Cape Cod Fishing Report
Memorial Day Weekend—the unofficial start to summer—has come and gone, and if it weren’t for an improving sea bass bite and stripers chasing squid in the rips, it’d still feel like early May out there. We enjoyed a couple days of warm weather after a chilly, rainy, windy long weekend and of course, this Saturday and Sunday don’t look much better. Expect a small craft advisory on Saturday. The wind is supposed to be honking from the north, with gusts approaching 50 mph. To me, that means it may be a good time to hit the surf in Cape Cod Bay or, with the wind at your back, cast tins and poppers for bluefish (and bass) on the shores of Nantucket Sound.
Striped bass are still the center of attention, but bottom fishing has seen a marked improvement lately. This time last week, anglers on the Helen H had began to see stronger numbers of keeper sea bass coming over the rails in Nantucket Sound, along with plenty of jumbo scup. Local charter captains and guides, like Matt Dempsey of Salt Reaper Charters and Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing, echoed the words of the Helen H’s report. Sea bass and scup are chewing in 20 to 40 feet of water in the Sound, but over in Buzzards Bay, the sea bass bite seems much better in deeper water—50 feet or more—according to AJ Coots of Red Top Sporting Goods. Meanwhile, over in Cape Cod Bay, the winter flounder bite continues to impress. Easy limits of quality blackbacks has been the norm for a few weeks now, and there’s no sign of it slowing down anytime soon. The other flounder, or fluke, are a bit late to show up to the bottom fishing party so far. It’s only the first week of the fluke season, but typically, I catch my first couple of the year before June. I’ve yet to tie into even a short fish despite putting in time in the south side bays over Memorial Day weekend. If this wind would lay down and the sun would stick around for more than 2 days, I’m sure the results would be different. Water temps are teetering between the high 50s and low 60s around Woods Hole, and the backwaters—our bays and salt ponds—are right around the low to mid 60s. Once those areas reach the upper 60s, fluke should begin to pile into the shallows, opening the door to another accessible, light-tackle spring/summer fishery.
At this time, the most reliable striper bite going is in the rips from Martha’s Vineyard to western Nantucket Sound. Not every rip is loaded, but I did have 20- to 30-inch bass busting on squid up top this morning in Vineyard Sound. It’s a game of bouncing around to find life. Pick apart each rip by hitting different edges with pink, white, or amber poppers and 5- to 7.5-inch Albie Snax. The squid I’ve seen are on the smaller side, so it might take a little convincing to get the bass to commit—especially with the number of boats out there.
From eastern Cape Cod Bay to the backside, striped bass anglers have experienced slightly tougher action this week, with large but finicky fish that are responding mostly to live bait and small metals, fished slowly. It’s a similar story in the Cape Cod Canal, where, after weeks of on-and-off action from quality fish, the bass are now being very selective about what they eat. There’s been an influx of small, translucent baitfish in the ditch, and the bass are pretty keyed in on them. Canal casters are seeing fish boiling and feeding on the surface but unwilling to touch many offerings, from topwaters and swimming plugs to glidebaits and casting-egg-and-fly rigs. The devoted jigging crowd, however, continues to pluck fish at a decent rate. Despite the copious amounts of rain bait, Alex Blackwell, Liam O’Neill and I marked a good deal of big bass in upper Buzzards Bay around first light this morning, and they appeared to be following deep schools of bunker toward the west end. We saw the bait on our screen and felt their tiny tails thumping against our lines, but the bass had lockjaw. With the full moon just a couple days away, the potential for some excellent bass fishing in the Canal this weekend and early next week is very real.
It’s a good thing the sea bass showed up in better numbers this week. If the weather permits, Fishing For The Mission 22’s 4th Annual Black Sea Bass Tournament will take place this weekend, May 29-31. The Captain’s Check-In and Kickoff Party are happening today, 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.
Here’s this week’s local rundown:
AJ Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said the bass bite in the Canal was good until piles of rain bait showed up and now, the bass are playing hard to get. AJ said the bait is so small he’s not even sure what it is—it could be juvenile sand eels, silversides, small sea herring, or anchovies. Either way, the fish are very picky as a result. Anglers are trying to coax fish to eat with offerings on both ends of the size spectrum; some are throwing big glidebaits and others are trying the casting egg and fly. However, the guys who have stuck to jigging, regardless of the predominant forage, are still picking some mid-30-pound fish in the West End. Flounder fishing, he said, continues to be crazy good in Cape Cod Bay, with clams and seaworms doing the bulk of the work. AJ added that George, a shop employee, was on a charter that had 56 keepers by 7:30 a.m. this week—that’s a 6-pack limit (8 fish per angler), plus a limit for the captain. Down on south side, the bluefish seem to have thinned out a bit but they are still kicking around. Sea bass fishing in Nantucket Sound has been very good after a delayed start to the season, and he noted that the action is a little slower in Buzzards Bay, where deep holes are producing better number of keepers.
From Martha’s Vineyard, Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters out of Vineyard Haven reported: “On Saturday, we celebrated a family birthday with a fishing trip. My niece, Lauren, her son, Kasper, and friends, Owen and Adam fished with me while her husband Henrikki, who turns 50 tomorrow, his brother-in-law, Jussi, and son, Felix, fished with my colleague, Cooper Ferson. We found some striped bass in the rip and caught two in the first half-hour, one on a soft plastic and one on a topwater plug. Things slowed down after that, so with about half our time left, we switched to plan B and tried tog fishing. Our first spot produced a few bites, but no hookups, but our second spot yielded three tog, one keeper-sized. Unfortunately, the weather turned windy and rainy on Sunday and I had to cancel that trip.”
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Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said he had a good bass bite in the rips on Tuesday morning in Vineyard Sound. He was set up by 4:30 but the bite didn’t take off until 5 a.m. right around first light, when birds showed up. He followed them up and down the rip line, caught and released 6 or 7 over-slot fish, and kept a very fat 30 incher for the table; amber Hogy poppers were the ticket, even though he didn’t spot any squid. It was nice to finally see bass in the rips in good numbers after a slow start, he said, but he did express concern over the lack of smaller, schoolie-size fish. Even with more wind and rain ahead, Evan’s confident the rips will continue to fish well into early June as long as the squid stick around. He’s got live eels available as well, so if you’re planning to duck out of the wind and do some shore fishing this weekend, swing by the shop.
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Captain Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing out of Osterville said he’s finding plenty of bass, most of which range from 28 to 38 inches, on the south side beaches and in the rips in Nantucket Sound. He also noted much better fishing on the sea bass front, with keepers coming from 20- to 40-foot depths. You can’t go wrong with fresh squid on a high/low rig this time of year.
Tony at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said there are a whole lot of striped bass out front on the local beaches, in the rips, and some in the backwaters. Their customers are catching on live eels off the beach at night and the boat crowd has been doing well drifting eels. Sea bass and scup are here in full force, he said—now is as good a time as ever to get out there and catch a sea bass limit. Freshwater bass fishing, he added, has been very good. The hardcore sweetwater anglers are picking up some solid bass after dark on black topwaters like wake baits and whopper ploppers, while small white poppers and frogs are catching some decent fish during the day. They have plenty of eels in stock, a good deal of bottom fishing tackle and rigs, and a solid freshwater selection for the largemouth bass enthusiasts.
Captain Matthew Dempsey of Salt Reaper Fishing Charters out of Dennis told me that his charters have seen good action on bass in Cape Cod Bay over the past week, but the fish are a little picky—it requires some work to get them to eat. Winter flounder, he said, are still chewing well in the bay, and during his charters on the south side of Cape, they have had good numbers of keeper sea bass and scup this week. Whether you’re looking to do a little bottom fishing or chase big bass, give Capt. Matt a shout to inquire about open dates.
From the Nantucket surf, Rick Ramos reported: “The striped bass bite is slowly beginning to heat up as the annual Spring Sea Run Opener is underway. Homer Ray entered the tournament’s first bass on May 15th, while Matt Roberts currently leads the field with an impressive 39.75-inch striped bass. Exciting news also came from the Junior Division this week where Sawyer Holland entered the first bluefish of the tournament. With June approaching, warming water temperatures, and full moon flood tides ahead, optimism is building that bait will become more abundant, bringing more bass and blues to Nantucket’s shores in the weeks ahead.”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters out of Truro reported: “Outer Cape Cod is offering some epic days for striped bass fishing with well-over-slot fish and a few slots mixed in as well. Live bait has been key in capitalizing on the activity, although small profile jigs are producing too, but be sure to work them slow—we have witnessed the fish behaving lethargic. Also be ready to travel—as we all know you can’t catch yesterday’s fish, and these big schools are on the move around the coastlines, so some days are requiring that extra investment at the gas pump to find the awesome feeds. Fortunately with twin Mercury Marine V10 400s, our 33’ Invincible, Done Deal, moves as quickly as needed! Late May and early June are the best weeks for early season Cape Cod fishing before the crowds arrive, so be sure to get in a trip before this window passes.”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Welp, time to once again play the cards that Mother Nature has dealt us.
With howling northerly wind and rain in the forecast for Saturday and a decent blow on Sunday, shore fishing will be the wiser move for most. Consider checking the Nantucket Sound beaches for bluefish, which may be willing to pick up tins or smash poppers in the roiled “surf”. The salt ponds and bays/marshes from the south side to Buzzards Bay could also yield a few fish on top, or on soft plastics and bucktail jigs fished lower in the column through choke points and inlets. And if you can find eels large enough to heave in the wind, they’re always a good choice.
The bass bite for shore fishermen on Cape Cod Bay could go one of two ways this weekend. It could be absolutely epic, with fish pushed up and feeding tight to shore in the north wind, or it could be wind knot city and a complete wash. But—excuse the cliche—you won’t know unless you go.
With the full moon occurring early Sunday morning, it’d be wise to poke around the Canal for a bit on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday as well. Just make sure to sport your finest foul-weather gear on Saturday.
Bottom fishing will take a back seat for a day or two until seas settle, but the sea bass and scup bites should rebound by early next week when we finally get a lull in the wind. However, this storm might bring an end to the lights-out flounder fishing in Cape Cod Bay. We shall see.
Last but not least, you can always try ducking into a protected pond to do a bit of bass fishing if all else fails.