Big wind and waves on the way from Dorian, but the effects should be short-lived on Cape Cod. After a sloppy late Friday and Saturday, we should be back to our regularly scheduled programming by Sunday.
Albie fishing cooled a bit, as the fish moved around some and became very finicky, feeding on small peanuts. Bonito fishing cooled off in Vineyard Sound, but has been lights out at times in Buzzards Bay, though the bonito have also been pretty finicky.
Captain Kurt of FishSticks Charters said spooky, up-and-down albies made fishing challenging this week, but he still managed a good week of fishing, mixing in some bluefish, striper, bonito, and sea bass fishing with the albies. He had a “grand slam” at the Hooter on Thursday, catching bonito, bluefish, an albie, and stripers in the same trip. The sea bass ranged up to 4 pounds.
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There have been surprising numbers of Spanish mackerel caught over the past week as well. Andy Nabreski caught two this week, I caught one Thursday morning, and heard of several more taken. Reports of Spanish macks have come from Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, from boat, kayak, and shore fisherman. The Spanish have been falling for the same lures as albies and bonito, with small, slender metals and small soft plastics.
Peanut bunker are thick on the Vineyard, where Peter at Larry’s Tackle said it looked like he could walk across them in Edgartown Harbor. Schoolie stripers are having a field day in the salt ponds and harbor entrances, feasting on the peanuts, and striking topwaters, swimming plugs, and soft plastics. The best albie action seems to be toward the east, said Peter, over by Nantucket, where fisherman are finding larger schools of the albacore. Nevertheless, fishermen casting from the Vineyard beaches are catching a mix of albies and bonito. Peter said the albies seem to be hanging in more protected areas, inside harbors, because that’s where most of the bait is right now.
Schoolie stripers are biting well along the Cape’s South Side reported Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle. Some larger fish are being taken along the Elizabeths as well. Evan also mentioned that the albies, after scattering earlier in the week, seemed to reappear in numbers on Thursday from Falmouth Habor all the way past Woods Hole and along the Elizabeth Islands.
Bigger stripers are being caught with increasing consistency in the Monomoy Rips according to Captain Mort from FishTale Sportfishing. He’s had bass to 42 inches, along with good sized blues, and even albies and bonito.
Captain John of Fish Chatham Charters has also been seeing albies around Chatham, though be said there aren’t a ton just yet. John said the fishing is pretty good in the rips, but he’s been running for tuna every chance he gets, and had 114-, 95-, and 75-inch fish this week.
Striper fishing is picking up in Cape Cod Bay, with fish to 40 inches, reported Sean from Sports Port. Sean also reported good albie fishing off the South Side around the shop.
Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys was having a good week catching good-sized albies and blues when the weather put a hold on the fishing for a couple days. He’s hoping to get back on the bite when things settle down on Sunday.
Bluefishing around Provincetown is going strong, says Captain Mike of Cee Jay Fishing. Mike said the action on the 3- to 5-pound blues varies from steady to lights out from day to day. Stripers, he said, have been sparse in his waters lately, but big bluefin continue to feed off Provincetown.
By most accounts, the weekend’s breaking tides in the Canal were a bust. Many anglers turned out, but few fish were caught. During the fall, however, good fishing is not always so closely linked to the breaking tides, as stripers are driven south by a variety of factors including baitfish movements, water temperature, and weather. The coming storm could get some stripers on the move and improve the fishing on the Cape.
Canyon fishing continued to be excellent for Captain Steve from Chaser Offshore Fishing, as he enjoyed fast fishing for big yellowfin, with some billfish in the mix. Swordfishing is also very good right now.
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Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
The timing of this storm should kick the fall run into the next gear. Baitfish are stacked all around the Cape, and the strong winds and weather should get them moving, and perhaps bring some bass down from up north. Boston has been enjoying great bass fishing all summer, and when those fish head south to the Cape, there should be a few days of intense action with big fish. Plus, the best of the albie fishing is still to come. Usually, we’re just talking about the first albies of the season right now, so the bonus two weeks of action we’ve had already should be an appetizer to the main course of September albie fishing. Hang in on Saturday, and get your gear ready for the fall run. When the winds lay down on Sunday, the bite will be on!
The other night I was resting dinner at the a restaurant overlooking the canal in sandwich- all of a sudden I see what appears to be a black floppy dorsal fin, and what appears to be a tail- (maybe 3-4 feet away from the fun) and it surfaced several times-a few seconds each time- all within 29-50 feet of the rocks. Anybody see anything similar? Have any idea what this could be? Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos. My thoughts are shark vs turtle vs seal. Weird stuff.
Most likely a Mola mola, a few of them are spotted in the Canal every year around this time.
i agree. i had 6 mola molas breaching around me thursday while pulling lobster gear in the bay.
Ocean Sunfish. On their sides the big floppy looks like a dorsal fin
fished the bay that same day with my boat and seen 2 mola mola”s then on the way back we seen another one also called ocean sunfish
Could you please add a section on surf fishing from the backside beaches
On 9/03 around 9 :45 am, tide going from west to east I saw the same thing.
It was an OCEAN SUNFISH.I took a couple of pics and a short video!
Pretty Awesome that canal of ours!!!!!!
Early bird catches the cow in the three bays, plenty of bait around if you can throw a cast net or own a bunker snag ! Tight lines!
I fished great island a few days ago. The albies were sparse, moving quick, but were around. when they would bust at the surface people would run their boats like maniacs to get into position and scare the fish down. Guess everyone has the fever. for whatever reason I couldn’t get albies to bight but had a decent pick of spanish macks.
I nailed a Spanish Mack in the Osterville-Cotuit stretch on Tuesday on a pink epoxy minnow. Tons of birds working from off of the Wianno Club to the Osterville Cut and a couple blitzes of what looked like false albacore. Lots of work and patience required.
We witnessed over 20 Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola) in Cape Cod Bay between the Canal and Barnstable Harbor. Seems to be mating season. Boaters need to be careful, one was dead from a clear boat strike. Their fins look exactly like a shark. This could result in over zealous people reporting shark sightings.
was up in chatham area fishing live eels at night just before hight tide and got a 38in 17lb bass out of a rip and buddie not far down from me he got a 41in 22lb bass out the same rip with live eels.
Commercial fisherman or rec? how’d you do the rest of the night