Cape Cod Fishing Report - June 27, 2019

Pictured above: Corey Goodwin of Harwich with a nice Striper Cup entry.

While last week brought great fishing to the Canal fishermen, this week was for the boats. Captains working Cape Cod Bay, Monomoy, and Provincetown found good fishing this week.

The rips at Monomoy loaded up with fish in the 30-inch class this week, with a couple bigger ones in the mix. Captain John of Fish Chatham Charters had bass to 35 inches out there this week. He’s been catching them on Slug-Go’s, but said that live mackerel are getting eaten almost as soon as he sends them out.

Captain Mort of Fish Tale Charters has been seeing great numbers at the rips as well. On one of his trips this week, his crew tallied 78 bass. Most of the fish are small, Mort said, but he’s seen some 30- to 34-inchers, and a couple as large as 40 inches.

Cape Cod Bay was the other hotspot this week. Captain Matt of Fishy Business Sportfishing said the fishing has been good, even though many of the bigger fish seem to have moved on. He’s been catching on topwater, the troll, and on live bait. The disappearance of the larger fish could have to do with this weeks tides being the weakest of the year, Matt said.

Captain David of Stripers-R-Us has been doing very well in Cape Cod Bay with topwater and Slug-Gos catching lots of fish around 32 inches, with some up to 40 inches. He’s also done well trolling the tube-and-worm rig.

Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys fished Cape Cod Bay all week and took bass to 45 inches using topwater plus and swimming plugs.

Captain Taylor of Cape Cod Bay Outfitters said the big fish in the bay have been “here today, gone tomorrow,” but the action with 30-inch class fish on Billingsgate Shoals has been consistent.

Sand eels have finally hit the waters around Provincetown, reported Captain Mike of Cee Jay Fishing. While mackerel and herring have been abundant, sand eels had been missing. Their arrival should help the fishing off the tip of the Cape continue to improve as the sand eels will hunker down in certain areas rather than run all over like the macks and herring. Mike reported a much better week of fishing, with more and bigger fish moving in. Live macks have been the ticket, and he said it has been a blast having a full boat fishing these frisky baitfish.

The rips off the South Side continue to hold big numbers of schoolies for fun light tackle fishing. Captain Kurt of FishSticks Charters reported plenty of stripers in the rips, but said some larger bass are being caught in deeper water on bait.

Jim at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle said there have been some decent bass caught down along the Elizabeth Islands. He also heard of the continued action at the shoals, such as Middle Ground, and said there have even been some good-sized fluke caught there.

Upper Buzzards Bay is also holding some keeper-sized fluke reported Jeff at Canal Bait and Tackle.

Amy at Sports Port said more keeper fluke are being caught in Nantucket Sound as well. Her big news was the 20-plus-pound stripers caught from the beaches on the South Side. She didn’t have many details on the catch, just the news that there were some larger bass within casting range of shore on the South Side.

Bigger stripers continue to be caught on the Vineyard according to Sam at Larry’s Tackle. Surf fishermen are taking 15- to 20-pound bass around the island, while boaters have been catching bass to 30 pounds using live bunker, scup, or eels.

Fishing for bluefish is improving on Martha’s Vineyard, Sam said, with good numbers of 6 to 7 pound fish being caught, and some as large as 12 pounds.

Jim at Eastmans reported big numbers of small, 1-pound blues in Vineyard Sound. There were similar reports of small blues on Nantucket from Captain Marc of Just Do It Too. Marc has also been catching big numbers of schoolie bass on light tackle.

Black sea bass fishing actually seemed to improve a bit this week. The crew at Maco’s Bait and Tackle said the sea bassing in Buzzards Bay picked back up this week. Jim at Eastman’s said you can expect to find better sea bassing in 80- to 90-foot depths right now.

Captain Kurt of FishSticks found some excellent sea bass fishing in deeper water, catching several from 4 to 6 pounds on bucktail-and-Gulp combos. There were too many dogfish around to allow them to use bait, but the big sea bass seemed to like the jigs just fine.

The Canal slowed down this week, but Jeff at Canal Bait and Tackle said the night bite has been good and that there are still squid and mackerel around. According to the report from Macos, pearl and pink-colored paddle-tail jigs are working best.

With nice weather, and warming waters, more boats have been heading to the tuna grounds. Captain John of Fish Chatham Charters heard of a 59-inch bluefin caught on live bait east of Chatham this week. Jim at Eastman’s knew of several boats heading to the Canyons on Thursday, likely bound for the good water in Atlantis.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

It’s going to be a busy weekend on the water, but the good fishing is widespread enough that fishermen from any port on the Cape can count on sea bass, stripers, or fluke nearby.

The fluke and sea bass in Buzzards Bay are the best bet for locking down some fresh fillets for a Fourth of July Fish Fry.

For fun light tackle action, the rips off the South Side or on Monomoy are the way to go—though if you’re heading east, you may want to stack the deck with some live macks. Same goes for Provincetown, where the live-bait bite has been excellent. In Cape Cod Bay, topwaters have been working well, but be ready to go on the troll if the fish stay deep. Tube-and-worm rigs or wire-line jigs have been working. Mojo rigs would also work, though I haven’t heard of any Cape Cod fishermen giving them a try yet.