There’s no such thing as the “summer doldrums” when it comes to fishing on Cape Cod. This fishing this week has been great—in some cases the best it’s been all year—and with some additional species arriving inshore in greater numbers, the fishing is poised to get even better.
Cape Cod Canal and Cape Cod Bay
The boat fishing in Cape Cod Bay is still very good reported Aiden at Red Top Sporting Goods. During the day, trolling tuve-and worm rigs is working well, while live eels are the top producer at night.
Shore fishermen are catching in the Bay as well, but the fish are a bit smaller, reported Jeff at Forestdale Bait and Tackle. Jeff was walking the sandwich beaches this week where he caught bass to 24 inches on plugs after dark.
Amy at Sports Port had also heard of some bluefin tuna moving into Cape Cod Bay. We’ve been hearing some rumblings about tuna in the bay for a little over a week, but most tuna boats have been running south of the Vineyard to get in on the bluefin—and now yellowfin—bite happening down there.
There was an all day blitz of big stripers in the Cape Cod Canal last Saturday. The fishing in the Canal has been hot and cold since, but still better than it has been all season. The fish are feeding throughout the Canal reported Jeff at Forestdale Bait and Tackle, although most of the fishermen have been concentrating from the mid-Canal to the East End. Jeff said one fisherman working the west end had great action this week without another angler in sight.
Aiden said Red Top has checked in a number of 30- and 40-pound-plus fish this week. Many have been falling to sub-surface plugs like the Sebile Magic Swimmer and Stick Shadd, but pencil poppers have been working as well. The Savage Sand Eel is also accounting for some nice fish.
Mackerel seem to be the main baitfish, but butterfish and juvenile river herring have also been reported. Aiden at Red Top also reported fish in the East End spitting up squid.
Buzzards Bay
Fluke fishing is pretty good in Buzzards Bay reported Aiden at Red Top. Persistent fishermen have been able to cull their five-fish limit out of the vast nunbers of undersized fish.
Bluefish have been reported moving into Buzzards Bay as well. They have been feeding on small baitfish and can be located by looking for flocks of diving terns.
South Side and Martha’s Vineyard
Fishermen looking for a big pull on the South Side of the Cape can find it in the brown sharks biting off the beaches at night. A hunk of fresh bunker, bluefish, or a dead eel could give you the battle of the season from the sand reported Amy at Sports Port. Amy heard one report of an angler being spooled this week while targeting browns from the beach at night.
Keeper-sized stripers are still popping up in the South Side harbors and bays reported Jeff at Forestdale, who’d heard of a 28- and a 33-inch striper caught in Popponesset this week, both after dark. Jeff said there are still plenty of small stripers to target with light tackle in these backwaters as well.
Dowses Beach is producing not only the usual summertime assortment of scup and small sea bass, but a supring number of Northern kingfish, a small member of the drum family. Kingfish have small mouths, so target them with pieces of sandworm threaded onto size 6 hooks.
Snapper blues have begun to show reported Amy at Sports Port. These baby blues will continue to grow throughout the month, and will soon provide fun ultra-light-tackle fishing, as well as excellent eating and fluke bait.
Larger bluefish have been popping up at Horseshoe Shoal, with many topping the 10-pound mark. Also at the shoals, fishermen continue to pick away at fluke and the occasional keeper sea bass.
On Martha’s Vineyard, surfcasters are catching schoolie stripers on the South Side of the island reported Peter at Larry’s Tackle. Larger bass are being caught on the North Shore after dark.
Some very large bluefish moved through last week, Peter reported, with fish in excess of 15 pounds caught around the island. Currently, most of the blues being caught in Wasque Rip are around 5 pounds, but the big ones could move back in.
At the Hooter, there’s been a slow pick on bonito, but it’s still mostly blues out there. Better bonito fishing seems to be taking place at Bonito Bar reported Peter at Larry’s Tackle.
Chatham and the Outer Cape
Monomoy and Chatham continue to have good fishing for stripers, and now blues, reported Captain John at Fish Chatham Charters. Smaller stripers are being caught in the Monomoy Rips on light tackle, and larger stripers are being caught off Nauset with live bunker. Schools of big bluefish found the bunker off Chatham and Nauset this week, and have scattered the baitfish schools, while also making it difficult to present a live bait to stripers without having it bitten in half.
When the big blues show up in big bumbers, I find a “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach to be best. Beef up your leader, pinch your barbs, and have fun catching the toothy devils. Also, whether you fish from the boat or the surf, when bass and bluefish are mixed together a bunker head fished on the bottom is a deadly tactic for taking a trophy striper.
Schools of bunker have also been reported around Provincetown, though there hasn’t been as much news on the striper fishing off there recently. However, bluefish have been reported from the surf at Race Point.
Tuna and Offshore
Besides word of some bluefin nosing into Cape Cod Bay, the main event for big game anglers continues to be the tuna bite south of Martha’s Vineyard. Bluefin tuna are being caught on spreader bars, as well as stickbaits. Steve from Chaser Offshore fishing said while many of the bluefin being caught are between 40 and 55 inches, he said there have been some larger fish from 60 to 78 inches taken south of the Vineyard as well.
Last week, some yellowfin tuna and big mahi moved in with some warm water spinning up from the canyons. Captain Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters got his clients into big battle with a 43-pound yellowfin that struck a soft-plastic cast on a light-spinning rod rigged for bonito. In addition to that yellowfin, Terry trolled up a 65-pounder, a big yellow for the area.
East of Chatham has been quiet, but that could be because the vast majority of boats are heading south and not east.
Steve of Chaser Offshore said the very warm water moving up could be bringing some exotic species like wahoo and marlin within reach of Cape Cod anglers this weekend.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
It’s tough to miss this weekend. Boats seeking stripers, hit Cape Cod Bay or Chatham. Surfcasters seeking stripers, hit the Vineyard or the Canal. Surfcasters seeking bluefish, check Race Point or Nauset, where a school of bunker beached itself on Wednesday, quite likely after being chased onto the sand by stripers or blues. For tuna, you can join the fleet heading south, or go exploring in Cape Cod Bay or on Stellwagen.