Cape Cod Fishing Report
Although she remained several hundred miles offshore, the lasting effects of Hurricane Erin were felt by recreational anglers of the Cape and Islands this week. That storm really shuffled the deck.
A surprisingly large swell (which was not forecasted) on Saturday and Sunday of last week made for challenging fishing conditions from Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay to the south side. The waves were much taller and came at shorter intervals than anticipated which scattered bait, displaced gamefish, and dirtied up the water. Throughout the course of the week, conditions have calmed down, but many anglers that were chasing bonito prior to the storm have been left scratching their heads. The good news is, bass and bluefish have filled in the gaps where bonito have bounced.
From upper Buzzards Bay by Hog Island Channel down to the shores of the Vineyard, Cape, and Elizabeth Islands, schoolie to slot-size stripers are chasing scrambled schools of peanut bunker and silversides that the bulk of bonito left behind. Early morning is your best bet for surface action, and the birds will lead you to breaking fish. Small topwater plugs and epoxy jigs are getting the job done, but be ready to move; much like bonito, the bass have been up and down quick. That holds true for the bass in Buzzards Bay too, which received heavy pressure over the weekend from all the boats that couldn’t make it south in the residual storm swell.
Bluefish are all over Buzzards Bay as well. Since the weekend, they’ve filled in along the Cape side and can be found blitzing on bait beneath birds outside of harbors and river mouths. Similar to the south side, silversides and peanut bunker are the predominant bait. Epoxy jigs and metals will do the job, and if you get out early enough, you’ll have good shots at bass in the same areas.
Cape Cod Bay has been mostly quiet aside from a good giant tuna/bunker bite earlier this week. There are some bass in the harbors and a few pods of big bluefish were stationed off Barnstable, but the bulk of the striper action on the north side of Cape is up off Race Point.
Not all hope is lost for the weekend hardtail hunt though. While bonito have spread out, there are still small concentrations of them racing around the Elizabeths, the Vineyard, and upper Cape. More recently, albies have been spotted on the south side as far east as Chatham and as far west as the islands, but they are few and far between.
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 Cape Cod Canal has blown up this week with steady topwater action at daybreak. Bull MacKinnon from the shop told him it’s the best canal bite he has seen in two years, and that means a lot coming from a guy who’s down there every single morning. Tuesday morning saw fish ranging from 22 to 25 pounds with schoolies in the mix, and Wednesday morning wasn’t much different with plenty of bass from 15 to 20 pounds on pencils. The action has been widespread, with the east end hosting good action around first light and fish breaking toward the west end later in the morning. Buzzards Bay, Connor said, is loaded with bluefish, most of which are right around that 3- to 5-pound cocktail size. Meanwhile, 7 miles east, scattered and very fast-moving schools of bonito are intermittently blitzing just outside the east end of the ditch in Cape Cod Bay. They’re up and down so fast you can hardly fire off a cast in time to reach breaking fish. Since Hurricane Erin’s wind and swell diminished, the only other word of hardtails he received was a lone albie sighting down by Woods Hole earlier this week. Other than that, tautog is picking up; a fair amount of people are going out and getting keepers, and tog interest is only going to grow now that sea bass season is pretty much finished.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said that every day since Saturday, albie prospects seem to be slowly getting better. On Sunday afternoon, his friend ran into big albies off Falmouth that were quick up and down, but he didn’t manage to land any. Then on Wednesday, one of his customers ran into them on the Buzzards Bay side of the Elizabeths and managed to land one but dropped at least two; they’re still few and far between, but there should be even more albies in by the weekend. Evan added that there are still a ton of bonito along the north side of the Vineyard, which seems to be the stronghold as they’ve thinned out elsewhere in the Vineyard Sound area. The bluefish bite, he said, has been great; there are tons of blues in Buzzards Bay since the storm passed with some really nice ones in the mix—not just our standard cocktail specimens. They seem to be sitting right outside of the Cape-side harbors. In addition to a good bluefish bite, Evan and I agreed there are a lot more bass around on the Upper Cape than there were this time last season. Evan’s customers are catch stripers on eels along the south side and down the Elizabeths. He’s had a couple customers put up good numbers while trolling tube-and-worm rigs down along the islands, too. Assuming temperatures continue to drop into the low 60s and high 50s at night, the bass bite should really pick up as we head into September.
Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reported there were a fair amount of bonito and albies being caught on epoxies and metals from shore out near Chatham on Tuesday morning, and that’s the first albies they’ve heard of within shore-casting range so far this year. In the harbors, where there are plenty of silversides, snapper blues are in thick, which is some good fun for young kids on the last big holiday weekend of the summer. Christian mentioned that the overnight striper bite is also very good in the bays on the south side, which is likely due to the sheer amount of bait because the water is still quite warm. Up in Cape Cod Bay, he added, it’s been a little quieter this week aside from some big bluefish that are demolishing trolled minnow plugs off Barnstable. And freshwater fishing has been productive in the evenings with a mix of bass and chain pickerel that are willing to hit soft plastics, like Senkos, as well as topwater.
Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Fishing Charters said his very first fish on the new 28′ Bluewater was a 720-pound commercial bluefin! Not a bad way to break in the new rig. Cam was out giant fishing on Cape Cod Bay when we spoke and said the bite was slow, with some small porbeagles picking up their baits. He’s also continued to run fluke fishing charters on the south side of Cape, and that bite is lights out. After the storm, he said, the action slowed a bit because the water was dirty, but they still managed to catch and throughout the course of the week, it’s picked right back up. With the new boat in the water and running well, he’s planning to head to the canyons on Sunday/Monday for yellowfin and bigeye. Give Cam a shout for inshore/offshore charter availability.
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From Martha’s Vineyard, Stephen at Kismet Outfitters in Edgartown reported: “After several days of blown-out conditions thanks to Erin, the fishing around Martha’s Vineyard has settled down. The heavy northeast winds pushed massive schools of sand eels into Vineyard Sound, and bonito, stripers, and blues have been feeding consistently. The fish have been staying in the rip lines. If you find a rip line, fish should show up. The bird activity has been intense, and where there are birds, there are fish.
Inlets from shore and boat have been productive, and fish have been pushing bait close. This is an excellent time for the boatless fly angler to work jetties, especially during outgoing tides when baitfish are flushed out of the lagoons. With sand eels on the longer side, slightly larger-profile flies have been working better than earlier in the season. Albie escorts in pink, green, and white have been most productive with a quick two-handed retrieve.
It’s been a rough week for fishing in Nantucket Sound, which is typical following heavy northeast winds; we’ve experienced the most success off the Island’s north side.”
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Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters out of Vineyard Haven reported: “I have been starting earlier than usual for many of my recent trips. There has been a school of striped bass that has been active for the first hour after sunrise, so an early start was necessary to get a shot at them. I also figured that an early start could help avoid the worst of the boat traffic when chasing breaking bonito, which seem to be especially spooky. The breaks have been very short, with the fish up and down very quickly. But even with the early start, fishing has been hit-or-miss. Until yesterday, when we had the most productive day of fishing I’d had in weeks. We started early, but didn’t find those bass in the pond. So we headed out to check out the harbor and the north shore, eventually going as far as Devil’s Bridge. Along the way, we found some striped bass crashing bait right up against the rocky shore. We landed one nice slot-sized bass. Then we found some small bluefish under birds, and hooked 6 or 7, but only landed 1. It was late morning when we finally ran into some very good bonito breaks on the way back home. We landed two nice bonito but lost one or two others. Though we didn’t land every fish we hooked, I was very encouraged by how many bites we got. Most of the fish we landed spit up peanut bunker or silversides or both. We did best with epoxy jigs or small swimming plugs in white or silver, but we also got a bluefish on a white albie snax. Given that the best action we experienced this week came later in the morning or even into the afternoon, I’m rethinking my early start time.”
From Nantucket, Rick Ramos shared the following report: “Conditions have been slowly improving, and the storm and wind did what we hoped by shaking things up. Now it’s a matter of waiting for the water to settle and clear. Surfcasters have been starting to see better numbers in striped bass and bluefish, albeit the blued have been more on the snapper size. The bonito bite has been a bright spot as they continue to flush the harbor and show on the south shore.
From the boat, Captain Corey Gammill of Bill Fisher Outfitters shared a similar report with dirty water making fishing tough but improving by the day. ‘Great Point is much cleaner and holding some fish while the east side of the island bluefish are showing and slicks are starting to appear, which is encouraging. The Harbor continues to be the most productive spot for bonito.’ With cleaner water, shifting patterns and fishing ticking up, we head into the final days of the August Blues tournament. There’s close competition across all categories which will make for an exciting finish. Looking ahead, The Nantucket Inshore Classic registration is now open with the tournament running September 7th – October 11, 2025. Sponsored by the Nantucket Anglers’ Club, this is Nantucket’s premiere fall fishing tournament open to all local and visiting anglers. Don’t miss the chance to be part of this outstanding event.”
Captain Matthew Dempsey of Salt Reaper Charters out of Dennis told me Cape Cod Bay has been pretty dead unless you’re pulling wire (trolling tubes), which isn’t his favorite thing to do. Instead, he’s been back down on the south side, fishing the rips out east again, and had nothing but good things to report. The bass bite has been very good with topwaters and SP minnows hooking the bulk of their fish. The skipper added that there are not many bonito out there since the storm; heavy wind and big swells scrambled the bait and the bones.
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported: “Post-Erin, things have changed a bit out this way. The waves here locally were no joke. Inlets all needed remapping of buoys and the water was turned over as a lot of the warm surface water was cast offshore. The results from a couple times out have been mixed. The bones that had been steady and great along the west side of Monomoy have scattered. Much slower and less birds as of late. No push of Albies to speak of yet. But, the bass fishing seemed to improve a bit with some cooler water. Rips have been ok with some big sea bass mixed in. Along the beach has been decent enough too under birds and sand eels. Giant fishing still decent to good out east in the usual spots.”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “Fortunately the heavy winds we endured at the end of last week did not disrupt the awesome striped bass fishing at all! Our clients (and Captains!) were very happy to be back into tight lines at sunrise Saturday morning with the bite staying consistent right into the week. While we are getting some in slot fish, most of them are way over slot including several approaching or at the 40” mark. Mostly all on live bait recently, with a few getting picked up on the jigs. There have not been many bluefish except for one surprise 37-inch blue (weighing in at 18 lbs) that I was fortunate enough to hook this past Sunday morning! There is still very good fishing activity to enjoy off outer Cape Cod! Be sure to get your trip booked for the upcoming holiday weekend. ”
Captain Mike Rathgeber of Cee Jay Fishing Charters out of Provincetown reported: “Epic bass fishing last weekend. We had 28 passengers on Saturday and 21 on Sunday and limited out both trips with over a dozen over-slot throwbacks. I’ve never seen the action this good this late in the summer on the outer Cape. Still no bluefish to speak of, but an occasional blast of bonito. Stripers are camped solidly off the tip of Cape and show no signs of leaving the enormous amount of sand eels and mackerel that are there. With the stretch of great weather we are getting, now is a great time to get out here and get in on some good fishing.”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
A good plan for the weekend is to hunt for albies down the Elizabeths in both Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay. Bonito seem to be hugging the north side of the Vineyard, and while there’s been a fair amount of boat pressure on them, those fish shouldn’t be going very far in the west/northwest wind on Saturday and Sunday. Don’t leave your striper gear at home; there’s a good chance you run into bass and even some small to mid-size bluefish down there.
There are still plenty of bass in the rips out at Monomoy, and there was mention of albies mixing in with bonito in the Chatham area. If you call eastern Nantucket Sound home, finding a few productive rips are a better bet than running west for bass and hardtail action.
We’re in the final days of black sea bass season. After Monday (Labor Day), all sea bass are throwbacks, no matter how tasty that 20 incher looks. Ya don’t have to like it, but it is what it is. There hasn’t been much reliable sea bass fishing lately, but if you head down the Elizabeths in search of albies, you can probably jig up a few decent ones for the table off Lucas Shoal.
Surfcasters and shore anglers have a few options this week. On the south side, hit your local beaches and jetties to scope out the scene for albies and bonito at dawn, or cast topwater plugs, small bucktails, and soft plastics in the ponds and bays for stripers around sunrise and sunset. Cape Cod Bay is sure to have some fish stirring along the beaches at night, and the ocean surf has potential to produce good results. Even though it’s a long weekend with holiday traffic, a drive to the outer Cape surf could pay off in a big way. There are sand eels and macks off P-Town and they don’t seem to be going anywhere. Lastly, the Canal is a great option too. It appears that many of the stripers that had been stationed along the south shore in recent weeks have since pushed into the ditch, and there’s ample bait keeping them there. Grab your pencils, grab your soft macks, and a few metals/epoxies and bucktails; with bluefish just outside the west end, there may be a few rogue gators working their way into the catch.