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November 21, 2009

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Cape Cod & the Islands October 31st, 2003

FishWire Coordinator:	Dave Churbuck
Navigation Aids:

The Season That Was: Last Report of 2003

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Believe me, its more depressing for me, dear reader, to have to call an end to the 2003 season of Cape & Islands FishWires. Writing and reporting this report the past 24 weeks has been a great way for me to reconnect with the essence of what makes Reel-Time so much fun: fishing and stories about it.

Eight short years ago I started this report by driving around the Cape and signing up tackle shops and guides to give me a few lines every week about what was happening in their local waters. Most of the people I spoke to had never heard about the Internet, so I lugged around a laptop with a copy of the website, and gave a disconnected demonstration of what Reel-Time and how it could work for them.

A few forward looking people agreed, and have been with us from the very beginning. People like Leslie Smith on the Vineyard, Bill Pew at Fisher's on Nantucket, Karen at Sportsport in Hyannis .... all put up with my phone calls, my pleas to get a PC and an email account, and were forthcoming with the thing we're all looking for: information.

As we grew and expanded the Fishwire concept to Boston, to Rhode Island, to Maine, Texas, three regions in Florida, it became much more of a job than one person could tackle alone. Reporting, editing, coding, and publishing the reports was, and still is, a monumental task. Mark Cahill has shouldered most of the burden, and my hat is tipped to him for his dedication to Reel-Time and its operations.

My thanks to the sponsors of this report. Captains Bob Paccia and Joe LeClair have been faithful contributors who tell it like it. Leslie Smith is still with us after eight years, our anchor on the Vineyard. Bill Pew is a joy to speak to every week from Nantucket. And Lynne Heyer at Cross Rip Outfitters on Nantucket has been great in emailing me every week with some news.

My pleas for reports from you, the readers, was heeded, and made a big difference in the quality and accuracy of the reports. Bill Downing, BobG, Yozuri-Man, Jim Lukas, Bob Parsons .... and the dozens of other contributors to the FishWire report -- you are what has made my life easier this past season.

So, with some sadness, I'm hanging up the FishWire until next spring, when there are enough fish to report. I look forward to that first report, when there are bright fish to talk about, sea lice to confirm that they didn't crawl out of the winter mud, and you, the Reel-Time readers to devour every second of fishing news that you can find.

Last week I missed my one and only report of the season while fishing in the Florida Keys on Islamorada, the "sportfishing capital of the world." That may be the case, I didn't find it to be especially fishy, but I did catch fish and got to experience a completely different fishing culture and way of life than the one we take for granted up here around the Cape. It was great to hear the guides talk about Reel-Time, and ask questions about the flats fishing around Monomoy. They think we have it easy up here. And we think they have found paradise down there.

I look forward to an off-season filled with fly swaps, book discussions, and reports from warmer climes. Thorne, Mark and I have been discussing the site's priorities for new features and functions to work on this winter, and we welcome your suggestions. Please send them along. We'll be running a user survey in the near future, and will finish the design of the 2004 Reel-Time Calendar in the next few weeks.

Until the spring of 2004!

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

Tight Lines!

Dave Churbuck

Cape Cod Regions

NEWS

One last hurrah of the summer should make this weekend worth a fishing expedition. While many Reel-Timers are talking about hooking up in Rhode Island, there are still fish to be found around the Cape and Islands. Best bets: the Canal, the South Side, and the ocean inlets around Nauset. This is the last FishWire of 2003, but that doesn't mean the fish are hanging it up!

Buzzards Bay

Captain Joe LeClair's last report of the season:

"The beautiful weather we had over the weekend was a great way to close out the season. We wound up chasing Striped Bass and Bluefish with the fly rod around Block Island. This past week we also continued to chase Bluefin Tuna off of Cape Cod. This season was one of the best I have ever seen. In some cases I had the opportunity to see and experience some of the best action of fly and light tackle that I have been able to put my customers into in the last 6 years. In addition I also had the opportunity to take fly fishing and light tackle in the northeast to a new level with the inclusion of new equipment and a larger boat set up for this type of fishing.

"In the next year I will be running a brand new World Class Cat 33. This boat will be totaly equipped for inshore and offshore fishing. I am very excited to run this boat as well as my Glacier Bay 22' that I will continue to run inshore.

"This year I have also had the opportunity to work with Captain Ned Kitredge, Captain Dave Cornell, Captain Bruce Borgess, Captain Terry Nugent, Captain Erik Thomas, and Captain Corey Pretraszek. I have had great success working closely with these other excellent guides in the area on group outings and
I have shared their success while we consistanly work side by side in some of the best areas along the coast of southern New England. I am looking forward to working with all of them again in the future.

"I am most likely going to be fishing in Boca Grande, Fl. again over the winter and especially in the spring when the Tarpon arrive in Charlotte Harbor. This past year I spent 5 weeks fishing for the giant silver kings and hope to do just as many trips in 2004 for these awesome monsters. As well I will start my Striped Bass and Bluefish trips here in Massachusetts around the first week in May 2004'. As many of my customers know the early season fishing in Buzzards Bay is excellent. For additional information
please feel free to call or email me this winter."

Captain Joe LeClair
North Eastern Anglers
http://www.flyfishsalt.com

Chris Johnson sent in his end of season report:
"Dave,
I'm taking you up on that suggestion to send a report. Writing about it will feel good since I'm feeling a little blue to see the cold weather moving in.

Most of the season was spent at Quicks hole where the blues and stripers (and one day a couple of strippers... skinny-dippers!) were plentiful. I managed to master fishing there, often days having fun pulling fish after fish out with forty guys nearby catching nothing. For some reason, that makes it more enjoyable. I really had a great season; lot's of striper, fluke and sea bass in the freezer. I don't think a got skunked once in 20 trips. On three occasions, I brought some beginners out who caught stripers in the 36"-40" range... that's always fun to watch.

Saturday (11/1/03) will be the first cod trip in '03 for me (if the water off Plymouth is not too wild). I might have to end it there and winterize the boat. That'll be sad, but it really was a great season!

Regards,
Chris Johnson"

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Paul Cheever reports on the 28th:
"Fished West Falmouth from west beach to the knob and along the inner harbor, lots of schoolies as the tide started to flow out ,some up to lower to mid 20",with a lot of birds over fish busting bait several hundred yards off shore.It was a rare day with very little wind, buzzards bay was as smooth as glass at times."

The Cape Cod Canal

On Wednesday Touching Cloth reported:

"still a lot of fish around the east end this afternoon. i caught schoolies, but i saw 4 or 5 big bass come ashore, and some guy caught a huge bluefish. was suprised to see the blue this late in the game. the guy was going nuts, thinking he had a 30 lb bass."

Bill Downing wrote:
"All smalls and not many of them the last two night outings at the Ditch. There are some bigger fish still moving through, but most likely you'll have to put your time in to catch any. "

And on the 28th he wrote:
"I was in the Canal area briefly last night (10-28) and gave it a quick shot. One hour yielded two twinkies on the east tide at mid-Canal. However, I don't think that's enough time put in to conclude that it's over, especially since there are still some fish moving down from the north."

The South Side

I haven't wet a line in two weeks, so no reports from the reporter this week. Very few boats are still in the water, but past experience would indicate that there are still some schoolies to be found, and perhaps even a pod or two of false albacore runnng along the beaches.

Martha's Vineyard

Captain Leslie Smith signs off for the season:

"Well, the Derby's finally over and while the fishing wasn't terrific, there were some very nice fish brought in. A friend of my family's hooked into the 14+ lb shore albie winning fish, and as he lives in Wyoming and couldn't get back for the awards ceremony, I had the privilege of standing on the stage for him and trying my hand at opening the lock for the grand prize of a Chevy truck. Unfortunately, the key I picked wasn't the winning one but it was a thrill to be able to vicariously experience being one of the top eight anglers in the tournament.

"Looking back at the past fishing season, it seems to mirror what we experienced during the Derby. Some great days, some not so great. The fishing seemed to be running three to four weeks late for every species throughout the summer. The topwater bass fishing wasn't as good as in past years, certainly because of the lack of squid in the area. Yet bluefishing was steady all season, albeit on the small size. Midsummer bass fishing was good until the commercial fishermen invaded our waters from as far away as Gloucester. There was a very discernible decline in our local bass population by the time the commercial season closed. Bonito were the scarcest of our inshore fishes, never coming in in great numbers along the beaches but with good numbers down by the Hooter. Albies reflected the same pattern, with no big pushes of fish in the harbors. Yet I had some unbelievable days south of Nantucket and Wasque, where there were breaking greenies as far as the eye could see that were very willing to eat. There seemed to be no lack of bait in most areas, just a lack of fish wanting to eat. It was a strange season all around.

"I'll be in Costa Rica in January and then Islamorada for a good part of the winter, so I can't complain too loudly that I'm sad the season is over for me. The boat comes out of the water next week for some much needed maintenance and cleaning up. Thanks to all of you who stop me on the water or the dock to say you read these reports and my best wishes for a safe, warm winter."

Nantucket

Captain Lynne Heyer at Cross Rip Outfitters emailed:

"As I look out the window it's raining and the street is flooding on the extra high tide. It's a little gloomy here at Cross Rip. We pulled out the Tippet for the winter and unloaded all the fishing stuff. For me it's over for now. No 2# record though it was fun trying.I guess I was lucky to catch an Albie. I don't think I will persue that down South this winter. I haven't really fished in a couple weeks. I did go Scalloping on Sunday and did very well. I can tell you where to go for them, but not the fish. It has really slowed, the last reports I got were the South Shore in the Hummock Pond area and a fish was reported taken in Pocoma last week. I also heard that Sesachacha Pond was being opened. I heard it was open for a day and reclosed. I think the town will re-open it though. Sorry for the gloomy report, I guess its just one of those days. "

The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy

Shaun Ruge reported from a kayak expedition:
"Spent 2 days off Nauset inlet this weekend. Pretty dead. Birds and whales around but no bass or blues to be seen. There were some scattered birds a mile or more off the shore but nothing concentrated on Saturday. Friday there were a few gannets diving over some big splashes in front of the cut but I don't think they were bass or blues. A few surf guys were there too but I didn't see anything caught. Same for the inside, a few boats drifting the channels on higher tides but didn't see any hookups."

CCM reported:

"I fished out of Chatham on Sat. out to the BC 15 miles out. Looking for Small tuna. Coming in near the wreck at 110 feet 6 miles off I saw a few pods but they werent staying up long. No Quality shots. There were cod around but mostly small ones. Water was 52 at the shore +55 out deep, a big drop in the last 10 days. The rips off Monomoy are still holding some big bass, but I didn't fish there."

Tunahunter posted:

"sbft were 5 miles off chatham on sat and right at the cut on sunday. 20-30# bass were under the schools. If you catch charlie, let me know how you did it. I only saw one boat hook up."

The North Side

Slamdance writes:
"Lots of small fish spread from about halfway down Sandy neck to just east of Scorton Creek on Sunday. Nothing over 25 inches, but there were thousands of them and they were right up tight to the beach so we didn't have to deal with all that wind."

Steve Smith sent along his report card for the season:

"Spring- very hot with small bass in Barnstable
Summer- Ditto with pods of small blues outside the harbour
Fall- Albies, Albies and Albies! Refer to next:

Bass- Lots of small bass and many in the 28-32 range. Did not get any large bass in Barnstable Harbour but did get a couple of 30 lbers off of Sandwich in early fall. Refuse to use tube and worms!

Blues- Small around B- Harbour but hit them big time (8-12 lbs) in early September blitzes off of Scussett beach.

ALBIES- Retired on August 1 and hit the water with my 18 ft boat- Waited till late September for the Albies to show and hit Waquoit Bay. First day-many albies but frustrating! Second time out- Tired of no hits off Waquoit and caught 3 off of West Chop/Tashmoo. This equalled my total catch lifetime!
Third day out got 6 off Waquoit- My best day ever since day 2!
Fourth day out I lost count at 15 and my partner had at least 10. The best day of Albie fishing I ever had. All 8-12 lbs!
Fifth day out- got 6. It was a great day as well but for day 4.

All in all ex Albies, I thought the bass were plentiful but smallish. I avoided the craziness of Billingsgate and did not catch many big bass.
Still catching fish in the canal at this writing.

2003 a very good year overall! Thank you False Albies!

Regards.

Steve Smith"

Until next spring ....

Cape Cod &

the Islands