Cape Cod Fishing Report
As we head into the last week of October, saltwater fishing options are beginning to run slim. It seems like our hardtails have all but moved on, save a school or two lingering around the Islands. With a dud of an albie season basically in the rear view, all that’s left for inshore anglers are striped bass, bluefish, bonito, and tautog. It’s a shame sea bass season doesn’t last longer around here, because they seem to everywhere that they weren’t during the height of the season. Luckily, the recent stretch of mild weather kept some stripers and blues in the area. It doesn’t look like the fat lady is ready to sing just yet.
On the outer beaches, a few bass are being taken on smaller pencil poppers, needlefish, diamond jigs, and more recently, swim shads retrieved low and slow. There’s a mix of sand eels out there with some larger baitfish, according to Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters, who put his clients on fish using weighted paddletails this week. Most of these fish are, or will be rounding the corner past Monomoy Island and heading south. Surely, some schools of bass and bluefish will continue toward the shores of Nantucket, and we can only hope a few schools will hang tight to shore and continue on through Nantucket and Vineyard sounds.
The Sound-facing beaches have been quieting down, but there is still some good action during the first few hours of daylight. While first light is typically the window to aim for, the late morning has been productive, too—perhaps because air and water temperatures are still on the mild side. Vineyard and Nantucket sounds are both hovering just above 60 degrees, and with a little bit of sunlight late in the morning, warming up the shallows, that could be one of the driving factors causing fish to feed. The predominant baits have been bay anchovies and silversides, so smaller offerings like epoxy/resin jigs are doing the trick, as are 1- to 2-ounce pencils.
Things have been slightly quieter in Cape Cod Bay where the water temperature is just below 60 degrees, but that isn’t to say boaters or shore anglers plying the beaches have seen the very last of stripers yet this year. There are still some fish north of us, and we can assume, or at least hope, that they’ll be sliding into the Canal just before or after the new moon next Friday on November 1. Personally, I have not seen sand eels on the bay side beaches in about a week, but that doesn’t mean they’re gone. They burrow into the sandy bottom, and with heavy north winds blowing at the time of this writing—which should persist well into Friday—the bay could light up with some striper action this weekend (despite the wind shift on Saturday). Keep your diamond jigs and an array of colored tubes at the ready, along with some soft plastics like Savage Gear Sand Eels or Tsunami Sand Eels. They’re all great imitations of the real thing, whether you’re vertically jigging over a school or casting with two feet planted on shore. One word of advice: don’t hesitate to go heavy. Sometimes, a jig that kicks up a little extra sand, or casts just a little further than the others, will find the fish.
In Buzzards Bay, tautog is the name of the game right now. That said, keep a few light-tackle spin outfits rigged with epoxy/resin jigs on board your boat or kayak in case some of these surface-sipping stripers make their way through the Canal or the Elizabeth Islands. The jigs are a near perfect match to the predominantly small baitfish we’re seeing this time of year. Additionally, with young-of-year herring still dropping out of some of the rivers, topwater plugs like Rebel Jumping’ Minnows, or the small Cotton Cordell Pencils and Tsunami Talkin’ Poppers, and 3- to 4-inch swim shads will be your friend when epoxy-style jigs go untouched.
And I’d be remiss to not add, freshwater bass fishing has been on fire this week, according to both my coworkers and Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle. Christian said live shiners have been catching quality largemouth out in mid-Cape ponds, while back on the upper Cape, OTW’s Anthony DeiCicchi and Robbie Tartaglia employed jigs and big swimbaits to stick two trophy smallmouth of 4.7 and 5 pounds, respectively. With schools of juvenile herring still making their way out of the ponds and downstream, now is a great time to pick up a sweetwater stick and get to casting.
Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay & Outer Cape
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said he’s been into small stripers ranging from 17 to 28 inches on the south side of Cape Cod at night. The Canal, he said, has been quiet, which has lead him to search elsewhere as of late. That said, Connor mentioned a wave of bluefish had passed through the Canal the other day, and while there are still bass to be caught there on jigs, it has been very hit or miss. When the bite is on, guys are picking away at slot-size stripers, mainly on jigs. His coworker and Canal vet, Bull MacKinnon, is still getting a few fish on top here and there. Connor and I agreed that the Ditch fishing isn’t dead yet though; there are quite a few stripers still off the north shore and near Boston, some of which are likely holdovers in the mix with straggler migratory fish.
From East End Eddie Doherty on the Canal action over the last week:
Best wishes to experienced Canal Sportsman’s Club member Larry Silvestri who celebrated his 85th birthday wetting a line with his good friend and fellow club member Bob Dyer at one of their favorite spots during an east flood tide. The timing couldn’t have been better for a nice birthday present as Larry’s green mack Savage found its mark with a 36-inch striped bass! Accomplished angler Bill “Slots” Walsh got into a mix of bass & blues including a 38-inch striper that fell for a Spro white bucktail two hours into the east turn. Mike “Peaches” Pelley from Brockton used a white paddle tail to reel in 4 bonito through an early east dropping tide. Keith “OFD” Dacey landed 6 slots or better up to 34 inches with a 5-ounce green mack FishLab on the tail end of the east tide. “Bill on the Grill” Prodouz brought 5 fish to the rocks including 2 slots with a 4-ounce Al Gags chartreuse mack Whip It Fish on the east rising tide just before first light. The Keegan brothers, originally from Wareham, have been reeling in so many fish at first light with loaded white Cotton Cordells and the 5 ounce green Striper Gear Shaddy Daddy that they have lost count! George fought a 32 pounder to fruition that measured out to 48 inches, Sean landed a nice fish that was just under 30 pounds and Joe had stripers that were bigger than Sean’s. So grab a rod before more fish head south!
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported: “Fishing out east during this last stretch of weather has been two things usually not seen in late October— warm and calm. A stretch like this can easily extend the season a week plus out here. Bass and blues are still around with water temperatures in the mid 50s. They’re likely on a variety of larger bait like pogies, herring, and macs underneath diving Gannets and sea duck rafts. We’ve been fishing large weighted rubber and paddletails in the current as a lot of these fish have been bottom locked. Inconsistent tuna fishing out east with some inshore giants sighted and a couple pops from smaller fish. This week will be our last on the water for the season so a big thank you to all of our angler’s that fished with us this year—we appreciate you!”
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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
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said he went out on Tuesday morning for albies but ended up with 4 bonito between Falmouth and the Vineyard. He said there definitely seemed to be some albies mixed in, because he saw them down off Nonamesset Island. In between the scattered hardtail activity, he jigged up some sea bass and scup, along with some tautog, all of which fell victim to the Hogy 5/8-ounce silverside jig in 45 feet of water. According to Evan, there are still plenty of fish and bait out there around the Islands. The bonito were puking up some big silversides, but the albies seemed to be on smaller bait. One of his customers also caught a bunch of 35- to 45-inch stripers on top on Monday morning while casting poppers tight to shore along the eastern side of the Elizabeths. It ain’t over yet.
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said it’s been sort of quiet out in their neck of the woods aside from the packs of schoolies and cocktail bluefish roaming the bays and Sound beaches. Those fish are being caught on small poppers, soft-plastic paddle tails, and small metals. Christian said there are monster blues, upwards of 10 pounds, out by Monomoy being caught on the troll. Up on Cape Cod Bay, shore fishing has been very slow—slow enough to the point that their pro-staff anglers have not been out lately. However, the silver lining back on the Sound side, is that tog fishing has been great. Many of their customers have reported brief outings with at least 15 fish each and 2 or 3 keepers in the bunch, which is not a bad catch to keeper ratio. There’s been good tog fishing in the Canal lately for larger fish, too.
From Martha’s Vineyard, Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters reports: “On Saturday, I pulled all my green crab traps and put them away for the winter because I have more than enough crabs for the rest of this tautog season. On Sunday, I took my sweetie, Blue Cullen, tog fishing and we had a very successful trip, despite the fact that the weather wasn’t quite as nice as it had been on Saturday. We persevered and landed 7 keeper tog, along with many smaller tog and some sea bass, which were all released. It bears repeating that black sea bass season is closed and it’s illegal to keep them now. I mention this because I noticed another group of anglers back at the dock who had kept a couple of sea bass. I’m going to assume that they were not aware that sea bass were out of season, but they should have been! It is every angler’s personal responsibility to know and follow the regulations. I will make at least one more tog trip to stock my own freezer. We enjoy tog all winter in chowder, in cioppino, roasted in cebolada (thanks for the recipe, Andy Nabreski) and just pan-fried. I will also be available for tog charters until at least mid-November, and I expect the fishing to get better and better.”
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos reports: “Large schools of bunker have been running the south shore of Nantucket with large gator size blues blitzing from Nobadeer Beach to Point of Breakers. Bass fishing is still very good as many anglers are connecting on early morning bites. Sporadic albie bites are also still happening with your best shot of connecting at Great Point. The weather has been great and with the prescience of bait and fish there’s still a lot of motivation for Nantucket anglers to stay active!”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Right now, your best bet for some striper action is off the beaches of Vineyard and Nantucket Sound, or off the outer beaches. Even so, the fishing has been hit or miss out east, although the bass have generally been of a better class than the ones cruising the Sound-facing beaches. If you’re fishing the south side, epoxy jigs, pencils, poppers, paddletails, and slim-profile metals should stay in your bag. At night, you can change out the epoxies/tins and topwaters for small to mid-size minnow plugs, larger paddletails, and surface swimmers like metal lips. Otherwise, keep jigging the Canal, but don’t put away the topwaters for good just yet.
Tautog fishing is probably your best option this weekend. The fishing has been pretty excellent from Vineyard and Nantucket sounds to the Elizabeths, into Buzzards Bay and the Canal. There are even a few tog to be caught from the jetties in Cape Cod Bay. Now is a great time to fish a jig while the tog are still shallow and the tides aren’t too strong since we are between moons.
Between the remaining stripers, some good tautog fishing, and the possibility of encountering some hardtails around the islands, the weekend fishing outlook isn’t too shabby. And remember, if wind or weather keeps your boat at the dock, you can always fish from shore, or head inland to our freshwater ponds where freshly-stocked trout and some healthy largemouth and smallmouth bass await.
Thanks for reading, be safe out there, and enjoy the last week of October.
Taugs 20-35 feet off the ledge! fatty’s! Tight lines.