Cape Cod Fishing Report
Good albie fishing continues in Nantucket Sound this week, but the action is a bit more widespread now as albies have stormed Vineyard Sound and the Elizabeth Islands. There are still alberts to be caught further east around Monomoy, but the general consensus is that they’ve been a tad pickier than the albies to the west along the islands, where there are larger-than-average bay anchovies along with silversides and peanut bunker. There are still plenty of albies in between the islands and Monomoy, too, and according to my friend Ryan, they were fired up today. He landed a whopping 24 albies from his kayak.
Striper activity has picked up along the south side this week, as well. They’re pushing down around the outer Cape in waves as the action off Provincetown diminishes. Even better news: the bass on the south side are larger than the average class we see in the fall, with plenty of over-slot fish running the beaches adjacent to inlets as mullet and dense schools of silversides drop out of the ponds, rivers and bays following the full moon. After skunking in Cape Cod Bay earlier this week, I headed down to some spots in Nantucket Sound and finally located the motherlode of 4- to 5-inch mullet. Slot-sized stripers and a few overs were feeding on them during the bottom half of the outgoing, and for a solid 40 minutes the fish pounced on 1-ounce Mag Darters, junior Danny plugs, and 7-inch glidebaits. Unfortunately, though, the bite shut off just as quickly as it started, and I couldn’t figure out why except for the water being a little dirtier than expected. The bait was there, the tide was right, but the bass just ceased hitting plugs and plastics. I could still hear them occasionally blowing up on mullet in the inlet, though. If I had to guess, the heavy east/northeast winds this Sunday and Monday will cue those mullet and bass to get moving. With that in mind, fishing the outer Cape surf or the beaches in Cape Cod Bay with the wind in your face on a falling tide will be a great option. Otherwise, it’s worth scoping out your local Sound-facing inlets and beaches for transient schools of bass at night or first thing in the morning.
Speaking of Nantucket Sound, big blues to 10-pounds-plus have moved in off ACK and anglers are catching them on topwaters and metals in the rips, or by trolling deep-diving plugs. The tog bite has yet to hit its stride in the Sound, but anglers fishing the jetties and nearshore rock piles are seeing better results with each passing week. For better tautog results, head toward the Elizabeths and fish shallow pieces of rock structure in Vineyard Sound or lower Buzzards Bay. Dropping jigs in 20 to 30 feet of water has earned some anglers early-season piggies to 24 inches and around 8 pounds. Captain Harvey Russell of My Brother Charters out of Falmouth and Oak Bluffs said togging on the south side of the Vineyard was slower than he expected, but water temps are still in the upper 60s, so he expects the bite to improve following this weekend’s wind when we get some more settled weather.
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 anglers toward the west end of the Canal have been pulling in stripers in the mid-20-pound range on jigs at night. The mornings have been quieter lately, but there are still plenty of bonito in the ditch. When the bass have shown up in the west end, they’re hitting pencils and jigs, and when they don’t show throughout the Canal around first light, they’re hanging outside the east end. Everything is eating peanut bunker, he said, so bass have been a little hesitant to commit to larger swimming plugs. He recommended rigging a single hook with a flag on the rear hook hanger of your minnow plugs and metal-lipped peanut swimmers to convince those picky bass to eat. Bonito, he added, are running the Cape side of Buzzards all the way down to the Elizabeths, but albies are scarce until you reach the islands. Tog fishing continues to improve in Buzzards Bay; there have been fish to around 24 inches caught in the northern end of the bay on little pieces of shallow structure. Meanwhile, out in eastern Cape Cod Bay, there are small pods of albies blitzing outside of the harbors. Albie action on the south side, he said, remains very spread out or quick up and down when you find them. They’re not settling into areas very long (as they have in years past), with Nantucket Sound hosting the best bites last week and Vineyard Sound seeing an uptick in activity this week.
Captain Ray Jarvis of Salt of the Earth Sportfishing out of Westport reported: “Fishing has been steady. Albies and bones are scattered around the islands and into Buzzards Bay and Rhode Island. Some areas are better than others, but there are more than enough fish available. A lot of bass have pushed into the area — the islands have been good. Scanning shoreline areas for small feeds has been a good way to find them. Bass have been rafting up on smaller bait, and there are some fish to 30-ish pounds in the mix. Tautog fishing is getting better and better, plenty of fish to be caught. I have availability this month for anyone trying to get out before it’s all over. Expect good fishing right into early/mid November.”
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said albie fishing has been great locally this week and there are some nice bonito mixed in with them. Most of the anglers he’s spoken to are getting 5 or 6 a trip without having to run very far. He had a good albie bite down the Elizabeths on the incoming tide a few days ago and the fish were keyed in on thick schools of slightly larger bay anchovies, so orange, silver, and pinks jigs produced the best results. Evan also ran into a few albies by Woods Hole, but the boat traffic down there has made it tough to get shots at breaking fish. That said, there are plenty of fish tight to shore across the south side out toward Mashpee and beyond, and they are close enough, at times, to reach from the beach. Monomoy has a fair amount of of albies too, but based on what he’s heard from customers, they’ve been tougher to convince out there while they seem less discerning in our neighborhood. Striped bass fishing has been really good lately, too, he added. One customer had a great night on the south side, catching double digits of over-slot bass while fishing through the night with Mag Darters and Danny plugs, which could be due to the influx of mullet lately. He’s also had good reports from customers catching schoolie to slot-size stripers in the ponds on topwater around dawn and dusk, and small live eels after dark. The outgoing tides are more likely to produce steady action.
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Captain Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing out of Osterville said he hasn’t been out since last weekend but those charters had their fill of schoolies in the bays with cocktail blues in the mix after tog fishing out front yielded only short fish. Ben thinks they would have had better tautog results if he had anchored over some better real estate, but he didn’t want to crowd the boats that were already there. His charter on Sunday was a short trip with a bunch of young kids, and they had a great time keeping it simple and catching bluefish on poppers. He’s got a couple more albie and bonito charters this weekend and is available next weekend, so reach out to get a date on the books.
Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters out of Vineyard Haven reported: “It has been an abbreviated week, with the last two trips cancelled, one for illness and one for weather. But I do have some outstanding news to report. I made my first tautog trip of the season on Friday with Kevin Sullivan and friends. After we took a few minutes to anchor up on one of my favorite rock piles, the fishing was great right from the start. The first drop of the day had every chapter in the tautog textbook. The juicy green crab bait was attacked as soon as it reached the bottom. A few quick pecks, followed by a strong tug, were answered by a firm hookset and a couple of cranks to get the fish up and away from the rocky bottom. But the fish was determined and made a strong run right back down and into the rocks. We could tell that the rig was hung up, but could also feel that the fish was still hooked, so we gave the fish some slack and waited, hoping that he would swim back out of its rocky hiding place. And sure enough, it did! A tug-of-war ensued, but eventually we wrestled a 23”, 8-pound tautog to the net. There were cheers and handshakes and although that first tog of the season would be tough to top, the bite was steady for the rest of the trip. We iced two more keepers, and kept busy with many smaller tog, sea bass of all sizes (all released) and a scup or two. I fished the next two days with Hans Riis and his son Jacob, my Derby teammate. We stayed close to home on Saturday, looking for bonito. We found lots of bait and even cast-netted some peanut bunker to use as live bait, but we did not find the bonito. At least none that would bite. Those are some finicky bonito that will refuse a live peanut! We were joined by Bret Benway on Sunday and we took advantage of the beautiful weather to make the long run out to Nantucket. We hooked three big bluefish on trolled deep-divers. On the way home we stumbled onto a school of small bluefish right outside OB harbor and boated several. They were too small to weigh in, but I kept one for dinner.”
Stephen Dangelo of Kismet Outfitters in Edgartown reported: “First light has been productive, with large schools of fish appearing in the inlets and harbors around the island. However, the action is certainly not limited to early mornings; we have been finding blitzing fish throughout the day. Albies and bonito are being very discerning regarding fly selection, though. Small tan flies like the Albie Escort have worked the best on a two-handed retrieve. Larger pods of albies are now being found in Vineyard Sound. However, they appear very quickly and seem to disappear even quicker. This makes getting ahead of schooling hardtails and setting up shots difficult, so you need to be prepared to make a quick cast into the center of the school as soon as they appear.
Vineyard Sound has provided good bass fishing this past week, and we’ve had a couple of fish pushing 40 inches while sight fishing with small Clousers and crab flies. Tossing larger menhaden patterns, such as Hollow Fleyes, into the rocks around the Elizabeths has been productive and a fun way to break up the monotony of run-and-gun hardtail fishing. Use a long, slow, single-handed retrieve in these situations.
Larger blues are starting to show again in Nantucket Sound, with the incoming tide being most productive. They are eating the same flies as albies and bones, but if you are targeting them specifically, bluefish love big yellow Deceivers, and few things in fly fishing are more exciting than watching a gator blue smash a Bob’s Banger.
We’re in the final stretch of the Derby, but based on this past week, I’m confident we have another solid month of fall fishing. If it hasn’t happened for you yet, especially from shore, don’t get discouraged because we’re seeing positive signs! Several fly-rod-caught shore albies were weighed this week and a client caught a double-digit albie from a beach in Edgartown on a recent walk-and-wade trip. October is the new September.”
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported: “Fishing was good this week, locally, as birds and bait pushed through after the wind and swells from offshore subsided. We found bass, blues, and hardtails under bait balls during different stages of the tide. Blues dominated close to the beach and bass were a little deeper. Definitely train your eyes on the bird behavior and the type of splashes that you see to figure out what fish are present. The weather looks like it takes a decided turn towards fall after Saturday, so get after it while you can.” Drew will be running trips through the weekend of October 25th, so give him a ring to get on the books before the season ends!
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro reported: “Team Reel Deal was able to pull in one more giant bluefin tuna before the commercial season closed out and offshore marine conditions started to become more inclement. The striped bass and blues are showing signs of heading out of our area with decreasing activity on that front. Tautog fishing has been consistent and with a favorable forecast for this Friday and Saturday, be sure to get in one more fishing charter before the season is out! We currently plan to be offering tautog trips for the next couple weekends. Check out trip the trip schedule and book a charter using this link.”
Captain Mike Rathgeber of Cee Jay Fishing Charters out of Provincetown reported: “Striped bass are beginning to thin out as the migration appears to be ramping up. We will continue to see fish from coming through in waves from up north, however, and bonito and mackerel fishing remains good. Columbus Day weekend is our final weekend of the season until next spring. Come on out and wet a line before the cold fall winds begin to blow.”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Judging by the marine forecast, Friday evening and Saturday morning look to be the best windows to get out albie hunting this weekend before the wind picks up. Vineyard Sound has definitely been the hot spot for hardtails, but there are still plenty of fish further east in Nantucket Sound.
With bass pushing 30 pounds off the Elizabeths and over-slot stripers running the south side as cooler weather sets in, there have been a few morning and mid-day blitzes reported from western Nantucket Sound to the islands. Bring a variety of artificial offerings like small to mid-size spooks and poppers, Dannys, Albie Snax and epoxy jigs, and if you have a fly rod, pack it. Captains like Ray Jarvis have found some larger fish among the rocks and following schools of rain bait, so it may take a bit of finesse to get those bass to eat. Shore anglers should focus on hitting the south side beaches with pencils and spooks at first light or minnow plugs, metal lips and glides after dark; however, with cool, overcast conditions in the forecast, mid-day surface feeds are in the realm of possibility.
If you plan on doing any tog fishing later this fall, the holiday weekend is a good time to shake the rust off and scout some shallow water structure. Tautog fishermen are having the best results in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound in 20 to 30 feet of water at most. Grab your box of tog jigs and load up on green crabs—and keep a setup or two ready to cast an epoxy jig, Albie Snax, or splasher-and-fly rig in the event that hardtails pop up while you’re dropping crabs.
Come Sunday, there’s sure to be some striper action on the wind-blown shores of Cape Cod Bay and the outer Cape as fish move out of their summering grounds off P-Town and points north near Boston.
If you have off on Columbus Day, find a way to enjoy the extra day of fishing even if sea conditions are too rough to sail. There are tog off the jetties from the south side into Buzzards Bay, and backwater stripers get fired up to feed in sloppy conditions. You can even take a trip to a freshly stocked trout pond if all else fails.