New England - Cape Cod and the Islands Fishing Reports

Larry at Maco’s Bait & Tackle said it was a pretty good week of bass fishing in the canal particularly in the east end where there are still mackerel schooled up. There were a lot of school sized bass and some fish measuring over 40 inches on a bite that was both deep jigging and topwater. The bonito were breaking in mid canal where few people could reach them. The tautog fishing has been great in the west end and up along the West Falmouth shoreline. They have the bait and the information to put you onto the fish.

We spoke to AJ at the newly updated departments of Red Top Sporting Goods where they have enjoyed some great runs by canal anglers who have been into stripers all week long. Some customers said it was the best week they had all season long. There were encouraging numbers of schoolies which everyone was happy to witness but the numbers of larger fish from 20 to 30 pounds were as good or better than most recent weeks. Most fish were caught on top but jigs and bait accounted for some of the larger fish. Bones were working bait in the middle, on many occasions too far to reach but there were others in the west end that were closer and those averaged about five pounds. They have a good supply of crabs for the tog fishermen who are doing well in the west end rockpiles and a few places inside

We spoke with Doug from Dick’s Bait and Tackle who said the Derby was ending that evening and the awards ceremony was to be held on Sunday. Loads of prizes, one of them a brand new Jeep along with loads of other awards will be presented. It’s always a big party on Grand Prize day. The fishing has been on the slow side with the storm at the end of the week putting a halt on most of the boat travel. There was a bonito blitz in Vineyard Haven Harbor on Friday morning with loads of 5-pound bones busting on bait. For a few nights this past week they had small blues breaking along sections of the south shore and there was a report of a 47-inch bass released from the Oak Bluffs jetty this week. Steve and Doug put their time in and were pleased that so many of their customers participated and registered fish, including the new state record albie caught by one of their longtime customers.

The canal was hot all week according to Jeff from Canal Bait & Tackle who said there were fish on top and customers using their jigs were doing well on fish from larger schoolies to specimens in the 40-plus inch class. Scusset was a good place to be on Saturday morning when fish were caught on top and along the bottom on jigs. Their silver herring jigs and shads were getting it done at all levels. Guys were coming in for two and three at a time and racing back to the canal. The Fish Lab jigs were also in demand. The bones were once again teasing by breaking in the middle of the canal where no one could reach them. Stop in and view their selection of custom jigs and canal rods.

Christian from Falmouth Bait & Tackle said with commercial bluefin closed and no recreational sized tuna in sight, many more anglers were fishing for tautog along the rocks and reefs as well as the rocky shoreline from Nobska and up along the Elizabeths. There are good numbers of stripers being taken in that same area by tossing eels into the rock piles up toward Tarpaulin Cove. Black sea bass season closed now there will be more effort on the tautog and big scup front. As of this report there had been two and three pound bonito moving along the Falmouth shoreline as the storm began moving the funny fish along.

The word from Chris from the Sports Port was of numerous customers heading for the canal as the word was out early on the great bite that was taking place from the east to west end. While many of the stripers were schoolies some of them were well over the legal size. There were bones and schoolies making their way along the south bays and being caught along those shorelines. The freshwater fishing has been very good in most ponds and with this drop in temperatures he believes both fresh and saltwater fishing will catch fire in the next few weeks.

The colder weather is here and Capt. Rich Antonio from Black Rose Fishing Charters is ready to take you fishing almost anywhere within his range. There are fish moving down the along the ocean beaches and off Monomoy and the nearby rips. Give him a call for more specific details.

Ian at the Goose Hummock Shop said the fishing had been good up until the blow. Most of the kayak crowd and small boats were on hold for the wind and rain to stop before they hit the water, while others fished the canal which was very good last week with a good mix of all sizes of stripers. The Buzzards Bay area has been a good place to fish and many don’t mind making that trip because the schoolies and some legal size bass were working there and there were also reports of some bonito working up along the north shore. The fishing in Cape Cod Bay should improve as soon as the wind dies and the water clears up and the freshwater fishing in their area is almost always a very good option.

The word from Capt. Jason of Little Sister Charters has been of consistent tog and black fishing with the black sea bass closing this weekend. There has been such a good bite that his clients have been releasing tog well over the legal minimum as they work through husky fish looking for a double digit tog for high hook honors. There are still bones and some albies dumping out of Buzzards Bay to provide topwater action which is always appreciated. Give the skipper a call.

Capt. Carl with Westport River Outfitters and his daughter Tara took a very close third place in the annual Back Eddy fishing contest in Westport over the Columbus Day weekend. Carl put some miles on to pick up some hefty bluefish and the attendant black sea bass and Albies. He has some open fall dates for tog and migrating stripers and bones as they move along the shoreline. This is a good time to top off your season by reserving a fall date.