Cape Cod Fishing Report - September 20, 2016

Cape Cod Fishing Report

“Good but not great,” is how Peter at Larry’s Tackle summed up the albie fishing right now. Based on my before-work and weekend outings, I’d have to agree.  After last year’s albie annihilation, the 2018 run definitely pales by comparison, but with most anglers seeing fish on a daily basis, you can’t call it a bad year. And many fishermen believe there are still more fish moving in.

Albies have been popping up in Buzzards Bay, reported John at Eastmans Sport and Tackle. There was even one caught from shore at Old Silver Beach he said. Albies have been surprisingly absent in the waters off Nobska, all the way past Falmouth Harbor, but from Waquoit east to Monomoy, albies are showing more consistently.

Captain Mort of Fish Tale Sportfishing said he’s seeing good numbers of albies at Monomoy. The striper and bluefish action is running hot and cold out there, Mort said, but when it’s good, it’s really good.  On Saturday, there were schools of big stripers and blues on the surface, with some of the bass larger than 40 inches. OTW’s Rick Hagopian had a 41-inch striper at Monomoy over the weekend by throwing a large metal-lip swimmer.

Fishermen are also catching good bass in the rips by fishing eels at night reported Captain John from Fish Chatham Charters.

Captain Dan at Salt Shaker Charters is catching good stripers off Brewster, and hearing of more around Provincetown. Billingsgate Shoals has been slow. The bass have been decent sized, Dan says, with some 36-inch and better fish in the mix. The problem, he says, has been the white sharks that have been eating hooked stripers. When you hook a bigger fish, and it fights for a longer time, Dan says, it’s more likely to get attacked by a shark. Dan had even heard of white sharks popping up in the Canal. Many of the Canal’s “shark” sightings turn out to be ocean sunfish, but with the number of white sharks around this year, it wouldn’t be surprisingly if a few found their way into the Ditch.

The Canal fishing is fair, reported Jeff at Canal Bait and Tackle. Most of the bass coming from the Ditch have been schoolies or small keepers, though Jeff did hear of a 26-pounder this week. There’s been good numbers of blues in the West End, and albies throughout, Jeff reported. Small bonito continue to be caught in the Canal and in Cape Cod Bay, Jeff said, with some fishing catching them three or four at a time on Sabiki rigs.

Jeff was surprised by how close the tuna were being caught to the East End of the Canal, with fishermen catching giants not far off Scorton Ledge. September is the best month to see something cool in the Canal, whether it’s a mola, a leatherback turtle, a shark, or a breaching bluefin tuna. Even the fishing is slow, keep your eyes on the water, and your camera handy.

There’s a good chance to glimpse some wildlife, while helping out the Canal this weekend. Marco Patriots, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, are sponsoring a clean-up at the Canal on Saturday. You can get the details on this event HERE.

John from Fish Chatham Charters says the tuna fishing is still good east of Chatham, with most of the fish running large this week. On Thursday, he caught a 100-incher. The stomach contents of that fish included a mackerel and a RonZ, so somewhere, there is a run-and-gun tuna fishermen with a fish story.

Based on the number of fishermen looking for green crabs, John at Eastman’s said the tog fishing must be improving, but he thinks the water is still a big warm for the blackfish to be biting.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

Even though the Autumn Equinox is this Saturday, there still seems to be a lot of fishing ahead of us. The waters are still very warm, and most fishermen believe that there are big schools of stripers to the north that will be moving past the Cape when the waters finally start to cool.

The best albie fishing is still ahead of us, believes Peter at Larry’s Tackle, who says more fish will be moving in, and he expects it to be another long-running season like last year.