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Cape Cod &the Islands
October 11th, 2003 |
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| FishWire Coordinator: | Dave Churbuck |
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If you don't get out there now ....
It’s Indian Summer, the moon is full, and the fish are feeding here on Cape Cod. It may be the "Hunter’s Moon" but I propose it be renamed the "Fisherman’s Moon." This is a perfect weekend for night fishing from the beach from Chatham to Provincetown. Sunrise comes late, so set your alarm, put a sweater on under the foul weather top, drink a quart of coffee, and stalk the surf. Fishing the big surf at night under a full moon is can be a very intense and salty adventure, probably the most pure angling experience that Cape Cod has to offer. Surf casting declined during the striped bass drought of the late 70s and 80s. Back then, it was about beach buggies with striper decals and racks of 11-foot surf sticks with green Penn Z’s on their sides.. Today it’s piping plovers and erosion control and a lot of good, honest walking. In sand. In baggy or too-tight waders -- depending on your carbo loading -- socks rolling down around your heels, blisters growing in places you should always wash thoroughly. I usually fish alone on the big beach; few people want to come along for a chilly, windy death march (alumni of the Reel-Time 1995 Death March excepted) under the moon on a deserted beach than seems to run forever from the north to the south. In front is the big void, booming to a stop with waves that one can feel through wader soles. I cast a ten-weight Sage RPLX with a sinking shooting head, booming the line up at 10 o’clock on the cast, and over the first line of breakers. The trick is staying in contact with the fly, and trying to imagine Some lucky nights the waves are infested with fish that fight for the right to party. I’ve seen their shadows when the moon is low to the eastern horizon and its beams shine through the waves. Usually it’s just dark, with a lot of bright white foam rolling around.
It’s loud on the beach when the wind blows over your right shoulder out of the Southwest -- like it was Wednesday night -- a great casting wind. The offshore wind holds the waves back from a breaking a little bit longer than an onshore breeze, so they pause, then crash a lot harder. It can be a lot more dangerous were a fisherman to get lulled into turning his back to the sea, and doesn’t see the comber with his name on it. I can’t hear anyone on the beach unless they’re right next to me. A bad experience with a stack of speakers inside the Cape Cod Coliseum at a Marshall Tucker concert took out that segment of my hearing range that encompasses other people talking, especially my wife. So when some good hearted stranger decides to ask about the luck I’m having (usually when I’m crouched in the grass above the high water line with a MagLite between my teeth untangling Satan’s Thread ((aka the running line on my shooting head set-up))) I completely freak and usually scream. It’s magic out there. You bet. Just don’t wade into the water. Even stan
ding on the surge is scary. Every outgoing wave does the Big Dig to your boots. I’m constantly moving from side to side, avoiding the trenches in the sand left by my last standing point. My favorite part is when a wave breaks under my shooting basket and cold water blasts all over the place, finding all the spots where my wading belt doesn’t quite clamp shut the foul weather gear. They say to "read the water." I still haven’t gotten to the Dick and Jane stage of reading ocean surf at night. I cast everywhere and hook fish in the waves, in the wash, and in the backwash. I’ve seen stripers beach themselves at night and wriggle around. A crazy man could have tackled one and wrestled it ashore if he jumped on it before the next wave launched it back to the briny spume. "Look for holes" they tell you. I see ocean. I see total aquatic chaos. And if the wrong person surprises me some night, I might see dead people. Beach skunkings suck. Not to mention real skunkings, which can also happen on the sand at night when the critters come sniffing for pieces of offal in the wrack along the high water mark. I always see at least one fox in the parking lot trash cans. Raccoons have climbed into my bait bucket and dragged it away. But going fishless and death marching back to the car is a humbling walk of shame. Then driving through the dawn, slugging down another quart of coffee before showering and praying there are some Powerpoint meetings to sleep through at work. In three months you’re going to wish you made that drive. Soon we’ll be posting ice fishing pictures of disturbed fish addicts with the cold, unhappy children who must accompany them. So go stalk the surf this next two weeks, be salty say "Arrr!" a lot and eat breakfast at Larry’s P.X on Route 28 in Chatham. The linguica omelet with a side of sausage and home fries is what I recommend if your cholesterol is dangerously low Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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how’s its sinking and acting before the next breaker smashes it. 
Cape Cod Regions
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Indian summer and the fishing is hopping. Albies along the Southside. Bass on the southside beaches of Nantucket. Canal is hard to call, but great when it turns on. Spots to focus on this weekend: Waquoit to Craigville. Ballston Beach to the Race. 53 pound cow weighed in at shop in Truro. |
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Captain Bob Paccia of the Shoreline Guide Service reports:
Huge schools of baitfish and relatively warm waters throughout the Buzzards Bay area, for this time of the season, are adding up to some great and exciting early fall fishing. As long as the fall storms are minimal and temperatures and bait hold we’ll have an extended fall season. So don’t miss out an opportunity to get out on the water. Some people think that the fall migration of both bait and gamefish (namely stripers and blues), happens all at once. The truth is that it is a gradual movement. Even as stripers and blues head south they tend to stop along their way to take advantage of any large supplies of baitfish. With moderate water temperatures and sufficient sunlight, the migration moves along at a slower pace. I fished this week with Mike Kendall formerly from Boxboro, MA on his new 22’ Pathfinder. Mike is a great fly fisherman who has scheduled numerous charters with me throughout the years. Mike is a contractor so dealing with the cold and unpredictable weather is nothing new for him. We’ve had some of our best fishing of the year during these last several weeks of the season. Luck was with us and we were given a fall bluebird day. Super glass smooth seas and temperatures that had us in our shirtsleeves by 9:30 AM. We caught a lot of large schoolie stripers in the 23”-26” range plus we released several keeper-sized stripers up to 32”. Later we were catching bluefish at will and Mike hooked into and released an alligator-sized bluefish that registered 13.5 pounds on the “Boga Grip. A great fight, a great fish and all-in-all, a great day on the water with a good friend. Remember, it’s a very long winter. Anytime that we can steal now is precious. |
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"Fished eels .caught three blues Two were 29" one snapper .I was also cut of by something real big real fast and real strong.Cut of 60 lb mono. leader and peeled line off my reel without slowing a bit.I love being on vacation!!!" |
Shorebound fished around Trunk River:|
Bill Downing reports: "Caught a few schoolies and one small keeper on the west tide last night, but in general the fish either weren't there or were not as interested in eating as they have been for the past week. I would have figured with the strong SW wind, the place would have been on fire, but October is never a sure thing from tide to tide. I may try the the last two hours of the dropping tonight (rather than the first half), which means a wee hours excursion." JimK posted: "Fished from 8:30pm to 11pm last night around east end. Into fish right away about 2cd or 3rd cast. Caught about 5 but all small about 16 to 24". I decided to move and try some other spots to see if I could find a larger stock. Nothin in a few other spots maybe a small schoolie here and there. After the turn west I managed another 4 or so fish but also small. I had numerous hits where it seemed like the fish were playing with the plug. I almost felt like I had to snag them. Short quick taps." Lee Galbass writes: "Had a pretty good week so far, a few small ones on rubba in the day and eels at night. Top water action is spotty at best but managed a couple, Monday morning I saw(not caught) a few very large fish bustin by the 'errin run, but nothing in the east end. Flounder still holdin up good for dinner for Dad and I. Scusset beach has been a bust for me the past two weeks, small blues and a Dogfish tourny. |
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It's getting tougher on the Sound. The terns seem to be really gone, so the best way to find fish is with a pair of binoculars and some patience. The albies are still around. I saw a pod off of Craigville Beach on Thursday, and a bit of a better turn out around the golf course at New Seabury. There are blues in the mix, so good luck protecting your prized albie flies. I have no idea what the fish are feeding on, and not having hooked onto anything but a bluefish in the past week -- on a pretty little white flatwing -- I can't give any guidance on what patterns are working. Bob Popeo reports: "I skipped out of work yesterday to fish with my brother and one of his partners. No signs of life in the Sound. No bait, no blues and certainly no albies. Scary, and a little disconcerting. Hope it was just a quirk in the weather (we fished both tides). The good news is that there is tons of bait in the bays and stripers all over it. Dan Fraser emailed his first report. Thanks!: "My friend and I headed out of Barnstable Harbor on Tuesday only to find 4 - 6 foot waves so we quickly turned around and launched oceanside. After searching from Craigville to the Vineyard and back again, we finally ran into busting albies back in front of Craigville. Fly fishing with 2 inch silverside (jiggy and clousers for a little wight), we boated 13 albies from 1 to 4:30 in the afternoon - A couple of which pushed 10 lbs. Not a boat around the whole time. Without a doubt,the best fishing I ever had for Albies." WtownFlyfisher writes: "went out yesterday and caught a few decent size fish (20-25) right at the bar off pomponesett spit at the turn of low tide. Quick fast action. " gerryg reports from Waquoit: "Fished the jetties yesterday from the boat. Started at about 6:45 until 11:00ish when the wind picked up and blew us around. Groups off bass busting inside and outside of the jetties. Would only hit top water plugs, no flies, no avias, no dd's onlt top poppers. By the time we left we had caught about a dozen from 24 to 30. Saw a couple of pods of albies outside the jetties but no real shots at them." And our esteemed moderator of the New England forum, Bob Parsons, writes: "The albies started to the west of the jetties almost down to the eel pond entrance. In tight to shore. I had a few shots at that them. But 5 other boats joined in and I could not maintain the drifts I had planned without having a boat travel through the area I expected the fish to show. "There were also some later off New Seabury." Jacob K. reported: "Was fortunate enough to fish on saturday with bob parsons. he met me at the waquoit public ramp at 6 am and we headed out. hoping to spend the day chasing albies, but the 25 knot wind and 6 ft seas pretty much preveneted that. fished the lee side to the waquoit jetties and pick up some schoolies. bob did a fantastic job of manovering the boat. the fish were right up against the rocks. so close that a cast which would fall a foot short would not reault in a strike, but a cast that would hit the rocks and bouncedinto the water almost always resulted in strikes. |
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One week left in the 58th Annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. The leaders and other news are posted at http://www.mvderby.com/ Derek Gonda emailed me this report in the middle of the week: gutguy writes about last month's fishing: "This info is a little bit stale as it relates to a week ago. Here's my experience from 10 days of fishing for albies on the Vineyard ending 09/30/03. |
"Fished Vineyard Haven harbor every morning for the little tunny in a kayak. Although the fish were practically jumping in my kayak, they wouldn't take what I was offering (Deadly Dicks, L Jacks, Maria). On the last day, being exhausted from contunually paddling against a 20+ mph wind and dodging boats, I fished the end on the jetty and landed 2 little tunnies on a Deadly Dick. Note: There were massive schools of bait in the harbor all weekend (sand eels and silver sides). The fish were active every morning shortly after first light and up until 10am. The tough winds on Saturday made it nearly impossible to throw an eel or anything else for that matter" |
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Bill Pew at Fisher's Tackle reports: "We still have some fish here on Nantucket. False albacore are being caught in the Chord of the Bay from the beach and to the wesat by Bigelows by the end of Tuckernuck Island for boats with flyrods. The bluefish are showing up in ever increasing numbers with every passing day, and just in time for the Nantucket Angler’s Club Bluefish Beach Tournament this weekend. Those blues are showing in the Great Point area with some frequency. And we're beginning to catch some bass here and there from the south beaches. Things should stay good until the wind goes to the east" Captain Lynne Heyer at Cross Rip Outfitters reported early in the week: "It's Monday again and of course it's a beautiful day. Doesn't it just figure. I think I should switch my day off. Fishing yesterday for me was not good. I felt that i was fishing in the middle of November. Saw a few,very few, Albies. Seems we were out to late. Capt. Shawn called this morning to report yesterday morning was the time to be out. He landed approximately 18 Albies. Nice report. I believe he was fishing the west end of Tuckernuck. Seems that area has been pretty good. I also got a report from a customer of catching his first Albie off Eel Point on Thursday. I haven't heard the Great Point report yet. The end of last week had slowed down. The wind was a big factor though. I would speculate that today is probably ""goin' off"" up there. Shane was working on Sunday and said he saw a couple of filletted carcasses over at the 40th pole area. The North shore of Dionis and the 40th pole areas tend to fish very well this time of the year also. Looks like some nice weather for the next few days,get out and fish. Come in and tell us how you are making out." |
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"Not much was happening on the beach when I first drove out. Wind was howling too much to even considering going out in the kayak. Some birds were working outside but they looked more like they were looking for action too. I drove all the way down to Hatches Harbor and took a look around and just hung out for awhile. Saw one good size fish taken on sand eels, about 38". Not much else happening. Decided to head off the beach to get some work done. On the way off the birds started working the bar at the cut-off road to the lighthouse. Lots of splashes right in the wash. Put on "old reliable", the trusty Tsunami shad that never fails. I could not buy a hit. Proceeded to try everything I had in my tackle box and still no hits. Fish were busting everywhere. The bait was so thick the hooks were coming in fouled with bait. Not sure if they were baby herring, or silversides. I had a Kastmatser with a bucktail that was a little bigger than the bait, but the fish would not touch it. I cut the bucktail off and started hitting on every cast. All 10 to 15 pound Blues. These Blues were eating so much, that as the day wore on you could actually see their stomachs getting distorted. By the end of the day it looked like they swallowed a bowling ball. |
Reports are bleak for the giant bluefin fishery and there is a lot of outrage over the seine boats sweeping into the Bay and scooping up schools of fish in front of a very frustrated hook and harpoon fleet. Action is happening from the shore in front of Horizon's Restaurant to the east of the East End Canal Jetties. Dawn and dusk are best bets. Bird action galore reported along the beach down to Sandy Neck. Pax writes: "Spent the afternoon at the end of the ORV trail at Sandy Neck. MASSIVE amount of birds working on bait fish from close to shore to far offshore. At one point there were two groups the offshore one was really far but the amount of birds was so unbelievable sthat you could see it from the beach. The one closer to shore was still too far for shore bound anglers but would have been quickly reached with a kayak. Birds kept working on bait fish up and down the beach for the all afternoon. There were maybe six trucks total on the beach today. The Pats and Sox games and the cold weather probably did not help." |