Cape Cod Fishing Report
Can you feel it? That early-morning/late-night chill in the air means fall is on its way. There’s still some warm weather ahead, but it’d be wise to start packing a hoodie for those pre-dawn and sunrise fishing trips if you haven’t already.
There’s been an influx of extra small bait, likely bay anchovies, that made for some picky albies and bonito on the south side earlier this week. Recently, more Spanish mackerel have joined the party after only a few scattered catches were reported over the past couple of weeks. Plus, there’s no shortage of small bluefish tearing through the schools of rain bait on the surface, while fluke, scup, and sea bass attack the clouds of bait from below. In fact, while chasing bonito and albies from the kayak in around 12 feet of water, I caught a near-keeper fluke on an epoxy jig and it spit up a handful of baitfish the size of my fingernail—the same baitfish I’d later see fleeing schools of bonito and albies. That was early on in the week. Since then, peanut bunker have filled again which, hopefully, will make these hardtails a bit easier to catch going forward.
Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds are inundated with bonito and more albies are moving in with each passing day. The best place to start the search for bones, albies, and Spanish macks, is out in front of your local inlet; if the fish aren’t immediately visible, scan a bit further from shore and utilize your electronics. On the south side, the trend this year seems to be that the fish are popping up a bit further out than usual (unfortunately for dedicated shore casters). Many captains are encountering feeds 1 to 2 miles out while running between spots.
On the north side, Cape Cod Bay is absolutely loaded with bonito that are blitzing on peanut bunker not far outside many of the harbors. Schoolie striped bass and some larger-than-cocktail bluefish are even joining in on the action.
Fluke fishing has been great from Buzzards Bay to the south side, as fish that hunkered down in salt ponds, bays, and harbors all summer long are slowly beginning to move out to deeper water. This tends to happen after a string of cooler nights in the 50s and 60s when shallow backwater temperatures fluctuate more drastically. As we’ll learn from charters and tackle shops below, there have been 20-inch-class fluke caught in Vineyard and Nantucket sounds, and double-digit, doormat-class fluke in Buzzards Bay if you look in the right places.
The week ahead looks mostly warm and beautiful, and with the exception of some potential rain on Monday, we should be in for fair weather and sunshine well into next week. Weather aside, this is one of the best times of the year to be on the water because opportunities abound. There are all sorts of different gamefish feeding on the same bait in the same areas, so there’s always the potential for an inshore slam, or to hook into something weird or unexpected, adding another element of excitement to already high-adrenaline style of fishing.
Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay & Outer Cape
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said there are bonito feeding close to the bank toward the middle of the Canal pretty much every morning this week. Closer to the west end, he said, small stripers are feeding alongside some decent size blues ranging from 6 to 10 pounds. Meanwhile just outside of the Canal, fluke fishing has been off the charts, which could, in part, be due to the influx of peanut bunker and silversides, as well as fish beginning to move out of the harbors, small bays and rivers. Connor said this week they’ve weighed in a 12-pound fluke and an 8 1/2-pound fluke that were both caught in Buzzards Bay. On the other end of the Big Ditch, he said there are some absolutely massive bluefin in Cape Cod Bay. Connor went out on Monday for a chance at a big one before the commercial season closed and said they watched on their electronics as giants streaked up from the bottom and completely ignored their baits; however, the commercial giant bluefin season is now closed until September.
From the Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “Terrific fishing continues on the Canal. 9-year-old James Astle reeled in a nice fish that hit an Al Gags gold Whip-It while wetting a line in the Ditch with his grandfather “Hammerin Jack” Barton. Tim “Hollywood” Petracca landed a 43-inch striper with a Yo-Zuri bone Mag Darter on an east tide and later was sitting on his deck on the Canal when birds started working above breaking fish in back of his house. Hollywood quickly ran a Yo-Zuri chicken scratch swimmer through the west ebb tide and got hit like a freight train by a beautiful bonito that he brought to the rocks under the bright mid-day sun! Ben “The Potato Manager” Sivonen caught some fish including a slot working his green mack Savage on the bottom. Dave “Skilsaw” Currie threw his blue mack Magic Swimmer into an east rising tide, scoring with a slot, one just under and one over that looked to be 34 inches. “Bucktail Bill” Jenkinson was exploring the bottom with the lure he is famous for, his 4-ounce white bucktail, when it was hit by a nice over-slot bass on an early east tide. Passionate 6-year-old angler Sage Nicholson continues on her torrid pace, fooling 9 fish, including 5 slots, with a big white Magic Swimmer on a rising east tide.”
Alex MacMillian of FishLinked Charters in Wareham reported: “Things in Buzzards Bay have been shaken up after the latest blow; bonito have seemed to taper off near Dry Ledge, but are being found elsewhere in Buzzards Bay for the dedicated bone chasers. On the contrary, fluking in the west end of the Canal has picked up heavily, with some absolute doormats in the mix; 25-inch fluke are right in the backyard. My personal recommendation is either a bucktail jig or a high-low rig paired with squid. We have also found some keeper black sea bass in the mix—taking home a few buzzer beaters before the season closes never hurts. Striper feeds can also be found toward the west end of the Canal early in the morning. This is almost exclusively small fish feeding on peanut bunker, and although they’re small, they are not too shy to take a standard Al Gags. Run-and-gun blitz chasing makes for a fun morning. If you are looking for bigger stripers, taking a ride up to Boston will help you out. In terms of tuna, your ride to the grounds will be shorter, with Cape Cod Bay and Stellwagen Bank both producing numbers.”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “The recreational bluefin tuna fishing is producing results as expected for the second half of August, although it requires committing to some considerable travel at times. This recent fishing charter was rewarded with two recreational fish (one 60-inch fish kept and one released) while traveling in some heavy seas due to northwest winds and big ocean swells—not the best combination for marine conditions on outer Cape Cod—but the Captain and crew’s determination paid off! Bait fishing outperformed the jig bite on this trip and others during the week.
(cont.) The striped bass fishing continues with many over slot fish including some keepers mixed in, as well as the occasional large bluefish which surely grabs attention! Mostly all artificial bite with the typical sunrise topwater transitioning to pounding the bottom in the afternoon to keep lines tight (and arms sore!). Next openings for bluefin tuna or striped bass fishing coming up on Sunday. With about one month of summer to go, be sure to get your fishing charter in while there is still time!”
Sailing out of Hyannis, the Helen H Fleet reported that offshore fluke fishing has been pretty good but not exactly lights out this week. Tyler Huckemeyer said there are some nice fish in the mix on the Shoals, but there’s been a whole lot of action on the inshore grounds with about a 50/50 mix of shorts to keepers. The inshore bite has been red hot and most people, he said, are limiting out during those 8-hour inshore fluke trips. If you need your fix of flatfish before the season starts to really wind down, get out there while it’s still good.
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Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds/The Islands
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said a few customers have been catching Spanish mackerel mixed in with bonito out in Vineyard Sound this week. Evan noted that the fish (generally) seem to be a lot further offshore than in previous years, but locally, albies have moved in closer to shore as of late and there are plenty of bonito to keep things interesting. Evan said his buddy was out this morning and he had Spanish macks and albies both spitting up peanut bunker, so hopefully they’re not as picky as they were last weekend. Fluke and sea bass fishing have been tough around Vineyard Sound; Evan said there are a few people plucking keepers on the wrecks, but you have equally as good a chance to catch one or two for the table over wrecks as you do just jigging for them while jumping between albie feeds. If you’re marking fish on bottom or suspended in the column, there’s a good chance they’re sea bass, but they could also be some big scup.
Amy from Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reported that there are albies, bonito, and small bluefish all feeding side by side seemingly across the entire south side from Bass River to Falmouth. The albies have been bigger for the most part, and they’ve even seen a few Spanish mackerel caught locally. Am’y mentioned one of the shop employees, Gary, was out over weekend and he was getting keeper sea bass and big scup out in Nantucket Sound, which was nice to hear. However, beware of small sea bass sipping bait on the surface as well. Amy noted that there are some keeper fluke being caught in Nantucket Sound too; you’ve got to weed through lots of shorts, but there are some good ones to be had. On the bay side, there are a fair amount of stripers of all sizes being caught from the beach: under-slot, slot-class and over-slot fish have been reported by their customers, along with some very big bluefish. In addition to bass and blues, there are bonito all over the Bay, too.”
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported: “There are bonito in huge numbers along Sound beaches pushing into Chatham. Bass fishing at the rips and up the beach continues to impress. It’s been a great year out this way as every bird pile and rip edge seems to hold a few fish. Certainly helps distribute the angling pressure. Tuna fishing has been hot and cold and we’re still waiting on some smaller fish to fill in.”
Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters was out tuna fishing when I called him. He said he was sea bass fishing on Monday and the bite was just as he left it: steady action on keepers. He went striper fishing on Saturday in the Monomoy rips and had constant fish on walk-the-dog plugs as well as the Island X Hellfire 200s which, he said, have been crushing fish, especially when he has new or beginner anglers on board. Cam is booked on weekends but has weekday availability until September, so call him to book a trip before summer ends while the schedule is open!
Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard reported: “This week, the weather definitely had a lot to say about where we chose to fish each day. The bonito fishing continues to be very good, but we had some surprise catches as well. On Sunday, I took Lee Vartan and sons Luke and Aidan out to look for bonito. We found birds in the harbor, but no bonito. However, the boys did discover that letting their epoxy jigs drop to the bottom was almost guaranteed to result in a small sea bass. So that kept us busy for a while. But what I didn’t expect was the 20-inch fluke that pounced on Luke’s epoxy jig! Encouraged by the bonus fluke, but still hoping for a bonito, we worked our way around to State Beach where, in the last minutes of the trip, a bonito blitz erupted and we connected with a beautiful bonito.
On Monday, I took Aaron Stock and sons Gardner and Byron on a bonito quest. They’d been looking forward to this for weeks and were highly motivated, so they were not in the least deterred by the rainy weather. We chased bonito in the harbor, but they proved elusive, staying up for only brief opportunities. We moved further out and found some more sustained feeds off West Chop. These turned out to be bluefish, which I was happy about because the bluefish have been so scarce this summer. But the boys were really determined to catch some bonito, so after landing several bluefish, we continued the search. Because of the southeast wind and the approaching rainstorm, we chose to stay close to home and concentrated on looking for the bonito that I knew were hanging around between East Chop and State Beach. We finally found them, and caught three nice bonito before heading back to the dock just ahead of the storm.
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos shares a fishing report update: “The fishing has been a bit slow as our waters are settling down from the recent swell. Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters reported yesterday that he observed multiple schools of bluefish on the south side of Nantucket making a migration up the east side towards Great Point. Anglers participating in the August Blues Nantucket tournament will find this great news as many have been reporting slow fishing lately. We are excited to share our Week 3 tournament winners – Heather Unruh (Boat), Dante Bruschi (Beach) and Logan Beylouni (Junior). Registration is open through August 31st.
The bonito fishing remains red hot from both beach and boat around Nantucket. Albies are starting to fill in on each tide and with plenty of bait around we expect this to turn on very soon. If you are targeting striped bass, focus on the white water along the south shore.”
Offshore
Bluefin tuna fishing has hit a slight lull after a weeks-long jig bite south of Cape kept everyone in Southern New England busy. There are still fish to be caught on jigs to the south, but right now, the best bet for a bluefin is either east of Cape Cod or the south end of Stellwagen. Giant tuna remain in Cape Cod Bay but commercial giant fishing closed earlier this week, and there’s no sense in playing catch and release with fish of that caliber. And if you haven’t heard by now, there are some white marlin south of the Vineyard. Listen to the full northeast offshore report below.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
It looks like we’re again going to be dually blessed by Mother Nature and the fish deities through the weekend. At the time of this writing, the forecast calls for sun, sun, and more sun with comfortable air temperatures from the mid 60s to high 70s, and those conditions are going to carry into next week. It’s not September yet, but it’s beginning to feel like it.
The best bet for the weekend again lies in chasing albies, bonito, and if you’re lucky enough, Spanish mackerel. A hardtail slam is not easy to come by, but it’s entirely possible. And hey, with all the small bluefish around lately, you can always keep a few cocktails or snappers for the table if the Spanish macks don’t show or cooperate.
For shore fishermen and surfcasters, there’s good action from bass and bluefish in Cape Cod Bay around Sandy Neck and west. Plus there are a few fish to be had on the outer beaches, which should be easier to fish now that the storm swell has died down. Otherwise, hit the Canal around the tide switch and throw around some topwaters or bounce a couple jigs.
Shark fishing is still going well on the south side. Earlier this month, an angler caught and released a juvenile tiger shark from a south-facing beach. I also received a photo from one of our readers, Braden Woods, who regularly visits Cape Cod from Vermont. He said that he and his brother have been catching mostly small sand tigers as of late, and while they agreed that the brown sharks pull a little better, it’s very cool to see juvenile sand tigers around in numbers. Just keep them wet, handle with caution, and minimize the time between the landing and release.
If you’re into a more laid-back style of fishing after a long, busy week, fluke fishing has been good enough that it’s worth hitting a few of the hotspots around Cape Cod to survey the scene. Keep an array of jigs, including bucktails, slow-pitch jigs, epoxy/resin jigs, and metals; this is the time of year when fluke are more likely to hit a tin or an epoxy jig because they more closely resemble the small baitfish that are out there better than a full-bodied bucktail.
And lastly, largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing is heating up as air temperatures become more bearable and overnight temps slowly cool shallow ponds. Take your jig of choice to the local honey hole, add a soft-plastic trailer, and swim it around grasses and weed beds for bass that are actively chasing small baitfish like young of year sunfish. Topwaters will still get the job done, too, especially around dusk. Think small poppers tight to submerged or overhanging structure, whopper ploppers, and hollow-bodied frogs in areas of dense surface vegetation.