Cape Cod Fishing Report - October 17, 2019

I hope everyone’s houses, cars, and boats were spared from the most recent storm blowing through the Cape. Fishing has been at a standstill since Wednesday night when the wind ramped up, but the wind and seas will diminish over the weekend, and Saturday and Sunday are looking great.

Fishing Report for Cape Cod

Jim at Eastman’s reported that the tog fishing was excellent before the storm. More keepers were being caught, with some nicer fish in the mix. Andy Nabreski got out twice over the long weekend caught two tog over 7 pounds with several other keepers. I tried my luck in my kayak on Monday and had constant action with short fish, but managed a single 16-inch keeper. The possession limit for tog increased from 3 to 5 on Tuesday and will stay there until the season closes on December 31.

As of Sunday, albies were still running the Canal reported Jacob from Red Top Sporting Goods. There were also som every big bluefish in the Canal this week. Stripers have been running the Canal in big numbers, but almost all of the fish are small, 16- to 24-inchers. It’s still early enough that we should see another run of good bass moving through.

On Martha’s Vineyard, the fishing has been tough as the Bass and Bluefish Derby comes to a close. A 17-pound bluefish was the most impressive catch recently, and Peter from Larry’s Tackle suspects that fish came from around Nantucket. Albies and bonito are being caught around Menemsha and Lobsterville, Peter said, but have been scarce elsewhere. Edgartown Harbor has been dead.

The harbors and salt ponds on the Cape had good striper fishing leading up to the storm, with some keeper-sized fish in the mix. Small blues were still around as well. Same was true on the Vineyard, where fishermen were catching bass to 15 pounds at the bridges. The crew at Forestdale Bait and Tackle recommended using eels after dark on the South Side of the Cape. The striper fishing, they said, has been much better after dark.

Tuna fishing has been good when the weather allows for a trip. We fished with Captain John of Fish Chatham Charters on Tuesday, filming an episode for the next season of On The Water TV. Using live mackerel east of Chatham, we hooked four tuna, and Captain John and his mate Taylor coached me through landing my first ever giant bluefin. My arms are still sore as I write this report two days later. John marked fish throughout the day, and bites came within minutes of setting the baits. We spent more time fighting fish than waiting for bites—I can’t wait for this episode to air this winter.

John has been seeing mostly larger fish, from 70- to 100-inches, but said smaller fish in the 50- to 60-inch range are being caught closer to shore.

Freshwater fishing is very good. Trout are biting well, and so are bass and pickerel. Much like stripers in the surf, largemouth bass and trout feed heavily in rough conditions. So, if the weather is keeping you from hitting the salt, there’s always the freshwater to fall back on.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

With another storm shuffling the deck, it’s tough to say what the fishing will look like this weekend. Back to back storms will definitely get fish moving. I’d guess this spells the end for the albie season, but there may be some bonito leftover, as they tend to hang later. Some more big stripers should be moving down from the north or in from offshore, but where they make landfall is anyone’s guess. Fishing the Canal is a good bet, as you can at least count on schoolies to keep you busy. But, if there was ever a time of year to hit the backside, this is it. Take some eels, needlefish, minnow plugs, and teasers, and you might just find a school of fat, southbound stripers with no one else in sight.