Captain Bob Paccia from the Shoreline Guide Service filed on Friday:

"Today was a family day. My wife Barbie and my father-in-law, Jim joined me for a day OTW. We ran out to Vineyard sound hoping that my hot spot would still be cranking after that lousy weather we’ve had the past few days. We had the standard issue of eels and we began slinging them around 0630. Jim struck first with a fish as the first eel hit the water. The bass was in the mid 30” range and covered with lice. Not what we’d been getting but a nice fish none the less. We had a steady pick most of the morning as did my buddies Tom and Buddha who had followed us out there in their boat. The fish were not as large as in past days and they were a little more spread out. This is how I expected to find them this time of year as the few days of stacked up BIG fish was very unusual. We had a few blues cut up the eels, but not enough to be a pain. My wife got her biggest fish of the year, an 18.7 pounder. I has purchased a Berkley digital scale after releasing the big fish without a positive weight last week. Hopefully that won’t happen again. After a few hours I landed what turned out to be the big fish of the day. A 43” 30.2# that was also covered with lice. Tom and Buddha had better luck as the day went on when Tom managed a solid 40” fish with a nice fat belly. He had another fish in the low 20# range as well. Final tally was around 45 fish for our boat. Tom and Buddha were somewhere in the upper teens. Most of the fish were in the low 30” range and very aggressive. The water temp was 57-58 degrees and the depth varied greatly. We got fish in 2 feet of water and in 25 feet of water. All were landed on eels and spinning gear. The weather was foggy and rainy in the AM but cleared and became bright and sunny by mid day. Overall a great day with the family and a solid outing for the boat.."

"fished around 5:30 this morning but unlike yesterday not a fish in sight.. no a bump nothing.... fished smaller jig trying to stay up but still nothing...yesterday fish everywhere today
nothing??????"

"fished canal at 5:30 am lots of surface action water like glass
lots of small blues around no stripers but im sure they were in the mix..conditions were like oct. big schools breaking all over the surface...very picky thou"

"i fished my favorite east end rip last night, although these in-between tides turned my favorite rip into a mere ripple...3 oz's held bottom and 4 oz's dredged up clams...

halfway down on the west the rip showed some life...big rubba fooled 4 fish, the last 2 being 3-footers...just as i thought things were gonna start happening the rip just died...90 minutes before slack and even 3 oz's was anchoring to the bottom...

the single most amazing thing about last night was that i fished for almost 90 minutes and didn't lose a single jig..."

"Glad someone's getting something. Still ugly for me. Managed a 32" bass last night and one bluefish cutoff in three hours of the west tide. It was so dead, I was wondering if that bass was the only one left! Still no bait to speak of, probably the culprit. I suspect I'd do a bit better later in the tide but simply haven't been able to fish it then lately. "

"Apparently those cows in Buzzards and VS are staying put for the time being. Fished the middle part of the west tide in several spots for a few hours last night for a total of two schoolies. No bait and nothing breaking = tough fishing."

"Lots of small schoolies selectively attacking baitfish near the sandwich marina on the last couple hours of the drop. Slightly larger fish were hitting squid around the lights. Also had a couple tiny bluefish destroy my slug-gos. The tiny fish in the marina would hit a small fin-s fish when dead-drifted outside a school of bait. The squid-eaters liked plastic too--white slug-gos and rubber shad. But the action was pretty slow and the fish were very finicky. Nothing bigger down deep that I could find and the "bite" died to nothing at slack. Nothing great to report. "

"I hope the bass appreciate how hard I'm trying, b/c they sure are not cooperating.
3 hours, west end, west tide. Pretty nice tide, some bait, just no fish.
Managed 2 schoolies (maybe pre-schoolies at that ).
Any day now those bigguns will move in from the islands, you'll see Bill. Then we'll be up to our armpits in 40 pounders."

"Summer finally has arrived, with light southerly breezes, warm air and great fishing.  Wasque still hasn't gotten as good as it should be for the last week of June, but there are bass to be had in the rips for the fly rodders and top water enthusiasts.  The area around Skiff's Island has had some nice fish coming to the surface, upwards of twenty pounds, but a bit inconsistent.  The hot spot for those wanting to do some live baiting has been just north of Mutton Shoal.  Live scup have been the bait of choice, but eels will probably work as well.  The small blues are all up and down East Beach making for great fun for any kids you might have aboard.  This coming week should be great, as we now have an incoming tide in the morning, always the better tide for topwater in the Wasque area."

"Fished Saturday to midnight on the Vineyard - got on the island at 1:30, fishing an incoming at the gut with flies and spinning gear until 6PM slack - cookiie cutter blues (2-3 lb) all afternoon. One small 20 inch bass on a white bucktail jig. Any fly worked - even had a small 4 ft. shark circle the rock I was standing on while I was trying to subdue a fiesty little cocktail blue that was on a very short leader. Interesting experience.

Fished right fork of south beach that night - outgoing - had one nice hard hook up and popped the fly after a very brief rodbending - dead drifting a sparse white half/half clouser like high-stick nymphing a steelhead fly. Bass was sitting in on of the troughs being made by the outgoing rush of water hitting the ocean waves.

That was it for the night - long walk and a longer wet and cold drive to Lobsterville - nothing - absolutely nothing going on at midnight, no cars at all there. No small bait washing up on the beach. Water very cold, too.

Most of the bait I saw at the Gut was 1-1/2 inches long - sand eels. Checked Menemsha Sunday morning on an incoming to see if there was anything going on - nada.

It started raining again and my buddy Pat and I called it a day and visited a friend for a couple of pints and some "remember when". Sure wish the fishing was better, but I'll get one more shot at them from shore next weekend - but this time mom and baby with me, so a shorter leash (so to speak).

By the way, thanks for the tips with the braided lines for the spinning rod - I was able to cast a 1/2 oz. jig a mile with a 3 foot flouro 15-lb leader, a 6-in wire "tippet" and 30-lb PowerPro - worked like a champ.

Wish I could report better conditions and results. If anyone else is there fishing this week from shore, will be keeping my eyes on the board to see a positive change in conditions!!"

"Since the weather finally got out of fall mode and more of us have been out there I finally have something to report. One of the guides came through the door this morning and summed things up pretty well in a few words... "it's f@#%*!g sick out there..." Dead calm and fish all around. They landed and released 1 striper that bottomed out the Boga Grip.

On a personel note my Mom was down for her post school decompression trip where she managed to get her first bluefish on the fly, and followed that up with 10 more. She also got to witness big stripers finning and tailing up on the flats for the first time. All in all a great trip for her.

I went out tonight after work to blow off a little steam, nothing cures that work tensionlike time on the water. That one little blue made it all go away, along with spooking a couple of stripers while wading back to the car with the rod strung up.

Over all there seem to be fish all around the island, just pick your species and have some fun with it. Bluefish all over the south shore. Stripers on the flats in Madaket and up in the harbor and a mix of both out at Great Point. Have fun and get out there now that summer has arrived."

"Fished off Chatham today, summed up in two words----

Million Bluefish

Everywhere.

Fly or spin.

To 38"s.

Never saw so many fish off any kind anywhere."

"Lots of big Bass in the bathtub yesterday. Fish high to drop, don't worry about time of day. The BT and SB are tide sensitive beaches, not so much time of day. Bring shrimp flies along with crabs and small sandeels."

"Got a niice early start into the Harbor. Tide was coming up on the sandbars and I notice some swirls at an indent where water would soon be making it's way up a dry drainage channel. Beached the boat and walked over. Stripers in the shallows tailing as they looked for sandeels. What a nice photo that would have made, but I made a cast with a small sandeel clouser and connected immediatly. Wow did that fish go, heading for deeper water. Landed it was about 25". But the other decent fish had also headed for deeper water. The area did fill with smaller schoolies that provide for ample action.

Later I was drifting over the flats. What a great day to drift and sight fish. I saw many follows, some were big fish, and all rejected me. Maybe time to lenghthen the leader."

"The fish had lock jaw for sure the only way I caught them was when they were on top feeding,
The fish would follow the fly all the way to the boat and turn off.
I think there is just so much bait that they must be full ?
I left around 10:00 the boat traffic was really starting to pick up and guy were starting to play run and gun."

"Had a great day OTW with Bob and his son Brian.  We launched at Sandwich around 0530 and headed east.  Hit the creeks for a few fish.  Saw Bob G and Big Cat (thanks for the bug spray… damn no-see-ums) Worked over to Barnstable.  FAC and plenty of fish in shallow water.  We hit several spots around the area all held fish.  Some were VERY big bass.  The big fish in shallow water eluded us, but the smaller fish provided plenty of enjoyment for my two novice fly guys.  They were getting better ever cast and by the end of the day, I could call out a direction and distance and they would be right in the area.  Several bass were caught that way which as you know is not an easy task.  These guys were full of enthusiasm and soaked up every bit of information they could get.  They sighted fish very well and were amazed at the size of the fish in such shallow water.  Several flies worked throughout the day.  Very small olive and white sparse clousers and sparse sand eel epoxies were the top choices.  Total for the day around 40 fish.  Overall a great day with a couple great guys.  I couldn’t ask for two better people to take out for a day OTW.  Water was 64 in the AM and 71 by 1500.  Depth was between 15” and 15 feet.  Air temp was scorching hot with no wind.  Aloe anyone?"

"East Sandwich beach 5:30 am, stripers slamming sand eels all along the beach ,school after schools of sand eels making their way to the creek ,hooking up just about every cast,20" -28 "fish , as the tide flooded the action moved out back by the fork in the creek.perfect conditions ,dead calm no wind at all ,which made for some of the best sight casting hook-ups I 've ever experienced. 7 keepers( but released) largest 41". Wish I could have stayed for the out going tide ,it must have been phenomenal."