Belsan’s Bait and Tackle

Pete was holding down the fort at Belsan’s Bait & Tackle he said the little bit of peanut bunker they were seeing a few weeks ago, has been “missing in action” since the nor’easter. This comes with some long faces on the part of local surfcasters, since these pint-sized pogies have fueled some incredible blitzes in local waters over the past several fall runs. There are still striped bass around locally and they are being caught from shore and boat. The North River has been the hot zone this week. There have also been reports of big movements of bass offshore, even out at Stellwagen, the consensus is that these fish are taking a shortcut in their migration and might make landfall somewhere along the Cape. Speaking of Stellwagen, the crop of school bluefin that we were reporting ahead of the nor’easter seemed to weather the storm and we’re still hearing reports of these 50-inch class tuna being caught on squid, mackerel and squid bars. Cod fishing has been tough this week, there are lots of short fish, but finding a 23-plus incher has been tough. Luckily bottom fishers have tog to fall back on. The local bite has been good on some of the nearshore ledges, with Minot being one of the best.

No one was in at Belsan’s Bait & Tackle presumably because of the storm and resulting storm surge. The shorelines north of the Cape, from Maine all the way down to the canal take a serious beating during these powerful nor’easters and coastal flooding has become something locals expect when a powerful storm ramps up. Prior to the storm, there had been some solid striped bass action in the harbors and rivers as the first push of peanuts appeared. This deluge will undoubtedly help usher the next wave of peanut pogies out of these backwaters, setting the table for the next wave of fall fishing, post storm.