A number of old timers have told me that the fall striper run begins not in September, but in August. There must be something to it, because while the temperatures and the calendar say it’s still summer, as schools of bass and baitfish concentrate in certain areas around the Cape, the striper fishing is definitely beginning to have a fall feel.
There is still a large school of striped bass milling around Cape Cod Bay reported Maco’s Bait and Tackle and Red Top Sporting Goods. The fishing on Wednesday night was a little slow, with the stripers in smaller groups and moving faster than just a few days earlier. It could be that the bait that has concentrated the bass has scattered, or it could be that the relentless pressure from the commercial fishing fleet for the past three weeks is starting to take it’s toll. It’s probably a little of both, but there are still plenty of stripers to be caught in Cape Cod Bay. On Monday, several bass in the 40- to 50-pound range were landed, so boat fishermen working the bay have an excellent chance of hooking into a cow striper.
The top tactics in the bay have been casting eels at night in 20 to 40 feet of water, or trolling tube-and-worm rigs during the day. There have been some topwater blitzes, particularly outside the east end of the Canal, but even when the fish are on top, live eels remain the top tactic.
Despite all the activity on the boats, the beaches from Scusset to Sandy Neck are not seeing much action—at least not with the 20- to 50-pound bass that the boats are catching. Jeff at Forestdale Bait and Tackle said fishermen dunking bait are connecting with stripers to keeper size off the Sandwich beaches. Squid has been effective, as has sandworms. Fresh, chunked bunker might offer a shot at a larger bass.
Fishermen in the Cape Cod Canal have been connecting with some larger bass in the mornings. Pencil poppers and swimming plugs are catching some fish, but most of the bass being taken are falling to jigs like the Savage Sand Eel reported Bill from Maco’s.
Buzzards Bay, particularly the Wareham and Onset area, is producing some stripers reported the crew at Sports Port. The fish are mostly schoolies, but fishermen are having a ball catching them on light tackle. Small jigs are working best, but early in the morning, some of the schoolies are feeding on the surface.
Shore anglers working the South Side beaches still have a chance at hooking a keeper striper. Jeff at Forestdale reported that stripers to 36 inches were taken from the South Side this week. Concentrate your efforts in the early mornings and at night. The outlets will be the best bet for action, especially at the beginning of the dropping tide.
On the Vineyard, eeling around the outflows on the North Shore is the best bet for a surf striper reported the crew at Coops. The folks at Larry’s added that needlefish plugs are taking some bass as well.
The bays and estuaries around the Cape are loaded with baitfish right now. While crabbing Wednesday night—and securing a dozen choice blueclaws for a Thursday night crab boil—I spotted countless spearing, mullet, juvenile herring and needlefish in one Upper Cape Harbor. Once the water temperatures start dropping and this bait hits the open water, the Cape is going to be in for some furious fall fishing.
The crabbing is going well around the Cape. Many of the larger Jimmies (males) were in the middle of spawning with smaller “sallies.” I caught my crab dinner by wading around the shoreline with a flashlight and a dipnet, spotlighting crabs and then scooping them up as fast as I could. The good crabbing will continue through September and into October, but get out there soon while the nights are still warm!
If it’s bluefish you’re after, make the trip to Provincetown, where blues are stacked up off the Race and around to the backside. For the most part, it’s a boat fishermen’s game right now, according to the report from Nelson’s Bait and Tackle, but occasionally the blues are moving within range of the anglers on the beach. Bluefish are also popping up in the Canal on occasion reported Jeff at Red Top. Jeff at Forestdale said there are blues roaming around the South Side, but they can be tough to track down at times. A few blues are also coming out of the surf at Wasque on the Vineyard.
Bonito made waves this week in Buzzards Bay and around the Vineyard. Fishermen found surface-feeding schools of bones in Buzzards Bay around Westport. Casting metal spoons has been productive, but topwaters are working as well. At the Hooter, bonito fishing is a trolling game, and the crew at Larry’s Tackle said fishermen heading out after them are getting a few each trip. At Coop’s the crew reported that bonito are being found in a number of places around the island, so fishermen looking to avoid the crowds at the Hooter can branch out and find some fish on their own. Bill Fisher Bait and Tackle on Nantucket reports that bonito are stacked up at Bonito Bar.
Neither Vineyard shop had any word on the tuna bite south of Martha’s Vineyard. The most intriguing tuna talk came from Red Top and Nelsons. Jeff at Red Top said “football” bluefin from 40 to 70 pounds have been hunting in Cape Cod Bay. Jeff had no specifics as to where, but fishermen hitting the bay for bass would be wise to bringing along a tuna setup or two and take a cruise out to deeper water. Fortunately, Nelsons had some intel on where the tuna were popping up off the tip of the Cape. Herring Cove to Head of the Meadow has been holding feeding bluefin lately.
Surf sharking seems to have stalled a bit, not only on the Cape, but Nantucket and the Vineyard as well. Andy Nabreski got a hook into another brown late last week, and a few anglers chunking on the south side reported hooking “unstoppable” animals, that may have been big roughtail stingrays.
Black sea bass fishing is slowing a bit on the South Side, at least for keeper-sized fish. Around the Vineyard, hit deep water off the North Shore for the best shot at scoring some big sea bass.
Scup are providing another option for shore-bound anglers on the South Side of the Cape, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. One angler targeting Scup on Nantucket actually hooked an Atlantic salmon a few weeks ago!
Best Bets for the Weekend
More hot weather in the forecast, but don’t let that keep you from experiencing some excellent late-summer striper fishing. Surf fishermen have plenty of options from the Canal to the Vineyard and the South Side. Also, fishing the Outer Cape beaches might not be a bad call either. Mid- to late August was traditionally an excellent time on the back beaches. While the seals have definitely taken a bite out of the fishing, I believe without a doubt that memorable striped bass still move within surfcasting range of these legendary beaches. If it’s solitude and a beautiful setting you’re looking for, the Outer Cape is the best bet for this weekend. Bring along minnow plugs, needlefish, teasers, and a few eels as well.
For boats, Cape Cod Bay is the striper hotspot, but if the bass have lockjaw, be ready to shift gears to P-town bluefish of backside bluefin.
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Dear Jimmy Fee,
As an old timer, I recall the situation back in the 1980’s when there was, as I recall, an essential moratorium on striped bass fishing. The was due to a combination of a drastic reduction in the number of bass around and the appropriate response of no catching in an attempt to rebuild the stock.
My personal experience is that there has been a consistent fall in the number of stripers I have caught off Monomoy and other rips over the past 5 years. We used to catch 10+ fish a day, released almost all of them, but this has fallen to just 1-2 fish a day this year and in 2013-2014 and this has required a lot of work to catch these few fish.
What is your perspective? I know there have been many fish caught early in the season off P-town and in Cape Cod Bay at night, especially by the bass commercial fleet. However, I am worried that we are on the cusp of a substantial fall off in the striped bass fishery. These macro cycles have occured in the past and I wonder if we are heading to another one. The precise explanation for these is not generally agreed upon, but the reality of these over that past century appears to be agreed upon.
What is your perspective and that of colleagues at On the Water?
Thank you for taking time to respond to my query.
RM Rose MD
Robert. I also believe we are heading for a disaster in regards to the striper stock. Its way over fished let alone all the illegal poaching that occurs. I would be completely fine with strictly catch and release along the entire east coast. Plus stripers are high in toxins anyways. There is no possible way the stock can sustain the type of fishing that occurs. If you want stripers tommorow we had better do something today.
Dear Dr Rose,
As a long time Monomoy rip fisherman I agree with your observations about the last 5 years. There are so many charter, commercial and recreational striper fisherman proudly displaying and reporting on their recent cow bass catches all over the New England coastline that the striper fishery will surely be taking a very hard hit in the next few years.
As much as I enjoy eating them, I stopped keeping and buying any in 2014 and again this year.
In the 90’s I was fishing the Merrimack River most of the time. As the stripers began their come back, we would typically catch 10-20 fish per outing with many of them in the 40″ plus range. No live bait needed, just some frozen mackerel or herring. We would fish 15 to 20 trips a year and catch fish every trip, large fish! I would rarely keep a fish since I am not a big fish eater and prefer flounder. Over the years, as they loosened the regs, you could see the fishing go down hill year after year. It has never recovered, and the “good” days now don’t even compare to those earlier trips. I believe we should go back to a 36″, 38″ or even 40″ limit…for ever! It is my belief that if we had kept the length requirement high, and only allowed 1 fish, we would still have great fishing today. The problem as I see it is that as soon as a fish stock becomes a come back, we feel the need to allow more fish to be kept without thinking of the future.
Agree with the old timer and Paul. I’m 39, Boat fisherman but when I used to come to the CC Canal when I was a kid there were a ton of fish, now you can fish a whole day down there now and not see any activity. On the other hand I was down there yesterday and the water looked as if it was boiling, entire width of Canal – huge, huge school of bass feeding. Everyone throwing plugs at them and only one person hooked up. It was an awesome sight. I think the Striped bass need a break from the commercial fishing for a while to rebuild. It’s all relative, after a few years without a lot of bass on the market it will drive price and commercial guys will get double the price for the next few years. I typically catch and release unless the fish is hooked bad. They need a break !
The canal is hot right now! Git-er done! Tight-Lines.
Agreed on giving the striper stock a break. I trust fisheries biologists to make the calls on length minimums, maximums, slot limits, etc., but it’s clear too many fish, including big specimens, are being killed. How many of the fisherman keeping the 30+ pound breeders for the table are really eating all that meat anyway, and of those who do, aren’t they all sick of striper fillets after the fourth straight day of eating them? I haven’t eaten a striper in years and while I remember it being good, other white-fleshed (and fairly similar tasting) fish like pollock are much more abundant. Catch the pressured species fish for only for fun, eat the abundant other fish for food. I think enough attention has and will be paid to the striper population to prevent any outright collapse, but it seems to me that bringing any population as close to the healthy abundance of the old days is better policy than constantly testing the stock’s resilience.
It’s always a good time to remember the rivers, harbors, and bays. Dam removal and general cleanup efforts continue to restore those habitats which are so crucial to baitfish like herring.
I can’t agree more with strictly catch and release program for stripers. One constantly sees pictures of fisherman with stripers that have been laying in the sun all day just to take a picture at the local bait store. The fish is no longer eible…so a breeding fish’s meaningless death just for the vanity of a picture. Stripers need to be protected….game fish status would help…but people should realize it’s not an unlimited resource
I just spent the past 2 weeks fishing the canal from sun up to sun down and all night long….need to sleep now…. and in the last week there the stripers gradually increased in the canal to an awesome site last saturday morning in the pouring rain. What a vacation it was. And I can’t wait till I can get up there next Saturday morning to get my fix fishing! I met so many wonderful and environmentally friendly fishermen who were so talkative and thrilled to be fishing the Ditch. I heard many old stories and saw a guy with a lightweight fly rod having a blast fishing for shoolies for the fun of it!!…so cool! But, I hate to say this…….. I was bummed out to see fishermen catch huge stripers and haul them out…carry them back to the parking lot and return to repeat thier ritual…..where is the Warden????…Coffee/Donut Break???…one guy I was fishing by during the week commented to his fishing buddy after just catching a huge striper said, “Well this one helps buy my new dishwasher”…he left with the striper and returned to fish again catching another. I did not know appliance stores bardered stripers….or did he sell it? whatever….I guess it is a different world out there of fishermen….some really care for the Canal Stripers and some would rather curse on the rocks and take selfishly what they can from this number one fishery.
The only way I think it can be done is strictly catch and release – The EP are useless in this matter, they are half asleep. People are taking schoolies home with them and walking right by the truck. Also like Ed said going back and forth to their car actually hiding fish. It’s really pathetic and sad at this point.
i know a few EP’s and in their defense they are wassasy understaffed. I believe there’s less than 80 for the entire state. In thr previous post someone commented on paying for his dishwasher that can go one of two ways. If he has a commercial license then he can keep two under a specific premise and sell it. If he doesnt then the guy is a scumbag who should get whats coming to him. Either way if this keeps up we wont be fishing for stripers doon. I dont get it. Stripers are one of the fish they say not to eat because of contamination but people keep everything. I had a guy get so upset with me when i let to 32 inch stripers go. I’d swear he was mad because i watched someone take his first born. Wake up!! We need to abide by the rules and then some. If you have a cell phone guess what? You have a camera too!!!
My bad on spelling mistakes . Smart (Dumb) phone
hey Paul, excellent way to put it…I do not thave a smart phone….just a dumb trak and of course, I forgot my camera that day…I just wanted to get out there fast to fish…lol…But, yes the EP are wayyyy understaff and I understand that totally, but did not prob relize he was maybe?? a Commercial Fisherman…my Great Uncle Raymond and his family were Lobstermen and they ate alot of fish all there lives back into the 20’s….maybe one day a few fishermen can make the difference by keeping and continuing the discussion now….. for protecting the fisheries for future fishermen….thxs all!