Cape Cod Fishing Report - July 11, 2019

We’re between the new and full moon, and based on the reports from around the Cape, between runs of larger stripers right now. Smaller stripers remain abundant, but the bigger fish were scarce this week. But, even with the slowdown in big bass action, there’s been plenty of other options to keep fish busy.

The Canal slowed this week after a good weekend during which fishermen caught bass to 40-plus pounds. Jeff at Canal Bait and Tackle said you’ll have to go on the hunt after dark to find better fish right now. He recommended pink-colored jigs to imitate the squid that have continued to stick around the Canal.

According to Michael at Red Top, small blues invaded the Canal this week, and seemed to have a taste for the paddle-tail portion of the Savage Gear Sand Eel.

Vineyard Sound is full of small stripers and blues, reported Chris at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle, but Martha’s Vineyard has larger versions of both species right now. According to the report from Larry’s Tackle, stripers to 20-plus pounds are being caught around the island’s rocky areas, while bluefish as big as 12 pounds have been caught at Chappy.

The crew at Forestdale Bait and Tackle hadn’t heard much on the local fishing this week beyond the small bluefish being caught by boat fishermen off the South Side.

Bonito continue to be caught off the South Side of Martha’s Vineyard, but have yet to move closer. Still, if you have a capable boat, running to the Hooter and trolling some diving plugs would be a good way to get on the board for the 2019 Funny Fish season.

There are a lot of tuna east of Chatham right now, reported Captain John from Fish Chatham Charters, but they haven’t been easy to catch. He’s heard of fish being taken on the troll and on live bait, and caught two himself, a 76- and a 90-incher.

Tuna have been from the Sword to Peaked Hill, but John said, while the harpoon boats are putting up big numbers, rod-and-reel fishermen are working hard for their bites.

There’s a ton of bait out there, John said, including mackerel, herring, squid, and what he’s most excited about, sand eels. Sand eels didn’t show last year, John said, but they are thick this year (so thick they’ve also brought big numbers of whales into our waters), so John expects the tuna fishing to continue to improve.

In Cape Cod Bay, striper fishing has been fair. Small fish have dominated the catch, according to Captain David from Stripers-R-Us, but he continues to catch good numbers, trolling up 27 fish on the tube-and-worm rig on Wednesday.

Captain Ross from Cape Cod Charter guys has found larger fish at Monomoy over the past week, where fishermen have been reliably hooking fish in the mid-30-inch range.

Warm water moving into Hydrographers Canyon brought some wild fishing for bigeye and yellowfin this week reported Chris from Eastman’s. As that water moves north, it could bring tuna to places like the Dump over the next couple weeks.

Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain for Cape Cod.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

With big stripers on hiatus for the moment, it’s a good time to target something else, like fluke, bonito, tuna, or even freshwater. The nighttime largemouth bite has been very good for the few anglers putting in the effort. Fish topwater baits and remember to set the hook when you feel the bite—not when you hear it.