Cape Cod Fishing Report
Things have been slowly improving on the striper front since they first arrived in our waters a couple weeks back, and while there are small migratory fish to be had, they are few and far between. That said, a body of schoolie-size migratory bass made their way to the south shore of Massachusetts this week after the new moon, so there are fresh fish in the area.
Fishing during the outgoing tide has been the key to finding early season striper action. In my experience, the tides on the upper Cape have been unfavorable for night fishermen this week. It’s been a late incoming tide, and there hasn’t been much bait around aside from large schools of river herring. It’s a similar story to last week; by focusing on areas of very skinny water where the herring stack up before moving into the rivers, I’ve been able to connect with a few decent fish, but have been unable to bring one to hand. Metal-lip swimmers crept across the surface are moving fish, but with cold water from a rising tide working against me, the few bass I’ve been able to convince to eat have either missed the hooks or popped free. It’s a promising sign, and hopefully, more mild spring weather and south winds like we’ve experienced this week will bring in a fresh wave of bass. On the upper Cape, we have better tides this weekend as the ebb begins to line up with dusk and mid- to late-evening hours.
The rivers in Buzzards Bay are seeing better signs of life. It’s not only herring moving in and out of the creeks—bunker have joined the party. Assuming there are more bass pushing in from the ocean, they’ll be looking to the river mouths for those big, oily baitfish.
In other “bait” news, squid have arrived in force. While I spot-hopped around the backwaters of Falmouth, Mashpee, and Cotuit this week, OTW’s Jim Fee and Anthony DeiCicchi put together a nice catch of longfin squid under the dock lights, some of which are destined to become a plate of fried calamari, and others which will likely be used for bait as the bottom fishing season begins.
Scup season opens today, May 1, and in a little over two weeks time, black sea bass season will be underway in Massachusetts waters. But before shifting focus to sea bass and scup, it’s worth putting in some time for tautog.
While a few of the guys in the OTW office—myself included—have enjoyed some decent tautog fishing from shore, Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound are beginning to see better fishing, or at least more angler participation. The crew at FishLinked Charters in Wareham said their first trip of the season was bountiful. They’re spending time fishing rock piles outside of nearby river mouths where there’s some slightly warmer moving water on a falling tide, washing crabs, worms, and other crustaceans out of the backwaters into their craggy dens. Jigs and rigs will both produce fish, so bring a couple rods rigged both ways to see what’s working in your area. So far, small, whole green crabs with the legs trimmed have been the ticket to some keeper-size fish.
The weather this weekend doesn’t exactly look favorable for togging because of… you guessed it, more wind. The wind has been incessant this spring with the exception of a few calm days, but there is a silver lining.
Three straight days of south/southwest wind gusting up to around 20 knots this weekend is sure to bring more and bigger bass into Buzzards Bay and the south side of Cape. Squid, herring and bunker are in, so the stage is set for the bass bite to blow wide open by next week. For now, shore fishermen stand to find the best action way in the back of salt ponds, rivers and bays on the south side from Hyannis to Falmouth and up the coast of Buzzards Bay to Bourne and Wareham.
If the weekend weather forecast shapes up and you’ve got a boat in the water, it’ll be worth hopping around Buzzards Bay in search of some action from dropback (resident) stripers and tog. And hey, with southwest winds in the forecast, it may be worth poking around in the leeside waters of Cape Cod Bay for some winter flounder! Local angler David Do sent me a couple photos of some 15- and 16-inch flounder that he caught from his kayak in 35 feet of water. He was tipping his rigs with sea worms and clams.
If nothing else, there’s always the freshwater fallback plan. Largemouth bass are still feeding heavily prior to spawning, and while some ponds may find bass already moving onto beds, the shallow coves of deeper kettle lakes, where the water is still a few degrees cooler, will be good places to cast wake baits and swimbaits—especially if the pond receives a herring run. Other freshwater options include pickerel, perch, trout, and sunfish. OTW’s Adam Eldridge caught one of the largest pumpkinseed sunfish I’ve ever seen while fishing hair jigs in a bog pond this week. They aren’t the most exciting fish to catch on bass gear, but downsizing to an ultralight trout rod and a 1000- to 2500-size spinning reel spooled with 2- to 4-pound-test is good fun.
Here’s what our local tackle shops and charters had to report heading into the weekend:
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me there are plenty of resident stripers in the backwaters of Buzzards Bay. One of their customers this morning came in after catching a 37-inch bass in Wareham. Herring are plentiful and there are even some bunker kicking around in the area. Unfortunately, there has been no word of fish in the Canal except for some tautog being caught in the west end. However, there are herring at the run and mackerel in the east end. A few days of southwest wind should push fresh fish into the bay and toward the Canal, where the baitfish are beginning to stack up in numbers.
Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sport Fishing said of the fishing in Buzzards Bay has been quiet but water temps are getting up to where they need to be. Brian thinks we are still about a week out from finding migratory fish mixing in with holdovers in open water, but he did say they’re stacked up in the estuaries. These fish activate on certain tides and conditions, and he marked plenty of holdovers in the rivers along the south coast where there are good numbers of herring, but has yet to find them out front. He covered the entire bay this morning from the Canal to New Bedford and saw nothing moving around in open water, but with temps climbing and baitfish abundant, it’s only a matter of time until we get a good run of fresh migratory bass in Buzzards. Historically, he said, this has been the usual timing of the migration; over the last 7 or 8 years the bass have shown up in late April, but when colder winters were more common, the first week of May tended to be when the bay became red hot. A few more days of southwest wind and sun will help get things going.
Alex MacMillian of FishLinked Charters in Wareham reported: “We got our first trip in Monday. Life is starting to creep into Buzzards Bay; we’re seeing birds carrying eels in their mouths, and we’re marking herring coming out of the rivers and estuaries. Tautog have been plentiful; we went out this morning and found our tautog limit in an hour and a half. Rock piles outside the Wareham River are holding fish and we are finding size too. If the first trip of the year is indicative of the season, it’s going to be a great one. We kept playing catch and release with tog until some curious swirls made a herring fly. That’s when we tried to grab some stripes, but they’re finicky over here as well. Marked a few good ones—they seemed to be pushing around balls of herring and slamming down eels. I’m leaning towards these being holdover fish because of their shy behavior, although can’t confirm that until we connect with some.”
From the Cape Cod Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries announced a new procedure for measuring striped bass effective this year. Proper measurement consists of a straight line from the tip of the jaw or snout with the mouth closed, to the farthest extremity of the tail with the tail being squeezed together. The slot size (keeper) remains at 28 inches to less than 31. Fish larger or smaller must be safely returned to the water. Rob “Fishsticks” Pesa is on the board with his first striped bass of the season, a holdover caught in the Taunton River that fell for a small green mack Savage Sand Eel last week and “Hammerin’ Jack” Barton has been doing well in the same area for the past 2 weeks with Savages & FishLabs. Even though the fish weren’t migrating, they were caught by Canal Rats relatively close to the Canal! The flow from the Herring Run has been carrying its travelers into the Canal since mid-April as reported by Bob “Bull” MacKinnon, but a few days ago only very small herring were making the trip, greeted by dozens of ducks waiting to feast at the busy Big Ditch intersection. A few days prior, however, much larger herring were entering from the run according to Kenny “Pig Pen” Nevens.
-
Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!
Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Charters said he is sailing for squid in Hyannis tonight, but he had a tautog charter yesterday in Buzzards Bay with easy limits. They were catching enough keepers that they were able to throw back all the females and keep only males, which tend to be more abundant. Give Cam a call if you’re interested in doing some togging or squid fishing off the Cape!
Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said the squid are in and the the night bite has been very good, but daytime not so much. There have been a lot more people catching tautog from shore locally with some keepers in the mix, but things are still quiet on the striper front. In fresh water, bass have been very active; Amy’s son and his friend caught a ton of largemouth the other day, and trout fishing continues to be great as well. The shop weighed in a 3.5-pound hybrid trout from John Andres the other day that appeared to be a strange cross between a brown and a tiger. They’ve got green crabs in stock, so swing by if you want to do some shore-based togging this weekend since the wind will be honking out of the southwest.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Heading into the weekend, tautog are currently providing the most reliable action for shore-based anglers on the south side of Cape Cod and boaters in Buzzards Bay. Shallow areas of around 20 feet or less should be holding ample numbers of fish. You may have to pick through some shorts, but according to some of the charter boats and guides in Buzzards, they’ve been able to put together easy limits. Find a place with some rocky structure where you can duck out of the wind this weekend and you should be rewarded with some tasty tog.
The squid run is underway, and the boats sailing out of Hyannis at night have been catching them in numbers. The daytime bite has been slower, but there’s still plenty of time for that to improve.
Resident stripers are stirring in the estuaries and salt ponds, but as I’ve experienced (and from what was relayed by charter captains) they are only active during certain stages of the tide and even then, they have been very finicky. However, water temperatures have significantly warmed over the past week and between squid, herring, and more recently, bunker, the bait is here—we just need the southwest wind to help push more migratory fish into Buzzards Bay and the south side of Cape. We’ve seen one small wave of liced-up bass hit the south side and seemingly disappear, but it is likely that they’ve spread out and joined our resident stripers in the more comfortable backwaters where they’re feeding selectively during stages of the outgoing tide.
If nothing else, freshwater bass and trout will provide more than enough fun this weekend should the conditions keep us away from the salt.