The first Blues will be on the Islands and southern shores of the Cape.
Fluke are in the Sound too and can be found among the traps and at the entrance to harbors and rivers as far north as P'town..
The Bluefish are sometimes spotty outside the upper Cape rips. Very big Blues, 12-16 pounds are more often near shore for a few days before running out deep again. Tailers of a pound or so are mixed into the schoolie bass in protected waters.
Sharks have put in more of an appearance lately with the bigger browns up to a hundred weight near shore and blue sharks a bit further out.
A few Bonito will be around soon the islands too but you gotta be fast to catch 'em or lucky if they break near you.
July of last year, the fishin' inside for Stripers was inconsistent. The sand eels weren't inside last year in big numbers and without the forage the bass were constantly moving and hunting. You could always catch a few but the big days were only intermittent. Outside, on the ocean, the fishing was spectacular! There were so many sand eels they stopped the northern migration of the humpback whales for a month while they fedd just offshore a few miles.
Blues were in fewer numbers than recent years unless you were trolling the rips, of course. Big blues eat little blues so a new crop of youngsters has a fight ahead of them.
In August, the fishing for stripers remained great. The bonito fishing improved too. Some places proved out to be consistent such as the Vineyard and the end of Monomoy. But others such as: Cape Cod Bay, Pollock Rip and Race Point were not as reliable as in recent years. Albie were around though but in just a few places which led to crowding from boaters. A colder than average ocean may have been the problem.
September had the Keepers spread out from the Canal to P'town. Night fishing, bait fishing and fishing the lesser tried areas yielded good results for diligent. Oh, there were plenty of fish but finding them over forty inches took a bit of work. Still, the bonito never showed like the year before but the albies were in big. Blues were big too with many over ten pounds.
This is the Cape fish of choice. Stripers are in abundance. There are overwintering schoolies in the shallow water bays and coves, and the migratory keepers always moving along the East Coast throughout the seasons.
From Florida to Maine, the Striped Bass is King (or rather Queen). Keepers are 30" or better in Massachusetts (2000 regs.) and that means females aged nine and older, males about 11. The migrants start arriving at the Vineyard in April or so depending on the water temperature and the arrival of the herring and squid they feed upon. If the herring and squid are in, so are the Stripers. First keeper stripers are usually caught on bait, herring and chunk bait, at night along the Islands and the southern shore of the Cape. Next they find their way up the Cape Cod Canal and along the south side to Monomoy Island blocking their ocean side northerly path.
Great fishing is enjoyed by everyone livelining herring along the canal in May, a Bournedale permit is required to take the Herring from the run on the west side. The shore is lined here with fishermen and for a reason. There is no best place to try but the mouth of the run is sure popular.
Along the south shore, schoolies and keepers bite silver spoons, white plugs and poppers. Remember, the Striper is both a scavenger and primarily a night feeder. Try everything and go in the dark for the biggest fish.
Flyfishing the rivers of the south side in the dusk of day, early in the year is very popular. Decievers, sand eel patterns and Clousers are often the ticket. Watch for the red worm hatch on the Bass (!) River in May and inside Pleasant Bay in June.
Flyfishing gear: Floating, intermediate lines; 6 wt. will do it but 8-10 wt. will exhaust and kill fewer fish in tidal current. 14 lb. tippet and #1 - #6 Decievers, sand eels, Surf Candy, Clousers, mackerel or something with BIG EYES will do the trick. By June the bulk of the Stripers swim around Monomoy to Chatham's break and Pleasant Bay, Orleans' Nauset Inlet and north. Also through the canal to Cape Cod Bay, Barnstable Harbor and on east and north through Wellfleet harbor to Provincetown. The mouths of all rivers and inlets are productive from shore or boat. The Breakwater at the end of the Cape in P-town is a big place for action.
Spinning Gear: 14 lb. line is enough for Keepers from a boat. A rod capable of casting 21/2oz.s; Kastmaster, Acme, Krokodile spoons; Bomber 1 1/4 to 2 1/2oz. floating: white, black and yellow plugs; Atom 1 1/4oz blue/white, orange/white single hook poppers, White Leadhead hair and pig (blue or white), or curlytail jig 1-2oz.
Change trebles to singles and catch less grass.
Barbs aren't necessary.
Baitfishing gear (Chatham Bait Pack): 17-24lb. line; #1-#5/0 hooks (no cadmium, it's poison); 1/4 - 1/2oz. rubber core sinkers; 1-6oz. slip sinkers; six-pack cooler for bait. Bait: eels on ice, squid,herring (live or fresh (frozen), sand eels, clams, crabs, bluefish tails, etc. Use weight ONLY where absolutely necessary to get bait down, otherwise let it drift and retrieve to make another cast if it washes ashore. Hook live bait carefully to keep it alive, eels through the lips, fish through the tail or nose. Use rubber core weights (1/4 to 1/2 oz.) 3' from sand eels to get a natural drift over bars and along bottom. Count five or less with loose line before setting on any pickup. IF you wait longer, you'll throat hook for sure. Cut the line of ALL throat hooked fish OUTSIDE the mouth, so the line hold the hook flat in released fish and they can feed while the hook dissolves. DO NOT PULL ON OR TRY TO UNHOOK throat hooked fish! It kills 'em for sure. If you are really interested in saving the life of most released fish, flatten your barbs!
Boaters troll and bait drift the rips (Monomy is the most famous fishing and the most dangerous water north of Hatteras!) and chase top feeding Stripers with poppers and spoons. Trolling umbrella rigs is popular, imitating sand eel schools. Trolling Hoochies and plugs in front of or parallel to and sometimes through the rips is productive. Drifting bait through the rips works well too. Always watch the horizon, fore and aft for birds and feeding fish. Motor noise doesn't bother the fish but it drives the bait down and the fish with them, turn it off. Bay fishermen fish the edges of bars and grass banks where food is swept from shallow to deep water through grass and over bars by currents, and along the bottoms of channels. Find channels by spotting pot bouys lines and current breaks. Shore anglers should cast to channel edges, off breakwaters, and to the outside edges of grass banks.
Big fish will come VERY shallow in the dark to feed if not spooked. Rocks are a good place to look for Rockfish!
One good way to learn a lot about a new locale anywhere you fish is to hire a guide for a morning and then go on fishing on your own with what you've learned. Guides know their clients do this and accept it. For the sportsman, its a trade-off of greater expense for a savings of valuable time and greater enjoyment and catch in the end.
Be courteous Give the other guy his casting room from boat and shore, try elsewhere or come back later if you have to fish that place.
Be considerate of the resource:
Bluefish follow the Stripers in their migration but like water a little warmer. Blues have recently been very good ('92) and so-so since. This year there are a number of 11/2 lb.ers around and some 8-14s grown up from the blues of '92. Blues are the wolves of the sea, in turn they are chased and eaten by Tuna. They are fast, strong and truely awesome biters.
They travel in same size (same speed) schools and eat everything smaller and slower than themselves.
I'll say it here and I'll say it later, NEVER put a finger in the mouth of a Blue. You'll loose it. Their teeth are triangular, sharp and snap with enough force to halve: eels, Sea Robins and your thumb in an instant. Stripers grab prey from the front because they have to suck it in, Blues snap from behind because they cut it in half!
Blues appear on the Islands and the south coast in May. Popular early shore fishing spots are the north shore of the Vineyard and South shore of Falmouth and Cotuit ( like Corporation Beach).
Casters throw poppers and spoons from the beach and jettys.
As more Blues arrive, they swim up the canal to Cape Cod Bay and along the Coast 'round Monomoy Island in early June. While Bluefish eat everything from each other to Flounder fry, they have a definite yearning for sand eels and squid. Often as Blues and Stripers swim together, the Blues will be above and the Stripers below in the water column. Also, when both sand eels and herring fry are together in the ocean, you'll find Sand Eels in the Blues and Herring fry in the Stripers.
Blues remain feeding in the rips and hunting in schools around the Cape until early November when last seen from the Vineyard.
During the summer, boaters chase the birds to find Bluefish feeding on the surface and cast poppers and spoons or troll the rips with spoons and plugs. Shore fishermen can have good success casting to current breaks, off jettys and anywhere there is the indication of forage by the activity of birds or other fish. Blues feed day and night but most are caught during the day. If you are tossing an eel for Stripers and get it back with scrapes on the skin, that's a Striper mouthing it; if you get back only half, that's Blues.
Since Bluefish are hunter-chasers, the technique for catching is usually one of flashy fast retrieves. This means high contrast lures (silver, white, yellow) and noisy (popping) or quick swimming/skimming movement. Because they are competitive in the school, one blue will try to eat the lure hanging out of the mouth of another, hence steel leaders and black snaps! When Blues are not on the surface, they sometimes take a heavy spoon or jig fished just above the bottom.
Next to the Tuna clan, Bluefish are the best fighters around. Back off the drag and enjoy. One out of ten is a jumper. A guide should always be able to find blues in the rips! Check the laws for limits.
Spinning: Boat or beach rod (stiff); 2-24lb. line (record Blue on 2lb. is about 13lb.s); steel leader (15lb and 12"); Acme, Krokodile, Deadly Dick or any Big spoons(1/2- 2oz.); Atom poppers (7/8-21/2oz., white, yellow, pink); leadhead hair jigs (3/4-2oz, white, black); 1/0-5/0 hooks for herring or poggies. Pliers.
Flyfishing: 6-10 wt rod; heavy mono(24lb.+) or steel(sevenstrand) leaders 12" long; Floating or intermediate line; 3x long shank sparse patterns like sand eels or with flashabou or crystal hair (Surf Candy is tough to beat). The limit is ten fish per person but you can't eat that many (though they freeze well as an oily fish). Take only what you'll eat that day. Keep them cool and covered 'til you fillet them (save the tails for Striper bait in the canal). Bake or hot pan fry them in garlic oil as soon as possible (like immediately) for really outstanding fare.
This fish has really been hurt by the demand and draggers. A few can still be found in the fall (when they come inshore to overwinter), in September and October in the fertile mud of back bays and salt water ponds. Flounder eat seaworms you can buy or dig yourself or bits of clam. They have a tiny mouth so use "flounder hooks", long shank and narrow gap. Flounder are not known for their savage bite so lift up every half minute or so to see if you have one. The classic rig is: hook and worm, light slip weight enough to get down or cast and light line, 6-8lb. Explore for muddy bottom in 8-14' of water by boat or from shore. Be patient. You can ask around but there are few spots left. If you see someone fishing backwaters with bait in October, it's probably Flounder they're after. Stop and watch awhile. Check the laws for length and limit.
This is the fish that has taken the place of Flounder. But though they look similar to flatfish they are a different beast. Fluke have teeth, fangs actully if you are injudicious enough to reach inside for your hook.
Good Fluke fishing starts on the south shore of the Cape by June and the north shore a few weeks later. Fluke are off Sandy Hook beaches and Stage Harbor by mid-June and up to Wellfleet Harbor and P-town soon after.
Fluke hunt minnows (chubs) and sand eels near bars, rips, channels, and wrecks, hence the teeth. They can be caught by casting small spoons, jigs, flies or bait in these locations and retrieving them low and slow.
Fluke must be 14" (laws)to keep but this isn't hard to catch and they can be found to 8 lb.s or so for a real fight. Fluke really are a summer catch and migrate away south in September as the water first starts to cool.
If you are boating, try anchoring over a wreck with clam strips, sand eels or chubs on "Y" rigs (Fluke rigs have a spinner for attraction), or try drifting through big pot sets (free chumming!) using bait (chubs are best and toughest) or small jigs. Barnstable, Stage and Wellfleet harbors are known for their Fluke. Try near the mouth on a rising tide.
Spinning: light rig with 1/4-1/2 oz. spoons (acme, kastmaster, fiord), or bait hooks on a "Y" rig with sand eels or mummichogs. Some troll umbrella rigs with Niantic spinners for effect but you may get trashed (?) by a Blue or Striper.
Flyfishing: Intermediate or sinking line, light rod, 8lb. tippet; sand eel, Surf Candy, or Chub imitator. Catch a rising tide on a steeply shelving shore. Watch for bait jumping and cast between the grass beds.
Scup are the panfish of the ocean. They are highly prized by many and are not hard to catch if you've got a boat. Big Scup come near shore in the late spring, May, and are caught by anchoring over structure such as rocks and wrecks in 12-24' of water and fishing bait. Nantucket sound is the place.
The standard technique is a slip sinker above two dropper lines to small snelled "gold" hooks. Bait with cut clam and drop to the bottom. Doubles are common at good spots and you can fill a tub with big Scup, 10"+, in a few hours. Anchoring at the bottom or top of the tide will cut down on the tidal current. Scup can also be caught drifting over grass patches with bait or on small jigs worked near bottom. There are always a few Scup around but they are really seasonal so catch the most and the best early in the year.laws
Bait: Stiff boat rods and levelwind reels with braided line. Slip sinker enough to hold down the bait, 1/4-1oz.; "Y" rigs to small gold "Scup" hooks (snelled); baited with clam strips.
Known as the best chowder fish, Tautog is fine tasting and available from shore and boat. Boaters start in June fishing the Rocks and Wrecks for Tautog on the bottom with bait. Rig like for Scup, "Y" rigs and slip sinkers but consider that Tautog can get big (like twenties, though rare) and use #6 - 1/0 hooks. Bait with clams or small green crabs for Tautog alone.
From the shore, the canal is probably the best, certainly the rockiest place to fish for Tautog. Try the bottom of the tide in the early morning hours at the southern (western) end. Throw a "Y" rig baited with small crabs and with the weight rigged lighter to break off if snagged. A long pole and levelwind reel with braided nylon (40 lb) is best. Fish all summer for this ugly beast with the great taste.laws
This is the thoroughbred of the ocean. Up to 1200 lb.s and as valuable as gold at the dock, Bluefins draw a lot of attention to deep water trolling. Charters are the rule; all day and long day with no guarantees just the chance to win big. Nearer shore the Yellowfin, false Albacore, Bonito can be found in the canal and along the south and east shore rips of the Cape up to P-town. These 4-40lb. fish are tremendous fighters and are caught from boat and shore.
King Mackeral like little tuna.
Snapper Blues (6"-8") in tidal creeks near grass, bridges and docks.
A few Weakfish (Sea Trout) fall to small bottom jigging around the grass laws. Especially in the spring.
Dogfish (at night when you think you've got a striper) and when you're jigging Cod. and lately, every other time.
Lobsters in the canal dragging your bait down holes (get even and check the laws for how to take them legally.
Blue crabs in the shallows when you're wading barefoot.
TommyCod in the fall shallows on the bottom with worms.
Did I miss something? Let me know below. Edited, 01/01/01.