Cape Cod Fishing Report
A bit of rain and some east/northeast winds have brought big swells and cooler weather to Cape Cod this week, but late-summer fishing patterns continue to heat up. Bonito fishing is the best it’s been in years with an abundance of small bait throughout Buzzards Bay—including peanut bunker—setting the stage for a strong run of false albacore in the coming weeks. I had the opportunity to get out with OTW’s Chris Megan and Kevin Blinkoff and after a slow start in Vineyard Sound, we shot through Woods Hole to find big schools of breaking fish. There were some large bonito in the mix, however, no sign of albies (yet). These were the most sustained feeds I’ve ever seen from bonito, which worked in our favor when a distant feed was spotted. They’re much less finicky than albies. Almost any jig or fly we threw their way got bit.
But there are albies here already, and they’ll continue to pile in throughout the month as silversides, juvenile herring, bay anchovies, and more peanut bunker, fuel feeds throughout Vineyard and Nantucket sounds and Buzzards Bay. And if this fall is anything like last year, we’ll eventually see albies in the Canal and Cape Cod Bay, where they could remain as late as early November. What a treat that would be. Right now though, the albies seem mostly concentrated in Vineyard Sound.
On the outer beaches, surfcasters are experiencing hit or miss striped bass fishing through fast-shifting wind and sea conditions. Hickory shad are also available in the surf, where they’re feeding on rain bait while schoolie to over-slot bass pick away at sand eels. The shad can be seen leaping just off the beach around dusk, presenting a great opportunity for fly fishermen and light-tackle anglers when the bass are uncooperative.
Back west, bottom fishing has left much to be desired, with mostly short fluke and scup providing some action when conditions allowed; last weekend was not an ideal time to be fishing from small watercraft on the south side or in Buzzards Bay. Meanwhile, anglers casting from the rip rap of the Cape Cod Canal enjoyed good fishing for stripers and, more recently, bluefish, in both the west and east ends. The bass were feeding on mackerel, bunker and even some rain bait around slack tide in the early morning.
Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay & Outer Cape
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay echoed that the bonito fishing has been stellar in Buzzards Bay this week. On Tuesday, he left the dock at 8 a.m. and headed into the old Canal channel where there were no signs of life. He made the run toward Woods Hole and ran into fish near Sippewissett and caught a couple off that school before they disappeared. Instead of continuing north, he turned around and found them again in front of West Falmouth, then in front of Old Silver, then outside of Megansett, and then Pocassett. There is no shortage of fish out there. Most of their fish came on the small Island X Hellfire. He also added that the Canal is fishing very well this week with a lot of big bluefish on top, and some bass from slot size up to 40 inches on topwater as well. The excellent fishing is being fueled by a small amount of pogys toward the west end and a whole lot of mackerel throughout the Ditch.
From the Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “The baitfish buffet includes mackerel, bunker, squid and a ton of rain bait so the Canal is now loaded with fish. Slots have been breaking at first light on both sides and some larger fish are being caught. 85-year-old Bob “Butch” Parker from East Freetown was soaking bait with his son-in-law Paul “Sparky” Yuskaitis on an early morning dropping west tide when a 38-inch striper inhaled Butch’s bunker chunk. The healthy fish made a run, but was finally brought to the rocks for a quick photo before release. “Slap Shot Scottie” Ewell caught 8 bass, mostly slots, but one measured out to 38 inches, while working his white Magic Swimmer in close along the weed line. Bill “Slots” Walsh, the pride of Roslindale, found topwater success with his white Gibbs Little Neck Popper, reeling in 4 keepers in two days at the tail end of an east rising tide. Tim “Hollywood” Petracca released a fat fish that was a half inch short of a slot so the next time that bass is caught it will probably have grown to keeper size! Just a reminder that the Massachusetts tautog bag limit returned to 3 fish as of August 1.”
Captain Mike Rathgeber of CeeJay Fishing in Provincetown reported: “Good striped bass fishing off the backside ocean beaches from the Race Point Ranger Station to the Head of the Meadow and along the Peaked Hill Bar. More and more slot-size fish are being caught as well. Bluefish have been in and out of the area, so it’s a day-to-day thing, but giant bluefin tuna followed the massive pogy schools right into the bay. August is a great month to fish the Outer Cape and the crowds will thin out with each passing week. The best days are ahead!”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “It has been another epic week of Cape Cod fishing, including schools of giant bluefin tuna literally spraying pogies all over the surface in a show of acrobatics, which left the whole fleet hooting and hollering. Captain Bobby positioned himself just outside a small pogy pile in this video where you can see the bluefin darting all around his boat and then eventually hooking up. A must watch! The striped bass fishing has also stayed strong with most days getting in on sunrise topwater action and a bit more travel required in the afternoon to stay on top of the fish, but our crew is putting in the extra miles to keep lines tight for our charters. Not sure how the weekend blow will affect the fishing, but the ‘calm before the storm’ fishing is typically awesome and we have the sunrise departure space open tomorrow (Friday)! After that, we look forward to getting back out once the seas calm down for more summertime fun with the Reel Deal fleet.”
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported: “Dodging rain and wind events has paid off this week. The rips are still providing action. There are lots of sand eels and bass up along the outer beaches now under small birds as well. These fish can be very finicky, so try alternating between matching the hatch and throwing something that can draw a reaction strike. Big plugs got some great hits this week right in the middle of sipping bass.”
Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters said bass fishing was lights out in Cape Cod Bay this week on the pogy schools. They were getting fish up to 30 pounds on topwater and on live pogies. Further east, Cam said the fishing has been just as good. He described an epic bass bite in the rips with 35-inch-plus stripers blitzing on mackerel. All of their fish, he said, came on topwater. Back up in Cape Cod Bay, Cam tuna fished this morning after hooking a big one yesterday on bass gear, and unfortunately, they pulled the hook on a giant this morning as well. Such is the nature of giant bluefin tuna fishing. He’ll be continuing to fish for bass, bluefin and even bonito in the coming weeks, so reach out for availability!
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Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds/The Islands
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth told me that he went out Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. from Falmouth Harbor and less than a half mile to Vineyard Haven they were doubled up on bonito. After releasing them they ran into another school, and eventually they ran into a massive pod of albies from which Evan caught his new PB—a fish that was probably pushing 10 pounds. Evan said it was a long, uninterrupted feed, much like the way the bonito have been eating. He said on their way back in, four or five big bonito feeds were going on simultaneously between Falmouth/Woods Hole and Martha’s Vineyard, and they must have landed around 30 bonito total by the end of the outing. Evan has talked to several charters captains this week who agreed that this has undoubtedly been the best bonito season they’ve experienced, and the best part is, it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Hopefully that holds true even after this weekend’s wind and weather.
Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard reported: “We’ve had some great fishing this week, and it’s been a mix of mostly bonito and black sea bass, with a few bonus fluke. The bonito have moved up into the sound, and they are blitzing on peanut bunker and silversides. We’ve caught them casting metals, epoxy jigs and small swimming plugs. We’ve also spent some time bottom-fishing for black sea bass and catching some fluke in the process. But the sea bass aren’t just bottom fish. This week we’ve seen sea bass feeding heavily on some very small baitfish (I think they’re baby scup) in the rips. It’s a classic topwater scene: birds, bait, and breaking fish, but they’re not bluefish, they’re sea bass! Small metals, epoxy jigs or even swimming plugs cast into the blitz provoke instant strikes.”
From the isle of Nantucket, Rick Ramos reports on local surf fishing and the bite from the boat:
From the surf…
“Nantucket’s 2nd annual August Blues catch-and-release tournament is underway and we have a competitive race for the most coveted Triple Strike Prize (3 largest bluefish caught). Cody Peterson leads the beach division while Susan O’Malley leads the boat division. The junior division single fish leader is Wells Poston. There is plenty of competition ahead as registration remains open through August 31st. If you are targeting bluefish, Great Point, Smith’s Point and Point of Breakers have all been productive areas from the beach. The bonito bite has also heated up significantly over the past week with anglers enjoying outings with multiple hook ups. Great Point remains the most likely spot to run into breaking bonito. Bass fishing continues with the south shore and west end holding fish. I’d recommend working the whitewash edges on your way out to Smith’s Point as there are a few holes that have been holding fish. I’ve been having luck with the Super Strike blurple needle at night and a 2-3oz bucktail during daybreak.
From the boat…
This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to fish with Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters, Nick Whitbeck of IslandX Lures and August Blues Nantucket Founder, Greg Chotkowski. As soon as we rounded the Great Point Lighthouse, we were on large schools of breaking bonito that were keen on taking the IslandX Stinger Minnow. Greg connected with a whopping 29-inch bone as the major highlight of the trip. Corey reported that fishing around Nantucket has been a bit scattered with the heavy wind lately, but the bonito are plentiful. Bluefish numbers are at about 40% of what we expect to see in schooled blues but he’s optimistic that the fishing will continue to get better as there is plenty of bait around the island.”
Offshore
Heavy winds have made it difficult to get to the canyons, but that’s okay. There’s been good bluefin tuna fishing on the midshore grounds for a couple of weeks now, although tropical storm Debby could throw a wrench in that bite. Trolling and jigging south of the Vineyard and Block Island have yielded the best results. Meanwhile, pogy schools have brought giant bluefin tuna and even a few rec-sized fish deep into Cape Cod Bay.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Saturday looks like a great day to fish from shore on Cape Cod Bay, at least for early-rising anglers. The forecast calls for strong SSW winds with gusts to almost 45 knots, so unless you enjoy fixing wind knots, steer clear of Vineyard and Nantucket Sound beaches—at least in the morning. If the wind dies down throughout the day, as the forecast currently reflects, casting metals and epoxy jigs from shore on the south side may be bountiful. Bonito (and even a few albies) have been spotted and caught close to shore from Hyannis to Woods Hole, and Woods Hole to Bourne, and will let their guard down a bit while feeding on small baitfish in sloppy conditions. In Buzzards Bay, there are bonito just about anywhere you look along the Cape side, where they’re gorging on peanut bunker. On the south coast, there are bonito that seem to be congregated in the northern reaches of the bay near the Canal, where there’s been a lot of small bait mixed in with mackerel and pogys this week.
Sunday morning looks good for tuna if you can get out to the grounds by first light and return by mid-day, when the forecast calls for southwest winds to increase with gusts up to 26 mph. However, the strong, sustained SSE/SSW winds of Friday and Saturday could really mess with water temperatures and water clarity/visibility.
Overall, the best bet for action over the weekend and into next week will be targeting bonito and albies from shore or boat, striped bass and bluefish in the Canal, or stripers in the Outer Cape surf just before the storm rolls into town.
Exciting report! keep me informed.