The striper bite is holding steady around the Cape. The hotspots are changing week to week, but fishermen following the bite have been able to stay on keeper-sized fish on a daily basis.
The fishing in Cape Cod Bay is fantastic reported John at Cape Cod Bay Charters. The waters from Barnstable Harbor to the Billingsgate Shoals are loaded with 28- to 40-inch bass. At times, John said the fish have been on the surface eating sand eels. Just about every tactic from trolling to topwaters is working, but John said bass have been scarfing up live mackerel like candy.
Dan at Salt Shaker Charters said Billingsgate Shoal is filled with fish. Most are keeper sized, and the occasional 36- to 40-incher is being caught. He’s also seeing a few bluefish in the bay, but said they aren’t thick just yet. Barnstable Channel is also giving up fish to anglers drifting live mackerel.
Big stripers are being caught around Provincetown reported Jeff at Maco’s Bait and Tackle. Trolling umbrella rigs has accounted for fish as large as 40 pounds this week Jeff says. Vertical jigging with A17 jigs with green tube tails are work as well, because they are a close imitation of the sand eels that the stripers have been feeding on.
Jeff also reported that bottom fishing in Buzzards Bay is on fire. There are scup and sea bass galore, and even a few blackfish—if you can get a bait past the scup and sea bass. Some bluefish up to 10 pounds have also moved into Buzzards Bat.
Spencer at Red Top said the Canal was decent this week, but the best action was very early in the morning, from before first light to 5:30 a.m. Jigs have been working well, and there’s been a brief window of topwater action right at first light. Spencer also reported that the bottom fishing in Buzzards Bay is red hot.
The offshore fishing hasn’t yet materialized for Cape Cod fishermen. While Steve from Chaser Offshore is seeing good water in the canyons, the weather hasn’t allowed him to get out there. The offshore fishing off New Jersey has been on fire, however, so as soon as the weather allows for some trips, Steve expects to get out and find fish.
There are a few bass still feeding in Nantucket Sound, but most are small reported Captain Mort from Fishtale Charters. Bluefish are around in good numbers, however, with fish being caught off Monomoy Point and around Nantucket. Around Monomoy, however, the water is still on the cold side for the bass to show up in numbers just yet.
At Sports Port, Bill said fishermen are finding small keeper bass to 32 inches off the jetties on the South Side. Plugs during the day and eels after dark have been working. In Cape Cod Bay, fishermen are finding some larger fish, Bill reported.
Ron at Bucktail Charters said the sea bassing in Nantucket Sound is still excellent.
On the Vineyard, boat fishermen are doing very well with bass and blues around Wasque according to the report from Larry’s Tackle. Bluefish are also thick at Tom Shoal, with the fish finning on the surface at times. From the surf, there are plenty of 2-pound blues, but larger ones are tougher to come by. The leading shore division bluefish in Larry’s spring tournament is currently 7 pounds. The leading bass is much better, a 27-pounder caught in the surf this week. Fishermen continue to pick bass from the surf up island, according to the Larry’s Tackle report.
Captain Kurt of Fishsticks Charters reports an awesome week of fishing. He’s been catching bluefish, black sea bass and a fluke, but the highlight has been the excellent striped bass fishing. Kurt has been finding good numbers of bass in almost every rip he’s fished, and the size of the fish seems to be increasing. The fish are still feeding heavily on squid, so big pink soft plastics continue have been his go-to lures, along with swimming plugs and topwaters, my favorite.
Kurt suggests that fishermen look on a chart for places where the lines converge to indicate the steepest bottom contours, and look for parts of the shoal that run north-south, so they are perpendicular to the east-west tidal currents. Then check a tide chart. Fish during periods of moving water and avoid slack tide periods. Start upcurrent of the rip and drift through or use the motor to maintain a position above the rip. Cast so that your lure swings through the seam between smooth and turbulent water, and hang on!
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
Between Cape Cod Bay and the South Side rips, it could be a tough choice for fishermen with boats on trailers and the ability to fish either side. Fishermen may be able to escape the crowds a bit more on the South Side. Light tackle and squid imitating plastics will be the ticket.
Black sea bass fishing is still good, but it usually begins to taper off around this time of year. If you haven’t gotten out for this species yet, take a few hours to bounce bucktails around structure in Buzzards Bay or Nantucket Sound. As we get deeper into the summer, the larger sea bass will head off to deep water, making it tough to find fish that meet the 15-inch minimum.
Nice to see a boat stop in the east end of canal yesterday eve to fish the small blitz..
i need to get to scusset beach …live eels 2nd hour to 4th hour of incoming tide at night …been there 3 times and caught stripers everytime i went
scusset looks weedy no? wasted a whole morning tide in weeds a week ago..
Jimmy Fee’s report has very little information for inshore fishing, most ad for charters.
do you even fish?
Well John, probably better asking the charter captains than asking the local golf pros how the fishing has been, eh?
Fishing is banging in the canal