Cape Cod Fishing Report
The Cape is alive with the sounds of bluefish (blitzing).
Excuse my poor attempt at a “Sound of Music” rhyme. But, in my opinion, the arrival of blues is the best news this week. I, along with a handful of friends from the OTW office, ran into a pack of blitzing blues on the south side of Cape earlier this week. Aside from big bass pounding on bucktail jigs and surface plugs, nothing gets me as riled up as quality blues crushing pencils and Super Strike poppers. That said, there’s so much more fishing to be excited about heading into Memorial Day weekend. Fluke season is days away, flounder fishing is still lights out in CCB, and stripers are just beginning to move into the rips.
Buzzards Bay continues to see smaller waves of migratory fish pushing in, assisted by recent southwest winds, and the good news is some of them are schoolies (finally). From the west end of the Cape Cod Canal down to Woods Hole and over toward New Bedford, you stand a good chance of running into birds, bait, and just-over-slot bass that are on the move. There are also pockets of schoolie and slot-size fish holding in and around the harbors and smaller bays, and a few nice bluefish kicking around with them. The action is not exactly lights-out, though. This morning, Alex Blackwell, Liam O’Neill and I had picky wolf packs of low-30-inch bass chasing small bait (likely silversides) beneath piles of terns in Buzzards. But it didn’t last long, as a fierce wind whipped up by late morning. Finding groups of breaking fish was nice, but anglers who are putting in the time and effort to search with their electronics, scan for birds, and blind cast around promising structure are being rewarded with quality fish in otherwise quiet areas. Surface plugs, glide baits, and large topwaters like the Doc are always good to have on hand even if there is a smaller class of fish around. Likewise, it’s worth keeping smaller presentations like Jumpin’ Minnows/Skitter Walks, Albie Snax, and Z-Man Minnowz available for those occasions when slot-size fish and larger are on tiny bait.
In Cape Cod Bay, the striper bite has really picked up. There are much stronger numbers of fish out there since last week following a few major pushes of bass through the Cape Cod Canal. Anglers should scope out the east end of the ditch, where tinker macks have begun to show, before sliding east and north to search for fish along the beaches adjacent to creek mouths and harbors.
Speaking of Cape Cod Bay, the winter flounder bite out there continues to impress. Some quality flatfish in the 20-inch range are coming up on clams and sea worms, which seem to be outproducing mussels right now. If the bite is anything like last year, it could last well into June before the action starts to dwindle.
On the upper and mid Cape beaches, bluefish are in, but scattered. Big ones are showing up from Nantucket Sound to middle/upper Buzzards Bay. On the south side, they’re mostly 6- to 8-pound fish with pods of slot-size striped bass mixed in. Those bass and blues are eating silversides, squid, and butterfish around the inlets. The best part about the smorgasbord of bait in the Sound is that the blues are not very picky. Pencils, Polaris-style poppers (like those from Super Strike and Gibbs), spooks, minnow plugs, Z-Man plastics, and metals and epoxy jigs should be in the bags of shore and wading fishermen through Memorial Day Weekend into next week.
Scup are all over the place already. I hauled in a handful of platter-sized porgies over the weekend on Ben Sussman’s boat, but the sea bass were MIA. Only a couple of throwbacks bit for us, and there were plenty of pesky sea robins in the mix. We caught our share of hubcap scup in 20 to 30 feet of water using light slow-pitch jigs (40 grams) and hi-lo rigs with local squid that Ben acquired a day or two prior. Those XL scup, along with some fresh tubes donated by my coworker, Johnny McIntyre, made for a great fish fry on Saturday evening.
Water temps are still a little chilly, so if you’re looking for sea bass this weekend, consider poking around different types of structure and varying depths until you see some promising marks. The fish could be on deep rock piles and reefs in 50 feet or more, sitting on lumps as shallow as 15 to 20 feet, or even hanging low in the rips beneath stripers.
It’s been a slow start to the sea bass season so far, but there’s plenty of time for the action to improve. That said, it’s unlikely that this weekend’s weather will do much good for the bite.
Don’t forget, Fishing For The Mission 22’s 4th Annual Black Sea Bass Tournament is next weekend, May 29-31. The tournament benefits veterans in crisis and the entry fee for each adult angler is just $100. Junior anglers are $20 each. The Captain’s Check-In and Kickoff Party will take place on Thursday, May 28, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Rod & Rail in Buzzards Bay, the Parrot Bar & Grill in Cataumet, and at Dick’s Bait & Tackle on Martha’s Vineyard. Following the tourney, the Awards Ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 31, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Stone Path Malt in Wareham. There will be live music, raffles, food from Minkle Boys Catering, and a beer garden sponsored by Stone Path Malt, along with a variety of family-friendly activities. Register online today!
Here’s this week’s local rundown:
AJ Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said the Cape Cod Canal is still fishing well, only it’s not the intense blitz action of last week and the average size of fish is a bit smaller. They’re seeing more schoolies and slots with a decent mix of over slots as well. Guys in the west end are hitting fish on jigs pretty reliably in mid to late morning and that the fish have been eating herring and tinker mackerel that are only about 4 inches long. He hasn’t heard much about bluefish in Buzzards since early last week, but they are moving in on the south side. On the bottom fishing front, opening weekend of sea bass was slow for most people in Buzzards Bay, but water temperatures are still pretty chilly—around the mid to upper 50s. We need a little more warmth for the sea bass fishing to really improve.
From the Cape Cod Canal, East End Eddie Doherty reported: “Hot saltwater action continued on the Canal with seasoned surfcaster Joe “Green Gloves” Moneghan reeling in over 20 striped bass with several measuring out into the high 30-inch mark as well as 2 fish at 45 inches & another two hitting the 47-inch mark! The tools of Green Gloves’ success were Daiwa SP Minnows, Cotton Cordell Red Fins and jigs on the bottom. “Bull” MacKinnon had his heavy white Wally’s pencil working in a topwater bite that produced a baker’s dozen of slots and better! A couple of public safety heroes did well as Mike Bannon caught a 37-inch striper with his blue mack SP Minnow and his fellow Boston Firefighter Chris Corey’s Yo-Zuri white Hydro Minnow fooled 36- & 37-inch bass, all on the early dropping west tide. And speaking of heroes, US Air Force combat veteran Harold Skelton’s Fishing for the Mission Black Sea Bass Tournament is fast approaching, scheduled for May 29-31. Terrific prizes and always a good time for a great cause to help veterans in crisis. It was taken as a good omen last week when Harold landed a 42-inch linesider with a white Striper Gear Shaddy Daddy on his very first cast of the season!”
Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sport Fishing in Buzzards Bay said he had been working hard for some fish in Buzzards Bay this week, but after so many bass moved through the ditch last week, he switched his charters back to Boston—his home waters. Yesterday, on his first trip back, he and his charter “smashed ’em”. They found 32- to 40-inch fish pushing big bait around on top and nabbed 18 or 19 of them on a combo of artificials and live bait. The live bait, he said, was easy to get. There have been 2 or 3 big pushes of fish in Boston already, so he’ll be staying close to home for the foreseeable future. Give him a call for available dates and rates.
- Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain on Cape Cod & the Islands
Captain Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing out of Osterville said the bass have been in and out of the rips since late last week when he first found a few fish in the mid 30-inch range, covered in sea lice, using white XL Albie Snax. Since then, the bass are coming through in small waves. On Saturday, I jumped on Ben’s boat and we had no luck in the rips, and no keeper sea bass (as previously mentioned), but we cleaned up on XL scup in 25 to 30 feet of water and afterward, found striped bass and bluefish willing to hit poppers along wind-blown sod banks in the backwaters. Then, his Sunday charter managed to pull a 36-inch and 40-inch fish from the rips on the same white Albie Snax. Capt. Ben’s got some availability coming up and he expects the local striper bite to really light up as squid make a good push into the rips, which should happen once water temps rise just a few more degrees.
Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reported that the bass fishing has been okay lately, but nothing to write home about. There are a few folks fishing live eels in the back bays to the west of the shop that caught and released bass to 35 inches; however, there is a noticeable lack of schoolies. Amy fished the Cheeky Tournament last weekend and said the results were mixed; if you were catching you were getting larger bass, but there were a lot of teams that did not submit any fish. Luckily, there are now some gator bluefish in the Sound to fill in the gaps. As far as bottom fishing, big scup are holding it down while the sea bass fishing is just starting to improve after a slow opening week.
Tyler Huckemeyer of the Helen H Fleet in Hyannis reported a red hot winter flounder bite in Cape Cod Bay this week. Worms and clams have been the top performing baits. Meanwhile, down in Nantucket Sound, scup are flying over the rails. It’s almost drop-and-reel fishing, you just have to mark a good pile of them and it’s on. Sea bass fishing, he said, is good and getting better. There have been a lot of shorts mixed in lately, but in the past 48 hours or so they’ve seen better numbers of keepers coming up—just in time for the long weekend. If you’re looking to have a little MDW Fish Fry with friends and family, head over to the Helen H website to check their availability for bottom fishing trips in the Sound, or winter flounder in the Bay.
Captain Matthew Dempsey of Salt Reaper Fishing Charters out of Dennis said his charters contiuue to do well with winter flounder in Cape Cod Bay. A mix of clams and sea worms, he said, have been producing the best results. The skipper said he plans to keep at it until the end of the month as long as the blackbacks keep chewing. Give him a shout to book a trip before he shifts gears away from flounder fishing.
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters out of Chatham reported that he’s still waiting for things to pick up out east. “There are fish in the harbors to play with, but nothing really showing yet in the local June places. I found some bass in Vineyard Sound the other day after checking 3 spots, but I don’t get over that way too often. Was fun fishing though.”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters out of Truro reported: “Team Reel Deal has been catching well-over-slot stripers this week including some approaching the mid-40-inch range! Those trophy category May striped bass are here—right on schedule. While live bait has been key to keep the more finicky schools interested, small profile rubber baits or silver casting jigs have also been working, as these fish are mostly slurping on micro sand eels. The black sea bass fishing also opened strong last weekend with our trips easily catching their limits of good-sized fish. Friday and Saturday look to be the best days to head out on the water this holiday weekend, so be sure to contact us today to get your tight lines reserved! View our trip calendar here.”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Stripers continue to push through Buzzards Bay and into Cape Cod Bay. There’s some spotty activity in middle to upper Buzzards from low-30-inch bass, but those fish have been incredibly picky. Consider poking around in the rips of Vineyard and Nantucket sounds for some fresh-arriving fish that will likely be much more aggressive on squid than the bass on silversides.
There are bluefish off the Sound-facing beaches, and in upper Buzzards Bay around Marion and Wareham. Topwaters, tins, epoxy jigs, Z-Man plastics, and minnow plugs all put bluefish on the beach for the OTW staff this week. Hit beaches with pronounced points and rips, or bounce around the inlets on the south side.
The sea bass bite should continue improve at least a little bit over the weekend, but with more boats out there surveying the scene, there will be heavier fishing pressure. If the bite is slow in one area or you’re not marking fish, bop around until you find them and change your presentations. Size up, size down, and try both natural and artificial baits ranging from Gulp, Z-Man, and Fishbites to slow-pitch, diamond, and epoxy-style jigs. If nothing else, you can count on some fat scup to fill the fish box. Tautog are also worth some time and effort this weekend, since most folks will have their sights set on stripers and sea bass.
Don’t forget, our fluke season opens this Sunday, May 24th. This is the time of year when I typically find my first few flatties in the bays and salt ponds, and in the inlets. The bag limits and minimum keeper sizes for summer flounder are as follows:
- Shore: 16.5″, 5 fish limit
- Vessel: 17.5″, 5 fish limit
That’s the fishing scene on Cape Cod this week. Get out there, enjoy this long weekend on the water, and be safe.