Cape Cod Fishing Report - June 17, 2021

This week brought some super-sized fish to the Cape. A big wave of big Northbound stripers passed through the Canal on Monday, with at least one fish topping 50 pounds caught and released. Some truly massive fluke were caught on Tuesday, with multiple boats fishing off Nantucket reporting 14-, and 15-pound fish. Bluefin tuna have moved within range of the Cape, with a wave of school size tuna providing some earlier tuna action than we’ve seen in a few years. Bluefish action is still great as well.

The one fishery that isn’t red hot right now is the sea bass. Captain Mel True of Fishnet Charters said the sea bass fishing is tapering off right now, with the fish moving out of Buzzards Bay. Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle said the deep spots around Oak Bluffs are the best place to find a limit of good sea bass right now.

Mel said that slot-size stripers have been tough to come by recently, with most of the fish being either too small or too big to keep. Mel reported bass were on the move this week.

While the motherlode of big bass seems to have departed the Canal for parts North, AJ at Red Top said good fish are still being caught for fishermen willing to work a bit for them. Earlier this week, the bass moved through with a big school of adult bunker, pushing the baits into the rocks. Bruce at Canal Bait and Tackle said big white Magic Swimmers were the hot bait for fish up to 48 inches.

Some of those Canal fish may have settled into Billingsgate Shoals, where fishermen reported good action this week.

There was also good action on Martha’s Vineyard, where fish to 38 pounds have been caught in the surf, reported Peter from Larry’s Tackle. Evan at Eastman’s had heard of more large bass for boat fishermen around the Vineyard, with wire line jigging being the best way to catch the bigger fish. Evan said the shoals, like L’Hommidieu and Middle Ground are holding fast action with smaller bass (and bluefish) on light tackle. There’s a good class of schoolies and slot fish in the Sound, with bass from 26 to 34 inches making for very fun fishing.

The strong run of bluefish is showing no signs of slowing down.  We’ve been catching them on the South Side beaches in Falmouth and Mashpee, fishermen are catching them in the Canal and Buzzards Bay, and Martha’s Vineyard also has them.

Peter at Larry’s said the east side of the island has great action with bluefish to 9 pounds, but that the best action has been happening sub-surface. There’s been some decent topwater bites, but for the most part, anglers are catching more blues with metals or bucktail jigs right now.

The bluefish have been in the small- to mid-size range for the most part this year, with few fish exceeding 10 pounds. There have been some larger blues, fish as large as 13 pounds, taken by anglers jigging soft plastics in the Canal, but these have been few and far between.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

Stripers are spreading out around the Cape, and fishermen have a chance to catch a good-sized bass everywhere from Martha’s Vineyard out to Provincetown. Trolling seemed like the top tactic this week, with the specific method depending on the location. Wire-line jigging was best in Vineyard Sound while tube-and-worm rigs were best on Billingsgate.

From shore, the Vineyard is probably the top spot at the moment, with the mix of good sized bass and blues. Shore fishermen on the South Side of the Cape can count on good action with blues and some school bass also.

The young-of-year herring, spawned this spring, are dropping out of the Herring Runs right now, creating some good opportunities at both ends of the runs – the fresh side for largemouth and the salt side for stripers.

I didn’t hear the specifics on the tuna bite beyond the fact that there are a lot of 30- to 48-inch fish out there falling to spreader bars and jigs.