Cape Cod Fishing Report
Wind and rain have made for pretty poor sailing and fishing conditions this week, and the back bays, salt ponds, and rivers are rather dirty from all the runoff. But as we head into August, there’s one thing on every inshore angler’s mind: hardtails.
So far, bonito have not shown up in the numbers we would have hoped for or expected after they carried us through the summer for the past two years, although recent sightings and a few catches are promising. With plenty of sand eels off the south side and more recently, some scattered schools of peanut bunker, it’s about time the bones start to fill in. Cocktail bluefish continue pop up sporadically when sand eels are present, but they too are unpredictable and tough to pin down. There is a complete lack of gators this year, so anglers looking for blues for the smoker are ripping around Nantucket Sound hoping to run into them. At times, brief bluefish blitzes are popping up off the Vineyard and in upper Buzzards Bay, too. Since the blues are small and primarily feeding on sand eels, anglers should be on the lookout for diving terns and have epoxy jigs and tins rigged and ready to cast. This time of year, you never know when a bluefish blitz could give up a handful of bonito. The most reliable reports of bones thus far have been from the Elizabeths, mid-Cape in Nantucket Sound, and Monomoy. According to Eddy Kooyomjian of Monomoy Tackle, they were feeding on 4-inch herring there last weekend.
Surf fishing for brown sharks has been good on the shores of Nantucket Sound, as well as in Buzzards Bay. Eels are still the top-producing baits, but if you can pull a few cocktail bluefish on metals and epoxies, hang onto them. The daily bluefish limit per angler is 5 fish of any size, and they make fantastic shark baits if eels are not doing the trick. That said, since my friend and co-worker Nate Rouette caught a juvenile tiger shark with an eel on the south side of Cape last week, I am more inclined to stick with the tried-and-true surf snakes.
Surf fishing for stripers is a different story—it’s a tale of slower action. The bass are occasionally pushing schools of squid or bunker tight to the beach in Cape Cod Bay when wind and tide conditions line up, but patterning a bite remains challenging. Surfcasters and shore/wading fishermen should let the conditions guide them, and consider scouting potential night fishing locations during the day to search for bait. Like Vineyard and Nantucket sounds, there are loads of small sand eels in Cape Cod Bay, and if you find them, there are sure to be some stripers in the vicinity. While the bass will gladly slurp sand eels under the cover of darkness, the real benefit of locating sand eels is that shortfin squid often move in to feed on them. When it happens, the stripers follow. Expect slot- and over-slot fish to the upper-30-inch range, with the potential for a few bass pushing or exceeding 40 inches. Tailor your plug bag to the conditions. On calm, windless nights in the bay, Red Fins and weightless soft plastics are must-haves. With onshore winds in the bay, you’ll want to keep a few needlefish and minnow plugs handy.
On the south side of the mid and upper Cape, there are schoolie and slot-size stripers kicking around in the back bays and salt ponds, where they’ve shown a willingness to hit small topwaters and small soft plastics just before dusk. For the boat crowd though, bass fishing from Nantucket Sound to the Elizabeths is tough. Monomoy has not been producing consistently, and pitching eels along the islands is not exactly a lights-out bite either. There have been some reports of stripers pushing sand eels on the surface closer to the islands, but it’s not a super reliable bite.
Bottom fishing, at least for sea bass, has taken a turn for the better this week, with Nantucket Sound shoals and reefs giving up limits of keepers. Large scup are being caught from jetties and beaches, along with a lot of short fluke and the occasional 18- to 20-inch keeper.
With foul weather conditions dictating how, where, and when people have been able to fish this week, it’s worth noting that largemouth bass fishing is a great way to get your nighttime fishing fix—especially if topwater tickles your fancy. Crawling wakebaits around shallow shoreline structures like docks, over weed lines, coves, and points, is a recipe for some quality bass. I am a firm believer that, aside from the herring-fueled pre-spawn bite in the spring, the middle of summer is the best time of year to throw big, slow-moving presentations after dark.
Here’s this week’s rundown from a few of our local shops and charters:
AJ Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me he had an incredible trip to the canyons with Capt. Willy Hatch of Machaca Charters over the weekend. After an 8-hour steam offshore, their crew set out a 6-rod spread and less than 10 minutes later, five rods went off and they landed all five yellowfin. Working quickly and dodging tuna on the deck, they reset the spread and again, four rods went off almost immediately. AJ said they landed those four yellowfin, too, all of which were good size. They opted against trolling from then on and hit five more yellowfin on jigs. On the way home, he said, they trolled for marlin and struck out, but stopped at a tilefish spot near Hydrographer Canyon and picked up a bunch of golden tiles and some big pollock, which were a nice addition. After that, AJ said they trolled for wahoo in the shipping lanes, received a knockdown, and landed a roughly 50-pound wahoo followed by a 60-inch bluefin that smoked the wahoo lure while trolling at 15 knots. When all was said and done, AJ and the rest of the crew each returned home with about 70 pounds of meat. Safe to say that if you can make it to the canyons anytime soon, it’s worth the long haul. Locally, he added, there are some schoolies feeding on small bait mid-Canal and plenty of mackerel in the east end. With the full moon yesterday and good tides in the ditch, AJ said they were expecting a better class of fish to show up for a few cycles—it just hasn’t panned out that way. The weather hasn’t been super cooperative for the boat crowd, either, but he did mention there is a good deal of bunker off the south shore with stripers and giant bluefin on them.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said his buddy went to the Hooter on Monday and trolled for bonito, but wound up hooking a 4- to 5-foot thresher shark. He fought it for almost two hours before it broke him off. That area tends to be a reliable producer of bonito heading into late summer, but Evan hasn’t heard many promising reports about hardtails down that way. The best bonito report he’s received so far came late last week, when another friend caught some bones in Vineyard Sound that were blitzing on small schools of peanut bunker. Evan also received word of small surface feeds in upper Buzzards Bay throughout the week, which could have been bonito but were more than likely small bluefish. Back in Nantucket Sound, captains and customers are suddenly catching limits of keeper sea bass at a faster pace than they have most of the season. It’s nice to have some good bottom fishing closer to home rather than making the run down to Nomans. That said, he did mention some big blues being trolled up down by Nomans. Meanwhile, off Woods Hole and the Elizabeths, he’s had friends picking up slot and under-slot stripers that can occasionally be found blitzing on small sand eels. As far as rec-size tuna south of the Vineyard, the only action has been far southwest, but the weather has not been ideal for making the run.
From Martha’s Vineyard, Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters out of Vineyard Haven reported: “My trips this week have all focused on fluke and sea bass, though we have been keeping an eye out for birds working and fish breaking. While we occasionally find birds working over schools of baitfish, bluefish and bonito have been hard to find. Catches have consisted of lots of small sea bass and some short fluke, with a good number of keeper sea bass and a few keeper fluke. Earlier in the season, I had fished a lot of trips off East Beach, but this week, I’ve gone back to the deep water in Vineyard Sound. On the plus side, the small sea bass and sea robins have provided almost constant action. On the minus side, we’ve really had to work through a lot of small fish to find the keepers. But our persistence has been rewarded with enough keepers to provide a few meals, along with a few truly nice fish, including a couple of 4-pound fluke, one on Saturday, caught by Nora Sherman and another on Tuesday, caught by Morgan Maciejak.”
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Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis told me that this week’s weather has kept a lot of people indoors or off the beaches, but before the wind and rain, porgy (scup) fishing off the south side beaches and jetties was producing some really nice keepers which hasn’t been the case for much of this season. They’ve had a good deal of customers catching fluke from shore on Gulp, and there’s plenty of short life with keepers mixed in. The hottest shore bite right now though, is brown sharks. Hitting the beaches and soaking eels from dusk into dark continues to yield sandbar sharks of all sizes and there are roughtail rays out there as well. The bonito run, he added, was just getting started but again, poor weather has led to fewer people fishing so once conditions settle, they are hopeful that it begins to take shape. But, because of the wind and rain, there have been quite a few people turning their attention to the ponds for largemouth bass and pickerel, and the action has been outrageously good. They’ve seen photos from customers of 3- to 5-pound bass this week, so freshwater is always a good fallback plan in the event you’re tied to the dock or your charter was cancelled. Head over to Sports Port to stock up on jigs for the inshore hardtail season, which is around the corner, or to secure shark rigs and bait for the weekend.
Riverview Bait and Tackle in South Yarmouth reported: “Wednesday’s rain and wind had Riverview’s shop crew shorebound; Noah has been busy tying up shark rigs and setting up customers to land their biggest brown shark ever from the surf! The surf sharkin’ bite is still very hot. The shop just received a fresh shipment of large eels, by far the best bait for browns from the beach.
Boat anglers have struggled to find bass at Monomoy in the past week, but the tube & worm bite in Cape Cod Bay has been red hot. Billingsgate and just outside Barnstable Harbor have produced large numbers of big bass on trolled tubes. Berkeley Gulp sandworms are flying off the shelves as an excellent alternative to live seaworms if the shortage from Maine continues to impact local shops and anglers.
Captain Matthew Dempsey of Salt Reaper Charters out of Dennis said there are a lot of good striped bass fishing opportunities on both the east and west sides of Cape Cod Bay, but mornings and late afternoons have been the best times to find fish on the feed. The skipper mentioned that the bass are still eating squid, although there are some bunker in the mix, too, depending on where you focus your effort. A majority of the fish his charters are catching have been willing to hit topwater, it’s just a matter of finding the bait (whether it’s squid or bunker), sticking with it, and waiting for the bass to collide with the schools. Give Capt. Matt a call to inquire about open dates for striped bass trips in the near future.
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters out of Truro reported: “The summer of squid continues as we begin to rely more on live bait fishing while the topwater activity is in a temporary lull. Although other bait choices abound as well, with mackerel, bunker, and herring also schooling off outer Cape Cod. Depending on the sea conditions and baitfish presence in the water column, you may want to modify the presentation with weight. Overall, an absolutely excellent striped bass fishing season continues right through July! Still many tight lines to be had so be sure to book your Reel Deal fishing charter—we have openings starting this Sunday.”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
It looks like we’ll get a break in the weather this weekend, and although the forecast calls for steady southwest wind gusting to almost 20 mph, it’ll be a good time to scope out some areas for bonito. Check out the river and harbor mouths in Nantucket Sound from mid Cape to Monomoy, or work your way west from mid Cape to the Elizabeths. At the very least, there’s a solid chance you’ll run into some cocktail blues, and the closer you get to the islands, there’s potential for stripers on sand eels. I wouldn’t expect mid-day blitz action from the bass, but early mornings and evenings will improve the likelihood of an encounter with surface-feeding stripers. Meanwhile, in Cape Cod Bay, you can hunt for bunker-busting bass along the South Shore or head east to search for stripers on squid off the outer Cape. The Canal is also holding some schoolies that are feeding on rain bait.
With the recent improvement in the Nantucket Sound sea bass bite, it’s worth spending some time jigging or dropping squid-baited rigs. Try deeper structure and longer drifts to steer clear of scup. If you stick to bucktail jigs and teasers tipped with Gulp, you may even find a keeper fluke or two in the mix.
Boats capable of handling the long run south in 2- to 3-foot swells can head toward the midshore tuna grounds south of the Vineyard and Block Island to search for rec-size bluefin this weekend. South of the Vineyard, there have been good numbers of thresher sharks lately, but the tuna action seems to be concentrated further west and there are giants in the mix, so bring the heavy gear. Canyon runners stand to find bluefin, bigeye, lots of yellowfin, and maybe some mahi or wahoo as a bonus.