Cape Cod Fishing Report- May 22, 2025

Cape Cod Fishing Report

The strange spring continued this week as October-esque temperatures took hold on Cape Cod. A common theme throughout the still-young striper season is the struggle to find bass of the schoolie and slot variety in places like the salt ponds and estuaries. Multi-day dry spells are broken by short-lived bites that leave us yearning for more. While the boat crowd has had less of an issue finding fast-moving migratory fish in open water, shore anglers (myself included) are left wondering why the backwater season has been underwhelming, to say the least. Just ask a majority of the anglers who flocked to the Cape for last weekend’s Cheeky Schoolie Tournament how they did in the marshes and ponds. Whatever the reason—whether it be fewer small fish available or just a lack of baitfish (like spearing) in the back—there is still much to be excited about as the spring migration marches on.

Bluefish in the 8- to 15-pound range are beginning to fill in after a couple weeks of scattered reports. Blues have been popping up on the beaches of Nantucket Sound and Buzzards Bay but, true to this spring’s odd nature, they too, have been difficult to pattern. For example, a few days of northwest wind brought tougher shore fishing on the upper and mid-Cape south side beaches, while in Buzzards Bay, those onshore winds pushed schools of adult bunker tight to the beach, where they were harassed by blitzing bass and blues for one full tide cycle before disappearing. A few of us at the OTW office were lucky enough to get in on the action before it fizzled out overnight.

The best striper and bluefish action, it seems, remains in open water, whether it be in Vineyard Sound or Buzzards Bay. Fish continue to push in from the south, feeding along the Elizabeths as they come. A majority of those bass have been just under slot up to the mid-30-inch class. OTW’s Robbie Tartaglia and Alex Blackwell found finicky stripers in that size range sipping small baitfish on the surface, and used Albie Snax to get a few bass to commit. The feeds, according to Blackwell, were scattered and fast. Anthony DeiCicchi and I experienced a similar bite with Captain Anthony Forte of Forte Guide Services during a pre-work mission that was meant to be a quick attempt to fill the cooler with sea bass. Flocks of terns guided us to schools of bass and a few bluefish that were up and down quick on small bait, but once we stopped chasing the birds and set up to drift for sea bass, we marked tons of suspended stripers and started catching mid-20 to low-30 inchers on bucktail jigs.

Sea bass fishing has been hit or miss on shallow structure in Buzzards Bay thus far. Some anglers are catching limits, which has required picking through a lot of shorts, along with scup and sea robins, while others have struggled to ice even a few keepers. Anthony and I had a few plump sea bass on bucktails and slow-pitch jigs at Cleveland Ledge, but only one keeper—the others came up just half an inch short. The general consensus among Buzzards Bay bottom fishers is that there are lots of sea bass around, but not many over 20 inches (yet).

Back on the south side, there are stripers feeding in the rips of Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds, although surface action has been limited. Working bucktail jigs lower in the water column was the key to getting bit in the rips on Tuesday, according to Capt. Anthony Forte’s mate, Brandon Robinson, who boated a bunch of school- to slot-size bass on his hand-tied jigs. Middle Ground has seen brief spats of topwater action from school stripers chasing squid, while Succonnesset Shoal had fish suspended just off the bottom.

In Cape Cod Bay, good winter flounder fishing continues. OTW’s Andy Nabreski did well on the blackbacks last week with Capt. Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters in around 40 feet of water. Andy said they were fishing both clams and worms, but clams produced the best results, including his personal best 19.5-inch flounder. Mussels are another good option if you can get them.

The striper fishing in Cape Cod Bay has been very good for shore fishermen/surfcasters with metal lips, minnow plugs, glidebaits and soft-plastic eel imitations working well during the last couple hours of the incoming and into the ebb tide, especially after dark. The boat crowd is finding good numbers of large fish, some over 40 inches, on top in open water and the Brewster Flats have been fishing pretty well on falling tides with a wider range of size classes available for fly and light-tackle anglers. We have strong northeast winds throughout the night, shifting to northwest by Friday morning, so the bay side beaches would be a good spot to focus on this evening…(EDIT: Do not go surf fishing in thunderstorms.) With gusts up to 45 mph in the forecast, the surf will be up even with a NW wind, so bucktails, heavy-thumping paddletails, and lures like bottle plugs or darters that can dig in rough surf should be the first lures out of the bag. The wind will make another shift to WSW by Friday afternoon before switching back to WNW by Saturday afternoon, so plan your outings accordingly.

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 is fishing well despite the rain and weather. There’s been a hot multi-day jig bite for fish up to almost 30 pounds in the west end, with plenty of smaller bass in the mix too. It’s mostly schoolies, but you have a chance to hook a real one. The sea bass season is starting a little slow, but it’s better than last year. Anglers are catching their limits, but nothing huge (over 20 inches is rare so far). Togging is still pretty good in Buzzards; there are lots of customers getting crabs waiting for sea bass to heat up. There are scup and sea bass in the mix for those who are still putting in time for tog. Bluefish, Connor added, are in thick locally and they’re taking topwaters, minnow plugs, soft plastics and bucktail jigs; might be worth boosting the leader strength on those sea bass rigs to avoid break offs. 

Alex MacMillian of FishLinked Charters in Wareham reported: “Feels good to free up the anchor for a bit here and get on the drift. Black sea bass opened up nicely and we are finding a range of sizes with a good amount of knotheads in the mix. Nothing over the 20-inch mark yet, but a great start with plenty of keepers. It’s been a nice change of pace compared to last year’s black sea bass season. We made an early welcome to some fluke on our drift as well—looking forward to that fishery opening up this week, especially knowing they are already hanging out in our backyard. It’s been a solid mixed bag, with some porgies, too. It seems Buzzards Bay has a good equilibrium going right now. The high-low rig remains undefeated on the bottom fishing front. And on a final note, no sea robins or dogfish have shown face yet, which we aren’t complaining about over here. We’ll see how long that holds true in the coming weeks.”

From the Cape Cod Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reports: “Surfcasters are catching fish in the Canal. The middle of last week started with North Attleborough resident Justin “Shooter” Dorsey landing an above slot 33-inch striped bass on a rising east tide toward the west end with an Al Gags white Whip-It Eel. Another school followed with fish up to 40-inches caught mid canal by “Slap Shot Scottie” Ewell of Montague while casting a light-colored SP Minnow into the east tide. This typist fooled a couple of over slots on the same tide, including a well fed 17 pounder measuring out to 37 inches that ate my bouncing 5.5-ounce white, black & pink Striper Gear Shaddy Daddy. Some of the expert Ditch denizens known as the “Boys of Summer”—“Paulie the Painter” Gravina & “Mashpee Mike” Laraia—both reeled in over slots from the late west tide Friday with Tim “Hollywood” Petracca landing 38- & 39-inch fish while “Bill on the Grill” Prodouz brought 39 & 40-inch linesiders to the rocks. The keys to success were white Joe Baggs Swarters, 5-ounce Bill Hurley Canal Killers, Albie Super Snax & 4-ounce Al Gags jigs. A visiting basking shark was spotted at the cribbin & mid gate over the weekend.” 

• 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 that it seems like Buzzards Bay is the place to be for stripers this week. The Elizabeths have had fish from Quicks and Robinsons, and there are schools of bass that seem to be on the move beneath diving birds all the way up the coast, but slightly further offshore. The rips on the south side—including Succonnessett, Nobska, Hedge Fence and Middle Ground—are just starting to hold some fish, he said. A local charter captain Evan spoke to caught stripers in decent numbers out at Succonnesset yesterday, while a friend had bass jigging wire and on topwater down in Woods Hole. Generally, the fish in the rips have been smaller; it seem like bigger bass are in Buzzards. The wrecks in Vineyard and Nantucket sounds, he added, are holding good sea bass, so don’t feel like you need to run to Buzzards; it has been a little slower for large sea bass up there, but boats are still scratching out keepers. There have also been some very big blues over ten pounds in Buzzards Bay, which has been some good fun for several of his customers this week.

Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard reported: “I have not had any charters yet, but I have been out a couple of times. My friend Bret Benway rode me over to Falmouth in his boat to pick up my boat on May 12. We stopped at Middle Ground, but found no fish there. Then we tried in Woods Hole and I got a nice bass just under keeper size. More recently, I got out squid fishing on Monday and Tuesday evenings, and did pretty well; 17 on Monday and 36 on Tuesday. I have to go to Virginia for the weekend to attend my nephew’s wedding, but I’m hoping the squid are still around when we get back.” 

Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said it has been a slower week for stripers in general out in their neck of the woods. The shore fishing has dropped off a bit, but there are fish in the rips in Nantucket Sound—they’re just not stacked up yet. Earlier this week, the Cape Cod Bay side was on fire for shore fishermen with bass to 40-inches plus on metal lips and minnow plugs, but that has also fizzled out a bit. The most promising bite heading into the weekend is winter flounder on the north side, with some nice fish up to 20 inches. Colder weather and wind seems to have put a damper on most of the bites that were building last week, but the weekend weather looks better, so hopefully things pick back up from the shore and we start to see more bass and bluefish in the rips.

George Sylvestre of Sylvestre Outdoors in Brewster reported: “Its been a week of changing weather on Cape Cod, and changing fishing conditions. It should be interesting to see how this upcoming storm changes things yet again (I’ll let you know next week). A north wind had me fishing the south side near Cotuit and it turned out to be a good call.  Schoolie bass were tight to the beach on the outgoing tide and also along the bar as I followed the bar south off the beach. Schools of low double-digit bass made for interesting sight fishing. Give it a shot with this North wind.”

Captain Matthew Dempsey of Salt Reaper Charters in Dennis reported: “Cape Cod Bay is alive with stripers anywhere from 20 to 45 inches.The larger fish seem to be mostly  on topwater and subsurface lures like the JoeBaggs Skipper and Berkley Magic Swimmer. Buzzards Bay is also holding a lot of bass in deeper water under birds, and shallow back bays are a good bet later in the morning. The winter flounder fishing has slowed a little with the high winds and bass activity, but if you put in a full day, you should be able to get a few to eat.” 

Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “We’re making the best of the weather cards being dealt by Mother Nature this week, bundling our charter customers up in Grundens weather gear and taking advantage of some excellent black sea bass fishing. As typical, the pink jigs and teasers are generating great results. On the striped bass fishing front, team Reel Deal landed some fish well over the 40-inch mark with our clients reveling in some awesome light tackle battles. We have openings during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend! Be sure to book your trip soon.”

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

A passing nor’easter and residual wind could make for a bumpy ride to or from the dock this weekend. However, stripers love to feed in the sloppy stuff. Keep a mix of jigs, plastics,  topwaters and shallow-diving plugs handy if you plan on poking around for bass this weekend. And may I recommend bumping up your leader material to 50-pound-test fluoro or mono? Bluefish are here and they’re mixed in with the bass. Save yourself the money, time and headaches that come from lost lures and rigs by going a bit heavier.

There’s no word yet of bluefish in Cape Cod Bay, and most striped bass anglers are fine with that for now. Sand eels, bunker and mackerel are keeping bass fed from the east end of the Canal on up to the south shore bays, and out toward Brewster Flats. Minnow plugs, metal-lipped swimmers, soft-plastic eels and glidebaits have been catching fish to 25 pounds on the night tides while topwater plugs, diamond jigs and paddletails are getting the job done during daylight hours.

Sea bass hot spots should be productive once the seas calm a bit. If the bite is slow or keepers are scarce, don’t hesitate to break away from the fleet this weekend. Diamond jigs, slow-pitch and epoxy-style jigs, and bucktail jigs fished with large teasers above have all produced results in the opening week. You can’t go wrong with a high-low rig consisting of some fresh longfin squid or clam, either. Fluke are becoming a more common sea bass bycatch, and starting on Saturday, boat anglers can keep 5 fish at a minimum size of 17.5 inches. Shore anglers have the same daily bag limit, but the minimum size for a keeper is 16.5 inches. Bucktail or cannonball jigs tipped with Gulp or squid strips and fished with a teaser above the main jig stand to catch both sea bass and fluke, although finding keeper summer flounder may prove challenging.

Speaking of flatfish, winter flounder fishing will likely pick up right where it left off in Cape Cod Bay after this storm front moves through. Something I’ve always wanted to try, but have never devoted the time to do so, is catching a winter flounder and summer flounder in the same day. It’ll be a challenge with this weekend’s forecast and holiday boat traffic, but it can be done!

This Saturday is Cape Cod Canal Demo Day, hosted by OutCast Lures and GW Customs, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Buzzards Bay Recreation Area. The tide at the Railroad Bridge turns west around 7:45 a.m. so if you’re looking to kill some time, catch the morning tide and fish through the switch, then grab a breakfast sandwich and hang out ditch-side with some like-minded folks.