Cape Cod Fishing Report
It’s been an interesting week on Cape Cod. The full moon last Thursday reshuffled the deck and some of the autumn-like patterns that were beginning to develop have been mired by easterly winds, rain, and dirty water.
The one constant keeping spirits alive this week is the sheer amount of baitfish around Cape Cod. Sand eels, spearing, anchovies, and sea herring are abundant, but the fish that eat them—namely albies and stripers—are not yet in “fall run” mode around these parts. That said, there are piles of bluefish keeping anglers busy from the Canal to Buzzards Bay to Nantucket Sound, and bonito are widespread, but they continue to frustrate light-tackle and fly anglers alike.
The bonito bite has been decent off the upper Cape and the Vineyard, but it’s not as good as it could be or should be. Capt. Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters in Vineyard Haven has run around quite a bit over the past week, and he managed a good day of bonito fishing close to home. Fish were spread across the north side of the Vineyard and along the Elizabeths, and despite many casts with epoxies and soft plastics, his charter landed all of their fish on a small Rapala X-Rap rigged on the lightest rod on his boat. I need to start keeping small minnow plugs on my kayak when chasing bonito because too many times, I’ve casted jigs and splasher-and-fly rigs their way without so much as a sniff. Despite how tough the bones have been to pin down, and how finicky they are once located, they are one of the more reliable options heading into Labor Day weekend.
Albies have taken their sweet time filling in, but if you’re fishing in Nantucket Sound, there’s a decent chance you’ll run into a small pod or two. They came in a couple weeks ago, although we still haven’t received the big late-summer push that is expected. I’m beginning to think it’s going to be a tough year for albies around Cape Cod. If we don’t see a good wave of them move in before the September new moon, the remainder of the fall will likely be marked by sporadic, short-lived action in random/unpredictable areas. Right now, the best albie fishing seems to be happening off Nantucket and even there it’s a pick.
Everyone’s got their minds on hardtails, but it’s September, which means it’s also time to focus on stripers. It was a great summer of bass fishing for boat and shore anglers in Cape Cod Bay thanks to the loads of squid that arrived back in early June. Now, fish of all size classes are putting on the feed bags just north of Cape, and with the September new moon a week from today, there is going to be a lot of fish movement as early migrators look to begin sliding south. Surfcasters and shore fishermen should look to the bayside and outer beaches, as well as the Canal and upper Buzzards Bay, for small schools of southbound bass in the coming week or two. As the month progresses, the south side and lower Buzzards will start to see better action—especially if we get a mullet run this year. The mullet run can happen any time between early September and late October, and schools tend to move after dark, so focus on fishing salt pond and back bay inlets & flumes on a dropping tide to find bass that are picking off 3- to 6-inch finger mullet. The stripers I find eating mullet range from diaper stripers (20 to 23 inches) to 20 pounds. Mag Darters, paddletail swimbaits, and glide baits are my top-producers after dark, while pencils and Super Strike Little Neck poppers perform best early in the morning.
Another fish that’s worth some time and effort while the season remains open, is fluke. It hasn’t been a great year for keepers, but if there ever were a time to stick a 20-inch fluke from shore, it’s the first half of September. When I lived on Long Island, I focused on fluking the inlet jetties and their adjacent beaches to intercept fish as they left the bays—a push that begins right about now. Lately, our weather has been warm enough that there still should be some bigger fish holding in the backwaters. Once we get a string of chilly nights in the low 60s and water temps start to fall, those fluke will begin to head offshore for the winter. If it’s not cool water temps that drive them out of the shallows, they’ll follow the mass exodus of silversides, anchovies, peanuts, and small mullet that are heading for the ocean. Shore anglers should fish metals, Gulp, swim shads, and small minnow plugs along channel edges, beach lips, and shallow points adjacent to deep water to tempt fluke on their way out. Boat and kayak anglers can set up to drift around inlets and nearby reef structure or small offshore humps and troughs, where high-low rigs and bucktail/teaser rigs tipped with Gulp should bring fast action from shorts with keepers mixed in. Focus on 20 to 30 feet of water at most to start, and head deeper if the action is slow. You may even run into some keeper sea bass in the process.
A few years back, I got into a great late summer sea bass bite with my friends Ryan and Brian on our kayaks while we were waiting for albies to pop up. We each caught a few keepers ranging from 19 to 22 inches by jigging heavy epoxies in a rip off the south side of the upper Cape just a day or two before the season closed. Now, our sea bass season is extended to October 14, but the daily bag limit has dropped from 4 fish to 2 fish per person at the same minimum size of 16 inches.
It’s late summer—or local’s summer, as we like to call it—and now is the time when we really start to see exotic species pop up in the waters around Cape Cod and the Islands. You might find juvenile jack crevalle or almaco jacks feeding on rain bait alongside albies and bonito off the south side, or hook a mahi way closer to home than you ever expected. Or, if you’re like 14-year-old Stone Fornes, you might pull a surprise cubera snapper from the Nantucket surf! You can read all about Stone’s remarkable catch, and a brief history of cubera snappers in the Northeast, here.
Here’s this week’s rundown from a few of our local shops and charters:
Chris at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me it was a very good week for bonito in Canal, if you were able to keep up with them. From last Thursday until yesterday, schools of bonito have been blowing through the ditch and, at times, they were very tough to catch. It’s the same struggle anglers are running into from Buzzards Bay to Nantucket Sound—the bonito are super quick up and down, and they’re eating the tiniest baitfish you can imagine. Chris said he chased a school of blitzing bones east recently and must have had 20 shots into them before they disappeared, leaving him fishless. Blind casting, he said, is probably the best way to catch bonito in the Canal right now unless you have a bike—but even then, you might wind up in an exhausting chase with uncooperative fish. Follow your gut, pick a spot along the rip-rap, and cast relentlessly. Be sure to swap jigs regularly to show the fish something different instead of hoping they’ll eventually decide to eat the epoxy or tin that’s been dragged by them 50 times in 2 hours. Although the bait is minuscule, the bonito are very big, Chris added. They are pushing against the tide right around the switch in the afternoon, so you don’t have to race down there for first light—although that’s never a bad plan. Additionally, Chris mentioned that the nearby beaches of the South Shore have been lit up at night lately, with SP Minnows, needlefish, and Slug-gos doing the heavy lifting. The striper bite in the Canal, on the other hand, is slow, but a few fish are being picked up by guys jigging swim shads mid-Canal.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth told me that the local albie scene had been pretty quiet until this morning. One of his customers ran into big albie feeds on the south side of the upper Cape and landed four. Bonito, he said, are around but they remain very picky towards jigs and flies. He also shared a report from a friend who ran down to the windmills this week and picked up a bunch of small mahi. The rec bluefin bite, however, is almost nonexistent to the south unless you run all the way to Montauk and head further southeast or southwest from there.
Captain Ben Sussman of In The Net Sportfishing out of Osterville said the last time he was out earlier in the week, he ran into finicky albies and bonito off the upper Cape. Oddly enough, Capt. Ben said they wouldn’t hit a fly but they responded to sand eel-colored Albie Snax, and his charter caught a couple of bonito that were spitting up what looked to be tiny sand eels, which highlights the importance of matching the forage as best you can. He’s got an opening for a trip on Monday the 7th (Labor Day), so give him a call or head over to his website if you’re looking to chase hardtails or do some bottom fishing before the stripers start running.
From Martha’s Vineyard, Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters out of Vineyard Haven reported: “This week’s trips were consistent with what I’ve been hearing from most of my friends and colleagues: there are some bonito around, but they are not always easy to find, and when you find them, they are not always easy to catch. When we see bonito, they are up and down quickly and hard to approach, and even casts directly into the fish sometimes don’t get bit. I had four trips since the last report and caught bonito on two of them. On the other two trips, we searched without even seeing any birds or breaking fish. Every day is different, right? On Friday, Eric Gustafson and family had one of the more successful trips, landing a small bluefish, a keeper sea bass and three bonito. The lightest rod on the boat did all the heavy lifting on that trip, catching all three bonito on small X-Rap swimmers. On Monday, Alex Sivo and his father and father-in-law connected with two nice bonito. We haven’t been landing large numbers of fish, but these are nice-sized bonito that are beautiful and fast and fight hard, especially on the light outfits we’ve been using to cast the small baits that have worked best for us so far. These little rods also make it a whole lot more fun and challenging to catch the sea bass and scup that have kept us busy while we’re waiting for bonito to show up. Sometimes almost too much fun! Zane Tersigni-Palachek pushed a 100-size outfit to its limits to land a pretty big dogfish that was hooked on a small metal jig.”
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From Martha’s Vineyard, Stephen D’Angelo of Kismet Outfitters in Edgartown reported: “The fishing continues to get better, and the bonito are thick right now. They’ve definitely gotten pickier over the past few weeks, though, so finding them is only half the battle. Look for fish working along current lines, where they’ve been actively feeding on the abundance of bait around the Island. We’ve had the most success lately with smaller white and chartreuse Albie Whores, epoxy minnows, Bonito Deceivers, and even gummy flies. Matching the smaller profile has been key when the fish get selective.
The really exciting part has been what we’re seeing from shore. On recent shore trips, we’ve found bonito pushing incredibly close to the beach on the incoming tide, creating a unique opportunity for the boatless angler to target hardtails on foot. One of the best things about the Island’s fishery is the shot at bonito and albies from shore—and in our eyes, there’s nothing more rewarding in fly fishing than watching a hardtail eat a fly just feet from the beach.
The good news is that we’re also starting to see some albies mixed in with the bonito. With water temperatures looking good and plenty of baitfish around, we expect the albie fishing to really pick up soon.
And now that we’re into September, we’re on the precipice of the fall run. The Derby is less than a few weeks away, and with each passing day, more bait, cooler water, and migrating fish will begin to reshape the fishery. This is the stretch of the season we wait all year for—the window when the Island’s saltwater fly fishing really comes alive. The fall run is beginning to take shape, and now is a great time to get out there and fish it.”
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said since last week, there have been a few big albies pushing 10 pounds caught on pink epoxy jigs by their customers fishing out near Monomoy, but there still aren’t a ton of them around. Bonito fishing has been decent in the sound, but the bite is very sporadic and the fish are moving around quite a bit rather than setting up in predictable early fall areas. Snapper blues, on the other hand, are all over the local beaches, hitting small poppers, spoons, and popping cork rigs. Fluke fishing, he noted, has also been good down at Monomoy, with some keeper-size fish being caught among the shorts. Now would be a good time to catch a few snappers, toss them in the livewell, and send them out on three-way rigs to try and pick up some bigger fluke as they begin to migrate out of the backwaters and away from the shallow beaches.
Riverview Bait and Tackle in South Yarmouth reported: “Summer is winding down at Riverview, but the fishing is still hot! After a season of near-nonexistent bluefish, customers are finally beginning to find steady blue action off Chatham, and Monomoy. The blues haven’t been too picky, but long-casting metals and topwaters are almost always the best tools in a bluefish angler’s arsenal. Tady Surface Irons and Super Strike Little Neck poppers are the staff’s favorite bluefish baits carried in store.
Another less-anticipated species that has moved into Nantucket sound as of late are weakfish! Anglers targeting the still elusive albies and bonito are finding isolated pods of weakfish between Point Gammon and the mouth of Bass River. The squeteague have been a welcome bonus for anglers taking a break from targeting funny fish, or casting in between drops for sea bass.
Captain Drew Downing of Down East Charters out of Chatham reported: “Fall is in the air and we will start seeing more north and east winds as we focus more on hard tails this month. Seeing some albies on the south side but they have been VERY tough to get quality chances on. The fish we have found are keying in on bait lines/weed lines away from the bluefish piles. The bird behavior has been a key component of deciding which species are present. The tighter the birds, the more chance you have found what you are looking for. Down at Monomoy, we are still seeing some bass, blues, and bones, but it has been a pick. Bird piles along the outer beaches have held bass as well. Fun fishing and target-based. Enjoy the weekend and happy Labor Day everybody.”
Captain Elena Rice of Reel Deal Fishing Charters out of Truro reported: “Heading into September the shadows may be longer during those early morning hours, but the Cape Cod fishing scene continues to produce excellent results for striped bass and bluefin tuna fishing. Our recent striped bass fishing trips have been leaning a bit more heavily again on live bait, but we stay ready to jig or throw topwater whenever surface activity or marks lower in the water column appear. There are still some amazing fish out there to be caught! Bluefin tuna fishing also has been productive with live bait this week as the Done Deal brought in a 97-inch fish, giving all the clients on board a good work out! We wish our first mate Merrick best of luck as he heads off to UMass Amherst this week and to all those heading off to college or back to school soon. There is still time to get in your fishing charter as we have openings starting on Friday for the upcoming holiday weekend. Happy Labor Day all!”
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Friday and Monday look to be the best boating days over the holiday weekend, with low wind and sun in the forecast. However, good boating conditions do not necessarily equate to good fishing for bonito and albies. Glass-calm seas and bright skies tend to make keen-sighted hardtails even spookier than usual. Saturday and Sunday call for wind gusts to 25 mph out of the north/northeast, so fishing in Vineyard and Nantucket sounds in the lee could lead to better action on bones and alberts. If there’s one thing to take away from this week’s report, it’s that regardless of the conditions, keeping a variety of offerings on board (or in your surf bag) will improve your chances of success. Boat and kayak anglers should have X-Raps, epoxies, tins, Albie Snax, and splasher/fly combos rigged on different rods to decipher what the bonito are most responsive to.
If you’re running into rampant snapper blues, continue searching for bones and albies elsewhere. Or, keep a few of those little blues for live fluke baits. A 1-pound bluefish is a full meal to a keeper fluke. If you’re fishing for hardtails from shore to no avail, bring a rod rigged with a 1/2- to 1-ounce bucktail to cast for fluke. Tip the bucktail with your choice of Gulp, tie a dropper loop above the jig for a teaser hook (also tipped with Gulp), and swim it through troughs, along channel edges, and choke points. Bump up the size of your Gulp to weed out the shorts if it’s a dinner fish you’re after.
Surfcasters who are seeking stripers over bones should consider hitting the Canal or the bayside beaches on Saturday and Sunday. With stiff north/northeast winds, there’s a good chance that stripers will be pushing bait tight to shore anywhere from the upper Cape to the outer Cape. I’ve had some very productive early fall striper outings in Cape Cod Bay when a stiff wind is blowing straight across the bay. The outgoing tide tends to be most productive in those conditions. Peanut and adult bunker, sand eels, mackerel, or sea herring, are the most likely baitfish you’ll encounter up there, and in snotty conditions, the bass usually aren’t too picky even when they’re eating small bait. Minnow plugs, bucktails, heavy swim shads and paddletail jigs, and Polaris-style poppers are some of the lures I’ve had the most success with in north winds on the bayside.
Labor Day is one of the last really busy boating weekends of the season. Be safe out there and enjoy the long weekend.