inches.
Beyond that, Dan at The Hook Up in Orleans hadn’t heard much on striper fishing this week. There have been fish moving along the Outer Beaches, with the best action taking place after dark. Small plugs like the Daiwa SP Minnow, paired with a teaser, will get it done.
Off Chatham, the bluefin bite goes on. Several giants were hooked this week by jigging fishermen, and the two that were landed by Bobby Rice of Reel Deal Charters and Dom Petrarca of Coastal Charters Sportfishing were an astonishing 423 and 597 pounds. There are plenty of more manageable 50- to 150-pound tuna around as well.
Freshwater
Trout fishing is top notch in the Cape Cod freshwaters. I got out over the weekend and caught rainbows to 20 inches. Many more anglers are finding luck with rainbows as well as browns. Dan from the Hook Up caught several brown trout in Cliff Pond this week, along with a few big bullheads. Bakers, Sheeps and Peters are also producing good action with trout.
Best Bets for the Weekend
Some big swell is forecasted for the weekend, but fishing from shore will still be a good option. The best bets are largely the same as last week. The Canal, the Outer Cape and the South Side all have stripers, and the fish are mostly small. However, there have been bigger fish mixed in at all of these locations. The schoolies are hitting small plugs and jigs, but if you want to target larger fish, try using eels or big plugs to weed out the shorts.
Don’t overlook the trout fishing. There have been some big fish stocked this fall, and they are biting well on metals, earthworms and shiners.
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