Cape Cod Fishing Report
The big news of the week was NOAA’s closure of the recreational bluefin tuna fishery, which left anglers and captains reeling. The general consensus is, while the closure is probably for the best, it’s going to carry a noticeable hit to the coastal Northeast’s economy. Catch and release of rec. bluefin is still permitted, but without the option for their customers to take one home for the table, many charters and guide services won’t bother to burn the fuel. Be sure to shop local for all your tackle for the duration of the season, and support your neighborhood charter operations in whatever ways you can.
The good news of the week is more bonito are moving in around Cape Cod. They’re available on all sides of Cape, though some areas have greater concentrations than others. Monomoy, Martha’s Vineyard, and the Elizabeth Islands have been hot spots, and there are plenty from lower Buzzards Bay to the Canal as well. Albies are still missing in action, but Captain Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters ran into his first false albacore earlier this week. We shouldn’t have to wait much longer than a couple of weeks for the hardtail season to really hit its stride. There are loads of peanut bunker, silversides, and rain bait that have yet to pour out of the backwaters, and we can only hope that their exit from those protected areas coincides with the mass arrival of false albacore.
Bottom fishing is very hit or miss lately. Warm water temperatures have fluke and black sea bass hanging around deep sand and rock structure; although there have been some nice keeper fluke taken in relatively shallow water in Buzzards Bay lately. The bays and salt ponds are almost uncomfortably warm and have grown very quiet when it comes to flatfish; I managed only a couple of short fluke on a Ned rig after a few hours of fishing earlier this week. The deeper edges of shoals and flats in Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds are the most likely places to find a respectable flatty or two.
And while hooking keeper sea bass may require a bit of a run south, where heavy lead will be necessary, scup can be caught just about anywhere. I skunked on a recent kayak trip for bonito and spent the rest of the morning slow-pitch jigging scup to around 15 inches over virtually bare sand bottom in about 20 feet of water. They’re not the most exciting fish to catch, especially in shallow water, but if you’re looking to put some meat in the cooler, just pick a piece of structure and drop down your epoxy jig. An 11-inch scup is a keeper and with the pin bones removed from each fillet, you’ll wind up with 4 tasty little fish sticks.
If you’re looking for striped bass by boat, Monomoy, the Outer Cape, and Cape Cod Bay are the places to be. Sand eels are all over the place out east and bonito are now in the mix with the bass. There have also been some sneaky, intermittent bass blitzes back in Vineyard Sound during the low-light hours in the early morning, and larger resident bass are beginning to stir with the amount of baitfish in our waters. To sum it all up, bass to the east are on sand eels, and bass to the west are on silversides and peanuts. And then you have bass up on the south shore of the mainland, where they’re hanging tight to bunker schools.
Here’s what our local shops and charters had to report heading into the weekend:
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said the east end of the Cape Cod Canal fished well this morning as bass fed on peanut bunker and horse mackerel. According to Bull from the shop, the smallest fish caught was around 17 pounds. The fish were hitting pencil poppers and SP Minnows. He added that there are more stripers, though not very large, on the south shore up toward Plymouth following the bunker pods. Back toward the west end of the Canal, in Buzzards Bay, Connor said the fluke bite is half decent with a fair amount of 18 to 20 inchers coming up for the regular bottom bouncers. Further south, bonito are being caught all along the Elizabeths in both the bay and Vineyard Sound. Lastly, Connor mentioned giants are ripping around close to shore in Cape Cod Bay; he was coming through the ditch earlier this week and saw big bluefish schooling tight to the surface about a half mile outside of the east end. Giant tuna, he said, had double-digit blues balled up like a school of nervous bunker.
Alex MacMillian of FishLinked Charters in Wareham reported: “We have been finding fluke up to 23-inches in the west end of the canal. Focus heavily on structure and expect to work for your bites; following that last cool front, they are there. Pack some lead, because there have been quite of few days of extremely rippy current. Dead squid on a fake squid is the combo for sizable fluke in Buzzards Bay. You might even tag a few keeper black sea bass before the September 1 closure, too. Bonito have arrived in full force in Buzzards Bay; foamers are showing up all over the place, from Robinson’s to Onset Harbor. They are feeding ferociously on silversides. The Whip-It designed for distance is getting us connected. We have yet to get any albies, but it’s nice to have some inshore hardtails back. Can’t imagine the albies being too far off at this point. To address the recent recreational tuna closure: although we may not agree with the seemingly premature closure, our plan here at FishLinked is to lean more heavily into the commercial giant fishery—which, luckily, has turned on as of late—to keep our clients on fish. We have found some good fish up to 103-inches and are expecting things to continue ramping up.”
From the Cape Cod Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reported: “There is still plenty of bait in the Canal and real bait was king last week! I stopped my bike to say hello to the Almeida brothers as they were chunking mackerel into a west dropping tide. Within minutes “Westport Jim” and I were watching his brother Mark reel in a tasty 18-inch black sea bass from the floor of the Canal. Raynham resident Joe Triolo was chunking into an early rising east tide with his circle hook holding small portions of mackerel. His sinker was holding bottom close to the edge when the bait was hit by a hungry 33-inch striper that was released to fight another day. “Bull” MacKinnon worked a 4-ounce metal off the bottom with enough action to entice a schoolie, then brought 3 bonito to the rocks on epoxy jigs. The weekend came to a close with Keith “OFD” Dacey catching a 32-inch linesider on a 5-ounce green mack FishLab during an early breaking minus tide.”
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said there are bonito all over the place this week, especially from the Vineyard—between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown—over to the Elizabeths. The bite has been especially good on the bay side of the Elizabeths, but there are also fish to be caught up along the Cape side of Buzzards Bay, and on the south side of Cape in Vineyard Sound. As far as bottom fishing, his recommendation is to go deep—especially if you’re looking for sea bass. It might require a long run and sinkers heavier than 10 ounces, but areas off Gay Head and Nomans in 100 feet of water are safe bets. Otherwise, check out the deep ends of shoals like Middle Ground for a few keeper sea biscuits. We’ve only got a couple weeks left in the season before all sea bass become throwbacks.
Captain Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing out of Osterville said there are still loads of small bluefish in Nantucket Sound, which has been good fun for the younger anglers on some of his recent charters. The better news is that there are a whole lot of bonito to the east and west; Ben said they’re loaded out by Monomoy and he had some pretty good feeds over on the Vineyard early in the week, although those fish were very finicky. Most of the fish they saw and landed were around 3 to 4 pounds. He’s hopeful that albies will be moving in before the end of the month now that the rec. bluefin fishery is closed.
Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Fishing Charters reported very good results for sea bass and fluke before he hit the road to pick up his new Bluewater 2850. He’s working on getting it sea-ready, and in the meantime, has some charters planned out of Bass River for bonito, bluefish, and bass. There have been bones just east of there along the beaches, and they’re stacked at Monomoy. Cam also mentioned that giant tuna results have been consistent whenever he’s had the chance to get out on a commercial day.
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From Martha’s Vineyard, Kismet Outfitters in Edgartown reported: “The bonito bite off Vineyard Sound remains strong, with good-sized fish grouped in small schools, crashing peanut bunker and silversides in well-defined current lines. Tides haven’t dictated good fishing as much as in Nantucket Sound, but the strongest bite has occurred from 6:30 am-11 am, and again from 3:00pm-Sunset. We’re also finding the strongest striper fishing on the north side of the Island, with bass visibly feeding on the baitfish mentioned above; generally under terns.
In Nantucket Sound off the Vineyard’s east side, the fastest bluefish and bonito action has occurred on a strong incoming tide. Bones have been on the spooky side, so it’s best to run a longer, 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Chartreuse and pink Surf Candies, Albie Escorts, Bonito Bunnies, Bonito Bullets, and Bonita Deceiver flies have all put fish in the net this week.”
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos shared the following report: “Schools of bonito made another appearance this week as they flushed into Nantucket Harbor creating a buzz across the island. Bluefishing remains relatively slow, but with Great Point and Smith Point now fully open for OSV driving, anglers have fresh opportunities to target blues in two of the island’s hottest spots. August Blues Tournament competition is heating up. In the Beach Division, David Tribble holds a razor-thin ½-inch lead over defending 2024 champ Tedy Bruschi in the Triple Strike competition. In the Boat Division, Dusty Ramos has overtaken 2024 champion Heather Unruh for the top spot. Junior Division angler Rivers Sullivan currently holds a commanding lead. There’s still plenty of time to get in on the action as the tournament runs through August 31. See all current leaders and register at August Blues.
(ACK report, continued) From Captain Corey Gammill of Billfisher Outfitters: “It’s been a grind out there, but we’re starting to see a small uptick in bluefish activity with the recent wind shift. Not lights-out by any means, but better than last week. The bright spot has been the West End, where bottom fishing is producing steady action on black sea bass along with some fluke. Bass fishing is best to the east, where cooler water holds fish that can be taken by going deep with wire, heavy bucktails, and niner rigs. Bonito are beginning to show, so we’re hopeful for better days ahead.”
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported: “The dog days of August haven’t actually been that tough at all—cool water continues to make the edges at Monomoy productive with all kinds of bait present. Flood tide seems to be better as of late, as it lined up with the mornings. Sand eel stuff along the east side has been fun as well. The sound has really come alive lately with all kinds of bait, and blues and bones getting after it. Very few unproductive drifts as of late when you find working birds. Note: upwind resets and drifts through schools and bird piles get the most bites and the least boat shy fish. Running and gunning in a fleet of boats fishing like this is a tough look. Hard shell jigs, soft plastics, epoxies, and swimming plugs are all working. Rotate through your stock to see what mood they’re in and ditch the trebles. Super fun bite.”
Captain Matthew Dempsey of Salt Reaper Charters in Dennis reported: “Some great fluke fishing has started inshore off the rips, but it requires using 4- to 8-ounces of weight with the recent full moon tides. Most fish are between 16 to 19 inches with a few jumbos in the mix. Bonito and schools of small blues are chewing good in the Sound, and are keyed in on peanut bunker. Epoxy jigs are working the best.”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “It was a jigging type of week for multiple different species with team Reel Deal! Our customers have enjoyed an excellent vertical jig bite for striped bass, bringing in several overs and some slot-sized fish too. We also jigged up some recreational bluefin tuna on glow-style jigs, with Captain Brady Rice putting one of his clients on their first bluefin tuna on spin gear, which brought great excitement (and hoots of joy) aboard Reel Deal 3. Then, because we hadn’t traveled enough during the week, it was time to check out the Nantucket Shoals where we found a decent quantity of fluke; while we were hunting for the doormats, the largest came in just over 21 inches, which was still a fun catch. Amazing week spent in the dynamic fisheries of Cape Cod and the Islands. We have openings starting on Monday which you should check out by clicking here.”
Captain Mike Rathgeber of CeeJay Fishing in Provincetown reported: “It was an epic week on striped bass with a few bluefish and bonito mixed into the catch for both large private charters and public trips. More and more bass are slot-sized, too. Any time you limit out a boat of 30 people, you know it’s been a good day. The bay and the ocean both have a lot of fish and there’s plenty of bait around to keep them here.”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
This weekend is the Falmouth Road Race, which draws thousands of runners from far and wide to the Cape Cod. If you’re trailering your boat anywhere on the upper Cape, launch before sunrise or just avoid the Falmouth area altogether until you’re on the water. It’s quite a sight watching hordes of people make their way across the south side from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights, and you just might run into blitzing bonito as Road Racers run toward the finish line.
Hunting for hardtails is certainly the best bet for the weekend, but with such low wind in the forecast for Saturday, it’d be a great time to head south in search of mahi and/or white marlin. Those glassy conditions with low swell are ideal for sight-fishing skillies, but the mahi tend to be easily spooked, so approach high fliers and floating debris with stealth and keep a reasonable distance until you’re confident there are fish there. If you’re looking to catch and release a white marlin, toss a few keeper scup in the live well first thing in the morning, and keep live eels as a backup plan.
Shore anglers stand good chances of running into bonito and bluefish at first light on the south-facing beaches, especially. Stripers and sea bass could potentially be in the mix; it’s that time of year when we will occasionally find sea bass blitzing on the surface, and when there are large ones mixed in, it’s like a blessing from the bottom fishing deities. No need for a 10-ounce sinker and squid strips when they’ve got silversides pressed to the surface!
Lastly, the Canal seems to be hot one day and cold the next. But there are bonito and bass in there, and bluefish have been hanging just outside the east end, so it’s worth scoping out around first light over the next week. Pack your pencil poppers, bucktails, tins, minnow plugs, and epoxy jigs.
Be safe, and best of luck out there.