New England - Cape Cod and the Islands Fishing Reports

On his last intended canyon trip, Capt. Sebastian of Fish Linked Charters had to settle for closer ocean fishing where they had two tuna hits that spit the hooks before they settled for a big 250-pound porbeagle which they released. His day trips have been productive but required a lot of effort to find fish. On the weekend he had fluke to 18 inches and black sea bass to 19 inches plus some legal fluke. The day before he got into stripers in western Buzzards Bay when the angler with the biggest bass of the day had their fish run for the stern and break the line off on a motor. He has openings for tuna and stripers as well as bottom fishing trips.

The word from Tony at Maco’s Bait & Tackle was of decent action from mid-canal to the east end as bass were feeding on mackerel, adult pogies and some say herring fry. People were tossing all sizes and forms of lures and jigs; swimming plugs and plugs with teaser flies were also catching quite a few bass. Customers were reporting lots of fish from mid-canal to the east end being caught on top, midwater and along the bottom. Tony, Maco’s owner Jeff and his son Morgan made a trip to the west end for fluke and caught a load of shorts with only one keeper. Tony mentioned a reported sting by EP officers which caught illegal striper fishing in New Hampshire waters.

According to Ian from Red Top Sporting Goods there were numerous reports of striper action along the length of the canal, with the best action from mid-canal to the east end where a diversity of bait from mackerel, full size pogies, herring fry and possibly some bay anchovies. The fishing was very good from mid-week right into the weekend when an assortment of jigs, top waters and swimmers were all producing fish from slots to several fish in the 40-plus inch class. A few blues in the 4- to 8-pound class have made forays into the canal but the best action has been Cape Cod Bay up towards Boston, to Gloucester where commercial bass fisherman have pursued them. There has also been some very good action from Scorton to Billingsgate and the Race. Only a few reports of bonito in the canal but they came from the East end with a few smaller ones in the 8-inch class caught in the west end. These are not chub mackerel.

We spoke with Aiden from Dick’s Bait and Tackle who has been busy fishing the sound in his boat working the waters of Vineyard Sound for stripers Doug said there were more bonito in the catches and one of his friends has been fishing off the Menemsha jetty and catching bones as small as 2 and 3 pounds. There were also a few more bones caught off Gay Head as anglers were working breaking blues and catching the smaller bones along with them. That is a dangerous place for small bonito. The night surf bite has been steady with needlefish, topwaters, live eels and swimmers taking an assortment bass from shorts to slots and a few well over the 31-iinch maximum size. Want to make kids happy? Bring them into Dicks and ask Doug to make you one of his circle hook rigs for bottom fishing. Several of his lures produced smiles and photos of legal and sub-legal fluke and kids with satisfied clients. Steve was out with Captain Lee on their first canyon trip of the year to Hydrographers, we hope to report on that trip next week.

Jeff from Canal Bait & Tackle said canal anglers were smiling again as fishing has improved drastically during the past week. There is all sorts of baitfish, including herring fry and what some say are bay anchovies. The stripers range from schoolies to over slots and plenty of slot size fish. There are also small bonito in the 6- to 12-inch class which fishermen swear are not chub mackerel. There are various sizes of macks around and some of them are also on the very small side. This set of moon tides turned the fish on and numerous catches of large bass up to 30-pound class were caught, photographed and released. Jeff is looking forward to the first week of August, around the fifth, when the fishing has always been very good for him.

Christian from Falmouth Bait & Tackle said their Oak Bluffs Blue Water Classic last weekend paid out a total of $421,000 with 59 boats participating the winner went home with over $200,000. The biggest tuna was a 235 bigeye but yellowfins to 97 pounds were landed. Very rough conditions led to losing two swords boatside and there were white and blue marlin brought leader and scored. Jack said there were some good reports of legal fluke in the salt ponds and a few larger specimens in waters from 80 to 100 feet off the beach. There were a few blues caught at Middle Ground and others from Squibby and Wasque.

Capt. Skip Bandini of Fish Bandit Charters said they caught some small bonito this week, but they were big enough to make tasty meals for his clients. He has been working the waters of Vineyard Sound. A friend of his caught some bones at the Hooter. Skip made a few fluke drifts on Lucas and Middle Ground and came up with almost all shorts. Very few of our sources have had reports of decent fluke fishing so far this year.

The word from Chris at the Sports Port was of very good fishing for stripers in Cape Cod Bay as well as Monomoy and off some of the sound side beaches. The south shore has begun to give up some bonito which are occasionally mixed in the breaking blue fish. Boats trolling the SP and Crystal minnow have caught blues and a few bones as well. Hyannis harbor has been giving up some legal fluke and there were a few caught just outside in the sound. There was word of some tuna off Chatham but none of them were caught. Chris said inshore tuna is something quite a few people are looking for to. Families with kids are buying up shiners and worms and catching all types and sizes of freshwater fish. Early morning and around dusk were the best time to add a largemouth bass to those catch and releases.

It’s amazing that something as small as a like-new concealed fuel filter could put Capt. Seamus Muldoon of Jailbreak Charters out of business for over a week. Lost trips are not something you can recall so I can tell you from personal experience that I was working for a contractor while waiting for parts, or the money to pay for those parts. He is back in business and treating his clients to some great striper fishing with numerous over slot fish and at least a few slot fish to take home. He is still ready to make those trips to Nantucket to introduce you to your first double digit fluke. Give him a call to get aboard.

Aaron at the Goose Hummock Shop said the canyon trip Danny made with Captain Phil was action-packed, with 14 yellowfin and one bluefin. Hydrographers had plenty of action and not a lot of nap time for their crew. Locally the striper bite has been very good with fish at Billingsgate and the Race where some boats trolled up bones in the 10-pound class. Ian has been fishing in his yak and brought a fat 48-incher alongside. That big one ate an Albie Snax and swam away strong. Blues were still scarce but the few that have been taken around the Race were in the 10-pound class and more are being reported from the Monomoy rips. If you are looking for offshore lures, tackle or a yak the Goose has a large inventory of those items as well as marine hardware and other essentials.

After catching over 20 short fluke on a solo trip Capt. Jason of Little Sister Charters switched over to black sea bass which he says were willing to chew. He continued to take his clients to some of the best sea bass fishing in the area. Some of those big knot heads he is showing on his emails are impressive when compared to the number of shorts most fishermen are catching along with loads of sub-legal scup throughout the area. As of this report the skipper has open boat openings on several days. Give him a call and get on board to catch some quality sea bass and the one tog a day we are now allowed.

Capt. John of Grey Dolphin Sportfishing has openings for striper fishing as bass have arrived at Billingsgate and the Race. Give him a call.