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Cape Cod &the Islands
June 20th, 2004 |
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| FishWire Coordinator: | Dave Churbuck |
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Tattle-Tales
This guy (he’d kill me if I told you his name) and I were fishing one day (I can’t say which day, because then you would know when we were fishing and then I would have to kill you) and we’re at this rip in the ocean (you should figure out which ocean on your own, but I’ll give a hint and tell you the ocean’s name begins with the letter "A") and I see a fish swimming in the curl of the rip and of course I point at it. Because it is a fish and we are there to catch it. This Guy slaps my hand and says, "Don’t point! You want every jerk in the neighborhood motoring over here?" Every jerk in the neighborhood had already motored there and were fishing only a few yards away from us. Maybe the bent rods were the signal? Maybe that infallible finder of fish -- one’s fellow man fishing -- was the signal? I don’t know. It was a clandestine affair and I was told if I told you about it I would be sure to die. The same guy, later that day, starts yelling at some poor terns hovering over a school of bluefish: "What do you think you’re doing?!? You want every jerk in the neighborhood to see?" The birds moved on. Another time, I was in a tackle shop in a Town That Cannot Be Named, and some poor guy from Ashtabula, Ohio wearing socks under his Tevas was dropping massive coin on everything from a 12-foot Hawaiian cast net to a six-prong eel spear in an effort to get the old timer who owned the place to tell him where he could put his six-year old son onto something resembling a fish to complete his C___ C__ vacation. The old timer totaled up $200 worth of fishing bling-bling then thought for a second, searching his mental database for a tip worth $200. He saw me dawdling around, in earshot, around the bin of bank sinkers and motioned the tourist closer so he could whisper the classified intelligence into his ear. I sidled over, feigning intense curiosity in the shop’s wide range of snagging hooks -- which happened to be hung on the wall near the cash register.
I drove off in a huff, looking for fishing tips. I bought a plastic chart the size of a place mat that had fishing spots marked on it. When I went to the fishing spots on the chart I had to take a number and wait my turn. It was like waiting at the deli counter at Stop & Shop for a pound of olive loaf. I guess those plastic charts are bestsellers. The spot was out of fish by the time it was my turn. I called a 900 number and got a lady from south of the border who said I was her "Mink" and then told me what she wearing. Which wasn’t much. When I asked her where the fish were biting and she got angry, told me she didn’t "smell like no fish" and hung up the phone. A month later my wife saw the phone bill and told me to sleep on the couch. I bought the newspaper to see what Salty Sally the Fishing Reporter had to say. She wrote about her pal Margaret and how they went fishing and caught all sorts of fish. Which they ate. So I went looking for Margaret and Sally and found instead a policeman directing traffic away from the beach Sally wrote about. I rolled down my window and asked him what was going on.
So there was nothing to do but figure things out the hard way. By myself. Such a person, I am told, is an autodidact. I would put in my time, slog the beaches a lonely man, and be one with Nature until Nature told me where the fish were. If I saw people I would fish where they weren’t. I would force myself to blaze my own trails, keeping a top secret diary of my experiences. I would be the guy who turns left on the beach instead of right, I would be the guy who fished the long shots, the one who works the beaches in January looking for fish that weren’t there. I must of missed Nature’s phone call because Nature only called me to the bushes. So I went to the Internet. Everything was beautiful here. People were kind, helpful, and sent me digital images of very helpful information such as satellite photographs, pictures of flies, annotated maps, and step-by-step driving directions. They even offered to show me the spots. For free. There was more sharing going on than a Haight-Ashbury bong. It was groovy. I started finding fish and telling other people where I found the fish. We all found fish and we found fish together. No more rubber worm purchases just to be told, "Hang a right, drive until the road goes no more, walk across the sand and cast." No more place mats, Salty Sally or being told to beat it by tough looking guys in hooded sweatshirts on the banks of the Canal.
But it is better than dying. Go find your own fish and don’t dare talk about it if you do, except here, at Reel-Time, where fishing reports abound. So, Sunday night I blackened a mess of bluefish (all fly caught I assure you), boiled up some early sweet corn, tossed a salad, and sat down with family and friends for the first great hunter-gatherer meal of the season. What could be better? This is the last week of the spring, there are big fish to be caught, and in a short time there will be a lot of guys out there fishing for a million and half pounds of striped bass to sell to you when you strike out. So batter up! And email some reports, because this is the Internet and it’s groovy to share. Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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"Sir? May I ask you to leave?" the shop owner said.
"Beach collapse. Too many people standing in one place. The dune couldn’t handle it. Dumped guys into the drink. There was fighting. Children crying. Spilled bait. There’s nothing to see here now. Move along."
Then it all came to an end. Someone mailed me a fish with its lips sewn shut. I ignored it. Then someone took a Scotts Drop Lawn Spreader and wrote with fertilizer, in twenty-foot tall letters -- "Tattle-Tale" -- on my front yard. It’s June, it’s been raining, and the fertilized grass has gone nuts. I need to mow every day. Cape Cod Regions
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Captain Bob Paccia of Shoreline Guide Service reports: "The fishing throughout the Buzzard’s Bay area has been nothing short of spectacular. School after school of stripers and blues of all sizes continue to move into our waters to take advantage of the masses of baitfish that the Bay is holding. It’s difficult to remember a recent year when the early season fishing has been this good. Although I have heard complaints that some folks are catching nothing but small schoolies, we have been taking a lot more big stripers fishing the same waters. My guess is that those complaining fishermen are spending most of their time casting right in the middle of large schools of schoolie stripers that are busting the surface. We tend to fish well below these breaking small fry and target the large bass that are satisfied to pick up all of the scraps and wounded baitfish that drift or sink near the bottom. A case in point; mid-week I was fishing with a charter who I’ll call “Jack from Quincy, MA” (not his real name, buy the way, as he was playing hooky from work that morning) and we were constantly bringing in large fish including two fish that topped 4o inches, while all of the boats around us were catching mostly 16-22” schoolies. Finally, one of the boats that had been watching us land one of these larger fish came along side asking, “Where did you get that fish?” I replied, “Right under the breaking schoolies that you’ve casting to.” If you want to catch large fish you have to “target large fish” and resist the temptation of getting all of the action from catching a bunch of schoolies. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy casting to and catching all fish, but if a client is looking for “keeper-sized” fish and is willing to spend the time, work a little harder and forgo quantity for quality, I say, “Let’s go!” In most cases this means fishing deep, fishing with heavier lines and casting with larger weighted flies. It’s more work, but that results are often quite impressive. Michael Fox reports from the western edge of the region: "Great regular predictable action of short stripers and small blues( 2lbs) at mouth of Westport River off the Horseneck side. The show went on with incoming tide ( even at noon and in bright sun) but was turned off like a switch at high tide. Fished the outgoing around bars, jetty etc. zip. Heavy tackle, light and fly. Must be a great spot with evening tides. Horseneck had heavy mung. A couple boats towing back and forth and nobody fishing the sand." Masman posted a report of a crab hatch. Personally, I've never seen one of these, but from his description, they sound like something frustrating to fish: "Ran into an epic crab hatch yesterday morning in Upper Buzzards Bay (Wareham area). Flat calm and hundreds of small bass (16-20") sipping teeny crab larvae off the surface. You could scoop up the little transparent crabs and watch them swim around in the palm of your hand. As for the stripers, they were so keyed on the crabs that they wouldn't touch a damn thing! Occasionally they would form a phalanx and slowly move across the surface, sipping crabs as they advanced. Incredible sight, and incredibly frustrating fishing." New Reel-Timer Poppr posts about action at the upper reaches of the Bay: "Just finished 4 days of fishing Mashnee flats, Pocassett flats and MMA flats. One word for the action -- HOT. BobG had a good outing early in the week: "I hit one of the undisclosed "greener pastures" which were overdue this season, and had a pretty good morning. Bass of all sizes, many over 20 pounds. were grazing on 1-2" sand eels which were wind-rowed dead and dying on the beach, and drifting back into the surf on the rising tide. |
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Middle Ground, the big rip off the northwestern corner of the Vineyard sits right on the northern end of the big alley of water that divides the Vineyard from the Elizabeths. It's been an epic place to fish, a main character in John Hersey's classic Blues. Well, it's also a great fish producer and from the sound of reports, it's been jammed with fishing boats jockeying for stripers. So, like duh, there's fish at Middle Ground, just be courteous to your fellow rip traveller. Lotsa blues along the South Falmouth shore and the ponds. Some micro bass just inside the pond entrances hiding from the choppers. This report came in late Friday from Capt. Joe LeClair of North Eastern Anglers http://www.flyfishcuttyhunk.com |
Just not a lot of reports specific to this region. Maybe it is time to retire it and let the Buzzard's Bay/South Side/ and Vineyard reports cover it? Drop me a line and let me know.|
BobG says it all when he says "The Canal is about as unfriendly a fly fishing place that I can imagine." Anyway, kind Bob replied to one Forum-Rat's question with this good advice: "The canal is about as fly fishing unfriendly a place as you can get. I fly fish it all the time, but you need to understand going in, you'll need to pick your spots, and your times. You can toss a large herring pattern, a pogy pattern most anywhere and stand a chance of hooking up. "Landing" is another story. Even on a 10wt, if the tide is running, you'll go well into your backing, the fish will probabaly rock up, and there's a chance you may land it after walking it a couple light poles. Bill Downing reports: "In a word: underwhelming. 6 hours of fishing from 1 AM to high slack in the east end produced three bass to 22 inches. A few small blues around, for once caught by others, not me, as well as some breaking small fish at high slack tide. I'm fishing the Ditch periodically just to keep it honest, but right now much greener pastures lie elsewhere and hopefully I'll be grazing on some of them next week " |
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The fish are going into summer mode, switching off of herring and thinking about Squid. So should you. Some great sight fishing to be had on the flats and bars along the shore. Bass and blues mixed, so bring some wire and save those flies you so carefully tied last winter. I took a guest from Missouri out last weekend and put her onto her first bluefish on the popper. Great fun for someone who's idea of a good time was a dinky trout on a five-weight in an Ozark Stream! White poppers off of Cotuit were dialed in. The rips are happening and not too crowded yet. Some rips seems to love bluefish, others will yield honest-to-God stripers. Why one favors one species and the next the other is beyond me. My theory is the deeper rips, the one's with darker water on the up and down-current sides are the bass rips, while the big shallow ones are blue magnets. Fluke are there but it is too soon for me to care about flatties. Captain Terry Nugent, sponsor of this illustrious report at Riptide Charters, reports: "Today I met Kyle and Dan for day 1 of a 2-day trip. We decided for quality over quantity and headed out into the sound. The weather was great for us, light wind, sun, just a great day to be OTW. However the fishing was nowhere near as good as the weather. Jim Lukas of Cotuit emailed: "fishing the less than optimum tide Sat nite at a local inlet we caught bass and blues in a fifty-fifty mix non-stop for 4 hours...muzac wafting from a party up above might have drawn em in...Mom dropped the largest bass she has seen since our honeymoon in Menemsha 22 tears ago...Dad set the eels free before he was done fishing, since a black zonker on a 3-350 grain line caught on nearly every cast...didn't even think of skinning the eels, smoking em for Babci, or freezing em for rigging....just let em go and kept catching..." Bluewatr posted about Wednesday's fishing: "Some good fishing yesterday... But from what I hear not as good as last Mon-Wed... |
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The inimitable Captain Leslie Smith of Backlash Charters writes: "There hasn't been a whole lot of change in fishing around the island since last week. Still fish to be had east of Chappy, with some showing in the rips and points south, but not the action we typically should have by now. Middle Ground's producing, if you don't mind contending with the controlled chaos of too many boats working one long rip. Word has it that there have been really big fish coming from boats willing to fish the north shore at night. Beach fishing from Makonikey to Menemsha has been good, with a lot of fish coming on traditional Danny type plugs. Lobsterville continues to have plenty of bass for the fly rodders but I hear it is very difficult getting them to eat. Still no stable weather pattern and too many days of easterly winds are keeping the fish moving around. Fluke fishing picking up steam with big flatties in the Sound and a few starting to be caught on Tom's Shoal. " |
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Bill Pew at Fisher’s "When you can get to where you want to fish the fishing is quite good. Great Point is closed until the plovers hatch. But fly-rodders are getting bass out of Coskata Pond at the head of the harbor and around the jetties on the outgoing tide. Dr. Carter, a chemistry professior from Rennselaer Poly Tech caught a nice 36" striper on a bright chartreuse Deceiver this morning. I went fishing myself at Polpis Harbor and caught a little 18" to 20" bass on a green and white Deceiver. "Some of the senior set from New Jersey have discovered good bass and bluefishing on the Knuckles out by Eel Point. We had dinner the other night and one of the ladies said: `I even caught some bluefish today.' "Her friend said, "What do you mean even you caught fish." "`Well, seeing that I can barely cast, a bluefish is a good thing.'" |
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The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy
Randy Jones of http://www.yankeeangler.com , has signed on as Reel-Time's Wade - Fly/Spin S.E. Cape Cod correspondent. He writes this week Look for the fishing to improve as the tides increase in speed starting in a few more days. Tons and tons of bait around, most I've seen yet this year. (Mostly Sand Lances or more commonly referred to as eels.) 1-5 inch's. White and olive are your basic fly colors if imitating these critters. Add a lil pink between the two colors to add a lil pearl look to it if you like. I spent most of this week fishing on the mainland due to wind and tides. It's funny, out of 30 day's of fishing. I've probably only wade fished "off" the Mid-Cape Mainland 4-5 times due to a number of fishing variables. Still a nice migration of fish moving through the area. Seeing larger and more frequent pods of Sand Lances all balled up. Some fish were actively feeding on them. But most of the bait new the best place to be was in the shallows. If out to far, they got attacked by predatory fish. (the ones we were trying to catch by imitating this food source) If to shallow they got attacked by the terns. The funniest thing I noticed today was ALL of the bigger resident bass were traveling the shallowest. We stood about thigh deep looking into approx. waist deep and deeper for them. I looked behind me and in the distance I thought I saw some fish, but was not sure. I walked over and low and behold in approx. 1 foot of water we watched and cast at a number of the resident Bass. A couple of other anglers in the area took our cue and walked shallower towards the dry sand and took notice of these fish running tight to the beach. The sun bather's must of thought we were crazy as we cast our flies almost at there feet along the water's edge. :) |
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This is the place to be these days. Perfect conditions (when the wind blows out of the south). Epic tides the past week have really started the water moving. If I were going to throw a dart at the chart, the North Side is where I would hope it would land this week. Bigcat cryptically said it all: "Lots of small sandeels, the bass were zooming all over the place. Did not catch any bigguns just great flyrod fun" MatthewP reported from Sandwich last weekend: "Had pretty consistent fishing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night (steady enough to keep me returning three days in a row). The little guys were chowing down right around sunset. Highlights: good sized fish on Friday night (didn't measure, but 26" anyway), brought my better half on Saturday - she caught her first striper on the fly, actually, her first 8. Met a fellow reel-timer on Sunday. "The fish were eating tiny sandeels. Anything about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long worked. Here's my list of flies that produced over the weekend: chartreuse bunny, chartreuse/white clouser, chartreuse/yellow clouser, black conehead bunny, black/purple clouser, sparse black snake fly. All fished on an intermediate line. the weighted flies seemed to produce a little better. After sunset, the black conehead bunny was pretty hard to beat." Pat Claussen was fishing the same waters as Matthew, he posts: "I saw you catch the one Friday that was pushing legal sized. I was the guy fishing with spinning gear to your left, desperately searching through my bag for something small enough to throw at them. I fished the general area until about 11:30pm, with a slow pick of undersized fish. It was a beautiful night OTW. Next time I'll introduce myself!" |