Cape Cod Fishing Report - May 18, 2017

Above: Captain Jeff Fortin and Brad Murphy lift the 64.6-pound striper caught in Buzzards Bay on Tuesday. 

By the end of making the phone calls for this report on Thursday afternoon, if one more Cape Cod tackle shop owner told me, “The fish are everywhere,” I was ready to drop everything and go fishing—which is exactly what you should do! Several captains and shop owners said there are more striped bass around than they’ve seen in years, and best of all, some of them are big, very big.

The biggest Cape Cod bass this week (and maybe this decade) was the 64-pounder taken by Captain Jeff Fortin while fishing with Captain Kevin Gould on Tuesday (read the story here). That fish was part of a school of mixed-size bass that moved through Buzzards Bay earlier this week. Most of the fish were 26 to 36 inches, but several 30-plus-pound fish were taken. As news of the catch spread through social media on Tuesday, fishermen from Cape Cod and beyond scrambled to get their boats in the water for Wednesday morning, creating fishing conditions that resembled the scene from Jaws when Mrs. Kintner puts the bounty on the shark.

Buzzards Bay Wednesday Morning:

In addition to the stripers, Buzzards Bay is also teeming with big scup and sea bass reported Jeff at Maco’s Bait and Tackle. The black sea bass season opens on Saturday, but incidental catches made by scup fishermen indicate it should be a productive opener. This year, the sea bass limits are 5 fish at 15 inches or larger. That’s one more fish for the bag limit, and one inch longer on the size limit than last year, so make sure you are within the law when filling the cooler this weekend.

Blackfish, too, are biting well in Buzzards Bay, adding to the bottom-fishing trifecta for upcoming weekend, reported Jacob at Red Top Sporting Goods. Jacob was stoked on the Canal bite this week. Monday and Tuesday were on fire, he said. Wednesday was slower, but Thursday picked up again. Jacob had a half-dozen bass to 19 pounds on topwater on Thursday. Earlier in the week, some of the bass taken in the canal were pushing 40 pounds.

Herring and tinker mackerel were the primary baitfish in the Canal, but fishermen have been seeing adult bunker as well.
The hot baits in the Canal, according to Jacob, have been pencil poppers, minnow plugs like the Daiwa SP Minnow (with bone being the best color), and soft-plastics on jigheads, like the Savage Sand Eel and Al Gag’s Whip It Fish.

It seems like some of the Buzzards Bay fish have pushed through to Cape Cod Bay, where Captain Dan of Salt Shaker Charters has been finding fish in the Barnstable Channel and on Billingsgate Shoals this week. Cape Cod Bay is loaded with bait, from mackerel at the Bell Buoy to shoals of sand eels at Billingsgate. Live mackerel have been the key to catching in the Channel, Dan said.

Captain Ron from Bucktail Fishing Charters had a similar story about the Cape Cod Bay bite. On Wednesday, he spotted a pile of birds about a mile off Barnstable, underneath which was an estimate 5 acre area of bass and bait. He caught good numbers of 26- to 34-inch bass on sand eel imitations like the Slug-Go, BKD, or RonZ.

That seems to be the most prevalent size class in Cape Cod waters right now. John at Eastmans said good numbers of bass in that size class are being caught in Nantucket Sound by fishermen jigging and throwing topwaters.
Fly- and light tackle fishermen continue to have success in the bays, fishing around spawning worms. The worm spawns seem to be tapering off as the water warms and we move away from the full moon, John said.

Some of the most exciting shore-fishing action this week was the big bluefish action on the South Side beaches. The bluefish are running big this year, with fish to 38 inches caught, according to Amy at Sports Port. Afternoons have been best this week. John from Eastman’s listed the Popponesset Spit, Cotuit, and South Cape Beach as likely places to catch the big blues.

Amy also reported good scup fishing off the South Side. Jim from Patriot Party Boats out of Falmouth seconded the claim, saying that fishermen have been filling their limit with good-sized scup.

Bluefish have hit the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard as well reported Peter at Larry’s Tackle. Bluefish from 8 to 11 pounds have hit the beach at Wasque. In what is probably related news, the squid have moved into the Vineyard this week as well, with fishermen catching fresh calamari at Edgartown Harbor.

Peter also said there are bass all around the island, with some larger, 30- to 35-inch fish being taken on the South Shore. Bucktails and jigs are working best, but as the water warms, the fish should start responding to plugs as well.

The bass and blues have hit Nantucket as well. The bass are biting well both day and night, and are running in schools with fish from 12 to 32 inches. Blues are mostly offshore, but more will be moving into the beaches as the water warms.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

As Amy from Sports Port said, you can’t go wrong with the fishing right now. Keeper-size stripers are being caught all around the Cape right now, and just about everywhere, a minnow plug like the SP Minnow or Red Fin will get you on the board from the backside beaches to Buzzards Bay.

My perfect Saturday would include a sunrise targeting stripers, either from shore in the Canal or by boat in Cape Cod Bay or Buzzards Bay. When the sun gets high and the stripers go deep, I’d shift gears to sea bass and scup, filling the cooler before heading to the South Side beaches in the afternoon to skip topwaters for big blues. In fact, that’s exactly what I plan on doing.