Cape Cod Fishing Report- May 15, 2025

Cape Cod Fishing Report

We’re a few days off the full moon and the striper bite has certainly improved since its passing.

Still, some backwater areas on the south side that typically hold fish seem almost devoid of life, while others have good concentrations of schoolie to over-slot stripers. The marshes and salt ponds have been hit or miss—finding action is very tide dependent, and the bite windows are often brief. There are, however, plenty of fish out front in Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds, where we’ve got mackerel, river herring, some squid, bunker, and rain bait (both juvenile sea herring and what looks to be tiny smelt). The Elizabeth Islands have been lit up with large schools of bass sipping those micro baits on the surface.
 
The upper- and mid-Cape estuaries are fishing best around dawn and dusk, and with plenty of bait around, participants in the Cheeky Schoolie Tournament this Saturday should find solid action casting Surf & Inlet Candies, Clousers, and micro flies like Blane Chocklett’s Gummy Minnow along the beaches and bays from Falmouth to Yarmouth and in places like the Brewster Flats.

Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay are fishing very well, with bass to 20-pounds-plus being taken on minnow plugs like SPs, Hydros, Bombers and Red Fins, as well as small, surface-swimming metal lips, large spooks, live eels, and soft-plastics like Slug-gos and GT Eels. Spearing are abundant in CCB along with mackerel, river herring, sand eels, and some scattered pods of bunker in select harbors. There are also bunker, herring and squid in Buzzards Bay.

It seems that the cinder worm hatches have passed us by in most areas, and they were underwhelming to say the least. That said, it might be worth poking around in the shallow, muddy marsh areas after a couple days of sunny, warm weather. Unfortunately though, the week ahead looks pretty chilly by mid-May standards.

This Saturday marks the opening of black sea bass season, so expect heavy boat traffic in Buzzards Bay. Tautog fishermen have been playing catch and release with sea bass for a couple of weeks now, so let’s hope for a strong start this year. As a reminder, the daily bag limit for sea bass is 4 fish per angler, and each fish must measure at least 16.5 inches per Massachusetts DMF regulations. There are still lots of squid in Buzzards Bay, which bodes well for opening day sea bass anglers who may be able to catch some fresh bait or a calamari appetizer to a sea bass dinner.

In other news, the first fluke I’ve heard of this season was caught in one of the Cape-side harbors in Buzzards Bay! On The Water hosted an in-house event for the “Partner with a Payer” initiative, which included a trip to a local herring run and casting for schoolies in the harbors, where Nantucket surf-fishing guide Tammy King hooked a 15-inch summer flounder. The fluke season doesn’t open for another couple of weeks on May 24, which will be a fun way to kick off Memorial Day weekend. According to OTW’s Patrick Washburn, there are already some fluke kicking around in the harbors on the South Coast from Wareham to Marion as well.

Bluefish reports continue to slowly trickle in from Buzzards Bay, but there’s been no sign of them on the south side beaches (yet). I’ve been out looking for about a week without so much as a swipe at my plugs and plastics. The good news is, it’s still a tad early for blues. Striped bass certainly took their time filling in, so let’s cross our fingers that the bluefish are not far off. They’re getting blues right around the corner in Rhode Island this week, which usually indicates that it won’t be long before they push into Buzzards and Vineyard Sound in numbers.

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 that the Canal fished very well this morning with bass to 40 inches busting on herring from the West End to mid-Canal. According to shop employee Bull MacKinnon, there were also whiting and pogies in the mix. Most of the crowd was jigging Fish Lab Mack Attacks. Schoolies were skirting the rip rap and bigger bass were hanging in the middle of the ditch. Tautog fishing is still good in Buzzards Bay, but there have been more short fish around and lots of big scup; Connor said they weighed in a 3-pound porgy earlier today. As far as bluefish, they’ve been scarce so far but a buddy of his got some racers in the Cape-side harbors of Buzzards Bay while fishing topwater for stripers. The shop is loaded up with slow-pitch jigs, bucktails, diamond jigs, and rigs for sea bass season this weekend for any last minute purchases from biscuit enthusiasts. 

Alex MacMillian of FishLinked Charters in Wareham reported: “We got all the finicky stripers chewing consistently this week. Trolling eel spreaders is the perfect meal for stripers that are both rubbing (scraping off their sea lice) and feeding along sand banks. The wind has stacked bait into corners and coves, and working them hard is producing consistent bites from slot-size fish. We have been finding keeper tog as well in some deeper water on green crabs. The porgies have also arrived to the party, taking a piece of our tautog offerings. We are now waiting on black sea bass to complete the puzzle. This consistent action inshore is building some heavy anticipation for the offshore season starting June 1, especially with the news of early giants showing up to the south. Only 16 days left until then, but who’s counting?”

From the Cape Cod Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “The west ebb tide yielded several striped bass from 33 to 38 inches last week for Canal Rats like Tim “Hollywood” Petracca, “Mashpee Mike” LaRaia & “Bill on the Grill” Prodouz. White and light-colored SP Minnows & Red Fins worked well on this school around mid-Canal as fresh, plentiful herring attracted predators. Middleborough resident Kyle “Mick” Fleetwood, surfcasting toward the west end on the Cape side the night before Mother’s Day, landed a high-end slot that attacked a blurple SP Minnow on the dropping west tide. The week started off with a full moon so hopefully the fish respond in kind.” 

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

Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said folks have been crushing bass in the 40-inch class in southern Buzzards Bay, primarily with big, white spooks like the Doc. A few customers told him their slot-size fish had 9- and 10-inch pogies in their stomachs, so put away the Jumpin’ Minnows for now. Tautog fishing, Evan said, is still going strong and he’s selling lots of crabs, but he expects bottom fishing interest to shift toward sea bass after this weekend. The best togging he has heard of right now is along the Elizabeth Islands. When it comes to bluefish, he hasn’t seen any photos but according to several customers, there are some big ones around on the south side and in Buzzards Bay.

Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said people are starting to catch bluefish on the south side in their neck of the woods. The blues not around in huge schools, but small pods that seem to be moving around inside the bays and further out in the Sound. Amy said there was a bit of a lull on the striper front before the full moon, but the action has picked up since with mixed sizes of schoolies, slots and over slots. Scup are moving into the Sound now, so she anticipates that the squid bite is done. Tautog fishing is still good locally, too, but she’s not sure how much longer they’ll have green crabs in stock since most ppl will be going for sea bass and scup from here on out. Up in Cape Cod Bay, there’s been good fishing for winter flounder and it should continue for the rest of the month.

George Sylvestre of Sylvestre Outdoors in Brewster reported: “Wednesday morning’s first rays of sun showed up with nearly perfect conditions on the Brewster Flats. Calm winds and an outgoing tide made for prime time striper fishing. After a slow start at first light, things picked up. A swung Ray’s fly seemed to be the preferred offering for bass in the low- to mid-20-inch range. Small groups were found cruising on the incoming tide but decided to be picky. Solution = small white or tan crab fly. Tight lines everybody and good luck to the Cheeky participants.”

Captain Matthew Dempsey of Salt Reaper Charters in Dennis reported: “Cape Cod Bay is starting to heat up in a big way, with many large over-slot fish. The fish seem to be keying in on sand eels and mackerel in 20 to 40 feet of water. The Hogy XL Dog Walker and other large topwater plugs seem to be doing the trick, along with vertical jigging once the fish go down.” 

The gents at Riverview Bait and Tackle in South Yarmouth said things are picking up out east; there are stripers all over south side and in Cape Cod Bay, where they’re chasing schools of mackerel and big pogies. The squid came and went in Nantucket Sound, and the scup are now moving in. They have not seen or heard of any bluefish yet. Tautog fishing has been good but most people are waiting for sea bass season to open—a lot of the tautog guys have been reeling in quality sea bass so they’re anticipating a good start. The shop is loaded up with anything you need for the opener on Saturday, so swing by the shop.

Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “The stripers have arrived to the outer Cape! Team Reel Deal got into some slots and over-slot fish yesterday afternoon, picking up our first nice-sized striped bass of the season. Great to see! The winter flounder fishing also continues to provide good activity as we recently pulled in our limit with a few fish close to the 20-inch mark. Cape Cod spring fishing is definitely well underway and with the opening of black sea bass this upcoming weekend, it will keep getting better! Charter openings starting tomorrow, click here for availability.”

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

Between the beaches crawling with fly fishermen and the sea bassin’ boat crowd in Buzzards, it’s going to be busy weekend on Cape Cod.

There are stripers of all sizes from the upper to outer Cape, and bluefish are not far behind—we just need them to fill in a bit. There is so much bait around out in the sounds, and in Buzzards and Cape Cod bays. If you don’t find baitfish concentrations in your backwater areas, don’t hesitate to poke around out front. Bass could be chasing just about anything. Here’s the baitfish breakdown again based on what I’ve seen and what our tackle shops/charters have shared:

Cape Cod Bay: spearing (silversides), mackerel, river herring, sand eels, and bunker (pogies)

Buzzards Bay: bunker (pogies), river herring, small sea herring and juvenile smelt, and squid

Nantucket and Vineyard sounds: mackerel, river herring, some squid, bunker, and juvenile sea herring and smelt

Next to stripers, the best bet for a bent rod this weekend is sea bass and scup in Buzzards Bay, or stumbling across a wolf pack of bluefish on the south side. I’m praying to find some blues in just a few hours. After last year’s mediocre run, it’s been too long since I’ve seen yellow-eyed demons lunging for a pencil popper.

For the bottom fishing crowd, bring a good mix of metals and epoxies, bucktails, and scented artificial and natural baits like clam or squid to enjoy the sea bass opener to the fullest. You’re almost bound to catch some scup as well. Just don’t leave the striper gear at home in case you run into some surface feeds or big marks that are too good to pass up.

Winter flounder fishing is another option in Cape Cod Bay. There are several charters that have these flatfish figured out, including Reel Deal, Little Sister, and Bad Dog Sportfishing. Give them a ring to pound on some flounder, and consider releasing a few extras instead of keeping your limit. It’s a delicate fishery, and we all want to see flounder continue to thrive in one of their final strongholds.