Cape Cod Fishing Report
Another week of hot and sticky weather brought some hit-or-miss fishing for anglers around Cape Cod and the Islands. While good tuna fishing continued to the south, the bite also improved east of Chatham. False albacore made scattered showings throughout Vineyard and Nantucket sounds, mixed in with bonito, and even popped up in Buzzards Bay, according to OTW’s Patrick Washburn and the fellas at FishLinked Charters. Meanwhile, decent fluke fishing continued in Buzzards Bay and on the south side, while in Cape Cod Bay, big striped bass provided plenty of action on live pogies near Plymouth, and on jigs around Provincetown—the latter of which also saw an influx of bluefish being taken on topwater plugs. Plus, stripers filled in along some of the outer beaches, where sand eels are fueling good topwater fishing in the late afternoon until dusk.
The weekend ahead looks a bit blustery with some scattered showers possible. For anglers looking to run offshore, Friday seems like the day to do it, as the wind forecast gets progressively worse until Sunday before conditions settle down a bit on Monday. However, with southwest winds blowing steady, shore fishing for bluefish and striped bass on the outer Cape and in Cape Cod Bay will be a safe bet to put a bend in the rod, especially with 6- to 8-inch sand eels present. Back on the south side and in Buzzards Bay, shore anglers will be better off casting metals and epoxy jigs into the wind in hopes of connecting with bonito or an early season shore ‘core, although bluefish have also begun to fill in.
Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay & Outer Cape
Alex MacMillian of FishLinked Charters in Wareham reported: “The fishing has been somewhat mild in Buzzards Bay as of late, although I can report the albies have arrived and schoolie stripers have stuck around in the west end of the Canal. The east end of the Canal is producing larger striped bass, but pack an 80 or 130 if you plan on fishing in Cape Cod Bay because occasional giant bluefin tuna feeds have been popping up inshore.”
From the Big Ditch, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “Slots and a little bigger are the most common catches right now. Bait has returned with mackerel swimming from the east end to mid-Canal. One fisherman caught 50 on a small lure instead of a sabiki rig! Dana “Hard Hat” Hanna reeled in a keeper from the east flood tide with his Al Gags blue mack paddle tail jig, Josh Casoli hooked a slot off the bottom with his wacky mack FishLab during the same tide and “Adirondack Jim” Cromme fooled a morning slot with a green mack Savage when nobody else in sight was catching. “Dancing Ben” Faulmino used a teaser behind his white popper to entice a striper that was just short of a slot on a rising eastbound current. “Slap Shot Scottie” Ewell worked the bottom with a white FishLab for two slots, “Zak Attack” Baker brought 7 bass to the rocks, including 3 keepers, with his blue FishLab during the east flood tide, then later in the week caught 3 more slots on the dropping west flow. Other anglers have been successful with the Bill Hurley white Canal Killer, the green mack Daiwa SP Minnow and the Ocean Born Flying Darter by A Band of Anglers. Breaking tides start to roll in next week from the new moon this Sunday.”
Sailing out of Westport for tuna recently, Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters said the bluefin bite south of the islands has been good, but not stellar. They’re getting anywhere from 1 to 5 hookups a trip while jigging RonZs and metals, so his charters have been able to bring back a fish on almost every outing. When he’s not on the tuna grounds, Cam has also been targeting stripers in the rips around Chatham. He said the bigger fish are stacked up in the bay, but for his charters, which are often looking for slot-size fish, they’ve been doing just fine out east. They’ve played plenty of catch and release with 30 to 50 fish trips after getting a few for the table. Back west, Cam has been catching sea bass a bit offshore in 60 to 70 feet of water on bucktails and diamond jigs. He expressed the importance of always fishing with a teaser for sea bass, especially when they’re on small bait. A basic rubber squid skirt will work just fine.
When I talked to Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay he said he’s been doing well with stripers in the surf up on the south shore, catching fish in the 20-pound class on needlefish. The fish are getting picky due to the amount of pogies in the area though, so he’s unsure if the bite will last much longer. There are some big bass being caught by the boat crowd on live bunker and topwater plugs like the Doc in the same area. Also enjoying the hordes of pogies in Cape Cod Bay, are giant bluefin tuna; but rec-sized fish have been almost impossible to come by. Connor recommends heading south or east if you’re looking for bluefin for the table. The Canal, he said, has fish in both the east and west ends. There were slot-size fish on top this morning around the bridges. Outside the Ditch, bonito have moved into Buzzards Bay, and he got word of albies in Vineyard Sound. Lastly, Connor added that fluke fishing is good in Buzzards Bay around Mashnee and in some of the nearby marinas.
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “It has definitely been the week for multi-species while fishing Cape Cod locations as the Reel Deal fleet lands some gator blues on topwater, really big striped bass, bluefin tuna, black sea bass and fluke! Pretty amazing to have access to such dynamic fisheries within reasonably close proximity to home and also highlights the beauty of having a trailered boat to launch from various locations. So as you can see—the recent fishing has been great as also captured in this Instagram reel. We have an upcoming opening on this Sunday, August 4th for striped bass and/or bluefin tuna, contact us today for more details or see online calendar.”
Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys in Bourne has also been fishing in CCB this week, where he said they were enjoying some consistent action from big stripers until the blues moved in around the pogie schools. They’ve been avoiding the live-line game and instead are opting for topwater early in the morning when the fish are more active on top. But, later in the day, vertical jigging his hand-poured diamond jigs in 120 feet of water has yielded some quality stripers as well, without any real interference from the bluefish. The skipper added that there are a bunch of bonito around too, and he even trolled a few up for a couple days in Cape Cod Bay, but they haven’t taken the time to go out of their way for hardtails just yet—it’s still early!
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Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds/The Islands
Sailing out of Hyannis, the Helen H has seen improved offshore fishing for fluke in the past couple of weeks. Tyler Huckemeyer reported that they’re getting the quality big fish they’re looking for, but the quantity is average. They’re running 8-hour inshore fluke trips which have been good, too; there are a fair amount of smaller fish to pick through, but most of the fluke have been in the 16- to 23-inch range, so their anglers are going home with some nice fillets. Inshore scup and sea bass fishing is good, but not great. Tyler said the sea bass fishing brings a lot of short life, with only 2 or 3 quality knuckleheads landed per trip on the whole boat. Thankfully, big scup are filling the gaps in coolers so nobody is going home empty handed.
When I spoke to Gary from Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis he said bluefish have filled in a bit on the south side this week (finally). They had several customers catching bluefish locally on topwater today, which has been the best thing going besides the bonito run, unless you’re willing to run east toward the rips and the outer beaches in search of stripers. Bass fishing remains good in the rips off of Chatham and he added that there are also some over-slot stripers being caught off the beaches on the Cape Cod Bay side. Unfortunately, the bottom fishing scene has been quiet in Nantucket Sound besides decent-sized scup and some short fluke being caught.
To be frank, it’s the time of the season when slower bottom fishing is okay, because hardtails typically begin to move in by the second or third week in August. Lucky for Cape Codders and Islanders, they’ve been trickling in for the past several weeks. Last week, Captain Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing out of Osterville shared a photo of an albie one of his charters caught on the south side; they’re here, just not in great numbers yet.
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However, bonito have filled in nicely since their mid-summer arrival, and with so much bait around, albie season should follow a similar trajectory. Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard has been enjoying the abundance of bones on the south side of the Vineyard this week. Kurt reported: “The bonito fishing has continued and even improved since my last report. On Thursday morning, Nick, Colin and Jack DelGiudice caught 3, on Saturday morning, Vin and Matt Montanti and Perry Perillo combined to catch 9 bonito, and on Sunday morning, Maddie Scott and Matt Pray caught 3. All these bonito were caught south of the island, but I have had a few reports of bonito in the sounds.
There have been a few days that were too windy to get all the way around to Wasque, so we stayed a bit closer to home. There are still lots of birds working over schools of baitfish in Vineyard Sound, and this week we finally found some striped bass and bluefish on them. JR Moore and sons Trey and Andrew pulled a couple of stripers out from under the birds on Friday, Madeline Garman caught a bluefish off Cape Poge on Monday and Michael Murray caught a 10 lb bluefish this morning. On most of these trips, we’ve split our time between casting for bass and bluefish and drifting for fluke, sea bass and scup. The bottom fishing hasn’t been great, but persistence has paid off with a few nice keepers among many smaller fish.”
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos reported: “As we kick-off the August Blues Nantucket tournament today, I’m excited to share that bluefish have finally arrived in solid numbers! Fisherman’s Beach was holding a large school recently where I connected with a 35-inch gator caught on an Outcast Lures yellow Polaris Popper. Tammy King also reported that the bonito bite is the rage on the island now, from avid anglers to first-timers hooking up. Tammy recommends throwing pink Hogy epoxy jigs and focusing on areas such as Great Point where you have many options to target bonito on both the outside and inside beaches. Vehicle access to Smith’s Point opened, which creates new opportunities for anglers to reach the west end of the island which holds bass, blues, and bonito.
Captain Corey Gammill has also reported that bonito are all around the island stacked up on butterfish, so look for birds and the bones will be close by. Bass are also mixed around the island in the white-water rips early in the morning, and Monomoy shoals are still holding large schools of bass. The IslandX Hellfire 180 in the electric chicken pattern has been productive lately, as the color scheme and flash presents a similar pattern to the bait we are now seeing. The west end has been the most consistent and this is usually the time of the year when the Bonito Bar heats up.“
Offshore
Anglers with recreational permits are getting their fix of bluefin south of Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard this week while commercial fishermen target the giants that currently reside in Cape Cod Bay. Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters has been splashing the boat in Westport to make the run south, and he said they have hooked at least one tuna per trip on jigs.
Over the weekend, OTW’s Jimmy Fee and Devin Acton got into some bluefin tuna on jigs after spotting whales that were feeding on sand eels out east while the bulk of the tuna crowd seemed to run south. Much like Cam Faria relayed, the bite hasn’t been lights out down south, but it hasn’t been slow either; the common theme is that you’ve got to work a little harder for your fish, and find some clean water.
Anglers fishing with the Reel Deal crew got their fix of bluefin tuna off the Outer Cape this week as well. With the influx of sand eels out east and some slightly foul weather in the forecast this weekend, you can bet there will be more boats looking to make quick turnaround tuna trips if conditions allow.
Meanwhile, other anglers are waiting on mahi-mahi to show up a little closer to home than the canyons, and based on reports from New Jersey and New York, they shouldn’t have to wait long.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Shore anglers should grab their lighter surf setups and get to the south side beaches to cast around for bonito and false albacore this weekend. Cloudy conditions and the chance of rain should keep bathers at bay, freeing up some space on Vineyard and Nantucket sound beaches. Tackle box classics like Deadly Dicks are always a good choice to throw at bonito; as a matter of fact, one of the first bonito of the season was caught on a Deadly Dick by a shore fisherman in Buzzards Bay. If those don’t do the trick, but fish are actively feeding within casting range, tie on your confidence epoxy jig. Be sure to keep an array of sizes, colors, and profiles on hand, because sometimes a simple change in color is the key to success. For example, Nantucket surfcasters are catching a fair share of their bonito on pink epoxy/resin jigs like the 1.5-ounce Game On Exo jig, while other colors and styles go untouched at times. And who knows, maybe you’ll bury the hook in an early-season albie mixed in with the bonito.
In Cape Cod Bay, striped bass can be caught from the south shore to the Cape’s bay side beaches and into the Outer Cape surf. There have been fish ranging from slot-size to trophy class on the pogie schools, where XL topwaters and live-lined pogies have been doing the heavy lifting. Meanwhile, the Cape’s bay side and ocean beaches seem to be holding a mix of schoolie to over-slot fish. In the surf off the outer beaches, soft plastics like Slug-gos and GT Eels, as well as minnow plugs and needlefish, have all been producing bass, although the most action is on pencil poppers around sunset and dusk on an incoming tide.
There are bluefish near P-Town that should be within reach of surfcasters, but they’re also starting to fill in a bit more on the south side after a not-so-great spring run and spotty waves of arrivals throughout the summer thus far. With some breezy conditions from the southwest in the forecast this weekend, the blues could be feeding hard in the slop. Some of those metals or epoxies intended for bonito or albies may be intercepted by bluefish on the south side; so, if, for some reason, you’d like to weed out the hardtails, throw larger topwater plugs to grab the attention of roaming gators.
The bottom fishing scene has seen better days, but fluke are still the best thing going in Nantucket and Vineyard sounds, with scup readily available too. For fluke, keep it simple and drop a bucktail jig tipped with Gulp or your favorite scented trailer, and tie a teaser of your choice 18 to 24 inches above the jig. If scup are nibbling away at your fluke trailers and teasers, try dropping an epoxy jig or a small slow-pitch jig on your lightest setup available. Bait will always work too, but smaller, pesky specimens tend to crash the party with clam or squid on the hooks.