“Better every day” is how John at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle described the fishing on Cape Cod. More and larger stripers are arriving, more baitfish are moving in, and bottom fishing is good and getting better with the opening of sea bass on Saturday.
While stripers are spread around the Cape right now, the South Side seems especially full of fish. The crew at Sports Port said the south-facing beaches are giving up fish on topwaters and small soft plastics. There have been a few blues mixed with the bass, but no numbers reported yet.
The Canal fishing has improved, according to Jeff at Canal Bait and Tackle. There are stripers up to 34 inches spread throughout the Ditch, and some mackerel in the East End.
There have also been mackerel at the Bell Buoy in Cape Cod Bay, reported Captain Taylor Lange of Cape Cod Bay Outfitters. There have been some keeper fish in the mix, but there are way more schoolies right now, said Taylor. Taylor also mentioned that Barnstable Harbor is loaded with schoolie bass feasting on small baitfish.
David at Red Top said schoolies still dominate the catches in the Canal, but more 30-inch class fish have been showing.
Small bait swarmed back into Buzzards Bay this week, and the big blitzes of small bass resumed reported Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing. Brian found that topwaters were working best from the boat, a sentiment that David at Red Top echoed for the shore fishermen. Brian saw some squid in Buzzards Bay as well, suggesting there is some big bait in there as well for the bigger bass when they show. Brian also had a couple soft-plastics trimmed this week, suggesting there are a few bluefish in Buzzards Bay.
No blues yet on Martha’s Vineyard according to Peter at Larry’s Tackle, who said the first bluefish prize is still up for grabs at the shop. Peter did say that the bass fishing is really picking up, with fish to 34 inches being taken this week. The arrival of squid in Edgartown Harbor this week has Peter hopeful that the blues won’t be far behind.
Spawning worms in the ponds have made for fun and visual fishing this week on the Vineyard and on the Cape’s South Side. John at Eastmans heard of prolific worm “hatches” in Waquoit this week, with some good-sized bass enjoying the easy meals. John’s heard bluefish rumors, but no concrete evidence.
Scup fishing, John said is excellent, with fishermen catching easy limits of the species.
Captain Mel True of FishNet Charters said that the squid fishing has tapered off since the scup arrived in Nantucket Sound in force.
Captain Kurt of FishSticks Charters was out scouting for squid this week, and while he didn’t find squid, he did find massive schools of scup, filling up the fishfinder. Kurt said many of the scup were very big. He moved on to a wreck where he found tog and big sea bass. The tog were kept and the sea bass were released, though Kurt knows just where he’ll be going with the sea bass season opens on Saturday.
Buzzards Bay has good numbers of big sea bass as well, according to Captain Brian of Get Tight. He’ll be taking his first swing at sea bass this Sunday. Brian said while the scup fishing remains very good, some of the largest fish, in Buzzards Bay at least, seem to have been picked over.
Tog fishing is still good, but with the warmer water, Captain Matt of Fishy Business Sportfishing said short fish are becoming a bait-stealing nuisance. He still caught some good sized tog, and some big scup this week.
And let’s not forget freshwater. Red Top weighed a 4.5-pound rainbow trout this week, and there are reports of lunker largemouths regaining their appetites following the spawn.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
With the arrival of more 30-inch class fish, there’s some added excitement to fishing around the harbor and pond entrances. Topwaters are working very well, but for the most bites, fish lures on the smaller side. Spawning worms inside the South Side bays are providing fun light-tackle and fly-fishing opportunities.
The south and southwest winds in the forecast could spark the spring bluefish bite on Martha’s Vineyard and the South Side. A wave of big bluefish just reached Long Island, so the Cape could be just a few days away from seeing some better numbers of big blues.
Black sea bass season opens Saturday, and between them, scup, and blackfish, fishermen should have no problems securing fillets for a Sunday night fish fry.
After seeing absolutely no signs of life on Green Pond all spring, the waters erupted just before sundown Thursday as this annual cinder worm hatch was on. I wonder if the stripers get some sort of scent on the outgoing tide! Or if they get an email or txt message? Whatever the case, they were everywhere – except of course at the end of my line as they won’t touch anything other than the zillions of worms. It was fun to watch the surface splashes all over. Friday morning it was back to being quiet!
Dang! Are u correct my friend lives there with a dock and we slept over after a lacrosse game and the worms were all over from the afternoon to 3am and stayed all that time and ate on the dock because fish constantly jumped and we caught so much tight lines!!!
Also at the end of Priscilla there is a path at green pond to shore and afternoons schoolers and near keepers are lurking!!!