Cape Cod Fishing Report
It’s hard to believe that next week is already July 4th. June absolutely flew by, and for many surfcasters, myself included, it was a challenging month of fishing. Now the striper migration is slowly coming to a halt, but you can bet that the new moon tides around July 5th will set in motion one final push of bass up the coast. After a week of weather that saw temps in the upper 70s and 80s, water temperatures are warming to comfortable bathing levels and, as a result, stripers are beginning to settle into their summer dwellings. For anglers around Cape Cod, that means inlets, ocean beaches, and areas like the Elizabeth Islands and Cape Cod Bay where there’s cool water and/or hard, rocky structure, will be prime locations to find bass once the action in the rips begins to wane.
From Vineyard Sound east, there are still plenty of squid for migrating bass to enjoy as they enter the final leg of the spring run. The bass fishing has been just as good in Cape Cod Bay as it was on the south side before the blow, meanwhile, in Buzzards Bay, bass pushed bunker into the Cape Cod Canal where they collided with schools of mackerel—a collision that led to some good fishing for Ditch-goers over the weekend. But with the way the wind has been blowing for the past 4 days or so, surf fishing elsewhere has been a struggle in the form of wind knots, churned-up seas, mung, and poor water clarity. Although the wind has been blowing primarily from the southwest, it’s been shifty enough to make deciding where to fish a guessing game; some nights it’s blown out of the northwest, others, it’s been a stiff west wind. As a result of multiple skunkings, I fell back on fluke fishing in skinny, shallow water to put a bend in the rod.
On Sunday, I waded chest deep through bath-warm water to a flat where the wind was at my back so I was able to fish the sandy troughs on an outgoing tide with a light bucktail jig that I made from a shad dart. The water was cloudy, so I found myself cycling through various jig hair colors before I landed on a combination of white and chartreuse that seemed to be the ticket to success. My teaser was the same color and I tipped it with a 3-inch, chartreuse-pepper colored Gulp Swimming Mullet. Plain white, pink, and natural olive colors did nothing, but after 2 hours of fishing the chartreuse jig and teaser combo, I had landed a handful of fluke from 12 inches to around 19 inches. Fluke fishing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s something about catching them in a few feet of water while wet wading that I find 10 times more enjoyable than jigging from a boat, or even from a kayak. It’s like you’ve entered their domain, which, to me, is also part of the allure of surfcasting for stripers. Anyhow, those fluke provided a much needed tug on my line after a slow week on the striper front. I suppose I should have hit the Canal, where southwest winds are less impactful, especially for anglers fishing from the Cape side rip rap. OTW intern Noah Lamperti and my buddy Ryan Henry enjoyed some of that action over the weekend, and with July’s new moon on the horizon and the amount of bass still kicking around in Buzzards Bay, there should be some more good fishing ahead for the Big Ditch. During the first two weeks of July last year, big bass were blowing tinker mackerel out of the water around the tide switch, and it didn’t matter if it was during the crack of dawn or late afternoon; we’ll see if we’re blessed with a repeat.
Not to make this a wind report—the weather channel is good for that—but gusty conditions have also kept the tuna crowds at the dock this week. Prior to the blow, there were anglers hooking up on the troll and with live bait out east, but there were also plenty of bluefin in the 50- to 60-inch class taken on jigs to the south. Based on what Connor Swartz at Red Top told me of his first successful offshore trip, he and Joe D’Agostino found some “football” class bluefin to the south as well. Now, after almost a week of little to no recreational fishing pressure, heavy wind, and air temps hitting the 90s in some portions of the coast, things are bound to be a bit jumbled. Going into this week, finding pronounced temperature breaks around the upper 60- to low-70 degree range will be key for anglers tuna fishing south of the Islands especially. Just keep an eye on that wind forecast; it looks like there might be a short weather window on Friday or Saturday morning for the more experienced crews, and Monday to Wednesday is looking doable despite winds shifting from the west, to northwest, to northeast, then back to west/southwest again.
From the Cape Cod Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “Mackerel and bunker have entered the Canal and hopefully will stick around. A whale gracefully gliding through the east end was the biggest action for a while until 15-year-old Matt Sadr, already an experienced surfcaster, convinced an 18-pound linesider to swipe his Striper Gear pink touched white Shaddy Daddy on a mid-morning west tide. Then, two days before the full moon, “Slap Shot Scottie” Ewell enticed a 35-inch striper to attack the slow, lifelike movements of his white Magic Swimmer, landing it toward the tail end of an east flood tide. Mike Dick from Bourne was making long, Ron Arra like casts into the east tide with his 3.5-ounce Yo-Zuri green mack Hydro Monster Shot when it was hit by a 40-inch bass about half way down the water column on the morning of the full moon, and his friend landed 4 slots the night before toward the west end. Bill “On the Grill” Prodouz got into a top water bite the next day, landing a 31-pounder that was riding the rapid tide toward Cape Cod Bay. The 43-inch warrior exploded on a green mack Striper Maine-iac pencil, spraying water like a car wash before taking drag down to the bottom and Tim “Hollywood” Petracca reeled in a 34-inch bass hooked onto his white Guppy JoBo Sr. at the same time. A 37-inch bass fell for this Canal Rat’s Striper Gear green mack Rocket in between heavy downpours on a breaking tide. The well fed, fat fish took line off my reel and fought much higher than his weight class.”
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said it’s been so windy that fishing has been particularly slow in Buzzards Bay. Fluke fishing is still going strong in northern Buzzards Bay with bucktails and teasers doing most of the heavy lifting. However, Connor mentioned that ball jigs with a swinging hook attached to the swivel, like the ones made by Tsunami, are working a bit better than bucktail jigs because fluke can’t get as much leverage to free themselves as they would on a fixed-hook jig. Teasers have also been key, as the bottom is pretty churned up on account of the wind. He added that the Canal fished well over the weekend when some decent fish around 36 inches showed up on top, but most of the bass that were caught were slot-class and under. He’s also hoping to get out for some football-class bluefin tuna on July 3rd before the holiday fleet gets out there, assuming the conditions have improved.
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said believe it or not, freshwater fishing has been lights out this week. They’re selling tons of shiners for customers who are largemouth bass fishing, which is likely due to the wind hindering saltwater efforts on the south side where fishing has been rather slow. He said there are still plenty of people out there catching scup, but the bluefish have been spotty, and it seems like most of the bass have moved down Cape toward Chatham and up toward Boston; Cape Cod Bay is fishing very well right now on account of some big schools of bunker. They got fresh pogies in today, so they’re curious to see how their customers do chunking, because they’re also selling a lot of shark rigs. Customers are catching a mix of dogfish and some brown sharks at night. Out in the Sound, sea bass fishing has been quiet for the most part; the rips are still producing some, but it’s been a whole lot of shorts.
Evan Eastman at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth told me his customers have been doing well in the rips of Vineyard Sound with mostly under-slot bass, although there are a couple overs still in the mix. Evan said it seems like the bigger fish have moved on for the most part; Boston has some huge fish right now, and there are a lot of mid-30 to 40-inch bass out east by Chatham. As a silver lining, a lot of people are starting to catch more bluefish locally. One of his regulars comes in twice a week for eels and he’s been catching a few stripers and some bluefish down by Woods Hole. Meanwhile, customers fishing from shore in Falmouth and Buzzards Bay are catching more blues on topwater and on metals. He had a customer visiting from Long Island in the shop a couple times who said they’ve been catching nothing but blues this entire week. Evan thinks we should see more blues push in over the next week because there’s no shortage of bait, and warm weather has helped water temps rise in some areas despite the upwelling brought on by several days of strong southwest wind. On the shark fishing front, one of his employees snagged a bunch of pogies locally and hooked a brown shark from the boat, but lost it around a buoy. The south side beaches have been the place to go for shark fishing from shore. When I asked about bottom fishing, he said most boats have been docked this week, but there are a ton of fluke being caught from shore which is a nice change of pace. One customer caught around 3 dozen fluke including 5 keepers over 20 inches in several hours on bucktails and Gulp. They seem to be stacked up outside the salt ponds and south side inlets. From the boat, another customer has been catching keeper fluke over the shoals in Vineyard Sound where teasers are doing the job. Offshore, he said, has been quiet with the wind, but there were some bluefin caught southeast of Nantucket by anglers trolling ballyhoo or slow-trolling mackerel. The tuna fishing should blow wide open as the wind begins to die down.
Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys in Bourne said they’ve been doing great this week by ducking out of the wind in Cape Cod Bay. This morning, heavy rain and lightning passed through which dropped water temps by almost 10 degrees in combination with the upwelling from those recent southwest winds. But, they waited it out and hit the water once the weather passed and had 27 fish total with the biggest measuring 38 inches, along with a limit of slot-size fish. There are fish of all sizes mixed in recently; one of their charters caught a 47-inch bass and they even managed to land an XL striper that gave them a long, steady run on nearly locked drag, which had the skipper convinced they were snagged a lobster pot until they got the fish boat side. Captain Ross emphasized that he doesn’t necessarily enjoy trolling, but they’ve been able to pull some larger fish for their clients by trolling deep divers, and then jigging diamond jigs when they find a body of fish. They’re fishing daily and are looking forward to moving around a bit once the wind dies off, so message them to check on their availability.
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Captain Mike Rathgeber of CeeJay Fishing in Provincetown reported: “Striped bass have been increasing in numbers and spreading out simultaneously as they have been caught from Race Point down the outer beaches. The bay side is still rather quiet. Bluefish made an appearance bayside and oceanside but have become rather elusive as of late. Trolling umbrella rigs has been the hot ticket but lots of fish were also caught on chunk mackerel as well as vertical jigs.”
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham said that fishing has been WINDY this week in his neck of the woods, but they’re seeing more sand eel-driven action out east recently. There are still squid, but sand eels under terns are up and down the beaches and at the rips. He recommends paying close attention to how fish and birds interact to discern what the preferred bait is, which has been a useful tactic for their charters this week. Give them a call to check on availability!
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Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters said he was out on Monday night for bass and skunked on the North Shore of Massachusetts, but on Tuesday he found some quality fish to 35 pounds on live pogies in Cape Cod Bay. Cam said there are no bluefish up that way as far as he could tell, but he’s looking for them so he can bring a couple out for tuna. His plan is to head south tomorrow morning in hopes of finding some mackerel for bait, which he thinks will be even more challenging than finding the bluefin. Call or text him for upcoming availability!
Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard reported: “The weather this week has certainly made things more difficult. There have been a few days with small craft advisory. It feels like it has been windy for two solid weeks, but there have been days when the wind has let up and we’ve been able to get out fishing. Middle Ground still has squid and hungry striped bass, but they are not feeding as recklessly as they did just a couple of weeks ago. The bass have been joined by more bluefish than we were seeing a couple of weeks ago, and some of these bluefish are big! Once again, we have been casting in the rip when the current is strong and trolling when the current slows down, and both techniques have been productive.”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “Another week of making the best of what Cape Cod weather is offering between high winds and rainy conditions, we still got our anglers out on the water in Grundens foul weather gear for some tight lines! The vertical jig bite on striped bass offered a great increase in activity with blue mackerel and pogy colors doing well. We also enjoyed great fights from some notably big bluefish in the mix. We’re looking to potentially get back offshore soon for a check on how the bluefin tuna fishing is going! Please view our calendar for openings in early July.”
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos reported:
“Nantucket surfcasting was terrific before the big winds moved in. I was able to get out in the surf Friday and Saturday night getting decent numbers on the south shore from Point of Breakers through Madequecham. There were reports of a few larger fish caught by Dan Holmes, Jack Larizadeh and Timmy Sullivan fishing Mag Darters and SP Minnows. We now have the opportunity, or task, to explore the reformed Nantucket shoreline to find new holes from the recent storm that may be holding fish.
Nantucket surfcasting was terrific before the big winds moved in. I was able to get out on the surf Friday and Saturday night getting decent numbers on the south shore from Point of Breakers through Madequecham. There were reports of a few larger fish caught by Dan Holmes, Jack Larizadeh and Timmy Sullivan fishing Mag Darters and SP Minnows. We now have the opportunity or task to explore the reformed Nantucket shoreline to find new holes from the recent storm that may be holding fish.
As we transition into the summer months, many anglers begin to switch to more finesse techniques to target striped bass. Pat McEvoy has been having a lot of success on the fly with sand crab presentations along the south shore. Pat reported that large numbers of slot size fish have filled the troughs on the water’s edge feeding on sand crabs. You can have a lot of success if you are patient and try to see the fish on the edges for a sight cast. Another finesse technique is to scoop up a few live sand crabs, load a 5/0 circle hook and flip it in front of a cruising striper and hold on. You will be surprised at how effective this technique can be, especially on a sizzling summer day.
From the boat:
Greg Chotkowski and I had a wonderful day on the water last week with Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters. We buzzed out of Madaket Harbor to fish the rips west of Tuckernuck where we connected with a few dozen bass on the Island X Hellfire 180. I also checked back in with Corey yesterday and he reported that fishing has been particularly good on the outgoing tide at the west end of the island. Fish have filled in on the edges after the recent storm, feeding on sand eels and squid. The eastern rips have gotten better as many bass have pushed out with the water warming up closer to the island. Corey also reported that he caught a bonito near Old Man Shoal and he received a report that two bonito were caught at Great Point. The Nantucket fishery is interesting right now as even flying fish have been seen in our waters on the south shore and at the Bonito Bar.”
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Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Surfcasters should keep their eyes on the Cape Cod Canal and the Outer Beaches this week. With the amount of fish out east, there could be waves of bass moving up the coast toward Provincetown going into the holiday. More bluefish have shown up in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, and you can bet some of them will head toward the Canal where they’ll enjoy a steady diet of mackerel, bunker, and paddletail swimbaits.
Brown shark fishing on the south side is a fun option this week, just make sure you go out there well equipped with the right tools to safely handle and release them. A lengthy hook remover is a great tool to keep your hands free of harm, and remember to keep sharks off of dry sand and in the wash.
Fluke fishing by boat, kayak, or wading seems to be a great option this week, too. With the amount of keeper-size flatties being caught from the beaches of Vineyard and Nantucket Sound, it’s worth casting around some bucktails and teasers with a 7- to 9-foot rod, depending on how important casting distance is. I think most people would be surprised at how close to shore these fluke stack up. They aren’t the toughest fight; instead, the fun lies in the challenge of landing them. Big headshakes and lots of turns, along with their ability to swim backwards, make them a fun target in shallow water. My favorite part of this style of fishing is the hookset, which is usually met with a few headshakes before you’re able to move the fish (assuming it’s larger than 12 inches).
Scup are a shallow water option too, and being that the next week is the 4th of July, there’s no better way to get the young ones hooked on fishing than filling a bucket with keeper scup. Just remember to follow the regulations, which differ for shore anglers and boat anglers in terms of bag limit and size limit. Shore-based anglers can keep a limit of 30 fish at a minimum size of 9.5 inches. Boat anglers on private vessels can keep 30 fish each at a minimum of 11 inches, and as of July 1, the limit for charters or party boats drops from 40 to 30 fish with a minimum size of 11 inches.
Sea bass fishing has really slowed down, so if you’re bottom fishing this week, the best way to take home some fillets will be with scup or fluke unless you’ve got a sea biscuit hotspot up your sleeve.
Tuna fishing should pick up right where it left off with plenty of action to the south as well as out east, as well as up in Cape Cod Bay. With the amount of bunker in CCB right now, it might be worth snagging or netting some and setting them out at different depths to see what’s kicking around in the Bay.
And lastly, bonito continue to pop up from Woods Hole to Nantucket. Keep a couple of metals or epoxy jigs tied on, because they’re great lures to cull out bigger scup and sea bass, and who knows, maybe you’ll run into a rogue hardtail.
East end report: Glory hole Greg DuCherri found some slot and over slot bass gagging on some tinks right before dawn. As per usual, he was skunked. Next time Craig!