There may not be much sunshine in the forecast, but the future looks bright for fishermen on Cape Cod. Everything seemed to click this week with more keeper stripers showing up, tog fishing ramping up, and the table set for a banner—albeit wet—start to the sea bass season on Saturday.
Cape Cod Fishing Report
A 9-pound blackfish caught with Fishnet Charters this week.
The fishing in the Canal turned on Monday morning, reported Jeff at Canal Bait and Tackle. He’d heard of fish to 35 inches taking topwater plugs. Jeff said the hot colors have been changing day to day, but recommends packing along green mackerel, blue mackerel, and white.
Jeff at Maco’s reported that the Canal fishing was good on Thursday morning as a wave of bass worked its way from west to east.
Some of those fish have spilled into Cape Cod Bay where, according to Amy at Sports Port, boat fishermen are catching stripers under schools of mackerel.
AJ at Red Top Sporting Goods has heard of stripers to 20 pounds chasing mackerel and squid in the Canal. Those squid have also attracted a few big bluefish into the Ditch.
Elsewhere, bluefish reports have been scant, besides a couple teen-sized fish taken on the South Side this week. Stripers, on the other hand, have hit the South Side in numbers this week.
John at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle heard of a 34-inch striper taken on a white Polaris popper on a Nantucket Sound beach this week. Topwaters have been the ticket, reported Amy at Sports Port, who said the schoolies finally showed up in good numbers.
Squid fishing has also been good in Nantucket Sound, with most of the action happening for boat fishermen, but some being caught from the docks in Hyannis.
The squid action has been hit or miss in Edgartown Harbor, according to Peter at Larry’s Tackle Shop. The striper action, however, has made up for it. Peter said the ponds are loaded with 20- to 32-inchers, but that worm spawns have made the fishing tricky at times. Big scup are biting well, and tog fishing has been good in Edgartown Harbor.
In fact, tog fishing seems to be good just about everywhere right now, from Nantucket Sound to Buzzards Bay to the Elizabeth Islands. Maco’s checked in an 11-pounder this week, Canal Bait a 7-pounder, and Red Top weighed a pair of 9-pounders, one from shore and one from the boat.
That boat fish was taken with Captain Mel True of Fish Net Charters, who used a green-crab tipped Jonny Jig to catch the fish. Mel mentioned that “everything is in,” saying stripers, tog, scup, and sea bass are all here and biting.
Fishermen will have to wait until Saturday to keep any sea bass, but the fish are already here, so it should be a stellar opening day. You can use squid to catch them, but a jig tipped with Berkley Gulp or squid will work just as well.
And before you put that freshwater gear in the back of the garage, AJ mentioned that the trout fishing is on fire, and that a 4-pound rainbow hit the Red Top scales this week.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
Cloudy days and swarms of stripers should be a recipe for topwater action this weekend. The Canal and the South Side are the two best options, but the Cape Cod Bay beaches and even the Outer Cape beaches may have good fishing by the end of the weekend as well.
The bottom fishing is excellent right now, and with sea bass back on the table on Saturday, you could load up on tasty fillets for a big Sunday seafood dinner.
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Going out for some inshore action out of Falmouth this weekend hope it’s good