Cape Cod Fishing Report
Between the Cape’s first (albeit brief) snowfall, and the Northern Lights making an appearance on Tuesday night, it’s been an eventful week. Unfortunately though, with winter-like weather and shorter days come fewer fishing opportunities, particularly in salt water. But the fall run is not over yet.
There are still stripers pushing south and west through Buzzards Bay and Nantucket and Vineyard sounds, where they can occasionally be seen blitzing on small schools of bait in open water. While tautog fishing with Capt. Harvey Russell of My Brother Charters over the weekend, we saw a few birds chase down a surface feed in Nantucket Sound as we headed for the dock. It’s tough to say for certain what they were, but I’m pretty confident it was bass. The way stripers eat up top looks much different than the slashing and crashing of a few frenzied albies. Plus, little tunny have been MIA for a couple of weeks now, and it seems like most of the remaining bonito were stationed in the Canal for the past 3 weeks at least. I’ve also spotted birds diving over bait and breaking fish along the south side beaches early in the morning on falling tides, so there are still scattered schools of bass in town. Meanwhile, out east, schoolie and slot-size bass are still on the move.
Despite some near-frigid weather this week, my friend Brian Larsen has been toughing it out and catching stripers in the back bays at night. I asked him if he thought they were resident fish, but based on the numbers of bass he’s seeing (and hearing) in his backyard, he’s fairly confident that they’re late migrators fattening up for the long swim south.
Timing is everything at this point in the season, whether you’re casting for stripers or dropping crabs for tautog. Our recent tog fishing trip saw slow action because the current was ripping and the wind did us no favors. Harvey Russell typically likes to fish through slack, which allows us to fish lighter rigs and jigs around deep structure, and in seasons past we’ve done very well sticking to that game plan. The conditions didn’t line up for us over the weekend, but Capt. Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on the Vineyard echoed a similar sentiment in his report (below). He and his friend Scott had the best action during their trip while fishing through the slack, so if you’re planning to go togging this weekend, consider hitting your favorite piece of structure when the tide is running slowly near slack high or low.
If you’ve pulled the boat or hung up the saltwater gear for the season, that’s ok. There are excellent freshwater fishing opportunities in the kettle ponds and smaller bog ponds. Largemouth bass are moving deeper which makes this a great time to cast jigs and crawfish imitations, like ned rigs or hair jigs, along steep shorelines and transition areas. Suspending jerkbaits should also live in your bass tackle trays right now, along with 3- to 6-inch soft plastic paddletail swimbaits. We had a lot of rain earlier this week, but not enough to fill in some of the dried up herring runs, which has kept those young-of-the-year river herring from dropping out. Kayak anglers and those who own bass trackers or small vessels with a trolling motor can find good bass fishing by using electronics—or sight, if conditions are calm enough—to locate schools of juvenile herring. Search around ledges and drop offs, shallow coves in proximity to deep water, over patches of dying grass, and along shorelines near herring runs. And if you mark deep schools of bait, don’t overlook jigging spoons. Bass will key in on small, shiny presentations where river herring are abundant, and jigging with spoons (or soft plastics) can even yield some quality trout or perch.
Bass fishing can be hit or miss, but trout fishing is a reliable freshwater option. All the ponds have been stocked with rainbows and there are “holdover” browns from the spring stocking that are cruising the shallows at night to pick off herring, small yellow perch, and sunfish that have yet to retreat to the deep. Fishing live shiners beneath battery-powered bobbers is a fun way to spend a few hours after work; but if fishing live bait is not your thing, crawling a jointed Rapala in calm corners of stocked trout waters is a good way to coax a nice brown trout to the surface after dark. The rainbows, on the other hand, seem more inclined to feed first thing in the morning or right around dusk.
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Shorter days, longer nights, high winds and cold temps are making it tough to find time to wet a line. But don’t let the early winter conditions deter you from getting outside a couple times a week. Here’s what our local shops and charter captains reported as we head into the weekend:
AJ Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said there are not a whole lot of stripers around. Bull MacKinnon from the shop has been down at the ditch religiously and he’s caught only a few schoolies this week. There are still a few guys catching tog in the Canal, and the boat crowd is picking up keepers in Buzzards Bay, but even that has slowed down as folks pull their boats for the winter. The shop is done carrying green crabs though, so most people catching tog in the ditch have been flipping rocks for Asian shore crabs. The best bite going right now, he said, is the smorgasbord of big mackerel, harbor pollock, and squid being caught in the east end of the Canal. Metals and sabiki rigs are catching the macks and pollock, and the action has been steady.
Captain Ray Jarvis of Salt of the Earth Sportfishing out of Westport reported: “Bass fishing continues; some slow days and some epic days as fish continue to push south. We had fish to 30 pounds a few days ago, and there are still bonito lurking around. Bass fishing has generally been best in upper bays and estuaries, but also out front as fish push through. We’re getting to the end, but still plenty of action if you are willing to cover ground. Tog fishing is obviously good, basically any favorite rock pile is holding. Also, there’s good cod fishing on and around the wind farm. Those pillars are really turning into fish magnets.”
Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters out of Vineyard Haven reported: “Once again this week, I took advantage of the one nice (well, fishable) weather day to get out with my friend, Scott Maccaferri, on his boat, which has a cabin and a trolling motor. I have to say, I’m getting a little spoiled, both by the shelter from the weather and not having to deal with the anchor. We had planned to go on Sunday, but that didn’t work out, so we went on Monday, and I think we were lucky we waited. Except for the rain (and it did rain pretty hard for a time), the conditions were downright pleasant. And the fishing was outstanding! Really good. We fished a couple of hours on either side of the slack, so we were able to use lighter sinkers than last trip. And as the current slowed and went slack, we switched from rigs to jigs and used even lighter tackle. We had steady action the whole trip, unlike last time, when we had a slow start, and it got even better as the current slowed. We caught our biggest fish on jigs on light rods. Scott used a spinning outfit and I used a baitcaster on a light jigging rod. What a blast! We caught our limit of tautog up to 22 inches (remember, only one fish over 21 inches per person) and released several other keeper sized fish. Some were just-barely-keepers, but at least one 17-inch fish was released because it was a female. Gotta protect the breeding stock. Great day. Thank you, Scott!”
Christian at Sports Port in Hyannis said bass and trout fishing been excellent lately. Many of the herring runs are dry, so the juvenile herring are trapped in the ponds and largemouth bass have taken notice. Christian has spent most of his time lately looking for a big brown trout on the fly as they prowl the shallows for easy pickings. Assuming we don’t get a lot of rain in the next week, the freshwater bass and trout bite should remain strong, especially in the lakes and ponds that receive runs of river herring. Grab your spoons, swimbaits and jerkbaits at the shop and see what’s happening in your neighborhood pond.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
If there’s a day to get out fishing this weekend, it’s Saturday. It may not be glass calm out there, but northwest winds gusting to 20 mph should make the south side of Cape and Vineyard Sound fishable for tog. It’s possible that there are still fish holding on shallow structure, but the best bet for some consistent action is in 30 feet of water and deeper. Try to time your outing(s) around slack tide if possible, and bring rigs and jigs. The toughest part about tog fishing this weekend may be getting your hands on enough bait.
We’re nearing the end of the fall striper run, but there are still fish out there. Like Capt. Ray Jarvis said, try fishing way back in the estuaries and bays in search of resident fish, but don’t count out the shorelines of Buzzards Bay and Nantucket or Vineyard sounds. There’s always the possibility that you run into a school of late migrators, and while they may not be big, you’ll likely have them all to yourself.
Tog and stripers aside, there are pollock, mackerel, and squid to be caught in the Canal.
Freshwater bass and trout aren’t going anywhere, but the largemouth and smallmouth will get tougher to catch as we head into mid November. Get out there now, while the herring are struggling to drop out and the bass are fattening up before the long winter ahead. And if I may offer one piece of advice to my fellow bass anglers: bring a pair of fish grippers… it’s big pickerel season.