Like some kind of sick joke, the weather forecast is looking unfavorable for boaters for a third (fourth?) week in a row. Friday looks like wind and rain, but there is a brief weather window on Saturday morning before wind gusts climb into the 20 mile-per-hour range by lunchtime. Sunday looks like much of the same, only without the chance of rain. Small craft advisories are likely, so start planning those backup trips in the surf, the backwaters or the ponds to keep your lines tight this weekend.
There’s no shortage of bass in the backwaters, especially after dark and in the early morning. After some kayak struggles this morning, I decided to pull on the waders instead. The salt pond down the street from my place seemed awfully quiet until I noticed the hordes of spearing sitting just off the shoreline in deeper water. A group of schoolies must have been lurking behind the silversides because I picked off two within 5 minutes using a white 1-ounce Protail before they caught on. Still, the spearing were so abundant, I almost thought I should be trying to catch them instead of the bass after reading Andy Nabreski’s recipe for Fries with Eyes.
On Monday, a spot-hopping journey around Cape Cod Bay’s harbors and salt marshes with my friend Ryan yielded us a handful of fish in the upper 20-inch class on minnow plugs. Again, silversides were on the menu. We fished the incoming tide in a salt marsh, trying to reach the fish that were audibly popping on the surface in front of us, but only long-casting plugs would do it. But as the northwest wind picked up and the tide came in, the fish moved in closer. We had them breaking on spearing around our ankles, so close to us at times that their abrupt surface eruptions startled us, breaking the silence and generating embarrassed chuckles. All four of my fish came on a white SP minnow. They wouldn’t touch anything else. Later on, the bite almost completely shut off and we noticed some much larger bait moving in. I have a hunch they were herring, because our buddy Brian was accidentally snagging them just to the east while fishing plugs around picky harbor bass late last week. Ryan and I rifled through our plug bags throwing assorted gliders and twitch baits, Bombers, soft plastics and more, but to no avail. I can never seem to trick stripers into eating a plug when they’re on herring, but that’s half the fun of it—trying to figure them out. When there’s big bait and little bait in the area, it keeps you on your toes and constantly switching out lures in hopes of enticing more, or bigger fish to bite. Thank goodness for TA clips.
While there are plenty of bass around, the action in open water seems spotty. The Monomoy rips are holding some bass and a few albies, and any of the south side inlets are worthy of checking out around first light for bass and bluefish, and the occasional school of albies. Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds have otherwise quieted down considerably in recent weeks. Fish are on the move, feeding fast and continuing south. And while there may not be a ton of albie action on the south side or in much of Buzzards Bay, the Elizabeth Islands and Cape Cod Bay are still seeing blitzing fish. Andy Nabreski caught his first Cape Cod Bay albie from shore while filming for an episode of Living Off the Land and Sea earlier this week. He noted that the fish were moving very fast, but they had pushed bait so tight to shore that a backhanded cast would reach them. He got a couple shots at them, landing one before the fish moved on.
A couple weeks back, albies had made it all the way up to Race Point and some were even spotted breaking offshore from Outer Cape beaches, so it’c unclear whether the CCB albies will head back through the Canal or take the long route home. Last I heard, there are still albies popping up in the ditch, but I haven’t been spending much time down there. Instead, we’ve got eyes on the bite from Canal vet East End Eddie Doherty, who reports:
“Migrating striped bass are feeding heavily and many are using the Canal shortcut for their journey south. Marine Corps veteran, Steve Colleran, has been using pink lures for the last month to imitate the heavy presence of squid. He muscled a 35-inch linesider off the bottom with a pink Al Gags soft plastic jig on an early east flood tide. A friend watched a surfcaster release a fish after it measured out to 44 inches, then the guy next to him fought an even bigger bass in close enough to watch Bubba the enormous seal rip off his catch! Zak Baker was landing slots or smaller on every cast with his blue FishLab and I hooked a strong slot that fell for my white Bill Hurley Canal Killer, with its paddle tail vibrating in the 5-knot current, west of the Sagamore Bridge on an east rising tide right in the middle of a school of hungry bluefish. A crowd of surfcasters, including the legendary John Doble, were reeling in slots and bigger toward the east end. Experienced canal rat, Jack Barton, landed 40-, 42- & 46-inch stripers on an early east tide with a Striper Gear Shaddy Daddy on the bottom. 7-year-old Harry Skelton caught a nice size bluefish, Chuck Franks reeled in a 33-pound striper that measured out to 45 inches and Jimmy Kelly tied his PB with a 46-inch heavyweight! There are not always surface breaks, so go deep or go home!”
Connor at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said there’s lots of bait in the Canal and lots of birds up in the morning, indicating topwater action. The bite has been very good in the morning in the east end, but the action is moving west and fish are primarily being caught on jigs, with the exception of those first-light blitzes. This past week, customers have come into the shop with pictures of big bass up to 40 pounds on paddletails. Connor said albies are still in the Canal pretty heavy too. In Buzzards Bay, they’ve had good reports of keeper tautog throughout the bay, as well as up into the west end of the Canal.
Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys in Bourne told me they got into some rec. sized bluefin tuna south of the Vineyard today. Their game plan was to find whales and play the waiting game, and they were rewarded for doing just that. They had sand eels, silversides and tight schools of tinker mackerel all over the place, and the action was fantastic. They got most of their fish by jigging and trolling spreader bars. On the inshore front, Ross said they also did some striper fishing on the south side earlier this week, pulling over-slot bass on diamond jigs and catching hyper-aggressive black sea bass on top, which was a surprising change of pace. They were taking SP minnows, Exo jigs, you name it, but of course, they all were released. The Elizabeths, he said, were a little slower for albies this week though. Their clients did manage to hook a couple substantial albies, one or two that were well over 10 pounds, but it took work to find them, and they lost one of the double-digit fish boat side. They’ll be running charters until 10/31 so reach out for some last-minute action!
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Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth reports that he hasn’t heard of or caught any albies around in the Sound or anywhere around Falmouth recently. The last he heard, they were around the Elizabeths, the best albie fishing is out by Monomoy and Nantucket. On the brighter side, he did say his buddy limited out on tog in Buzzards Bay today during a short morning trip out of Falmouth. With the slower currents between moons, it has been easier to fish tog jigs. Evan said he hasn’t heard much about stripers from customers recently either, but relayed that there are a ton of peanut bunker in Falmouth Harbor, and there was a massive school of bluefish out front. One of his customers caught upwards of 20 blues on SP minnows earlier this week.
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Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reports that it has been very quiet in the Sound this week. On Monday he was catching bass up on the Cape Cod Bay side using SP minnows, and said that they have been selling tons of gear at the shop this week as people prep for the full moon next week. He said there has been a sudden rush for bonito and menhaden-colored Yo-Zuri Hydro Minnows and Mag Darters, which might be influenced by the amount of large bass and bunker that are expected to make their way south from the Boston area through the Canal in the next week. He said there have been a lot of small bonito around, so mackerel and bonito patterns could be the hot ticket for surfcasters and Canal fishermen.
My buddy Stavros Viglas chimed in from Martha’s Vineyard, reporting that bluefin tuna are in very close to shore on the south side. He also said that bass fishing is the best it’s been all season if you’re fishing from shore on the Vineyard. The past few nights have been lights out with paddletail swimmers. Bluefish, albies and bonito are still in thick, and there’s lots of large bass and blues around. Stavros said he’s seen butterfish, squid and silversides around in the surf, and that last night, he had one of the best nights of bass fishing he’s had in a long time. There’s no reason to not get out there, even if only making a few casts each day!
Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard took last Thursday to head south and try for tuna after hearing good things from Cox Ledge, the Suffolk and Tuna Ridge. He said they started trolling near the wind farm, continuing south, and hooked up to a small bluefin almost immediately. They decided to release it in hopes of landing a larger fish, but it never happened. He and Bret Benway trolled to Tuna Ridge and to the Suffolk and saw only one pod of dolphins the entire way. So on the way home, they stopped at Cox Ledge to do some jigging and landed 10 bonito, some big scup, a lot of sea bass (which had to be released), a keeper codfish, a spiny dogfish and two sea robins. Last Friday, the skipper took one more run at the MV Derby with Hans Riis and Blue Cullen, heading to Squibnocket where they caught a bunch of small bluefish and one just under 10 pounds. The following day, Saturday, was the final day of the Derby, and he took Amy Vickers, Jaemon Gillies and Whit Holden out to the Wasque Shoal where they found bluefish, bonito and false albacore. Kurt relayed that Amy scored a single-day triple crown that included a gator bluefish weighing over 13 pounds, and a 4th place daily winning bonito; a great way to wrap up the Derby. Now that the Derby is over, he’ll be running tautog charters until mid-November.
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos reports:
“I connected with Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters regarding his experience on the water this week, and while Corey emphasized that fishing has been pretty good lately, there is definitely a ‘lack of consistent patterns’ as to where the fish may be. As I reflected on Corey’s statement, I began thinking about the surfcasting scene as well, and I would say the ‘lack of patterns’ applies there too. Over the weekend, I ventured out to my usual spots to find the fish were not there on the tides or patterns that have been producing fish. So I suppose I chalk this up to the fall migration pattern, which means the fish are on the move following bait and feeding as they migrate through Nantucket waters. I had a great outing with Greg Chotkowski working the rip at Point of Breakers. There was a consistent bite of blues on top and Greg worked the deeper depths of the water column with a 3-ounce bucktail. He was able to pick up a few full-bellied, over-slot bass. On the same trip, local surfcaster Nate Skerrit landed his largest albie of the season.
I also checked in with Nick Whitbeck of IslandX Lures as there has been quite the buzz on the island recently on how productive his lures have been this fall. Nick shared that he received a text message from local surfcasting guide Steve Tuna, who sent out a text to a few friends indicating he had found a pocket of monster bluefish on Nantucket’s eastern shoreline. Shortly after, multiple vehicles pulled up and lines were in the water. Tammy King managed to pick a few nice albies from the school using the pink IslandX Hellfire with a rapid retrieve on the surface. Sam Brandt and Gray Malitsky both landed bruiser blues clearing the 34-inch mark. The bite held for a few hours before abruptly shutting off, but by then the group had already got their fill. A fall run experience on Nantucket that is hard to beat.
Fishing on Nantucket is fantastic at the moment with lots of bass, blues, albies and even a good amount of bonito being caught. The south shore and Nantucket Harbor have been consistent bass spots while Great Point has been great for targeting all four fall migration species, bass, blues, albies, bonito. It’s requiring some work to find fish by moving around and sharing information with other anglers. We have found that simply being on Great Point isn’t enough as the fish are running the beach in their migration or even at times schooled up on a pocket of bait. Magic moments are happening all over the island but you need to have some luck and a few good friends to help find the bite.”
Reporting on the inshore bite from Nantucket, Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters reported that he is focusing his fishing on the western edges towards the Vineyard, where he has found a healthy mix of bass and blues. Still, he hasn’t been able to find a pattern which has required a lot of bouncing around to stay on them. This week, he went out to Bonito Bar and had albies and when he went west, expecting to find bass, he instead found a bunch of monster blues. He added that there’s a lot of bait concentrated near the shorelines, from glass minnows to herring. He also noted that the water is still 60 degrees, so there’s plenty of runway from water temperature standpoint, so unless there is some major temperature swing in the air, there should still be a few good weeks of fishing ahead.
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Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
The weekend conditions ahead look tough, and depending on where you are, or how you fish, it’ll be borderline unfishable. Apps like Windy and Navionics are your best friend this weekend, because you can use the maps to plot fishable areas nearby, whether saltwater or fresh. Here are your best options for the weekend:
Jig the Canal. If you get down there for first light (which may be obstructed by cloud cover this weekend), there’s potential for topwater action early in the morning. Even the late morning may be productive depending on where you opt to fish and what the tide is doing. The Canal has all the fixings for the trophy bass bite to continue, and it’s conveniently tucked away from (most) high winds thanks to tree cover.
Jig your local jetty for tautog. While tidal currents aren’t crazy strong, this is a great time to pull out the tog jigs and see what’s swimming around in the rocks of the nearest inlet. Green crabs, or even Asian shore crabs—which I found plenty of while walking among the rocks in the surf earlier this week—will be the best baits to use. Or, you could get creative like our Western L.I. Report author, Nick Cancelliere, and rig some tough FishBites on you tog jigs. He’s been catching keepers from the kayak doing just that in the Long Island Sound this week. Worth a shot while they’re shallow!
Backwater bass. Take a gander along the shore of your local river, harbor, back bay or salt marsh and you’ll almost certainly find schools of bait taking shelter in the calmer waters. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve gotten them on Rebel Jumpin’ Minnows, Xorus Patchinkos, soft plastic paddletails and bucktails. They’re hungry, so find a way to feed ’em. The water is still pretty warm, so enjoy the comfortable conditions while you can. And it’s worth mentioning that if the backwaters aren’t giving up fish, it’s worth fishing in the slop. It’s the fall run, and those snotty, windy days are often the best days to fish the surf. The fish take advantage of the conditions, and surfcasters take advantage of the stripers feeding more vulnerably.
Freshwater. There’s nothing wrong with ducking away from the salt for a couple hours to find some reliable fishing in one of the many ponds that pepper Cape Cod’s landscape. Trout are stocked, and big bass are putting on the feed bags before winter. Just this morning, OTW’s Matt Foley, who was a strictly salty fellow until recently, hooked his first smallmouth bass—a near 4 pounder— from a local pond with Robbie Tartaglia. Even better, the bass hit a whopper plopper. Good to know that bass will still take a topwater in the kettle ponds! They haven’t all moved deep just yet.
Wherever you find yourself on the water this coming week, enjoy every last minute of it. As the weather gets colder, and the days shorter, those opportunities to get out and wet a line dwindle. In a couple months, we’ll all be saying “I should’ve went out fishing in that cold, windy rainstorm in mid-October.” Stay safe out there, and fish hard.
“The legendary John Doble”.
Lmao maybe in someone’s brainwashed mind!
Stripers and hickory shad in Plymouth on the peanut bunker. High tide has been money on the fly rods! Tight lines!
big stripers in buttermilk bay right now, cows! tight lines.