Cape Cod Fishing Report
Stripers are here in force and there are more on the way.
Since the full moon last Friday, the flood gates opened and we have liced-up fish to roughly 40-inches being caught as far east as the lower Cape and as far north as Cape Cod Bay. Last weekend, fresh fish from the low-20 to mid-30-inch range hit the Cape Cod Canal and gorged on river herring. Since then, larger bass have been entering Buzzards Bay in droves, assisted by recent southwest wind. A wave of fish in excess of 40 inches marched through Buzzards Bay and into Cape Cod Bay this week, so it won’t be long until the bite picks up along the beaches of CCB and on the South Shore of Boston. Meanwhile, the bays and salt ponds from the upper Cape to mid Cape received a good push of fish as well, and they’re fattening up on a mix of bunker and river herring.
There have been loads of bunker moving into the backwaters from the South Coast to the south side of Cape for the past week now, and although the schools are big, they are concentrated. If you can locate the bait, you stand a good chance of finding bass with them. I’m catching most of my fish on Mag Darters and metal lips—like Vinnie’s Customs and Sporting Wood Dannys—in the backwaters, and with the exception of one night this week, the bass have been fired up and aggressively hitting plugs. The other night, one fish slapped my glide bait clean out of the water right as it plopped down in a school of herring.
It’s amazing how many migratory fish have arrived in a just a week’s time, and I’d imagine the action is going to get a little crazy as more fish filter in. Here’s why:
Squid season has started off on a high note, with boats in Nantucket Sound currently catching bucketloads of them. Last year was a good squid year; they were thick in the rips off Monomoy Island for most of the summer, so we can only hope for a repeat of that bite. Even in the rips of Vineyard and Nantucket sounds, there were almost always a few squid kicking around despite spotty day-to-day striper action in late May and early June. Judging by the few reports I’ve received this spring, squidding has been excellent off Hyannis, and it won’t be long before the stripers catch on. If we get more consistent southwest wind over the next week, the beaches of Nantucket Sound should be good places to fish with poppers and pencils. As squid get pushed closer to shore by SW wind, they’re effectively put on a collision course with fresh-arriving bass that are running the Nantucket Sound beaches. In mid-May of 2024, those exact conditions led to one of the best (and longest) topwater striper bites I’ve experienced in 5 years on Cape.
In addition to squid, bunker, and river herring, it’s cinder worm season. Don’t overlook the cinder worm spawn; each year, some surprisingly large bass will come into shallow, skinny, muddy backwaters to stuff themselves with these tiny little worms. Their spawning events are highly dependent on water temperature and can occur at different times across the Cape. Generally, once your neighborhood back bays, canals, and salt ponds reach about 60 degrees, cinder worms can be seen dimpling the surface in the late afternoon and evening, just before sunset. If there are bass on them, it will be easy to tell. Small, pink original RonZs, Jumpin Minnows, and worm pattern flies are some of the more productive lures. It’s all about imitating the lazy side-to-side darting action of the worms. Do that, and you’ll be set up for cinder worm success.
Most of us have striped bass on the top of the mind this time of year, but don’t sleep on the scup and winter flounder bites that are already getting hot. Scup season started last Friday and we’re already getting word from charters like the Helen H Fleet that they’re chewing hard in Nantucket Sound—which makes sense, because there are loads of squid out there.
On top of scup and flounder, we’re just over a week out from opening day of sea bass season on Saturday, May 16. This year, we have new sea bass regulations: a daily bag limit of 4 fish per angler at a minimum length of 16 inches. The bag limit changes to 2 fish at 16 inches after August 31, but the season has been extended until October 14, which is a big win for fall tog fishermen who want a little extra variety in their cooler.
On the subject of black sea bass, Fishing For The Mission 22’s 4th Annual Black Sea Bass Tournament runs from May 29-31 for anyone interested fishing for a good cause. 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 so you don’t miss out!
Here’s this week’s rundown from our local tackle shops and charters:
AJ Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me the Cape Cod Canal has been fishing real good this week. The fish in the ditch range from slot-size to low 40-inch class and are mostly on river herring, so canal casters are catching on swimming plugs like SP Minnows, Red Fins, and Magic Swimmers. But in Buzzards Bay, they’ve been pounding on schools of bunker before pushing into the Canal. If you splurged for a few glidebaits this off season—which, I think most fishermen in the Northeast did—now would be a good time to bust ’em out. It’s finally all happening; AJ said there are still plenty of fish in the local rivers, and the bait has filled in nicely from the backwaters to the open bay… everything is good except togging, he noted. Between still-chilly water temps and ruthless wind, the conditions never really lined up for a good spring tautog bite. However, with 40-inch stripers here in early May, not many folks are bothering with tog anymore as it is. Swing by the shop for a couple last-minute purchases before heading across the street to the ditch this week.
Captain Tim Arruda of Keepin’ It Reel Fishing Charters out of Wareham also reported a very slow tautog bite in Buzzards Bay, but the opposite can be said about the squid bite off Hyannis. Tim said they are filling 5-gallon buckets with ease this week!
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Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said there are a lot more stripers around this week and one of his customers today had a great morning in lower Buzzards Bay off West Falmouth. The fish were on herring and ranged anywhere from slot-size to the high 30-inch-class; they keyed in on white/bone SP Minnows. The south side has been a little bit slower, but there are definitely some fish kicking around in the salt ponds. Togging, he said, has been very good down along the Elizabeths and in certain areas of upper Buzzards Bay. It was refreshing to hear of a good tog bite, because just about everyone else I’ve spoken to this year has had a lackluster spring tog season. The trout bite has improved after a little lull, too, Evan said, citing a huge rainbow that another one of today’s customers caught down at Grews Pond. Everything is on the up and up. Swing by the shop this weekend to re-up on striper and tog gear before your fishing trip.
Captain Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing out of Osterville said he’s been bouncing between Buzzards Bay and the south side and finding some really quality fish. The bait has filled in nicely, he said, with bunker kicking around in just about every harbor and back bay he’s hit, and plenty of river herring still around too. Ben fished the Sound this morning and caught and released a handful of well-fed fish in the slot, along with a few that were over slot. He also had quite a few followers while fishing the Doc and Albie Snax, and was able to convert a handful of those followers into eaters. There were not a ton of fish, according to Ben, but the bass he did encounter were all around 30-inches and over. With all this bait available, he’s expecting another wave of even bigger bass to move up the coast from Rhode Island very soon. Give him a shout to get a trip on the books this week!
Tony at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis told me the striper bite has been going crazy over the past week as fish hit the south side and spread out across the Cape. The Canal has been fishing very well, he said, but there are people picking away at fish locally in the backwaters, too. There had been a lot of people going for squid, but it’s died down a little because of all the wind lately, which has dirtied up the water a bit. On the freshwater side of things, Shubael Pond has been good for rainbow and brook trout, and the largemouth bass guys are catching good numbers of fish in Wequaquet Lake before they set up on spawning beds.
Tyler Huckemeyer of the Helen H Fleet out of Hyannis reported that both the winter flounder and porgy bites are red hot already. The porgy (scup) trips sail in Nantucket Sound out of Hyannis, and Tyler said they are chomping away already—just a week after opening day. Their flounder trip today, which always leaves out of Barnstable Harbor and takes up to 12 people (open boat), got their full limit of keepers. Head to the Helen H website to book a scup or flounder trip early in the season while the getting is good!
Frank at Goose Hummock Shop in Orleans reported that striper fishing is already good up in Cape Cod Bay with mostly schoolie bass cruising the beaches as far east as Brewster. There are fresh migratory stripers in the backwaters across the lower and mid Cape too, feeding on river herring mostly. Freshwater fishing remains status quo with the bass and trout action still going strong.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
It’s finally feeling like spring, both in terms of weather and our inshore fisheries heating up. Whatever you have planned for this weekend, make sure you also sneak in some fishing. Jump on the Helen H for a few hours to load up on scup, or try and join one of their flounder trips in Cape Cod Bay. Wake up before sunrise and spend some time casting spooks or poppers around your local salt marsh for fresh-arriving stripers. Bring a quart of green crabs and tog jigs down to the nearest jetty to see if you can pick up a fish for the table. Or, if you have the means, head out into Nantucket Sound to secure some fresh tubes for the calamari cravers in your life.
Early May is one of the best times of year on Cape Cod. The fish are here, the weather is improving, and our towns are not yet overrun by tourists and packs of Air B&B renters. Grab a rod and get down to the water’s edge.