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Cape Cod &the Islands
May 31st, 2004 |
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| FishWire Coordinator: | Dave Churbuck |
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Easterly Blues
There are conversations one has with one's eldest son that sound so bogus and predictable they should be scored to a soundtrack and filmed at sunset. A couple weeks ago I decided to ruin a perfectly good afternoon of bluefishing by giving Junior the "When I die I want to be...." speech.
So here's the fish story. There's one hiding in here somewhere. I catch a bluefish -- the first of the season -- on my birthday. The mobs at Oregon Beach were cheering as I arrived to signal the opening of the season, for the fish were waiting, lockjawed, for me to be the first. The fish is a mighty fish, a noble fish, and leaps valiantly from the brine over and over, shaking water from its tail like the very essence of its fierce life which drains from its cold soul up the line and through my arms like cosmic electricity generated by the wind farm of life. I don't have a net because it's too early in the season to be that well-equipped, but I leader the fish aboard, "Cease," I tell the teen. "Kill not the first fish of the season. It must be kissed and returned to the sea from whence it came." "You've got to be s#%@%(!g me? That's a nice fish. Let's eat it." "Nay progeny of my loins. It must be kissed." I start mauling the fish. Again, it is too early in the season to be prepared, I have no pliers, I can't find Captain Andy's De-Hooker. I've got my thumb jammed inside of the gills and the hook, still barbed, isn't slipping out. Finally, I free the fish and get ready to kiss it. "One of these days that fish is going to latch onto your lip and chew it off." I kiss the fish and return it to the sea. "You jerk! What's the point then? I wanted some smoked bluefish pate on my bagel!" We resume fishing and catch no more. For that was the first fish, the kissed fish, and it has gone off to tell its buddies that He Is On the Flat. "Did I ever tell you what I want you to do when I am dead?"
"I want to be cremated ..." "Yeah, yeah. And you want me to spread your ashes into the middle of a bluefish blitz. Then you want me to catch one, cook it, and eat it." The teenager is angry. Car insurance for a first-time driver is more expensive than he had figured, and he needs to ask people if they want ketchup and salt if he wants wheels. "And I will be reincarnated as a bluefish ..." I say as we motor through the gloaming into the calm waters of our home harbor, the air fulgent with the smell of lilacs. "You'll be reincarnated as a dumpster. Fried dough. Camel Lights. Tequila Shots. Who knows what you put into your body during the `Just Say Whoa!' years." It's spring. The bluefish are here to worship. Or smear on a Stop & Shop sesame seed bagel ... Until Next Week ..... Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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Faithful readers of this column will know of my supernatural connection to bluefish. For example, did you know that bluefish return to the flats of Cotuit only on my birthday? It's true. At exactly the same hour and minute that I was expelled from my dear mother in the elevator at the Women's Lying-In Climic in Boston. They will only permit me to be the first person every season to catch one. They wait for me and hold a Bluefish Party when I arrive. Did you know Churbuck is Anglo-Illiterate for "Handsome-Smart-Man-Who-Catches-Many-Women-and-Fish?" Yes. I know. It's hard being a legend.
and Junior gets ready to give it what-for with the Bluefish-Be-Cool, a monster sized wooden fishbat with a bicycle grip on the handle. This fish bat is mafia-sized, something for smacking the what-for out of sharks, way too big for numbing a ten-pound bluefish.
"You're senile, you know that? You're re-telling bad stories. I'm cold. Spare me the reincarnation speech."Cape Cod Regions
| NEWS |
| Although it feels like it should start snowing any second (and don't be surprised if it does), and even if your house, car, and lawn are covered with pollen, little bits of leaves eaten, digested, and excreted by the winter moth caterpillars ("Ewwwww!"), there's always time to go fishing. Bluefish are your friend. Repeat after me. Bluefish Are Your Friend. Stripers too, you just have to work a little harder to find them. Canal has had its days in the non-sun the last week. Chatham is finally happening. So is Nantucket. Go get em. And wear a sweater. |
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Captain Bob Paccia files his first report of the season, and the admonition to keep your trailer in tip-top condition: "Sorry about all of the late and brief report as I broke an axel on my trailer on the way home from the Cape on Thursday and I've been racing around ever since trying to get the trailer up and running. I'm very fortunate that it happened after I got off of 495 where I was doing 65+ mph. just as a warning to everyone, be sure to keep an eye on your trailers axel as well as your hubs and tires. I am paranoid about tire, hubs, bearings and seals. I always replace bearing and seal each season. I use Bearing Buddies to keep grease pressure in the hubs. I always hit the bearings with a shot or two of grease before each trip.And, I continually check my hubs to make sure that they are running cool. So, how could a perfectly good looking axel break and put me out of commission? The damn thing rusted out from the inside without a trace of rust on the outside. Captain Terry Nugent has been finding some nice fish in the Bay, "Picked up Chris Kirby and his Dad at Bourne Marina at 0700. The forecast was for snotty weathers, with rain, thunder and moderately sloppy seas. As we were leaving the marina, it was FAC and overcast. No wind to speak of at all. |
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"It has been a cold wet week on the water. The fishing has had some great moments this past week. For the most part the fishing is still very unpredictable. I have been fishing shallow areas with structure that invites both migrating Striped Bass and large Bluefish to feed at this time of year. While the fishing for Stripers has been excellent the real story has been the monster Bluefish feeding on Squid in shallow water. At one point this week I found them finning in less than two feet of water. This is a fly fishermans dream. These fish are up to three feet long and their weight ranges from 8-12 lbs. I watched as one angler launched one of these great fish into the air three times before it took off for a run. I know there are several people here in New England who feel the bluefish is not a worthy adversary, but I'll tell you they were great for me this week. Larger Stripers should move in during the next two weeks and we should move into some regular action and hopefully some warmer weather" Cotuit's Jim Lukas writes: "Quicks had an acre and one-half of bass in it Saturday....they were slurping sand eels and the action was constant....Woods Hole on the way back gave up a few - but our action was cut short as we noticed a boat in distress (lost power) and had to tow them in..actually Riptide /Terry Nugent was there first, but we were comin back and he was heading out- so you know who pulled the tow detail...." |
A warm welcome to Captain Joe LeClair of North Eastern Anglers. He's got a new URL on his website, |
There have been some great reports in the forum of hot action in the Canal. One poster wrote of seeing big fish make four-foot tall splashes as they whacked herring off the surface. It's very much a "you should of been here yesterday" kind of place these days. Bill Downing was here, there, and everywhere last weekend. "Fished the Morris Island to Stage Harbor stretch early AM on the high outgoing. Many spots were barren, but others had the fish stacked up like cordwood and it was one after the other on the fly and lures. Sizes to 24 inches with one 30+ incher on a chart clouser I dropped within 5 feet of release. Water was a lot cooler in this area than the Cape southside. "Visited the Canal on the way back. Nothing happening in the west end when I was there, but the guys were getting into them good at the herring run with many small legals and one 38 incher seen. I was content to watch, glad that finally something seems to be breaking here. Everyone I saw was using either live or cut herring. "Later in the afternoon, I hit Poppy Beach for a few topwater 3-5 lb blues, and quite a few follows. They were still in their spring skittish mode; even the guys bottom fishing cut herring weren't really getting many hits, and chunks are usually deadly on blues now. A few slicks floating by. The bluefishing should only improve. Water was MUCH warmer than Chatham. Went elsewhere on the south side at dusk and it was surprisingly slow. A pickup in the E wind didn't help." |
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Bluefish are prowling the south side beaches and satisfying the shore-bound and shivering. They still are in early-season-skittish mode, but I was able to get some to charge a popper on Sunday afternoon as the fog came in with the southeasterly. Big bass taken from the shore inside Cotuit harbor, and I first hand observed the spinning gang take fish in the Narrows and from the jetties of the Wianno Cut. In the Sound, Bishop's is crowded with people wirelining and livelining herring, but any mid-Sound rip will deliver a big bass to a fly angler with squid patterns. BobG had a fine evening in Cotuit on Wednesday, with bass up to 27" "Memorial weekend is just around the corner. I expected lots of people, but found myself all alone! "Hit or a fish on nearly every cast until darkness enveloped me, and I called it quits. "Surprisingly, there was loads of bait, much over 4", but it was all being ignored. I never saw so much as a swirl all evening." BassRiverFlyGuy posted: "Wow, I'm tired......Is there such a thing as too many fish? This weekend was intense all day, every day. Sunday Morning some good size Blues even shot up the river. (7-8lbs)" |
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Captain Leslie Smith at Backlash Charters is back on the water. "The Vineyard is set to bust wide open as we approach the unofficial start of summer marked by the holiday weekend. Bass fishing from the shore has been excellent with quite a few very large stripers (40" plus) being pulled from the suds and many more slightly smaller ones in the twenty pound range. The North shore has been consistent as well as almost anywhere along the south side of the island, though it can be hit or miss with fish moving constantly. Some nice fish have come from Wasque Point but the rips have yet to heat up for the boat fishermen. A huge influx of bluefish has moved into the Sound, from Menemsha to Makonikey, feeding on sandeels and juvenile baits. Just follow the birds. Bait dunkers have been doing well in the deep water around West Chop." Our buddy Bob Goff has taken up residence in Edgartown for the summer. He cell-phoned from the car on his way to Vineyard Haven to say "it looks like Derby-time over here," seems that everyone is driving around with a rod on the roof or sticking out of a window. He watched a fleet of flats skiffs off of Hart's Haven on the road to Oak Bluffs having a fly rod blast on bluefish. |
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Capt. Lynne Heyer at Crossrip Outfitters wrote: "Patrick Curtain came by and told me that the south shore is still fishing very well for the big boys. He told me there were some 35-39" fish being caught over the last week or so. I also got a report today that a fisherman was up at Polpis Harbor and did okay not great last night. The weather may have had something to do with that though. Cooler temps may have shut that down last night. Jeff just called in from the town harbor and said he could fill the boat with schoolies today. He is working the shore around Shimmo looking for something bigger. Kitty and Spanky Kania were in on Sunday and reported that there were a lot of Stripers in Madaket Harbor, Keepers too. If you are coming out this weekend it will be fishy. There are plenty of fish around the whole Island and some big ones starting to show. Stop by the store and see all the new goodies that have been coming in including Sage’s new XI2’s, the new Ross Rhythm and much more." |
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Seems the cold start to the month is keeping the fish to the south, but there are reports in the forum of success in the usual northside haunts. No one is really fishing Barnstable Harbor (or reporting about it) in the northeasterlies of the past few days. This area should bust wide open any day now, but I'm sure the sharpies are working there favorite spots with great success anyway. Flying Scotsman posted: "Put out of Sandwich @ 5.15 yesterday and crawled thru the fog to Barnstable Harbor, took us over an hour to get there. schoolie stripers were hitting my buddies blue and white 5" shad on light spinning tackle like crazy, I had exactly the same rig and couldn't get a bite "Once the fog cleared a bit, we headed out into CCB and dropped a couple mackerel rigs. Again my buddy pulls them up, I get nada The plan was to live line the mackerel for stripers, so once we had enough mackerel, we headed further out to a well known location mid-bay and started live lining. Sure enough, my buddy got a 29" Striper within 20 minutes. Finally after 2 hours I get a bite on mine, only to pull up a huge dogfish "Then the wind started to blow so hard we decided to head back in to Seafood Sam's for some chow and a "Some days it seems you just can't get it right, but judging by the reports today, CCB is going to get real hot this week - more than I can say about the weather." |