Cape Cod Fishing Report
Another week, another stretch of relentless wind. Since early October our fishing reports have sounded like a broken record. Since Halloween, weather windows have been increasingly tough to come by, and marinas are looking more like ghost towns with each passing day. But, despite the wind and foul weather, there are still a few reasons to resist stowing your saltwater gear for the winter.
Number one, tautog fishing has been excellent all fall. Sure, the prospect of catching a keeper from your kayak or local jetty is gone with the wind. However, there are a number of charter captains and headboats that will be running trips through November, including: Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters in Vineyard Haven, Captain Harvey Russell of My Brother Charters in Falmouth, Captain Ray Jarvis of Salt of the Earth Sportfishing in Westport, Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Fishing Charters (who trailers his boat), and the Helen H Fleet in Hyannis, among others. While all the above require safe sailing conditions, getting a last-minute date on the books to take home some fillets is better than hanging it up before Thanksgiving.
In my experience the best local tautog fishing of the season happens in mid-November, in part due to a sharp drop in angler participation and because the fish are hanging deep. With less fishing pressure and colder water comes tog that are more willing to chew. Gone are the days of ducking out of the wind to hit shallow rock piles, most of which get picked clean early in the season anyway. But if you find a willing charter captain, pop some dramamine, and dress for the weather, you may be treated to steady action on keeper tog. While fishing with Harvey Russell in seasons past, we’ve yanked tautog up to 8 pounds from 80 feet of water and had the bite all to ourselves. Even better, the small, pesky tautog tend to go MIA, so you can secure your limit and head back to the dock in short order. Right now, the only thing standing between you and a limit of tasty blackfish is: yep, wind. Should it lay down for even a few hours over the next week, a quick meat trip to a deep wreck or rock pile would be worthwhile.
Striped bass fishing is another option. The best part is, you don’t need a boat to catch them as you do tautog. The fat lady has yet to sing her final chorus of the striper season, and even though the biting wind can be unpleasant, regular Canal casters are picking up slot-size fish on topwater around sun-up. Is it lights-out November fishing? No. But if you want to catch a slot for the table or check off the eleventh box on your quest for 12 months of stripers, the ditch is probably the place to do it. That said, there’s a good chance we see some late migratory fish moving across the south side beaches. Last weekend, shore fishermen picked away at fish from the beaches of western Nantucket Sound down to Woods Hole. In the areas that had fish, the action was concentrated and the bites, for the most part, were short lived, but that’s late fall striper fishing for you. Personally, I’ve shifted focus to the marshes and estuaries. Winter resident bass are beginning to settle in the backwaters and I’m hoping to pick off a few more before the fish either shut down or my fingertips can’t feel the reel handle. On my most recent outing earlier this week, I had two decent fish follow and boil on a Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow in a muddy salt pond before a low 20-inch-class fish committed to it and proceeded to pop free at my ankles. I’d be lying to myself if I counted it as a November bass, considering I never got hands on it. But they’re here, and they’re trying to get plump before winter conditions set in—which looks to be soon. The 10-day extended forecast shows lows dropping to 33 degrees next week.
If you need some motivation to hunt for stripers in your local backwaters, just think about all the juvenile river herring that should be dropping out into the rivers and bays. They’re certainly trying to already, but low water levels have some herring runs dried up, which is keeping young-of-the-year alewives pinned tight to the shores of our kettle ponds where I’ve seen stocked trout, smallmouth bass, and some jumbo yellow perch feeding on them at dawn and dusk lately. There’s more rain expected over the next week, but we’ll have to wait and see if it’s enough to fill up some of those runs and allow the juveniles to head for salt. If they make it, fishing small soft plastics, bucktails, and metals deep in the estuaries will be the best way to catch a couple coldwater stripers waiting to pick off these inch-long baitfish. If the runs remain low and dry, fill a tackle tray with various spoons, hair jigs and small tubes and concentrate your efforts around those freshwater herring runs. The fish instinctively know where they need to be in order to drop out and complete their life cycle, and their predators—trout, black bass, chain pickerel and perch—will follow.
We’re not yet in full-blown freshwater season—and who knows how long that will last if the ponds only lock up with skim ice this fall—but now is a great time to hit the ponds to catch some stocked trout or largemouth bass. I managed a few small Larrys and a pickerel around sundown earlier this week, and a pair of rainbows and an XL perch at dusk, on spoons and soft plastics. My buddy Jack, on the other hand, has been doing very well casting spoons for brown trout as they come in shallow to feed on small killifish, shiners, and perch.
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Here’s what’s happening as we head into the weekend:
Chris at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said the Canal has some stripers being picked here and there, but it’s definitely starting to slow down. The wind and, for the past few nights, a bright moon overhead, have put a damper on the bite lately. Before the full moon, there were bass being caught on top in the morning, and many shop/Canal regulars were hopeful the exaggerated moon tides would bring another wave of fish. There is still potential for a late push of fish through the ditch, but right now it’s pretty slow. However, the shop is still selling out of green crabs as anglers head to the Canal in search of tautog, and according to Chris, they’re doing pretty well. When the tide slows, there are keepers coming up from select spots. Stop by the shop for bait, ask for a couple tips, and they’ll point you in the right direction. Aside from those who are chasing tog and the remaining stripers, most people that are still fishing are going for trout, and the ponds from upper Cape to just off Cape are seeing goof results. Swing by to check out their selection of freshwater lures if you plan to hit the sweetwater this weekend.
Captain Cam Faria of Cambo Fishing Charters reported that tautog fishing has been “stupid good”. He’s been sailing out of New Bedford lately and his charters are catching easy limits. Cam’s rule of thumb is to throw back the female tog whenever they have a chance, so they’ve been keeping pretty much only males, most of which fall between 6 and 8 pounds on the scale. They have yet to see a fish over 9 pounds, but there’s still plenty of time left to change that. He continues to fish very shallow structure, less than 20 feet for the most part, but he will be moving to Westport in a week or two for the remainder of the tog season and plans to fish deeper following the move. Cam is running tog charters through end of November, so give him a shout to get on the books and take home some meat this month.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said it’s been slow around the shop due to the brutal wind and weather, but he’s had folks coming in to buy baits for trout and bass. One of his customers this week caught a handful of brown trout in a local pond while casting spoons, including an estimated 5 or 6 pounder, which is a really nice fish that was leftover from the spring stocking. The browns are cruising the shallows right now so it’s a good time to hit your nearby trout ponds when you can’t get out for tog or stripers. Evan is still carrying crabs for the weekend tautog fishermen, and he’s got shiners for the freshwater crowd. Stop in and pick up some bait for your weekend fishing.
Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters out of Vineyard Haven reported: “It was a rare treat for me when my friend, Scott Maccaferri invited me to fish aboard his boat. Sunday was one of those unusual days when the wind decreased throughout the day. It was nice and sunny and the conditions just kept getting nicer. And so it was with the tautog bite. It started a bit slow, but built through the day. When we started it was peak current and we needed 12-ounce sinkers to hold bottom. But we picked away and put together a nice catch of keeper tog. But as the current eased and went slack, we were able to use lighter sinkers and then finally switched to jigs. Our biggest fish were caught during the slack on jigs. We ended the day with a full limit of tog up to 22 inches and 8 pounds, and released several other keeper-sized fish.”
Christian at Sports Port in Hyannis said there are a few people that have been getting out in the wind to do some shallow water tog fishing, but his focus lately has been on fly fishing in the ponds. The common theme in this report has been that brown trout are on the move, and Christian echoed those words. He’s been picking up perch and trout on the fly lately, and mentioned that in addition to tautog tackle, the shop is selling quite a bit of shellfish gear. Nothing says “the saltwater season is slowing down” like a spike in shellfish interest, but it’s a great way to get outdoors in the cold and put some food on the table for your friends and family. Sports Port has a solid selection of freshwater lures and tackle, so consider stopping by this weekend on your way to or from the ponds or the dock.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
If you’re looking for a break in the weather to do some tog fishing, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning are your windows to jump on the boat. The Canal, while sticky and tough to fish at times, is a safe bet for some shore tog. Keepers to around 19 inches are coming up, it just takes finding a spot where your rig can hold steady or swing into a pocket with fewer snags. If you get down there at first light with a striper rod, you just might be able to pick off a few bass on top and finish the morning with a tog for the table.
If you’ve packed up the saltwater gear for the season, rig up a few freshwater rods with spoons, jigs, jerkbaits, and small soft plastics to cast around the ponds for bass, trout and pickerel.
Stay warm, and good luck this week.