Cape Cod Fishing Report
It’s mid-October and the fall run is slowly but surely winding down; still, there are bright spots ahead. The weather forecast for the next week calls for a bit of a warm front, with daytime air temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s. Plus, the wind should lay down for a few days—can you believe it!? It feels like the fan has been on for a month straight. Anglers in pursuit of bluefin tuna will be chomping at the bit to get out during what looks to be a multi-day weather window, and inshore anglers will take full advantage of the calm sea conditions to do some tautog fishing, as hankerings for warm bowls of fish chowdah begin to spike. (» Tog Chowder Recipe can be found here)
This week, the outer beaches have been fishing well intermittently. The constant shifting of the wind direction has made the bite rather inconsistent out there, but when it’s on, it’s on. We have sand eels to thank for that, but there have also been a lot of hickory shad enjoying the sand eels. In the fall, cow stripers have been known to feed on hickory shad.
Outer Cape surfcasters and boaters have been picking away at school to over-slot stripers on topwaters, metals, slim soft plastics, and minnow plugs when the wind isn’t ripping from the northeast. Those fish that are sliding down the backside of Cape are rounding the southeast corner by Monomoy and pressing west, which has found pods of stripers cruising the beaches of Nantucket and Vineyard sounds. Pencil poppers, bucktail jigs, soft plastics, and metals have been duping stripers to 40 inches on the south side. Meanwhile, the shores of Cape Cod Bay continue to see good fishing for stripers of a similar size class. Contrary to patterns on the outer beaches, the Cape Cod Bay beaches tend to fish best during a northeast blow, and sand eels are fueling the bite along many of those stretches of sand, too.
Bluefish have grown scarce, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of them. This time last year, bass and cocktail blues were chasing mullet along the Sound-facing beaches. A few bluefish are still being plucked from the south-side salt ponds and CCB beaches, and off of Provincetown, too, where diamond jigs with tube trailers continue to produce for the vertical jigging crowd.
Hardtails are even harder to come by as water temperatures drop and baitfish filter out, but small concentrations of albies remain in Nantucket Sound and around the Elizabeth Islands. OTW’s Robbie Tartaglia found stripers and albies near the outer beaches over the weekend, and OTW’s Matt Ryan and I scrambled to cast into a quick feed along the Elizabeths during a tautog trip with Harvey Russell of My Brother Fishing Charters on Sunday. The fish were up and down quickly, and we never saw them again for the rest of the morning. Judging by the number of stationary boats, it looks like most other anglers have turned their attention to blackfish—especially now that the 5-fish limit is open.
Tautog fishing was good in Vineyard Sound over the weekend, but it was a slow pick. We got plenty of bites from short tog and sea bass, but we were able to box a few keepers in a couple of hours. The action was mostly concentrated between 20 and 60 feet of water, so we were able to drop lightweight jigs for the better part of the morning. As water temperatures continue to fall, the tog bite will improve in deeper water, and slightly heavier gear will be required in many cases. Buzzards Bay is fishing well for tautog too, from the Cape Cod Canal to Cleveland Ledge and down to the Elizabeths and Massachusetts’ south coast. “Toggers” would be wise to keep a medium/light spinning setup at the ready, with an epoxy jig or Albie Snax tied on, in case albies or bonito do pop up unexpectedly.
This week, a noteworthy event began for striped bass fishermen and freshwater fishermen alike. After recent rains, which increased flows in our local rivers, adult and young-of-year river herring are dropping out of the ponds. They’ll swim downstream to the mouths of the estuaries and out into open salt water to continue their life cycle. Check out this cool post from Mike Palmer of Waquoit Bay Fish Company, who was fishing for native brook trout, and wound up capturing some pictures of the out migrating river herring.
View this post on Instagram
With forage options dwindling by the day, striped bass and any remaining bluefish and hardtails will feed on schools of alewife as they migrate out of the bays. If you’re planning any shore fishing this week, try beginning your search near inlets on an ebb tide. Across Buzzards Bay and Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds, there are quite a few lakes and kettle ponds that are connected to river systems which empty into bays and/or salt marshes. Those inlets are the ones you want to target. Pack an array of soft plastics, tins, jigs, and swimming plugs of various sizes, because the river herring can range from 2 inches to almost 10 inches in length.
If you’re a largemouth bass fanatic, or even a self-proclaimed trout bum, this is a great time to fish freshwater. Largemouth bass anglers can cast swimbaits, wakebaits, jerkbaits, and even spoons to bass feeding on those out migrating herring. Trout, on the other hand, will swipe at jointed Rapalas, smaller spoons, spinners, and small- to mid-size flies around the outflows of your favorite herring-run ponds.
Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay & Outer Cape
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said tautog fishing is great right now in Buzzards Bay. Customers are catching quality fish in numbers; they weighed in a 7 pounder on Tuesday. With hardtail season slowing down and stripers migrating south, lots of people are switching up to bottom fishing. Connor said the better tog bite has been shallow, between 20 and 30 feet of water. He added that there are some quality over-slot bass being caught on the south side of Cape, and there is some spotty bass action in the Canal this week, mostly in the east end during the mornings. Jigs and topwaters have both been working, but swimming jigs on a steady retrieve rather than bouncing bottom has proven most effective. Peanut bunker still seem to be the predominant bait, so they’ve continued to sell larger resin jigs, metals, and some paddletails because the bass have grown a bit picky towards plugs. Connor also said there were some bonito being caught on top in the east end late last week, but they’ve mostly filtered out of the Ditch by now. Swing by the shop to pick up some jigs or stock up on crabs for your next tog trip.
From the Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “The Canal has heated up for October! “Jumpin Joe” England caught a 37-inch striper with a 5-ounce green mack FishLab during the rising east flow and Bill “On the Grill” Prodouz watched a 34-inch bass explode on his 3-ounce white Guppy JoBo on the same tide as well as a 32 incher later. Tim “Hollywood” Petracca, reeled in a couple of slots and a 35-inch striped bass on a Kastmaster. “Mashpee Mike” LaRaia muscled a 37-inch fighter to the rocks with the same lure as Hollywood. The west, AKA the migration tide in the 10th month, produced for a multitude of surfcasters. Bob “Freshy” Acquafresca of Milford nailed a well fed 35-inch bass with a green mack Striper Gear Rocket, “Bloodhound Steve” Colleran landed several fish above slot including a 40-inch powerhouse with his wacky mack FishLab and took home a 30-inch striper for the table. Yarmouth Port’s Eli Winslow had his green mack Happy as a Clam snagging fish after fish up to 34 inches and “Westport Jim” Almeida used the same plug to reach 6 distant breaking stripers up to 38 inches. This typist caught a 35-inch linesider with a yellow Super Strike Little Neck popper. Prehistoric catch of the week goes to “Everyday Al” Mazeiko for hooking a 76-inch sturgeon with a bucktail as the fish was swimming through the rip on an early east tide. Congratulations to 16-year-old Matt McNeil from Norfolk who battled a 48-pound striper in the rising east slack. After removing the 5 ½ ounce green mack FishLab, the impressive fish measured out to 50 inches!”
Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters said he has not been fishing much lately but with the 5-fish tog season underway, he’ll be on the water starting tomorrow (Friday) to scout some shallow spots. He has tautog charters this weekend and next, and he’ll be fishing Buzzards Bay out of Westport. Give him a call to book a trip in the coming weeks as the tog bite improves!
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro shared what will likely be their last fishing report of the season: “With a mild stretch of weather coming up in the weekend forecast, it is definitely time to take advantage of possibly that last day on the water for the 2024 Cape Cod fishing season! Recently our boats have been enjoying light-tackle action vertically jigging for striped bass and bringing in slot fish as well as some quite a bit over slot. The tautog fishing also if offering high activity as expected for this time of year with these bait stealing toothy critters providing for a fun light tackle battle and excellent fresh fish dinner. With temperatures heading up to almost 70 this weekend, book your fishing charter now and get in one more dose of invigorating salt air and tight lines! Find upcoming openings listed here.”
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported: “We are still fishing the outer beach and finding bird piles scattered with fish in shallow tight to the surf. Water temps dipping into the mid 50’s has fish on the move. We’ve had luck with jigs and rubber, as well as the fly rod this week. Large baitfish patterns have worked the best. Offshore, limited weather windows have kept us on the dock more than we like, but there are some very scattered rec. fish out to the east on any given day, feeding on half beaks and butterfish.”
-
Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!
Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds/The Islands
The Helen H out of Hyannis reported that they haven’t sailed much recently due to poor conditions. They might have their last trip of the season this weekend, if the weather cooperates. It’s been a pretty slow, below average tuna season, as there was never really a hot bite that developed late in the year like it did last year. Give them a call to inquire about this weekend’s availability if you want to try and get in one last canyon trip.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said he spoke to some customers who have been doing well in the salt ponds recently with slot and under-slot stripers, meanwhile, the beaches out front have been mostly quiet. The bass are being caught on smaller topwater plugs like Jumpin’ Minnows, and on flies imitating peanut bunker, and there have also been some 3- to 5-pound bluefish mixed in with them. Evan said the boaters have been catching slot-size fish and some overs on eels along the Elizabeths, or by trolling tube and worm rigs around the boulders. Albies, he added, are definitely still around, they’re just so picky and tough to catch. It sounds like they’ve been pretty loaded on the north side of the Vineyard, but they’re also popping up tight to the Elizabeths. In addition to albies, bass, and blues, Evan is selling a lot of green crabs for tautog; he sold 40 quarts on Saturday (which is over a bushel), and most customers are fishing around the Elizabeths, Woods Hole, and the southern reaches of Buzzards Bay. Historically, mid October is when the tog bite really starts to pick up, but these fish are super accessible right now, so get out and enjoy it.
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said fishing has been good overall this week. There are bass and bluefish all over the south side in the mornings, and there have been blitzing fish on the bay side beaches, with the action moving to deeper water during the day. Christian’s friend was striper fishing about 200 yards from shore earlier this week and had a big bluefin tuna swirl on his bass plug, so there are tuna to be caught in the Bay without having to run very far. Tautog fishing has been good, too. They’re selling lots green crabs each day, and they’ve got a few regulars coming in with photos of their fish each morning; apparently, the action has been good in the Sound, but finding keepers is tough work right now with a 20:1 keeper-to-short ratio. There have been some big, throwback sea bass in the mix too, keeping rods bent between the tog. Lastly, there’s a really good bass and trout bite in the freshwater ponds after the recent trout stocking. They’re selling Panther Martins, live shiners, and nightcrawlers, the latter of which have been producing better results for their trout fishing customers lately.
From Martha’s Vineyard, Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters reports: “It has been a challenging Derby season for our team, Fishsticks with Charter Sauce, because my teammate, Jacob Riis is away at college and the weekends he has been able to come home to fish have been plagued by windy, stormy weather. But we caught a little bit of a break this past weekend and ran out to Nantucket, accompanied by another team, the Hoptimists, consisting of Hans Riis and Blue Cullen. We managed to catch three nice bluefish so Hans, Jacob and I had fish to weigh in. On Tuesday, Hans landed a nice albie from the beach, so both teams have made a respectable showing. As the Derby is nearing its end, I am looking forward to tautog fishing and I had my first tog trip today, with Bob Coyle and friends Ed and Paul. It was a productive first tog outing for what I hope will be a great season. We caught 5 keeper tog to 18 inches, along with several that were just a bit short and many smaller tog and sea bass.”
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos reports: “This past weekend the Angler’s Club hosted the annual Cranny Bluefish Tournament. Congratulations to Tammy King and James Hatton for winning the tournament, and to Jeff Lema for catching the heaviest fish. Also, hats off to Homer Ray and Tim Sullivan for their success in the catch and release category. It’s always nice to see the camaraderie and competition among anglers. Albies and bonito continue to roam Nantucket waters as top water action with IslandX Hellfire and Hogy epoxies as a productive choice. Bass fishing has also been productive on the south shore and east and west end rips. Nantucket Tackle Center also announced that they are hosting their 3rd Annual Last Bass and Albie Tournament. This is always a fun event as we look to stretch the season to see who will be the last angler to catch these species host these final trophies of the 2024 season. Good luck everyone!”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Some mild weather—by mid-October standards—and lower winds should bring pleasant fall fishing opportunities this weekend into next week. With tautog in shallow water from Buzzards Bay and the Elizabeths into Vineyard and Nantucket sounds, catching a few keepers for dinner shouldn’t be an issue; however, it may require weeding through short fish and sea bass. This is a great time to introduce a kid to tautog fishing. The conditions will be nice, the fish are shallow and abundant, and the kids can help to cut up crabs while you keep a line in the water and maneuver the boat. Otherwise, head down to your local jetties and test the waters there.
Stripers are cruising along the south side beaches, stopping off in salt ponds and chowing down on peanut bunker, bay anchovies, and silversides. There are scattered schools of bass feeding on sand eels tight to the beach out east, and it’s a similar story on the beaches of Cape Cod Bay, especially during and after some north/northeast wind. It sounds like there are still some large schools of over-slot bass up towards Boston, so we can expect more fish to be making a run through the Canal in the next week, or, they could continue to press south along the outer beaches. Only time will tell, and you’ll only know if you go.
With low winds in the forecast, it might even be a good time to make a quick run out east, where rec. size bluefin have been feeding on halfbeaks and butterfish.
The ponds will also continue to fish well for bass until the weather starts to get uncomfortably cold. That’s when it’s time to make the shift to trout. The kettle ponds were well stocked with rainbows over the past several weeks, and that’s another great opportunity to take a kid fishing, or just enjoy a more laid-back outing after chasing stripers, bluefish, hardtails and tuna for the past couple of months.
Wherever fishing finds you this weekend, enjoy it. Thanks for reading.
Tau~Tau is good-good! get out there you Chowder Heads! shallow is good right now- Tight lines.