The fishing mellowed out a little this week on Cape Cod, thanks partly to persistent east winds and slow tides, but even for a slower week, there were plenty of fish caught.
Cape Cod Canal and Cape Cod Bay Fishing Report
Despite spotty fishing, there were a few nice fish taken in the Canal reported Jeff at Canal Bait and Tackle. Mackerel are heavy off the East End, and boats have been catching stripers in Cape Cod Bay, but the fish weren’t heavy in the Canal.
AJ at Red Top Sporting Goods said the same thing, that fishermen had to move around and fish hard to find fish in the Canal. It’s been hot and cold, AJ said.
The crew at Sports Port said the same. One fishermen fished for 14 hours at the Canal on Wednesday for a single fish, but that fish was 40 inches.
Jigs are working best at the moment, especially the mackerel colored Savage Gear Sand Eel reported Jeff.
Cape Cod Bay has been pretty good, however. The word at Sports Port was that Barnstable and Billingsgate had good fishing on Thursday.
Matt from Fishy Business also found good stripers in Cape Cod Bay on Thursday, but he said the fish were moving fast and not showing on the surface.
Many of the Cape Cod Bay fish seem to be keyed in on squid, although the fish are feeding on mackerel as well.
Outer Cape Fishing Report
The water is still cold off Chatham reported John from Fish Chatham Charters. He is planning on heading to Nantucket for his first charter of the year on Friday. He’ll be tuna fishing next week, and has heard some positive reports from fishermen seeing bluefin east of Chatham.
Surfcasters working the backside beaches have been pulling some stripers from between the seals, including keeper-sized fish. The lack of reports from this area is largely due to a lack of fishermen out there, and not necessarily a lack of fish.
South Side and Islands Fishing Report
Striped bass fishing in the rips is getting better and better, reported Captain Kurt from FishSticks Sportfishing, with bigger fish moving in, and squid showing up in good numbers. Kurt had a great trip on Wednesday with Jackson Coyne and Barrett catching 18 bass, of which 6 were keeper size, on soft plastics and on flies. Both tides were good, he said.
Middle Ground was a hot spot this week, with stripers to 30 pounds chasing squid in the rip reported John at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle. White and pink soft plastics are working. I had great luck there on Tuesday, casting a 10-inch pink Z-Man on a 1-ounce jighead.
There were also a few 30-pounders caught from the Martha’s Vineyard surf, including a fly-caught-cow, reported Peter at Larry’s Tackle. Peter also mentioned that big numbers of smaller bass are keeping fishermen busy all around the island. A fly-fishing tournament over the weekend registered an average of 27 fish caught for each participant.
Bluefish have been spotty on the South Side of the Cape, but have been somewhat more abundant on the Vineyard, where Peter noted that blitzes of large blues took place several days this week.
On the Cape South Side, John at Eastman’s reported huge numbers of small bunker in the rivers, and plenty of schoolie stripers around.
Buzzards Bay Fishing Report
Black sea bass are still the talk of the bay, with Red Top checking in two state-pin-worthy sea bass this week.
Captain Mel True of Fishnet Charters has continued to find sea bass limits for his clients, and expects the fishing to stay good through the Bad Daddy Bottom Fishing Tournament this weekend. Scup have been good, Mel reported, and blackfish are around, but the best blackfish structures are covered up in sea bass right now. A quick reminder that as of June 1, the tog limit dropped to one fish.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
Cape Cod Bay seems to have the best numbers of bass right now, but those fish have been moving around a lot, chasing squid and mackerel in open water. The rips in Vineyard and Nantucket Sound are fishing a bit more consistently since the squid moved in this week, and are a great bet for light tackle action.
From shore, the Vineyard is fishing best, but persistent anglers will be able to find fish in the Canal if they keep moving and fish with jigs.
For a sure thing, you can’t beat the black sea bass. Captain Mel True said the fishing is still great, but does seem to be tapering off, suggesting that the big fish may be headed for deeper water. But they haven’t left yet, so there’s still time to catch a 4-pound-plus sea bass on tackle better suited for freshwater ponds. Fun fishing and delicious eating – it doesn’t get much better.
Dropped live mackerel on the heads of bass on the outer Cape with few takers, the bass were keyed in on sand eels, once we matched the hatch we caught them at will
Monomoy?
At Monomoy?
My Nephew caught a 20″ Weakfish (Squateague) bottom jigging for black sea bass in Buzzards bay near Cleveland Lighthouse in 35 feet of water at about 10:00am Sunday 6/10/2018. He is 13, we made the mistake of not weighing it or bringing it in to a Tackle Shop. 100% ID confirmed by two NMFS Marine Biologist onboard 23′ Edgewater sport fishing boat. Experienced fishermen onboard commented that they had not seen them in a long time in mass waters.