Cape Cod &

the Islands

August 9th, 2003

Some people have saved up all year for this .....

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

Tight Lines!

Dave Churbuck

Buzzards Bay

MUGGIES, MUGGIES, and MUGGIES…When will it all end???

Our current tropical weather pattern with its accompanying high winds, rough seas, downpours, thunder, lightning and even several downbursts have caused us to be off the water too many times during the past several weeks. We always exhibit extreme caution when dealing with these circumstances. Severe and dangerous weather conditions can seemingly come out of nowhere. One minute the sun is out and in the next second you can be in trouble. Any one of the following conditions can put you in danger:

• High Winds-Both pre-storm surface winds or even a downburst can come on without warning.
• Rough Seas-Coming from either a distant offshore storm or from an approaching thunderstorm can be severe and often can’t be seen until you’re into the midst of them.
• Low-level Clouds with or without accompanying Fog-Can come on quickly and can disorient you. Always keep a close watch to your position and check your compass before visibility gets reduced. Again, don’t wait until your visibility has shut down to check your location. It may be too late.

• Thunder and Lightning-You’re out fishing. It’s a hot and hazy day. Just the kind of day that you want to be on the water. Suddenly, you hear thunder in the distance. Get off the water! The lightning that caused that thunder can kill you! Remember, over time, more people in the United States, are killed by lightning than die from hurricanes, floods or tornadoes.  Marine environments (boating, fishing, standing on piers, jetties or beachfronts) are particularly dangerous. Bolts of lightning follow the path of least resistance to electrical neutrality. Make sure that you’re not part of that path. You don’t want to be the highest or most prominent feature in the area.

Important-

                  Be sure that you always leave a float plan with someone on shore.

                              Check local weather forecast before planning any trip.

                              Stay tuned to your VHF radio for weather alerts.

During one of our recent trips which had to be cut short due to a thunderstorm, I noticed one of my clients was counting the number seconds between the flash of lightning and the crack of thunder. He looked up at me with a smile and said, “We’re OK, I counted twenty-five seconds between the lightning flash and sound of thunder and divided that by 2. That means that the storm is about twelve and a half miles away from us.” I smiled back and said, “What it really means is that we are immediately heading away from the approaching storm to find some safe shelter.” He looked at me perplexed. On the way in I explained to him that his calculation was flawed. He was correct in counting the number of seconds between the lightning flash and the crack of thunder, but instead of dividing by 2 he should have multiplied by .2, which would have given him the correct distance from the storm of approximately five miles, not twelve and a half miles. Many people get confused when it comes to estimating these distances. There are two basic formulas:

1. Multiply the number of seconds by .2  (25 x .2 = 5).
2. Divide the number of seconds by 5 (25/5 = 5).

            Note that the answer in both examples is the same.

For safety sake, follow the “30/30 Rule”; if you count less than 30 seconds between the flash of lightning and the crack of thunder, get out of there, and seek a safe shelter.  Do not return to your activities until 30 minutes have elapsed since the last sound of thunder.

Although fishing has been made difficult due to the extreme weather conditions of late, we have managed to have some decent success when we’ve been able to get out. Plenty of stripers and bluefish are available throughout the Buzzards Bay waters. There are a lot of schoolies and blues working the bait on top and larger fish continue to patrol the deeper drop-offs.

Still no credible sightings of bonito in Buzzards Bay to date, but their do and in fact may be here. Unfortunately, with few fishermen on the water we have fewer eyes watching for “funny fish.

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Still unconfirmed rumors of bonito in Lackey's and Woods Hole, but nothing verifiable!

The Cape Cod Canal

TonyO had a good outing with some eels:

"Hit the canal early Tue. nite with a buddy to fish the end of the West tide in one of our favorite areas. We hadn't been fishing for more than 15min when I got a light pickup on a big eel. I set the hook and almost immediately I had a fish bury itself in a shelf or behind something. I could not tell if it was a large fish or small because it just stayed buried and would not move or take drag. After about 5-8 minutes of this stalemate I started climbing the bank to get a better angle on the fish and it started to pull drag in short/small increments, but was still not free. Finally after about 10min of this I was about halfway to the road the fish came out. Know it pulled drag at a better rate and felt heavy.Finishing the battle from way up the rocks I thought there was no way my chafed line could hold up. But it did and my buddy grabbed a 46in for me. There was no way I could not have gotten that fish without getting an angle on it. That was the only hit of the nite although by buddy lost a small fish rite before the tide turned East. After a very wobbly bike ride back to the vehicle the fish pulled scale to 39.5lbs."

The South Side

Snapper bluefish are starting to pepper the edges of the grass banks of the estuaries. Great fish for teaching kids and summer visitors how to fly fish. Use a 5-weight trout rod or lighter. Mickey Finn or other little attractor patterns will do the trick.

Bass are around, but overdominated by bluefish out in the rips. The three to five-pound blues are crawling over themselves in the inshore rips, up to six or eight pounds in the mid-Sound rips.

No one is calling in bonito reports yet, but that doesn't mean this isn't a week to really start looking for them. We've had a solid week of southerly winds, and that means nothing but southern water has been pushing our way.

Bob Parsons gave Hedge Fence a try:

"Entered the sound via Cotuit Bay. Picked up a few small bluefish while I waited to see what the conditions would be as the tide turned. It was a bumpy 9miles and I arrived very wet but once there conditions were ok. No signs of birds or fish activity, working the face of the rip produce mostly small bluefish. On bigger fish put on a good show with severl leaps 3-5' out of the water.

"Water temp was 75 near shore and 71 out in the sound."

TunnieMD says he was at the Fence a week before and observed the blues regurgitating baby squid. Time to head to the vice.

Martha's Vineyard

Captain Leslie Smith is catching trout with her family on her annual Montana vacation, she won't be reporting this week, nor next.

Nantucket

Bill Pew at Fisher's Tackle told me on Thursday afternoon:

"There are plenty of little bluefish around, predominantly they are at Great Point, but anywhere if one is fishing from a boat. Anglers should have no problem apprehending a blue or two from the beach between dawn and dusk at Great Point.

"There's been no showing of bonito up there, but the fish are increasing in numbers on the Bonito Bar. The charter captains are fishing the bar, and if they strike out then they'll cruise the southern shore looking for bluefish.

"The Nantucket Anglers Club is having its big annual billfiush tournament. Conditions were so terrible Tuesday that all boats took a layday. Three boats caught white marlin on Monday."

On Tuesday, Cross Rip Outfitters reported:

"I caught my first Bonito on Sunday at the infamous Bonito Bar.I wouldn't say it was hot and heavy, but it was pretty nice to land my first Bonito of the season. Capt. Shawn has had a couple of blue ribbonn days out there with 7-8 fish trips. The weather has been tough to get out with alot of wind and rain. The flats have also been good, I was up there also on Sunday with Capt. Jeff and Lou Ungarelli. We saw a number of nice fish, but saw is the right word. Our beach guide, Burt Went, caught a nice Striper yesterday out on Eel Point mid morning. Good job Burt. Early morning at Eel Point can be a good spot to fish for Bonito. In the past, the fish work the bait against Billy's Bar. I haven't heard of any yet but it may be something to check out. Still plenty of Blues at Great Point too. Good Luck and Good Fishing. "

The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy

Very little in the way of reports coming from the outer limits of this FishWire's reporting range. Send em in!

The North Side

Bob Parsons, who seems to be the only person really fishing these days ...

"...managed to get out into Barnstable to fish the incoming tide. Water was choppy but fine for all but very small boats. Fished the edges of Horseshoal picking up a number of schoolies. Largest was just over 23". Clouser olive over white but by now there is not much olive left."

Saltybugger points out:
"look on the east side of the flats outside, we've found HUNDREDS of stripers podded up there TWICE now....looks like a light/dark line but the dark is ALL fish "

Paul Cheever reports:

"I fished the East Sandwich beaches and the big creeks on saturday and sundays out going tides, not much to report as far as striper action, managed 3 fish largest around 30". The good news is peanut bunker ,so small if I did"nt see the flash as they swam in circles I would not have noticed them ,these bunker are in the 3/4 to 1 in. range. I hope this is a sign of good things to come,personally this has been avery slow year."
 
Keep those reports coming,