Thursday marked the official start of fall, and though the temperatures are still summery, the fishing definitely has that fall-run feel.
South Side and Islands
The inlets along Cape Cod’s South side are full of small bluefish right now, making for lots of light-tackle fun reported Jeff at Forestdale Bait and Tackle. Jeff said some larger, much larger blues are also prowling around the South Side.
To find these 12- to 15-pound blues, Jeff said first you need to find the schools of adult menhaden. The blues are feasting on the big bunker in a number of the South Side bays. Snagging a bunker out of the school and letting it swim has been the ticket to hooking the big blues. Be sure to use a wire leader, however.
Jeff has been using this snag-and-drop technique with good luck on stripers from 28 to 35 inches after dark. He said that at times, the bunker are so thick, that you can’t help but snag them when fishing lures.
Fishing some fresh chunks of bunker on the bottom in the areas where these schools are being found could be the ticket to a cow striper or gorilla bluefish. Jeff recommended looking in Popponesset, Cotuit, and Osterville for the bunker schools. Bill at Sports Port recommended Dowses Beach, where he heard of a good striper bite this week.
Albies fishing is hit or miss lately reported Jeff. The best fishing is from Craigville east. Around Falmouth, schools are occasionally popping up of Nobska Point and Waquoit, but the most consistent action is taking place farther east.
The albie fishing is almost “too easy” in the Monomoy Rips reported John at Fish Chatham Charters. John and his clients have been doubling up on albies by blind-casting jigs and plugs into the rips. John said he’s not seeing any albies on the surface, but they are there in big numbers.
Another angler reported going to the Monomoy Rips looking for stripers this week, but having only albies attacking their striper lures.
Shore fishing on the Vineyard is a little slow reported Cooper at Coop’s Bait and Tackle. There are plenty of small bass and bluefish on the beach, but bigger bass and albies are a little more scattered. Boats are doing okay, however, Coop reported. Bluefish up to 17 pounds were weighed in this week, caught by boat anglers around the Vineyard, Coop reported. Surf fishermen had blues to 15 pounds.
There’s been no word of bonito taken from shore, but Coop said the boats are finding a few.
Coop is hopeful that some cold nights forecasted for the weekend bring the bigger stripers and albies back into the surf. He thinks cooling temperatures will give the fishing on the Vineyard the shot in the arm that it needs right now.
Boaters heading out in the area of the Hooter should keep an eye open for leatherback turtles. A group of these large, endangered sea turtles was recently spotted in that area, so boaters should exercise caution to protect both themselves and these magnificent animals. If you spot a sea turtle during any of your fishing excursions this fall, report the sighting to MassAudubon at seaturtlesightings.org
Cape Cod Canal and Buzzards Bay
There was a lot of surface activity in the Cape Cod Canal on Wednesday morning reported Gordon at Red Top. The action extended into the late morning, with fishermen hooking up to stripers using chunks of mackerel, white and mackerel-colored pencil poppers.
There have been decent numbers of albies spotted in the Canal this week, and a number landed reported Gordon at Red Top. I was fishing next to an angler on Thursday morning who had an albie engulf a pencil popper intended for stripers. The fish took a long fast run before performing one of the albies signature moves, swimming directly at the fishermen. The resulting slack in the line allowed the albie to shake the plug.
Gordon reported that the albies are showing up around mid-day. Jacob from Red Top landed albies on Wednesday and Thursday in the Canal.
Despite the news of albies in the Canal, the crew at Maco’s hadn’t yet heard of any false albacore in Buzzards Bay. That could also be because more fishermen have been looking for albies off the South Side, and the Buzzards Bay schools are blitzing unnoticed.
Stripers are being caught along the Elizabeth Islands on both plugs and eels. Some big bluefish are in the area as well, striking at trolled lures and live bunker.
Tackle shops are stocking green crabs, but it’s still a little early for targeting tog. Once water temperatures begin to fall a little more, the blackfish bite will turn on in a big way.
Cape Cod Bay and Outer Cape
Boats are still catching stripers in Cape Cod Bay by fishing eels after dark. Effort is down, however, reported Jeff at Forestdale. Jeff suspects that the boats that had been targeting the stripers over the summer switched over to tuna when the bite lit up on Stellwagen Bank. Live mackerel has been the hot bait for these bluefin which have ranged from 50 inches to 400 pounds.
Boaters don’t have to go all the way to the bank for a shot at tuna, however. A few giant bluefin have been taken in Cape Cod Bay in recent weeks.
John at Fish Chatham reported a couple tuna taken east of Chatham at Crab Ledge, but the bite is still slow, John said.
The striper fishing, however, has been excellent off Chatham. John has been hammering bass up to 30 pounds by vertically jigging with small, slender metals that imitate the sand eels the stripers are feasting on.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
Good-sized stripers have the Cape surrounded as schools feast in anticipation of the fall migration. To hook up, try casting eels in Cape Cod Bay, vertical jigging off Chatham, casting plugs and eels into the Elizabeth Island rocks, and snagging and dropping bunker off the South Side.
For albies, go east, unless fishing from shore, in which case, the Canal sounds like the best bet right now.
And don’t forget that StriperFest is this Saturday, September 24, in Falmouth Marine Park. Stop by to pick up some of the second generation Sebile Magic Swimmers and check out the latest in striper fishing while enjoying hot food from the Black Dog and live music from Sudden Relic.
Every boat in the ocean was at the Hooter today. And for good reason- hookups of blues and albies on every trolling pass!
Did these guys put the albies back in the canal? If they didn’t eat them they should have put them back in the water and not kill them!
Just cuz they ain’t good to eat doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be killed. (sarcasm). Lots of large bass aren’t eaten either. Just good for pics and shop scales. Then given away or dumped. It’s not uncommon.
Those bad boys looked deader than dead.
Good job.
Anybody have reports on Race Point?
I was there Fri and it was pretty quiet. I was trolling 9’rs rigs. Got a few big blues no bass.
It’s more important to kill a fish and get it to the scale or get a ‘cool’ pic with an Albie and kill it than to watch them swim away. This is the Cape Cod Canal credo. That’s why I don’t fish there.
Good less people fishing the canal thebetter. Its nolice how you assume and blast people. U have no clue so leave your opinion to yourself.
Rips you must be blind or institutionalized? Canal is filled with likes of non sportsman which yuo must be one to get so offended. Anyone who fish there easy to see catch and release not a priority. grow up.
No Rips I’ll keep giving my opinion and have much more of a clue than you. Who are you, Master Gibby, keeper of the ditch? lol
Oh he’s right. Yes there are a lot of great, knowledgeable people who fish the canal. But there is also a ton of complete idiots who have absolutely no clue and on top of that they take everything they catch.
I’m going on a tuna charter on the 28th of September out of Scituate, does anyone know how the bite has been.
Not good
CAN YOU PLEASE LET US KNOW HOW YOU DO ON THE TUNA TODAY AND WERE YOU FIND THE BAIT.
I’ve fished the Canal a bunch and haven’t seen less “sporting” behavior there than anywhere else–maybe I’m not looking close enough. Generally, I see guys there busting their butts to catch a few fish in tough conditions. If anything, the Canal is the last place anybody with a brain should be keeping shorts or more than the limit. It’s so public. There’s actually game wardens there.
Ronson, do you really not fish there because of the other guys, or is it because you’ve got a boat? Or hate seeing other people? Or both? Or maybe you fish there and pretend you don’t? Either way, you’re not too good for anyone or anything. Go pretend you’re not selfish somewhere else and stay there.
Dear Rips aka Lord of the Canal aka Master Googan,
I don’t fish there because I have respect for the resource and don’t have any enjoyment seeing others (likes of you?) take a dump all over the resource whenever I go there. It’s as simple as that. It’s a respect that you and others like you will never understand so don’t get heart broken that you’re not capable of understanding it. Most people I wouldn’t fish with fish that place, so I stay away. The canal attracts a certain element that I don’t care to deal with. Can you deal with that without getting upset?
As for your silly theories about me, you let your imagination get the best of you, lol. Why are you such a sensitive man? taking my opinions so personal? Why the personal attacks? Don’t be so sensitive to others opinions and enjoy what you do as I will enjoy not seeing the likes of you elsewhere and not being at that man-made fishing ghetto.
Ronson
Anyone fishing Buzzards Bay? Mass Maritime, Onset, Marion & Mattapoisett area? Leaving out of Mattapoisett Monday
Ronson,
Sounds at the very least like you misunderstand me. To clarify:
1. My feelings are unhurt. I don’t take your comments personally. (Do you take mine personally?) I’m tough like the boulders of the Canal. I’m sure you are too.
2. I fish for stripers for sport and rarely keep any (counting on one hand over multiple seasons) but I catch and release plenty. I don’t keep shorts, and I don’t take more than one keeper. I just don’t want to eat stripers that much. I’m confident this is true of most recreational guys, at the Canal or anywhere else. If you release every single fish then undoubtedly you’re more purely a catch-and-release guy than the rest of us–but maybe not by much?
3. You’re using words like “ghetto” to describe, yes, a man-made waterway, and “a certain element” and disrespectful to describe the fisherman there–all prompted by a picture of two guys holding fish there, apparently. There must be more behind what you’re saying, because it doesn’t make much sense. It sounds a bit elitist, and unfair, no? You’ve never kept a fish? Never had a photo taken of you with a fish? Never fished at a popular/accessible spot? Just trying to understand.
4. Again, I’m not sure what you’ve seen but when I’m there the only unusual thing I see is the setting, and maybe the crowd, but not the individual fisherman or their practices. I see a lot of catch and release, a lot of guys keeping to themselves, or fishing with buddies, or being polite to strangers. I see very little disrespect of any kind, actually.
5. I took a jab at boat fishing because one thing I see and hear a lot of is guys using the boat advantage to find and catch more big fish more easily (which of course is the point), but abusing the result by keeping big fish more frequently and, I think, unnecessarily. To me, that is disrespectful of the resource. I’m hoping by your comments that you’re not one of those guys but somehow I think you’re not the only fisherman with a conscience, or a sense of respect, or a reason to keep a fish or two.
For some reason the Canal gets people fired up. Fair enough. It can be crowded and it’s accessible to anyone, which makes it less special in a way, but it’s also a decent place to fish. Some out of town guys trash the local experts, and some locals resent the other guys. I guess that’s to be expected, but isn’t it fair to say everyone would rather have a place to themselves if they could, and catch a lot of fish, and be treated with respect when they do see other fisherman? It’s just fishing. It’s just people.