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Cape Cod &the Islands
July 3rd, 2003 |
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| FishWire Coordinator: | Dave Churbuck |
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Should Tourists Be Declared a Gamefish?
I hate the Fourth of July. It marks the start of eight weeks of grousing on my part, so apologies in advance for the fortcoming negativity in the next few reports. Beefing about tourists is the Great Cape Cod Townie pastime. You shop for groceries after midnight. You spend May making pilgrimages to Hyannis and Falmouth for permits and supplies so you never have to drive there again until after Labor Day. You make your own tackle and trap your own bait just to avoid the tackle shops. And you beef about tourists and complain about their clueless driving. I go into the mental bunker starting with the Fourth of July parade. The Squirting Clam float from the E.P.A.C. Grotto, Milo the Drummer, the big Fire Department Brush Breaker, a flatbed filled with candy hurling college baseball players ... It is my dream to organize The Cotuit Clammer Precision Drill Team and march down Main Street in my waders while twirling a clam rake in perfect Fishing becomes especially tough in July. Is it my imagination or has the volume of boat traffic exploded over the past four or five summers? Nantucket Sound is a web of motorboat wakes on a Saturday afternoon, and the notion of sightcasting to the fish of one's life off of Dead Neck in the middle of the day has to be postponed until September. This is the month for three things in my piscine pursuits: fluke, crabs, and brown sharks. Everyone gets sick and tired of their Good reports this week and thanks to all those who emailed reports in response to my request for them. The winner of the t-shirt for the email of the week is KTmmm. Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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synchronization with 23 other marchers. I haven't picked out the music to march by. A good Sousa march with a nautical theme would fit the bill.
umpteenth 3 pound bluefish around now, so take my advice, put the fly rod down, take a deep breath, and do something until the bonito arrive in three weeks.Cape Cod Regions
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| Lots of news is coming from the North Side of the region, with bait in thick and everything from big blue fin tuna to stripers chasing it. This could be the start of the doldrums on the South Side and Falmouth as the boat traffic steps waaaay up this weekend. Vineyard and Nantucket are cooking along. Chatham and Nauset time is here. Now. |
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Captain Joe LeClair writes: Captain Bob Paccia writes: "Fourth of July week is here. Get ready for backyard barbeques, beach parties, parades, fireworks and bluefish, bluefish and more bluefish. These great gamesters are heavily entrenched throughout our waters and in numbers that we haven’t seen in years. I’m all ready hearing the complaints that the blues have driven off all of the good stripers. Although it is true that the invasion of bluefish has affected our striper fishing, I can assure you that they haven’t “driven off “all of the good bass. Stripers and bluefish have coexisted for thousands of years and this season is no different. We have been catching good numbers of stripers, but we have had to adapt our fishing and deal with waters that are teaming with bluefish. "If you think of it like our topside business world; all of us little workers are racing and scurrying around in every direction each day just trying to put a few dollars in our pocket, while the big bankers and investors just sit back and get fat on the left-over few bucks that we have left to put away. You see, those big bankers and investors are patient. They are very willing to sit back and take whatever little bits and pieces that we are willing to let drift their way. Big savvy bass are just like those successful bankers and investors, they have learned to be patient and to let all those bluefish and schoolie bass race around chasing the bait while they settle in well below and down current compounding their interest on all the little bits and pieces that drift to them. "They have learned to live with, or should I say, they’ve learned to live below the bluefish. You too, should learn how to fish below the marauding bluefish and schoolie bass. "When I say that “you should learn”, I mean exactly that. It’s not just a matter of casting a fly, lure or bait at a pod of feeding bluefish because your chances of getting below them before one of the blues grab your offering is pretty damn slim. You have to plan your presentation carefully so that your bait, lure or fly arrives at the intended water level without being detected by the blues. The only way to accomplish this is by using the existing current to drift your counterfeit well under the bluefish from a position well up-current from the school of feeding blues. Believe it or not, this takes a lot of practice. You have to know how hard the current is pulling, the sinking rate of your line and lure, and how those two factors are impacted by your boat’s drift based upon such things as wind speed, direction and other on-coming boat traffic. And you wonder why most charter captains are gray-headed… If you can learn to present natural looking offerings below and down-current from the feeding blues, you will earn high dividends throughout your fishing future. It is well worth investing some time. "Oh, while we’re on the subject of bluefish, don’t overlook this fantastic fishing opportunity that we have with these magnificent fighters. Pound for pound their never-say-die fighting abilities are hard to beat. For some reason bluefish just don’t get any respect, but if you want some reel Fourth of July fireworks, try some top water poppers, sliders or gurglers on a school of hungry blues and you’ll have all of the aerial explosions that your nervous system can handle. Not recommended for those recently recovering from coronary surgery. "Be extra careful on the water this holiday week. Remember if you want to drink, do it after you leave the water. Booze has no place on board." |
"Fly fishing and light tackle fisherman and woman are having a great time with all these Stripers that are hanging around. It has started to get a little more difficult with the increase of recreational boaters, but that is always the case at this time of year. We have seen the Bass laying up on the surface with the calm weather and finning fish are a really great challenge for fly fisherman who are looking to sight fish to monster bass. With millions of bluefish around it is also easy to keep the angler under age 10 quite happy. Look for the Bass to go deeper in the next week or two. Please be careful out there on July 4th it is always a very, very busy day on the water and many of the boaters are heading out for the first time."
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Falmouth & the Elizabeths
Captain Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters had a bad day this week, losing a brand-new engine which has And Jim's version of the same trip: "Monday Morning....o' dark thirty. My son Logan and I meet Captain Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters to head to the launch ramp. We are sworn to not say a word about the "hotspot". A written contract....something about my "first born" and rights if I blab.......hummmmmm! It's a foggy morning as we launch the boat and head out. I'm thinking it's a little "much" with the "required blindfolds" in 100 foot visability! Finally we arrive at the "spot". Blindfolds off....still cannot see a darn thing! Rods baited and in the water....fish on....Me!....fish off. Then my Son goes on a roll. Big fish after big fish after big fish....the kid is beaming ear to ear! I even got a chance to catch some. Doubles..singles....the best day We've ever had. Unfortunately, the visability and slow roll of the boat got the better of my Son.....the dreded "Hurl". "Oh...just kidding about the blindfolds....... |
I met up with Jim Miller and his 12-year-old son Logan today. They were hoping that we could find a few big bass like we had been getting a few weeks ago. We had eels a-plenty and were headed out to find some likely spots to sling our little friends. The visibility was fair to very poor for the whole day. I must say it was very impressive the level of skill I saw navigating around Vineyard Sound. The word of the day “security” Everyone (including us) were using security calls to keep others updated of our positions when transiting the holes and other potentially dangerous areas. The radio traffic was clear, concise, professional and necessary today. It was a pleasant change from yesterday’s weekend warriors. Back to the report. They HAMMERED the BIG fish. We found some good water and within a few minutes Jim had a pick-up. A little quick on the hook-set and the first swing was a miss. It wasn’t long before young Logan showed Dad how it’s done. He single handedly brings to boat side a beauty that measures around 49” and weights 39.4 pounds on the digital scale. Jim tried to make his comeback with several nice fish in the 38” to 43” range, but young Logan would have none of it. He raises the bar AGAIN! This time 49.5” and 41.8 pounds. The kid was on fire! We were able to fish the area for only a few hours before a little stomach problem caused us to have to cut the trip shot. In around two and a half hours they managed around a dozen fish all upper 30” to upper 40” fish. The old Capt even manage one during a lunch break. It was a solid 42”er, but nothing like what young Logan was dragging in. Jim and his son are SUPER people and it was a pleasure to fish with them today. I had a great time watching the two of them work those fish. I love to see a father and son together enjoying a day like this. It makes it all worth wild. Weather was foggy, light SW wind and the water was 61 degrees. Eels, eels and more eels were the tactic of choice. Overall a banner day|
Bill Downing reports slim pickings on Tuesday:
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"The Canal doldrums continue for me. Two schoolies in 2.5 hrs on the last of the east tide. The good news is at least there was more bait around. My guess is 4-7 inch tinker or spike macks, but hard to tell in the dark."
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Does anybody fish as much as Bob Parsons? He was on both sides of the Cape this past week. Here's his report from the South Side .... |
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Captain Leslie Smith of Backlash Charters wishes everyone a fishy Fourth: "Fishing around the island remains strong, and the terrific (finally!) weather of the past week has made it a pleasure to get out and chase bass and blues. The rips off Wasque are holding lots of bass up to twenty pounds, making great sport for the fly rodders and light tackle casters. With the calm seas and bright sun, the fish are a bit skittish, and having people troll over the rip edges doesn't help. If you insist on wire lining, try out by Mutton Shoal, where you'll get bigger fish and leave the shallows to the smaller boats. Needless to say, with the fine conditions, the area has gotten a bit crowded. If you fish there, please take a moment to check those other boats near you and figure out the pattern of drift. Avoid motoring down the face of the rips, shut down engines whenever possible, and everyone will have better fishing without spooking the fish out of the rips.
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"I made it up to the vineyard this weekend with the  |
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Skunkbuster emailed in this report on Cape Cod Bay: "There's good news and bad news in Cape Cod Bay. The good news is that baitfish are back in force. The bad news is that.....baitfish are back. Stripers seem to be moving toward their normal summer behavior, and with all the bait around have become a bit picky at times. "There are tons of small stipers and tiny bluefish from the east end of the canal to Barnstable harbor. Move around because they're still bunched up. Small sand eel or silverside imitations are the ticket. Sight fishing season has begun on the bay as the prevailing winds shift to the south and the water goes glass calm over the flats. Wary stripers are mounting the flats in small pods and don't seem to favor a particular tide. They're fairly dark and easy to spot as they haven't been on the flats for too long. I've managed to fool a couple decent fish on a small weighted slug-go (sorry, not FF), but only by going to a very light 10# test fluorocarbon leader. "Good luck, and I hope everyone gets more time to fish than I've had recently!" K.T.Mmm emailed: "I arrived in the the bay at 730 -- a few of the sandwich basin fleet were there -- most of them were at scortons heading down to the parking lot - last year i had great luck and headed for deeper water where my fishing buddy george on about time heads beautiful day light chop wind out of the north seas maybe a foot had tons of marks about 3miles out of the the canal which puts me in deeper water off scortons bang the reel starts screaming now im thinking boy was that easy only to find myself hooked up to a ghost pot oh well another bunker spoon nice grapple hook rerigged and continued my eastward track about an hour goes by and bang the reel goes nuts again after a 15min battle i boat a 47 inch 37 pounder nice fish trolling a silver bunker and a black tube continued in that 65 foot depth and took a second bass off the parking llot seemed to be a few more boats in the area hung around for a while and took another 36 incher water temp at the time was a round 66 -67 last year i made 27 trips to the bay from the west end of the canal 24 times we took a bass 39 inches was the smallest the bay been good to me.
Bob Parsons replied: "I was there today(clamming day). Fished the incoming. once the channels over the flats had enough water to work a boat in, I anchored and had fish after fish pass bye on their way in to the flats. Small sand eel patterns continue to be the fly of choice. I found the fish very willing pass close to the boat while in the shallows if I sat still to watch. Largest of the morning was 26" Keep those reports coming,
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