Cape Cod Fishing Report- September 29, 2022

What a wonderful, fish-filled week it has been. The Fall Run is well underway and it shows.

Striped bass are exploding on all types of bait from the Cape Cod Canal to Chatham. Albies are pushing west, but still feeding heavily during the early morning hours. Bluefish are hanging around in Buzzards Bay, and lastly, StriperFest 2022 was a huge success! Thanks a bunch to all you Cape locals that came out to spend the day.
 
Scenes of the fabled Fall Run popped up all around Cape Cod and the Islands this week, with intense feeds from the usual suspects creating a spectacle for awe-stricken onlookers such as myself.

Like most of us, when I see a frothing feed such as the one shown above, I immediately reach for a rod. However, after a few casts and some snagged peanuts, it quickly became apparent that nothing wanted to eat my little bunker-colored jig when the real thing was right there, so I picked up the camera hoping to capture the action.

Feeds like this are going on just about anywhere that there’s densely packed baitfish. Earlier this week, Captain Ross from Cape Cod Charter Guys recorded a similar instance; a beautiful blitz of bass on peanut bunker along the rip rap of the Cape Cod Canal. As the Fall Run marches on, the baitfish are getting bigger— seemingly by the day—and gluttonous bass are taking every opportunity to chow down.

While seeing a blitz in broad daylight is quite a sight, it’s almost more exciting to hear the action in the black of night. Monday evening’s new moon tides provided plenty of entertainment in the way of audible blitzes. I arrived at one of my favorite backwater fishing spots to hear the cupping of bass as they slurped silversides from the surface. Some of these fish were so aggressively chasing bait in the shallows that I watched them wriggle onto the sand head first, dorsals fully exposed, in an effort to get one last mouthful of spearing (silversides). It was fascinating to watch them frantically rush the beach, mouths agape, before squirming back into a few inches of water to plot the next attack. I’ve never seen anything like it. Striped bass are not exactly designed to spend time nosing around in ultra-shallow, muddied back bays feeding like redfish do; but they do it anyway, in the name of sustenance. Luckily, the bass were willing to bite my offerings this time around. Soft plastic paddletail swimbaits and white Albie Snax worked like a charm when slowly jigged through deep portions of the channel. Perhaps the most beautiful part of all this: every fish I caught this week was within the slot.

I’ve been catching stripers at night over the past couple weeks, but it’s been spotty action with mostly schoolie bass around 22 inches. The slot fish were an exciting change of pace that put up a great fight on a light 7-foot rod, which I had been using on account of the schoolie presence. If I could provide only one tip to fellow striped bass fishermen as the Fall Run progresses, I’d recommend fishing some of the places where your season began. You might be pleasantly surprised.

OTW’s Patrick Washburn has also been enjoying the recent slot striper action. He’s located schools of slot bass feeding on rain bait on top during the morning hours, which worked out well because it saved him from retying. Patrick hooked a handful of quality bass using the same jigs he’s been throwing at albies.

Leave the striper fishing for the low-light hours, whether morning or evening, because albies are feeding at all hours of the day. In weeks past, the morning bite has been the ticket to success; but, as baitfish become more abundant and continue to grow, the albies became less picky. They’re eating whatever they can get their mouths around, so don’t hesitate to throw Albie Snax or paddletails even when they seem to be feeding on small bay anchovies.

I know a yellow eye when I see one. That looks like a baby bluefish in there. I had baby blues around the same size chasing my diamond jig the other day, only to spook when they got close enough to realize the hook would decimate them. This particular albie pictured above spit up 2 or 3 of those little yellow-eyed fiends.

For anglers in search of bluefish larger than those that the albies can swallow, the Cape Cod Canal is the place to be.

Here is what East End Eddie Doherty reports of The Ditch this week:

AJ Coots Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay reports:

“Topwater has been okay recently, but when there are surface feeds it’s been mostly from smaller fish. Jigging has remained strong for larger 30- to 40-pound bass. Green mackerel and white have been most productive in the way of jigs. There are still juvenile bonito in the Canal but they’re about the same size as mackerel, so people are catching them with sabiki rigs and small jigs around the East End. Plenty of mackerel are around, which would explain the hot bite on green mackerel jigs, and there are even some squid around the West End. Peanut bunker are all over the place, causing some good feeds along the rocks, and we even saw some grown pogies in the Canal earlier this week.”

Macos Bait and Tackle in Buzzards Bay reports:

“There are big fish everywhere. We had guys running into the shop this morning from the Canal, just to get back out there with some more lures. In Onset there were lots of 40-inch+ stripers cruising around the pogy schools, but the fish are feeding on whatever they can find; sometimes it’s squid, sometimes it’s mackerel, and recently there’s been a ton of peanuts bunkers. Big bluefish are still in Buzzards Bay and the Canal, and they’re tearing through paddletails on jigs, so make sure to bring some extra tails with you or stop into the shop to re-up. The fishing should remain good through the remainder of the week, but there’s no telling what the stormy weather might bring.”

Eastmans Sport and Tackle in Falmouth reports:

“Today (Thursday) was one of the best days of albie fishing I have ever had. (Lackys). Albies were fully leaving the water to feed, sending rain bait scattering in every direction. They were biting non-stop from sunrise to 11:30 a.m., and although I probably could have caught 10 or 15 more if we had stayed out. It was amazing, we were constantly hooked up and watching hundreds, if not thousands of fish feed within a quarter-mile of open water. They got real close to shore at some points as well, so now is the time to head to your local beaches in the morning for a shore albie. Small silver jigs and Hogys got it done as usual. I even caught 3 or 4 fish while blind casting when the feeds went down. In other news, we’re definitely seeing improved striper fishing on the south side of Cape, especially along the Elizabeths. I also had a handful of customers fishing from shore at night getting both bass and blues, so we’re in full-swing fall run fishing.”

Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reports:

“Overall it has been quieter this week with the heavier wind. Albies are still coming from shore for spinning and fly fishermen on the south side of Cape, using all the classics like Albie Snax and various brands of resin jigs. Stripers are around the same areas as the albies, but it’s been mostly schoolie bass action. Bluefish between 4- and 5-pounds are mixed in with albies as well, which are great eater size. We have small bonito out by Monomoy, and it sounds like they’re also in the Canal. This week we started selling green crabs as tog season nears, but we haven’t heard too much on that front just yet.

As far as freshwater fishing goes, one of our customers here on vacation caught a nice largemouth bass at the local pond. The state also started trout stocking with rainbows on Cape Cod this past week, so freshwater fishing season is right around the corner!”

Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys in Bourne reports:

“Peanuts all over the Canal and we’re finally seeing good blitzes out there. Low light hours. Big peanut blitz in the evening around sundown. Kastmasters, metals, swimming plugs mimic juvie pogies and butterfish. Stripers, blues and albies recently. Each day been different. One day in western Vineyard Sound we had amazing albie fishing with nobody around. Decent bluefish around the Islands as well. 9-inch Doc working well for the bluefish. Tactical Anglers spooks working too. Got a big tautog recently on my own diamond jigs.”

You can watch the video of the crazy Canal feed captured by Captain Ross on their Instagram page, @capecodcharterguys.

Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard reports:

“More windy weather this week forced me to cancel or reschedule some trips, but we did get out a couple of times and found some fish willing to bite.  I had my first tog outing of the season with Justin Bewley and his dad, John. We found several tog, including one keeper-size fish We also caught a bunch of sea bass, including a few that would have been keepers, if the sea bass season wasn’t closed. It was an encouraging start to a part of the fishing season that I look forward to every year. I’ll be offering tog charters through October and into November. After playing with the tog for a while, we switched gears and went looking for albies, and connected with four nice fish off the Elizabeths. I continued chasing the fussy albies along State Beach with John Casey, daughter Ashley and friend, Daniel Williford. The fish were up and down quickly, but we were able to land one after an epic battle. The fish took us around the boat twice before coming to the net.”

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

Over the next week, we might see some residual stormy conditions from Hurricane Ian as it moves up the coast. I hope everyone in Florida is staying safe through these threatening conditions; you’ll all be back on the water soon enough, but for now, stay dry and stay available to each other. I know it’s not every day that a juvenile tarpon or snook ends up in your hotel lobby, but what fun is fishing in a barrel anyway?

As wind speeds increase here in the northeast, pressure and temperature changes may drive striped bass, bluefish and the other fan favorites into feeding frenzies. If you’re a boat- or kayak-angler, err on the side of caution this weekend. The Fall Run has been well underway, but it will be kicked into an even higher gear after this storm system passes through our neck of the woods.

The cooler nights have striped bass revisiting some of their early season haunts, but they won’t be there long. Water temperatures will continue to drop as the cooler nights become more frequent, and that will push most stripers — with the exception of any soon-to-be winter holdovers— out of the backwaters and into deeper water to continue their journey south.

False albacore will stick around for a few more weeks, but the epic feeds we’ve grown accustomed to over the past month will slowly dissipate as the albies move west and south. The fast and furious action will follow those fish south, but that’s okay, because primetime tautog season is around the corner.

Tautog are already biting around Vineyard Sound, and Captains like Kurt Freund are wasting no time in trying to locate some keepers. The limit increases from 3- to 5-fish at 16 inches on October 15th, so grab some crabs and get crackin’ on locating that small, hard structure. There are plenty of tautog hot spots that are favored by dedicated blackfish anglers, but with modern electronics, it’s become easier to locate smaller rock piles and boulders in waters less frequented by the tog fleet.

At this point in the fall, the world is your oyster. Just remember that whatever you choose to do, check the wind, weather and water conditions before you go.

Be safe, be respectful and enjoy some fall run fishing.

Catch you next week.