Cape Cod Fishing Report- June 13, 2024

Cape Cod Fishing Report

This week, with more warm weather and several days of sunny, blue skies, we’ve really seen our summertime fisheries explode. Bluefin tuna from 30 to 60 inches and over are making their presence known all around Cape Cod and the Islands, fluke fishing has improved drastically in shallow bays, salt ponds, and in Vineyard Sound. And there are still bonito being caught around Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

I took advantage of some beautiful mornings before work this week and waded around with my fly rod looking to catch some hickory shad, which I had noticed on Sunday night rolling on small bait on the surface near a south side inlet. It’s been a couple years since I caught one, and I figured what better way to enjoy their acrobatics than with my 9wt? The water is still a little chilly in the morning, so I opted not to wet wade and strapped up the waders instead. As I walked over the sandy flat, I noticed tons of hermit crabs covering the bottom, and drifting with the slow current so I threw on a crab pattern from PostFly. It didn’t sink deep enough, so I tied on an olive/white Clouser minnow, and that got down much faster thanks to the weighted dumbbell eyes.

After only a few casts, a nice keeper fluke—my first keeper of the season, and my first fluke on the fly—inhaled the Clouser and put a really solid bend in the rod.

The fish was pinned right on the roof of the mouth and probably would have taped out around 18 or 19 inches—a fine specimen. I released it, along with any thoughts of hickory shad for the remainder of the week. I hooked one more short fluke, but lost it at my feet.

The next day I hit a different spot with a bag of Gulp and a couple of shad darts that I tied over the winter, which, despite their name, I use almost exclusively for fluke. A pinch of bucktail hair, some Krystal flash, and one hackle feather makes for a nice, slender baitfish profile with good action. And at 3/8-ounce each, these jigs are the perfect weight for fluke fishing in 2 to 6 feet of water. The fluke seem to like them, although the darts usually act more like a vessel to deliver a Gulp-tipped teaser. The teaser produced a handful of very short fluke on the rest of my outings this week.

There are still a surprising amount of stripers in some of the rivers on the south side of Cape, although getting them to eat has been a challenge. There’s so much small bait in the backwaters, they won’t even touch flies. I sight casted a few tailing bass while I was fluke fishing but they wanted nothing to do with my flies. Then, at night, they turn their noses up at even the smallest of soft plastics. The fish are mostly smaller than 25 inches, so it’s frustrating, but with so many other places to target bass, and bigger ones, don’t spend too much time on these fish. I haven’t done very well on my night outings this week, which I’m partially attributing to last week’s new moon putting a lot of larger bass on the move. But while the bite has been hit or miss in the surf around Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay, the boat crowd is enjoying some good action. There are adult bunker pods bopping around in Buzzards Bay, and following many of those schools are some larger stripers and big bluefish. If you can snag or net some to live line, it’s worth trying, although you may end up doing all that work to reel in the front half of a pogy that was surgically bitten just behind the bend of the circle hook. That was Jimmy Fee’s experience earlier this week, when he and a friend found bunker being harassed by thick schools of bluefish in Buzzards Bay. It’s nice to see bluefish filling in a bit after a spotty run thus far, but it would be nicer to see them in the surf on the south side.

Speaking of the south side, stripers from slot-size to 40 inches are chasing hordes of squid in the rips of Vineyard Sound, along with small sand eels; it is a great time of year to be a fly angler on Cape Cod. But the bass are still taking larger poppers and soft plastics, and the good fishing in the rips is not limited to the Vineyard. Head east into Nantucket Sound and it’s the same story all the way out to Monomoy. Plus, Nantucket Sound seems like the place to be if you’re looking for the other bass. Those tasty sea biscuits can be as elusive as they are aggressive when you get on a pile of them. And there have been a fair amount of fluke caught among the sea bass in both Vineyard and Nantucket Sound. If you can mark schools of squid or sand eels over sandy bottom structure, or around some of the wrecks, there are likely fluke cruising the bottom, looking up, just waiting for an easy meal to drop down. That could be your jig!

Speaking of jigs, man, do I wish I had a couple swim jigs and a spinning rod with me in Vermont last weekend. I brought my travel 5wt fly rod with some nymphs and wooly buggers to a pond where I caught my previous personal best largemouth bass. It was like bringing a butter knife to a gun fight—I was beyond outgunned. Three- to six-pound bass were cruising along the sandy, gravely shoreline in pairs or trios looking for small bluegills and rock bass that take shelter in the rock piles. A swim jig would have mimicked them perfectly in the crystal-clear water. I sight casted to a few, and although I didn’t get bit, it reminded me of the stellar largemouth bass fishing we have here on Cape. The ponds are getting very warm, but there may be a couple nighttime largemouth outings in order this week. Although this time of year, it’s almost impossible to turn away from all the available saltwater options.

With fluke on the menu, the bluefin bite exploding, scattered reports of bonito, and more bluefish and bass arriving, we’re heading into the summer fishing season on the right foot.

From the Cape Cod Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “Fish had been so scarce in the Ditch that regular Canal Rat Bill “On the Grill” Prodouz temporarily departed for fishier waters and landed 28-, 31- and 35-inch bass on the south side. The new moon provided better action in the Canal with slots & bigger breaking periodically for an hour at first light, but out of 30 guys making good casts, only Rey Arocho from NJ scored a slot from the east tide with his blue mack Magic Swimmer. 13-year-old Cody Rice from Connecticut caught 7 fish including a couple of 40-inch beauties on a Joe Baggs green mack swarter in the middle of a west tide. “Hollywood” Petracca convinced a slot to attack his Mystic Intrepid green mack as the east bound current was flooding. This typist reeled in a healthy slot on the new moon breaking tide with a white Hurley Canal Killer while exploring the bottom. Glenn “Lucky Cigar” Lindsey of Bridgewater fooled a 33-inch bass with his green mack Daiwa SP Minnow after catching a slot on a mid-Canal east tide.

Cape Cod Canal – Confessions of a Cow Hunter will be presented by Julio Silva to the Plum Island Surfcasters on June 18 at 7 pm. Julio is a legendary surfcaster and terrific speaker so this seminar is not to be missed! Unfortunately, an evil-minded reprobate (most likely more than one) placed two picnic tables, one on top of the other, in the middle of the Cape side service road near Aptucxet with a taut fishing line strung across on one side. Sometime after midnight a surfcaster hit the line with the front tire of his bike, flew over the handle bar and crashed into the tables. He had lacerations to his face, but it could have been worse so he was lucky he wasn’t killed. Fishing is supposed to be fun so I regret having to report on negativity, but I feel that a public warning is necessary.”

Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said the tuna bite has exploded pretty much everywhere, from Cape Cod Bay to out east to south of the islands; it’s like a switch was flipped and the fish are feeding heavily on mackerel, sand eels and more. Closer to home, Buzzards Bay has lots of bluefish on the bunker pods now, and they’re outcompeting the bass in many cases. Put away the soft plastics and grab some bucktails or tins if you come across blues willing to take lures over bunker. Connor said Cape Cod Bay has seen spotty action from stripers because they’re hanging in deep water, up to 100 feet at times, and they seem to be constantly on the move. Several boats have been getting them on deep divers that dive between 30 to 40 feet. Back in Buzzards Bay, sea bass fishing still leaves much to be desired, although the action is improving a little bit. One customer came in after his boat landed 6 keepers among the shorts in about 2 hours of fishing with 3-ounce bucktails. There has even been some fluke bycatch for sea bass anglers, but nothing consistent yet.

Captain Mike Rathgeber of CeeJay Party Fishing in Provincetown reports: “Striped bass continue to filter into the area with the backside ocean beaches having a good number of slot-sized fish, and bluefish have come into the area as well. Mackerel are abundant in the harbor and bay. The weather ahead looks great and the fish are here so come on out and wet a line with us.”

Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said that surf fishing is picking up out front on the south side after a recent wave of big bluefish moved into the area. Striper activity has been spotty though, it’s been mostly blues taking pencils and poppers, which is good to see after a quiet end to the month of May. Sand eels are starting to hatch on the Cape Cod Bay side, which should be great news for fly guys, but the surf bite has somewhat died off over the past week. The new moon may have sent some of those fish packing. Back on the south side, things are quiet on the fluke fishing front; there are guys getting them, but they’re tight-lipped for good reason. There’s good fishing for sea bass in the rips again this week, although there seem to be more shorts than big keepers. Scup fishing in the Sound has slowed a bit with the recent uptick in water temps, but it’s possible a lot of them have also begun to move in shallow, so check out your local jetties if you’re fishing from shore. And in other news, Christian’s buddy saw bonito in the harbor on the Vineyard this week, which is about a month and a half earlier than they usually see them pop up. Similar bonito reports are coming from Nantucket; more on that later.

Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth told me he was out on Tuesday morning in Vineyard Sound at first light and said they had excellent bass fishing with topwater plugs and squid-colored surface lures. There were birds working aggressively and squid leaping from the waves as stripers lunged for them; he said it was like a scene out of Nat Geo. Altogether they had over 40 fish, with lots in the upper-30-inch range and some over 40 inches, as well as a double-digit bluefish that Evan landed. He went out again on Wednesday evening and had good action from smaller fish on top, but not to the degree of the morning bite. Evan also mentioned there have been some quality fluke caught outside of the rips in Vineyard Sound recently, but sea bass fishing has been very hit or miss, with best action in 70 to 100 feet of water. He believes a lot of the bigger sea bass have pushed east into Nantucket Sound. And on top of good fluke and striper fishing, the tuna bite has been insane. Yesterday and Tuesday, there was a good trolling bite around schools of small bait out east, and his buddies caught some 60-inch-class fish on live mackerel under kites.

Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys in Bourne reported: “We have been on the fish steady this week. The striper bite is strong with fish fro under-slot to over-slot size all mixed in together, and they’re feeding on several different kinds of bait depending on where you go; from squid and pogies to juvenile herring, sand eels and silversides. A new push of bluefish have been moving in on the Buzzards Bay side as well, which has kept us busy. We have been switching on and off between fishing in Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay, and both have been fishing well daily. We found some keeper-size black sea bass in deeper waters on diamond jigs this week, as well. 

Alex MacMillian of FishLinked Charters in Wareham reported: “We are finding stripers here and there in Buzzards Bay, but when we do, it is quality over quantity. The black sea bass bite is in full effect, but you will have to do some heavy filtering to find 20-inch-plus class fish. The bay once again has that midsummer feeling as we have begun to experience a variety of species reappearing after their winter hiatus. Just this week we have found dogfish, fluke, skate, and sea robin, while drifting for black sea bass. The “offshore” bite seems to be heating up as well, with bluefin tuna reports coming in just about every day. The common theme seems to be to find the bait and you’ll find the fish closer than you’d expect.”

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

Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters said the tuna fishing is stupid good right now. On their Wednesday trip with Michael Xu and Cam’s new mate, Bobby Tran, the skipper marked false bottom around 50 feet down, flipped a jig out, let it sink, twitched it twice, and immediately hooked up on their first drop of the day. Things only improved from there as they whacked tuna on jigs for several hours. He had two bass charters booked for Sunday, which he converted to tuna charters after checking with his clients because the bite is so good; now is the time to get out there! Cam has also been doing a lot of fluke fishing in Vineyard Sound, and mentioned that just about anywhere in the Sound has some quality summer flounder. He recommends looking for birds that are diving on sand eels in many of the same areas you’d look for stripers (just outside of the rips), and instead of succumbing to the temptation to throw topwater, drop some jigs and you’ll probably catch some fluke. He noted that there are a lot of shorts, but the flatties are starting to pave the bottom with all the squid and sand eels in the area.

Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard reported: “It has been a busy week of charters. The striped bass are chowing on squid in the rips and it has been a lot of fun catching them on light tackle and fly. Most of the time we are casting topwaters or soft plastics, and sometimes, when it’s not too weedy, swimming plugs are also very effective. We trolled several nice stripers on Saturday. I had an opportunity to sneak back out after my charter on Tuesday and caught a bass on the fly rod. David Amaral and I got a couple keeper fluke and a nice sea bass yesterday afternoon in my first real attempt at bottom-fishing this season.”

Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “The stars aligned to provide one of the best bluefin tuna fishing days in Reel Deal history this week! Captain Bobby Rice and his crew landed 20 bluefin tuna during yesterday’s trip with one on bait, a few on RonZ, and over a dozen fish on Hogy Lures Sand Eel jigs. The green and olive jigs in 8.5-ounce or 12-ounce were definitely what the fish wanted! All fish in the mid-60-inch range putting the Centaur Angler’s Choice jigging rods (Chiron) to the test, and as per usual, they performed extremely well. Having this level of activity for bluefin in June is well above average and we hope it is an indicator of an excellent season ahead. Here is a video of one of the many fish being released.

From Nantucket, Rick Ramos reported:

“The new moon did not disappoint for surfcasters here on Nantucket, as I have received many reports from anglers beating their PBs this week.  Two more noteworthy catches were from Tadas Baliukonis with a 43-inch bass, and Noah Karberg, who landed an impressive 45-inch bass on light tackle.  Noah has had a fantastic spring run in the surf with two fish over forty inches caught and he and his teammate, Homer Ray IV, won last weekend’s Nantucket Anglers Club Schoolie Open.  We would also like to congratulate Cody Peterson, James Hatton, and Tammy King for an amazing team effort to win the 8th Annual Spring Sea Run Opener.   

Fishing continues to be exceptionally good along all areas of the south shore with reports of Mag Darters, SP Minnows and Slug-gos working well at night with a slow retrieve in the wash.  Greg Chotkowski has been on a consistent daybreak bite throwing 2-ounce bucktails at the fast-moving water at Point of Breakers.  This is the best spot on the island to get a bass or bluefish anytime during the day.  In a more stealth outing, Sam Brandt and Timmy Sullivan worked the inside edges of Coatue with Slug-gos one evening to find solid schools of 30-inch bass slurping on sand eels.  With so much bait in the harbor, we expect fishing to continue strong through June. 

From the boat, Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters reported that the fishery is outstanding, and the bigger bass have moved in with a good mix of bluefish now on the scene.  There’s a heavy mix of mackerel, herring, squid and sand eels around the island, so we expect the fishing to remain great.  Old Man Shoal is now fishing well, and the west end of the island continues to produce, with a report by Grant Kimble boating the largest bonito he has ever caught on a pink minnow at the famous Bonito Bar. I’ve also received a few other reports of bonito caught, so with bass, blues, and a few stray bonito around, it may be time to go get a June Nantucket Slam!  Corey also shared that bait is starting to shift to Monomoy, where fishing has picked up.  I received a report that Joe Tormay landed a 44-inch bass working an amber IslandX 180 Hellfire along the edges of a Monomoy rip.  If you are targeting fluke, Captain Corey reported that fishing is improving, and we are not yet at the peak of fluke season so there’s a lot to look forward to.”

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

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

Fluke fishing should only continue to improve from here before it slowly dies off in mid- to late-summer. Load up on bucktail jigs and Gulp now before the mad rush! They’ll be in the salt ponds and bays until August or early September too, so if visual, skinny-water fishing is appealing to you, or you don’t have a boat, you can still get in on the action.

Bluefish are chasing bunker in Buzzards Bay, mackerel and sand eels in the surf off of Provincetown, and as of this week, it sounds like certain south side beaches will see a good push of blues chasing scup and/or squid. If you’re going out for blues, bring a handful of tins, some bucktails, and of course, loud poppers in different sizes. Any quality pencil popper will do, but I especially love the Tsunami Talkin’ Popper XD. I have yet to find a pencil popper at that price point that casts as well and holds up to the blues. It is seriously loud and it really flies far and cuts into onshore winds.

Stripers are stacked and chowing on squid in the rips of Nantucket and Vineyard Sound. But up in Cape Cod Bay, they’re hanging deep and eating mackerel, whiting, and sand eels. If you hit the north side of Cape, bring some diamond jigs in case you mark some fish on clouds of bait down deep, and keep a couple deep divers handy to troll around.

If you’re sea bass fishing, whether on the south side or in Buzzards Bay, look for small pieces of deep structure that may be holding their own schools, or down-current ledges where sea bass tend to stack up and pick off bait. All of the popular early season spots have been picked clean, or are full of short fish, so it pays to look around a bit for trying the well-known holes.

If you’re not yet on the tuna train, grab a few RonZ and some big, shiny, pretty-lookin’  jigs to mimic some of those XL sand eels out there. And definitely don’t forget the sabiki rigs at home, you’ll want to set out a couple macks at different depths while you jig.

Wherever you find yourself fishing this week, remember to have fun, respect one another, respect the fish, and be safe. Thanks for reading.