Cape Cod Fishing Report- October 3, 2024

Cape Cod Fishing Report

Fall weather must be confusing for fish at times. It certainly is for us anglers. Air temperatures are dipping into the mid to low 50s at night, and by midday, the thermometer is spiking at 73-75 degrees—at least that’s the case I write this report. It’s that time of year when you have no idea what to wear out the door in the morning. However, warm sunshine bodes well for striped bass anglers, as it could help keep them around for a bit longer than usual on their southbound journey. The shallow backwaters—marshes, salt ponds, and bays— have been giving up lots of fish, and some nicer ones at that. As long as sunny daytime conditions persist, those shallow areas will remain temperate, and stripers will continue to hang around and feed before cold water or a lack of bait sends them on their way.

Speaking of stripers, a big thanks to everyone who came out for StriperFest last Saturday. It’s good to see so many familiar faces and talk fishing for a few hours while we celebrate another season of striped bass fishing. The fact that it didn’t pour rain made the event an even bigger success. But, now that it’s over, October is here and the clock is really ticking on the Fall Run.
 
Bonito continue to make appearances in Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds, and some feeds were spotted in Buzzards Bay and the Canal, as well. There are still some albies to the east in Nantucket Sound as well as along the Elizabeths, but it remains one of the stranger albie runs in recent years. As we’ve seen in weeks past, the albies are also very picky, but VERY big. One of our readers, Kyle Achee, caught a 31-inch albie a few days ago.

Oddly enough, there are still some “exotic” summer visitors swimming around our water in numbers. Roving packs of sizable banded rudderfish have been seen blitzing in parts of Nantucket Sounds, according to my friend Ryan, who caught a handful from his kayak earlier this week. They don’t pull drag like albies or even bonito, but their fast and frantic fighting spirit makes for some good fun if you can find them; they look very similar to small almaco and amberjacks.

Back to albies: they’re making scattered appearances in the Canal this week according to some anglers who spotted their telltale surface-slashing several times toward the east end. Big bonito were also being caught in the west and east ends of the Canal this week.

Since last week, striper activity has waned just a bit on the south side beaches, but it should be back on the rise with the passing of the new moon yesterday (Wednesday). If you can’t find them out front with plugs, plastics, or eels, there are plenty of bass actively feeding in the rivers and marshes of Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay, where they’ve been feeding on silversides and peanut bunker. According to OTW’s Adam Eldridge, there have been a fair amount of adult bunker mixed in with the peanuts in the northern reaches of Buzzards Bay, although they’ve been mostly out of casting range for shore fishermen.

Stripers and hardtails aside, tautog fishing continues to heat up. They’re chewing in shallow water, often times in less than 20 feet. Kyle Achee, who was mentioned earlier, managed to catch a nice 8-pound tautog which, he said, came from very, very shallow water, and was quickly released after being put on the scale. If you’re looking to start tautog fishing, 20-30 feet of water is a great starting point. For kayak anglers, now’s the best time to get your fix of tog from the yak.

In addition to tautog, stripers, bonito, and some albies and bluefish, there are improved sweet water options this week. The annual fall trout stocking has begun on Cape Cod, and many upper Cape and outer Cape ponds have already been loaded with rainbow trout. Check the trout stocking report to see what’s been stocked in your local ponds.

Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay & Outer Cape

Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said tautog fishing has been good in Buzzards Bay, guys are having no problem catching shorts and a few keepers—the biggest problem right now is getting crabs. In other news, the Cape Cod Canal blew up this morning with fish up to 38 pounds reported toward the West End. Meanwhile, the East End had feeds from bonito and false albacore, both of which were mixed in with some good-sized bass. The bass are feeding on mackerel and pogies, and the hardtail are on spearing (silversides). Connor mentioned there are also quite a few bonito stationed in the west end of the Ditch.

From the Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “Enough bait remains holding for stripers to hit the Canal on their way south. A healthy 39-inch bass exploded on “Slap Shot Scottie” Ewell’s green Left Hook, just one of many nice fish caught on the surface. Multi colored lures did the trick at various levels of the water column. Bruno DeSouza caught 5 bass including a 33-inch fighter with an Al Gags wacky mack soft plastic paddle tail jig on the west ebb tide. Bill “On the Grill” Prodouz landed a high-end slot in close to the rip rap stone bank with a wonder bread Yo-Zuri Hydro Minnow during the same tide. Rob “Fishsticks” Pesa also did well on the west dropping tide with 3 nice fish to his credit, a 40 incher on a blue RonZ 5-ounce paddle tail and 2 more over slot with a white bucktail. 6-year-old Sage Nicholson had her wacky mack FishLab working as she reeled in 39 & 34 inch linesiders from a rising east tide.”

Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “A favorable stretch of weather allowed for some bluefin tuna fishing, picking up mid-60-inch fish here and there, mostly on live bait—although we did have a couple RonZ hook-ups as well. The striped bass fishing continues to offer some great catches predominantly vertically jigging the green tube tailed diamond jigs. With some wind in the forecast starting next week, it looks like we may be kept closer to shore tautog fishing, which is always a symbol of October and dropping water temperatures. Enjoying all these moments we get in during the final weeks of the saltwater fishing season. Don’t miss your chance for one more memorable day on the water for 2024! Openings this weekend can be found here.”

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!  

Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said albie fishing on the south side has been pretty great out in their neck of the woods this week, although they’re feeding on tiny bay anchovies. There have also been bonito pushing bait onto the beach to the point the bait schools were washing themselves up on dry sand. It’s been very tide dependent though, according to Christian. He also said Cape Cod Bay has been fishing very well for the shore fishermen and surfcasters, as well as the boaters. One of their regulars caught and released five bluefish over 10 pounds the other day, and caught and released a bunch of bass in the 20- to 30-pound class. Those bass and blues were caught trolling umbrella rigs off of the Bay beaches. Lastly, there are bonito in some of the bay side harbors, and there have been a few people gearing up for trout fishing in the kettle ponds.

Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds/The Islands

Tyler from the Helen H out of Hyannis said that they just started getting back to canyon trips after snotty wind and weather kept them at the dock for a couple weeks. They’re picking away at yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna and some swordfish. Although the bite hasn’t been red hot, there’s some good fishing happening out there. They’ll be running canyon trips until end of the month, possibly later, although it is all dependent upon the conditions and how good or bad the fishing is. Check out their website or call the office for overnight canyon trip availability.

From Nantucket, Rick Ramos reports: “Week 4 of the Nantucket Inshore Classic kicked off with a surge in all four species being caught.  Tournament highlights are Neil Krauter secured the top beach albie in the tournament at 30.75-inches.  Neil also reported that there has been a consistent midafternoon bluefish bite on the south shore near Miacomet with fish mostly measuring between 22-26”.  The east side of the island is experiencing a robust bass bite both day and night, featuring fish in the mid to high 30s alongside some slot-sized bass.  Tammy King reported bass in pockets on the south shore due to a strong presence of bait.  Tammy also landed a solid bonito this week and has reported that bones are still around in decent numbers.   

In tournament standings, Chris Connoly has taken the lead from James Musia in the Boat Division while Brian Majczak continues to hold a strong position in the Beach Division.  In the Fly Division, Johnson McKelvy leads the Boat Division, while Chris Krauter is still hunting for an albie to complete his slam as the current Beach Fly Division leader.  The Junior Divisions are heating up as Matvei Shubin leads the Boat Division, with defending champion Fisher Sullivan close behind. In the Junior Beach Division, Raffy Osona holds the top spot. 

With the tournament concluding on October 12th, the competition is shaping up to be an exciting finish for all anglers. Good luck out there! 

From the boat, Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters reported that this week has shown notable improvements in fishing conditions.  Anglers are experiencing a mix of finicky albies and more aggressive bonito south of Tuckernuck. The bass bite has also picked up where you can find white water areas holding more fish. Many of these spots are also accessible to surfcasters, providing great opportunities for shore fishing. However, the outer rips aren’t producing as many fish this week.  As we move further into October, there has been a noticeable uptick in the albie bite. Historically, this period tends to bring good hardtail fishing that can last through mid-October.  With these improvements, we are optimistic that October will be a lot of fun on Nantucket waters.”

Offshore

Bluefin tuna fishing remains good in select portions of Stellwagen Bank and Cape Cod Bay. The canyons are giving up yellowfin and bigeye tuna as well as some swordfish. There have also been some marlin caught further south; meanwhile, south of the islands, rec. size tuna are still being caught despite high winds keeping most boats at the dock until earlier this week.

» Click to watch the most recent Northeast Offshore Report 

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

We’ve got breaking tides in the Cape Cod Canal early next week on the back side of the new moon, so you can almost bet that there will be bass and bluefish passing through and taking advantage of that slack water around daybreak. Load up the surf bag with various topwaters, swimming plugs, jigs, and tins. There are some nice fish in the Ditch already, and it should only get better in the days to come.

Tautog are currently very accessible from shore and kayak, so if you don’t have a boat, hit your local jetties and rock piles with a bucket of green crabs and see what’s crackin’ down there (besides your crab shells).

Stripers are feeding heavily in the backwaters of Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds, Buzzards Bay, and along the Cape Cod Bay beaches. The new moon just passed and, much like the full moon, the days that follow tend to bring some of the best bass bites of the year. It’s already going down in the Canal, but if you’re like me, you might enjoy a little more personal space and the challenge of finding your own fish. Get out there, explore new territory, take that long walk down the beach…you never know—those 250 extra yards could be the difference between being skunked or getting in on a hot bite.

There are still quite a few bonito kicking around, whether you’re fishing the Sound side, or in Cape Cod Bay or Buzzards Bay. It sounds like bonito and albies currently have some schools of spearing pinned in the Canal, and there are bonito in some of the CCB harbors. Will the albies stick around late this year and move into Cape Cod Bay again? We shall see.

Don’t forget, the kettle ponds are freshly loaded with trout. If you’re looking for some laid back fishing or something fun to do with the kids after pumpkin picking and all that jazz, grab a few spoons, spinners, and/or some PowerBait and nightcrawlers, and hit your local trout pond.

Enjoy the weekend, enjoy the fall fishing, and thanks for reading.