 |
Chatham fishing just gets better and better! First, there are large numbers of fish off Hardings Beach and around Monomoy flats and the end of south Beach. The proportion of keeper bass in this group grows daily. Up into Pleasant Bay, there is good fishing from the break all the way up into the ponds above Little Bay. Most of these are schoolies in the 16" to 25" size but I took a 29" bass from Little Bay yesterday on a popper, so there are keepers around. The herring are still running strong and silversides make up most of the forage. No squid yet or blues but I expect them daily. Capt. Michael Eichenseer |
Kildee Hill Bait & Tackle
on Rt. 28 in Harwich |
In Harwich, Larry Nickerson reports blues as far as Red River Beach and he weighed a 40" striper from there the other day too. He's not heard much from Hardings, which seems off and on lately (perhaps folks aren't fishing the high tide at night). There are squid in the area and baiting with squid has been the successful tactic for more than one lucky angler. Meanwhile the herring are still running strong and there are tons of schoolies off Bass River and the jetties. |
Powderhorn Outfitters
at 210 Barnstable Rd., Hyannis |
Around Barnstable & Hyannis, Andy at the Powderhorn says the blues are all along the coast now from Oregon to Bass River. Squid are thinning out rather quickly but migrating east along the south shore bringing bigger stripers and blues with them. Bass weighing upwards to 30 pounds and blues in the 6 - 8 pound size are being taken on poppers, tin and cut bait. |
Nelson's
at 44 Race Point Rd. |
Provincetown has had good numbers of schoolie stripers in for a couple of weeks now according to Emilio at his shop, Nelson's. They're catchin' 16" - 25" bass on spoons, jigs and sand eels (that's right, you can buy 'em this early) pretty good at Herring cove on the high tide and along the back beaches up to the Race. Don't bother with the Jetty yet, they're just not there. (The herring are running pretty good down there too, and you may want to try near the mouth of a herring run at night for bigger fish!) |
| Orleans | Orleans remains quiet except for the influx of schoolies to town cove and around Nauset Inlet. The Bay side remains waiting for the mackerel and stripers to arrive. However, largemouth bass fishing is improving as the water warms and the smallmouth fishing is heating up considerably as they move onto their shallow beds for the spawn. |
| Wellfleet | Ed Metterville at the Black Duck Tackle shop in Wellfleet says that they've been catching schoolie sized stripers, 16" 18" along Leutenant Island and Mayo Beach for a couple of weeks now. Fishin's pretty good with catches of 40 fish or more in an outing. It's good to talk with Ed again this year and I'm sure we'll hear from Seth too later on. |
| Falmouth | At Eastman's, reports are that there are lots of 30 pound plus bass on the middle ground (many of these are taken with big parachutes on mono and jigged almost vertically) and chunks and herring are working well. Quick's Hole too is producing keeper bass with consistency, again jiggin'. Blues are reported all along South Cape Beaches from Poppy to Oregon Beach in Cotuit (I can add from a day on the water there that they are there but they are not feeding big and are tougher than usual to hook-up. Try trolling for best efficiency. Capt. M.) Schoolies abound and the Trunk River is one good place to try, especially near the herring run. On the freshwater scene, largemouths are heating up up-Cape too but not much word on the smallmouths. |
| Barnstable Harbor | Capt. Todd Balicki of Nemesis Charters says that Barnstable Harbor has it's own rush of schoolie stripers running in the same size as a lot of the rest of the Cape, 16" - 24". If you're fly fishing make sure to try the olive/white clouser and if you spin instead, try the bucktail jigs with the chartreuse grub bodies or just stay with white or yellow if thats what you have. No squid in evidence yet but the Bay probably has is supply of tinker mackerel intact if you're thinkin' of what to match in bait for chunkin'. Good solid fishing in Barnstable Harbor and, of course, there's always Scorton Creek! |
Cape Cod Canal
Canal Bait & Tackle |
Sheila at Canal Bait & Tackle says they've weighed some nice 43" stripers from the canal in recent days, 34 and 27 pounds respectively. Many folks are doing well using herring there and even dead herring are scoring nice fish. No blues problems with getting cut off lately but the mackerel have definitely moved through the canal to Cape Cod Bay and may be pulling the bass along with them. The flounder fishing has thinned out but she hears that it is still very good at the west end of the canal. "Lots of fish" around, she says and they seem to be biting best at the top of the tide. |
| Martha's Vineyard | Danny out on the Vineyard says the striped bass are all along the south side of the island. Blues are into Wasque and often found under the bridges feeding on the herring that are still running well. Mackerel are gone though. |
| Freshwater Around Cape Cod | The freshwater fishing is definitely improving for largemouths and smallmouths are moving onto their beds at water temperatures hit near fifty degrees. Good time to take the saltwater clousers over to the pond and hook up a few bronzebacks instead. |
Return to Cape Cod Outdoors
main page.