Cape Cod &
the Islands

Is Warm Water Putting Us In Hot Water?

Lynne Heyer was mentioning that a scientist she spoke to mentioned a "warm water anomaly" as potentially a cause for the funky action we have had this year, from late arriving stripers to early bluefish. Offshore, the big boats are complaining about too many dead trips, while inshore bonito action has been very slow on the Cape and the Vineyard hasn't been much better. Some of us worrywarts are also wondering if we're going to have any kind of false albacore season this year. Personally, I don't know what a "warm water anomaly" is, but what I do know is there is a significant lack of bait in many places which no doubt is causing some very slow fishing. Anybody who recalls last year can tell tales of shoals of baby pogies with albies all over them for weeks, but there aren't any peanut bunker, at least in significant numbers or schools, showing just yet.

Middle Ground, which the last couple of years had great late spring and early summer action on bass feeding on squid for a good month or so, was very spotty with few of the tentacled ones around, and even Wasque, which also relies on squid to keep bass, wasn't as hot as long as usual. In fact, the main source of bait we have this year, as it often is, is sand eels and now there is some krill around as well, which can be very frustrating since it can be awfully difficult to match almost microscopic shrimp, crabs, and the like which make up this bouillabaisse that the bass and bones are sipping and slurping.

Clearly, much has been written recently about the need to protect food sources for our gamefish, and I'm sure some of the diminished bait supply can be explained by natural population fluctuations, but all I know is that I'm glad nobody has been able to find a viable market for sand eels on a large scale basis. Given how they have become such a major source of food for bass, blues, bones, and albies around the Cape and islands, if they ever start being scooped up for a willing market, I don't even like to think about what the effect would be on our fishing.

Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...

Tight Lines!

Dave Peros

Guidelines - Your chance to question the pros. Send your questions to brodgers@ddtcom.com.

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Cape Cod & the Islands Regions

Buzzards Bay

For Captain Bob Paccia of Shoreline Guide Service, August certainly hasn't seen a terrific slowdown, as he reports this week:

The dreaded Dog Days of August or August Doldrums. Well, not this week. Screaming terns and gulls working over showering bait greeted those of us who made their way through the early dawn fog. Off in the distance you could hear the same scenario being repeated throughout the Bay. Because the warm air was so heavy, all sounds were exaggerated. You could hear the sounds of panicking baitfish as they broke through the surface film trying to escape the hungry jaws of ravenous stripers and bluefish below, only to be picked off at the surface by the ever present beaks of the terns and gulls.

It would have been easy to get caught up in the excitement of the moment and just start casting and chasing the moving fish, but experience had taught us to calm down and take a few minutes to observe what was happening. Although the action moved quickly from one area to another, in the fast currents of the new moon tides, a drift pattern was selected that would allow us to cover most of the action spots without starting the motor. We landed and released stripers up to 30" and blues to 8 pounds until our arms ached. This action lasted well into the morning.

Buzzards Bay is full of bait and the stripers and blues are taking advantage of the food supply. Bonito have been slow to show in any large numbers. The few pods that we have seen were gone before we could get near them. With all of the bait in the water, their numbers should soon swell.

Interestingly, there were times when we were literally surrounded by birds, showering baitfish and busting fish and we could not buy a hit. We were using medium to large Clousers and baby bunker patterns at the time. We tried different colors to no avail. We did notice that the bait that the bluefish spit up was very, very small herring that were about 3/4" to 1" long. In desperation, we tied on a 1" glass minnow pattern and we were back in business. These small flies took both stripers and blues of all sizes.

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

There are some truly nice bass along the islands right now, but many of them are hanging on the 20 to 30 foot edges where only a super fast sink line will get down to them. Smaller fish, both blues and bass, can be found around Pasque and Nashawena on east tides, with some good surface activity. We did run into a good school of fish in the 24 to 36 inch range that were willing to take white poppers; even when they weren't on the surface, you good see them come up with an occasional swirl and you could bring them up with some noisy surface commotion.

Woods Hole has been pretty slow, with some smaller bass and blues, but folks hoping for bonito have been frustrated.

Middle Ground has been off and on, with more of the former than latter, while Hedge Fence has still been the best spot for bonito, with trolling taking most of the fish. As of yet, there is no word on albies. Working east, the southside ponds all have snappers and some schoolies at dusk and dawn, although there are some larger bass being taken at night, albeit on bait. If anything, small black Deceivers and other juvenile pogy or herring patterns might do the trick, as this is some of the most common bait in the area.

The Cape Cod Canal

The early morning turning east tides of the first of the week saw good action in the rips to the west on bass from 20 to 30 inches, with flyrodders doing well with so many small herring and sand eels in the area. Most of the larger fish have been east, with a 42 pounder taken on a jig midweek, which means flyrodders should be thinking fast sink lines if they want larger bass. There is also no doubt that very early morning to first light is the time to be on the riprap, as the rats are reporting that once there is light, much of the surface action shuts down and the fish settle deeper.

The South Side

Spanish mackerel are making themselves known from Popponesset to Cotuit, but bonito have been few and far between. Some folks have found them at the far outside of Succonesset and there have been reports of some pods off the tent, but there is nothing to count on.

The best suggestion would be to burn some fuel and cruise this stretch, where sand eels and juvenile herring and pogies might just be holding fish, just as there were bass on top earlier this week around Poppy. If bluefish are what you seek, there are plenty of tailor sized ones (3 to 5 pounds) inside while places like Horseshoe Shoals hold some larger ones to 8 pounds.

Martha's Vineyard

As usual, Captain Leslie Smith of Backlash Charters has been moving to take advantage of action which will best please her charters, especially given the lack of inshore bonito action as she points out this week in her report:

Biggest news of the week has been the return of bass in good numbers down at the Hooter, though the persistent offshore swell that's been rolling in has kept all but the biggest of the charter fleet from running all the way down. Plenty of blues and bonito for the light tackle trollers, both at the Hooter as well as the shallows around Porky's (Skiff's) Island. Hawes and Long Shoals have turned into deserts, with all the sand eels having moved out, taking with them all the small blues. I ventured out to Horseshoe and found plenty of #3-5 blues to satisfy the kids I had on board. Have also been catching a lot of very nice sized black sea bass on the shallower flats between Cape Poge and Squash Meadow. Inshore bonito fishing has still not really happened, and I doubt that it ever will this season, as it will only be another couple of weeks before the albies make their annual appearance. State Beach remains the only area where they have consistently been breaking, but too many boats and too few shots make fishing for them there only for those with an extreme amount of patience.

A great deal of the talk on the island has been the amount of krill that has bass and bonito sipping on the surface at times, especially on the north side. These fish can be frustratingly selective in their feeding, with floating lines and small shrimp, crab, and sliders often the best patterns.

Nantucket

Bill Pew from Bill Fisher Tackle had the word that bonito made their appearance midweek inside the harbor proper, with one angler managing four of the speedsters. Folks have also been working the Jetties area for bass, while Great Point has been very good for blues and the occasional bonito, while bass are a little tougher from the beach. The Bonito Bar has been kind to flyrodders, where "Bust em up" Bobby Walin, who is known for breaking 6 to 8 fly rods a year, was crowing about having dinner on the line while hooked up with a bone, only to successfully destroy another long wand. When I spoke to Bill this morning, he informed me that the next day Bobby boated three bones, including the largest fly rod fish this season so far, a 7+ pounder.

As an example of the potential of the BB, Lynne Heyer at Cross Rip Outfitters said they had as many as 13 landed on trips this week; the best flies have been young-of-the-year herring patterns and epoxy patterns. As is true of everywhere else, they are anxiously awaiting the arrival of albies, with only a few Spanish mackerel taken so far. From the beaches, Great Point has had a mix of bass, blues and bones in the early morning, while Smith's Point has had some blues and bass for shore anglers and Eel Point has small bluefish feeding heavily as of midweek. On the flats, Jeff ran into bass sipping krill on a cloudy day and has been experimenting with small bonefish patterns.

The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy

While Captain Kris Jop of Come Fly With Me Charters has usually been one of our best sources for reports on Monomoy action, in recent weeks he has sent info on offshore trips; this week, however, he is back with an overview of his fishing on the flats and waters to the east of Monomoy:

Now that we have arrived at the end (if you can believe it!) of August, I have realized that I have neglected to report on the general fishing conditions around the Monomoy Islands this year. Although I have been fishing there at least two days every week throughout the entire season, it has seemed that stories from other locations were more urgent.

I have found that stripers have been concentrated on the East side of South Monomoy during the incoming tide and feeding actively very close to the Island. During this tide, I have been locating my boat in a location that allows us to drift along parallel to the Island so my clients cast their flies towards the surf. There are also some favorite shallow locations along the Island we have been able to sight-fish for stripers during this tide. During the outgoing tide I have been fishing several locations along the South Beach.

My preferred flies are large sand eel imitations (4-6 inches long) with chartreuse-yellow color patterns in overcast skies and tan-white color patterns in clear, bright skies. I have been amazed at the sheer volume of bait in these waters - it does add an additional challenge to the fly fisherman - with so much available, the feeding stripers do feed aggressively, yet selectively. In addition to knowing where to fish, being smart about applying and continuing to improve your skills are also important. The key elements of casting a distance, laying a clean line, quality of fly presentation and attention to stripping speed and technique are all very important in this type of fishing conditions. With that in mind, a good resource to look at when thinking about practicing your techniques in my recent article in Fly Fishing New England.

Well, although summer is slipping past and fall is just around the corner, happily our fishing season has a few more months to keep us happy as the weather cools.

Walt Geryk was also good enough to email a report about his trip to the Chatham Light area on Monday, with some tips about what is working there:

In making our Friday night drive to the Cape we couldn't help but laugh and talk about the great time we had with Captain Tony Biiski. By the time we arrived in North Falmouth we weren't sure if we were worn out from the laughter and conversation or the seeming short 2 ¼ hour drive from Northampton. Now it's three-thirty am, the alarm beeping, and we find our way to The Chatham Light House area to fly fish the tide of choice. Even though, at least for us, the fishing had slowed a bit from the success we enjoyed of past weeks, we still had a good time to go along with catching some nice stripers and small blues while wading from Chatham to Sandwich during our weekend stay. Concentrating on the out going tide and working our way out to the edges of the bars as the waters rushed out, three of us were able to hook up a few times until reaching the end of the bars we were fishing. That's where the larger fish seemed to be feeding as one flyrodder in my party proved. He landed two nice keepers, one 32 and the other 34", with a few other misses and some nice screamers that had gotten away. I concentrated this Saturday more in the shallows where it turned out to be not as productive as it was in the past, but once I moved out to the edges of the bars, where the deeper drop-offs were, I started hooking up. I can't say enough that you must know these areas well and wade them very cautiously or you could find yourself stranded with the possibility of not returning. We used a mixed box of flies, finding again that the Cape Cod producers are still the Clousers and Deceivers. Read and be sure to understand the tide charts and water heights. A must is to ask local shops about safety issues on your planned fishing spot. Good planning can result in a fun and safe trip. Pick the tides you want to fish and check with the local fly shop of the area ahead of time to get some "Tips and Tactics". Good Luck and fish smart! If you're new to the Cape or a seasoned angler, PFD's are good investment to insure your safety for future fishing and be sure to scope out the area in the daylight to see hazards what you may be up against.

The solid fishing off South Beach continues, although the fish are outside a little farther. Nelson Field worked there on Sunday and Monday and said the dogfish aren't as much of a problem. There are also some large bluefish mixed in; they key is large sand eel patterns (up to 8 or 9 inches), with olive a favorite color. On the flats, the fish are definitely smaller - at least the ones you can get to take the fly. Small sand eel patterns (again think Clousers) and crab patterns have also been effective. Paul Newmier up in Eastham said they have been weighing bass in the high 20 pound class from the rips around Monomoy, with the main bait once again large sand eels with some squid mixed in. As far as the beaches go, Coast Guard in Eastham has had a decent mix of bass in the 10 to 20 pound class feeding on smaller sand eels (3 to 4 inches), with eels at night producing as well as one would expect. Down around Nauset, Pochet had a couple of good nights earlier in the week and Pleasant Bay below the lighthouse has been productive from the beach at night.

Emilio Rogel up in Provincetown said there has been a decent number of fluke being taken from the beaches from Race Point to Hatches Harbor, with some blues in the harbor as well. The bass fishing is definitely slower, with some small fish on the back beaches, but it's a hunt-and-pick situation. As always, your best bet is to check out any of the outer beach locations at low tide for holes and bars, especially newly formed ones, and mark the location of any bait since things can change from one tide to the next.

The North Side

Running back in from a whale watch trip last Saturday, Kate and I witnessed birds all over schools of bass on the backside of Sandy Neck in Barnstable Harbor and apparently this area continues to produce good numbers of schoolies and the occasional bluefish. Out in front of Sandy Neck, some of the larger bass that trollers have been taking around Scorton Ledge and well off the parking lot have been moving into the shallows at night; Bruce Miller suggests small pogy patterns since this is what many of the fish are eating.

Blues have been found in good numbers from the Path to the Pamet up around Truro, but Billingsgate has been a bit slower this week on bass. Sand eels are definitely the main bait supply in the area.