The fishing broke open over the past few days, with more stripers arriving, the squid showing up, and blackfish and scup biting better. That’s not to mention the freshwater fishing, where largemouths are feeding heavily day and night and pond temperatures rise into the mid-50s.
Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing reported a fresh wave of stripers moving through Buzzards Bay this week. The fish have been feeding on small bait in open water, and providing fun topwater and fly-rod opportunities. Brian said the bulk of the fish are 22 to 26 inches, but he caught two that surpassed 28 inches.
Neal at Sea Tow Cape and Islands echoed the reports of good schools of stripers moving through Buzzards Bay, with some impressive schools of bass blitzing baitfish on the surface.
AJ at Red Top Sporting Goods said stripers are starting to trickle into the Canal, with some of them over 28 inches. He’s impressed by the amount of bait around, with squid, mackerel, and bunker all setting the table for the bigger bass when they arrive. AJ said the tog bite is picking up as well, with more keepers being caught. Herring too, are loaded into the runs all over the Cape.
Buzzards Bay seems to be the better bet for tog right now over Vineyard Sound reports Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle. The water in Buzzards Bay is a bit warmer, so the tog are holding shallower and feeding more aggressively. Evan said more keepers have been caught this week.
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No breeze, no bugs. Spring>summer #onthewatermagazine #capecod #stripedbass
The striper fishing is also excellent in the ponds and harbors, Evan said. Most are smaller schoolies, but Evan said fishermen who have been able to locate bigger bait are finding some bigger stripers, even some 28-inch and above fish. Squid fishing fired up in Nantucket Sound this week, Evan said.
Amy at Sports Port said the same about the squid bite. Some fishermen have filled buckets with the tasty mollusks jigging in the middle of the day off Hyannis.
Amy also heard a couple reports of bluefish off the South Side toward Yarmouth.
Freshwater fishing is good and getting better. I had some good bass fishing after dark this week throwing big swimbaits. Jigs, topwaters, and soft-plastic worms are also catching bass. As the fish move shallower, they’ll be a great target for the fly rod as well.
There’s been little talk of trout fishing since the saltwater fish showed up, so if you haven’t had your fill of trout just yet, you’ll like find the trout ponds empty of anglers but full of fish. The trout will have wised up some since they were stocked in April and March, so natural baits, or fishing early and late in the day can be the key to giving yourself an edge.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
It only gets better from here. Get your saltwater gear together and get out after the stripers, scup, tog, or squid. With the fresh school of stripers that arrived this week, open beaches on the South Side and the outlets seem to be producing in addition to the inside of the bays and harbors. Look for bigger bait (mainly adult bunker) for the best shot at finding bigger stripers.
Top pic is Andrew Gilmore @gil_of_the_mores on instagram, decidedly not Mike Walsh. Much better looking.
Correct. The former NHLer, Mr. Walsh now runs “Hook ‘em” charters on the nicest Regulator Known to ply the waters of Buzzards Bay. Hookem specializes in slaying schoolie bass, and Capt Walsh often goes by the handle “Captain Keychain”
nice name 😉
Huge schools of Stripers and bluefish blitzing old school on surface. Bass river dennis to lighthouse inn. Birds working. Looking like amazing start
Fly Fisherman “Slaying Schoolies” is the exact problem with fish mortality rates that came out last year. Sorry but the “Stripers Are Forever” hardos must of had a conniption when they realized they were a big part of the problem.
Good point, friend. It’s about conserving them so we can continue catching them. The seals are doing enough to slay them.