Cape Cod Fishing Report – August 29, 2019

The early run of albies shows no sign of abating, but the fish are moving around and have been pretty picky at times. Bonito have been a solid plan B, with fishermen finding them more willing to bite than the albies.

The key to catching albies has been finding the schools that are feeding on larger baits. Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys was working a school of fish with a few other boats and no one was hooking up. Frustrated, he left that school and found another with silversides spraying out of the water it was on.

Albies have been on a variety of baits including thumbnail-sized peanut bunker, larger peanuts, silversides, and nearly microscopic bay anchovies.

Silver has been a hot color, reported Captain Matt from Fishy Business Sportfishing. Matt Tallied nearly 50 hardtails on Thursday, a mix of albies and bonito, down along the Elizabeths.

With many of the albies keying in on the small bait, Evan from Eastman’s Sport and Tackle said fly-fishermen are in their element. Small flies imitating bay anchovies are getting bit, if you can get them into the school.

While kayakers and boaters have been having the best luck with albies, shore fishermen have been scoring too, according to the crew at Sports Port Bait and Tackle, who said some of the South Side beaches have had albies within range in recent days.

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

Surfcasters are catching a mix of albies, bonito, and bluefish, reported Peter at Larry’s Tackle. The hot lure has been the smallest size of the Shimano ColtSniper Jig (3/4 ounce) according to Peter.

Peter said catching a “slam” is a good possibility right now, with albies and bonito mixed in, bluefish all around, and stripers blitzing on peanut bunker in the ponds.

The striper fishing was slow this week. Captain Mort of Fish Tale Sportfishing blamed the northeast wind for shutting down the bite in the Monomoy Rips.

AJ from Red Top is hopeful that the strong tides and big bait presence in the Canal will help reignite the bite.

Jeff from Canal Bait and Tackle said the fishing has improved a bit after dark, with jigs and eels taking fish. He also said that boat fishermen have been buying a lot of eels, and may be catching good bass in Cape Cod Bay.

Evan at Eastman’s said the Elizabeths are producing some decent bass on eels.

Since the Northeast blow, John from Fish Chatham Charters said the tuna that were close to Nauset scattered.

The yellowfin bite goes on in the Canyons, but getting there has been the challenge, reported Captain Steve from Chaser Offshore Fishing. He’d also heard that tuna were moving into the area around the Dump.

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

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

Early or not, albie season is underway. It sounds like the fish are pretty well spread out from Dennis to the Elizabeths and up Buzzards Bay. Bonito are still in the mix, and there have been enough Spanish mackerel and kings around to keep things interesting. Don’t sleep on the striper fishing though, because the new moon could bring a wave of southbound bass into Cape Cod waters. Fall stripers tend to do a lot of their feeding after dark, so don’t let a lack of daytime activity keep you from fishing.