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Cape Cod &the Islands
July 11th, 2004 |
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| FishWire Coordinator: | Dave Churbuck |
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Who's Your Daddy?
"This must be the spot," my brother said. "Look at all the boats." We were fishing for fluke at Lucas Shoal in Vineyard Sound. It was a meat fishing trip and no fly rods were involved, indeed, no fly rods were allowed as my brother considers them counter-productive and a curse on any fishing expedition -- his personal equivalent of the legendary banana. His observation proves my theory that one should save one’s cash, skip the fancy electronics, and deploy mankind’s best fish finder: one’s fellow man. A bait shop tip led us to travel 20 miles for "fluke the size of doormats." For anglers who get excited about catching flat fish, fighting doormats must sound like a big deal. Out in Homer, Alaska, where people fish for halibut, they refer to fighting "couches". Doormats. Couches. There’s an indication of how exciting it is to bottom fish for flatties. I like my fish a little more manic -- like a bonito -- but fluke sure do taste good, so I’ll endure a day of sunburning and dunking dead sand eels for a good fluke dinner anytime.
This week’s observation is more of a question. It seems there are all these boats drifting around Nantucket Sound doing nothing. One sees clumps of these boats a mile or two off the beach and they never seem to be doing anything in particular. They aren’t trolling, rods are in the rod holders, no fish ever come aboard. More often than not, no one appears to be aboard. It’s like the Mary Celeste -- the fabled abandoned ship found floating in the Atlantic with no one aboard in the late 19th century -- only on a Bayliner. What are they doing out there? Are they fishing for scup? Fluke? A little afternoon delight? At least they aren’t moving. This past holiday weekend was exceptional in terms of general boater stupidity (which is like saying people eat a lot of food at Thanksgiving). While I didn’t see any boats perched on top of the jetties and rock piles (a typical drunken occurrence whenever there are fireworks displays, alcohol, and too many horsepower), I did have a close call at Succonnesset when some hard charging meathead in a wide-open sportsfisherman decided to shave my stern on his way to the Black Dog for a bran muffin (my son has figured out a simple defacement of the ubiquitous Black Dog t-shirt with a red Sharpie). Posters on the Reel-Time forums have been beefing about being buzzed while placidly kayaking the flats. Others have been reporting close calls, near misses, and other aquatic horrors. The jet-ski contingent has truly gone to new levels inside of Cotuit Bay and I expect it to get much worse before it get better as access to moorings and slips are totally unreachable in our lifetimes and the only way to get on the water for your average sedentary joe is on a jet-ski. To beef about these retromingent horrors is one of fishing’s great clichés, but I still have violent fantasies about blowing up one and its mulleted rider with a TOW missile or a Law’s Rocket. All new boat purchases should come with a mandatory copy of Chapman’s Piloting, but that begs the question of whether or not the operators are literate, which in most cases is highly debatable. News of the week: commercial season for stripers is upon us. Too early to carp about the summer doldrums. Just about time for the first bonito rumors and sure enough they are in the forums. Bluefish are getting tiresome, but who’s complaining? Offshore seems to be starting but not in any dependable way. Mung is the name of the game on the Backside. And there’s always sight fishing on Monomoy and the western flats of Nantucket. All in all, it beats the heck out of last January. Postscript: your humble correspondent took it on the chin for making fun of the 14 year-old New Jersey kayaker who scored a 50 pound plus striper two weeks ago. No intention to slag the kid, just trying -- unsuccessfully -- to poke fun at the classic cliché of expressing amazement when the very young, infirm, or stupid catch a big fish. Which is exemplified by this gem.Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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Turned out that Lucas Shoal was less productive than the waters in our own backyard, but you never know unless you try. We limited out and had ourselves a nice fish fry thanks to a turkey fryer loaded with peanut oil, three boxes of Golden Dipt English Fish and Chip Batter, two bottles of tartar sauce and a couple bags of curly fries topped off with a bottle of malt vinegar. We then adjourned to the backyard and timed our personal version of Pyrotechnic Shock and Awe to coincide with the Willowbend Fireworks. My favorite incendiary device was the size of a toilet and bore the name: "Who’s Your Daddy?"Cape Cod Regions
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| News of the week: commercial season for stripers is upon us. Too early to carp about the summer doldrums. Just about time for the first bonito rumors and sure enough they are in the forums. Bluefish are getting tiresome, but who’s complaining? Offshore seems to be starting but not in any dependable way. Mung is the name of the game on the Backside. And there’s always sight fishing on Monomoy and the western flats of Nantucket. All in all, it beats the heck out of last January. |
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Captain Joe LeClair checks in with: "This week was great. I have been having lots of fun chasing the Bluefin Tuna offshore with the fly and light tackle in between inshore trips for Stripers. Most of the bass action is early and late. We were able to raise fish to 50" for the fly rodders this week. The larger resident fish have moved in and they are big this year. I have started catching the Tuna offshore and I am really pumped for another great year of it. Most of the fish that we are targetting are between 20-200 lbs. The fish are feeding on tinker macs and the trolling guys are not having much luck.... :) :) :) It just doesn't get any better than this !!! |
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Kayak Moderator Sam Riley reports: |
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BobG reports on the Fourth of July: "Based on reports supplied to me by others (incl my wife),I decided to pass on the all night jigging, and opted to only fish the daylight tide this morning throwing plugs. "The bass were chasing two distinctly different baits. One was obviously drop-back herring, as several swam ashore to escape being eaten. The other bait was about 4", and veryfast. I'm guessing spike mackerel. Skunk Buster took his first keeper of the season: "Caught my fist keeper of the season on July 4 at first light in the east end. It was encouraging to see some surface activity finally. Got a good look at some stripers pursuing schools of tiny sand eels. The sand eels were only 2" long but a good fish decided my 6" slug-go looked appetizing. Seemed to be a Chesapeake bay fish and had some sea lice on the tail. Decided to take it for the grill...tummy was packed with three small lobsters...I swear I'm gonna try crayfish someday!" On Wednesday Hawkeye posted: "I put a couple hours in this morning near Sagamore with a jig-n-pig with fair results. Probably 10 fish most around 25", one 30" and one 38". No surface activity that I noticed." |
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I've been fishing the Classic Churbuck Circuit. First stop the entrance to Cotuit Bay for schoolies down deep. Bluefish in the channel. Blast down to the Popponesset Tent and take a schoolie in the mini-rips. Out to Succonnesset and more bluefish (time to start looking for bonito and macks), then inshore towards the Golf Course where there seem to be more dependable bass, but nothing to brag about. Lots of boat traffic in this region the past week, so the action is moving a bit offshore to the big rips. Tons of BIG scup in the Sound -- great great fun for the kids. Cooking tips appreciated. |
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Leslie Smith at Backlash Charters reports: "It's as if the bass know that commercial season opens on the 11th. Things have quieted down in the rips as well as the deeper areas around Waque. Maybe it's the hard running tides we've had the past few days, but I like to think that the fish are on to our game. There's still some topwater action and bait fisherman are getting them on scup, but not in the numbers that were around last week. Even the big schools of small blues that have been around seem to have slacked off. Some boats are sliding down to the Hooter, which is typical for the second week of July. There are even rumors that one of the Nantucket charters that have been fishing over here caught a bonito this past week. At any rate, it shouldn't be long before they start in earnest down south of Wasque. Talk is starting about offshore fishing and I'm sure if we get some good weather, boats will start heading to the dump and to the canyons. The Monster Shark Tournament is scheduled for the weekend of the 16th, with ESPN doing the coverage for the first time." Word is that there are bonito hiding somewhere around the Island. Middle Group? Wasque? Did a Nantucket boat catch a Martha's Vineyard bonito? Or was it a Martha's Vineyard boat catching a Nantucket bonito? Whatever, don't get your hopes up too high. There's plenty of time for the evil little monsters to frustrate us all. Personal report: per the introduction, I fluked Lucas Shoal, but I did see lots of birds working along the western shore of the Vineyard from West Chop, through Middle Ground, and off of Lambert's Cove. |
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Lynne Heyer at Cross Rip Outfitters writes: "Good Morning everyone and what a great day. I am getting some great reports the last couple of days and decided to get off my behind and start typing. Capt. Shawn had some great news yesterday, he landed three of those tuna types. I don’t know where he was but I don’t think he was on the Bonito bar. I have been told that the bar has lots of bait but no bones as of yet. But with warmer weather starting to really kick in it could be any time. Shawn has also been having good bites in the predawn on Stripers in the rips. Capt. Jeff has been hunting the Stripers on the flats with good success also. I have also been great reports of Big Monster blues down the South Shore, up the Guals and in the Chord of the Bay. The beach fishing has been pretty good on the outside of the Gauls.The Blues are of the beach but close enough for kids to reach yesterday, and Stripers are running the shore at peoples feet. These fish are hunting Lady Crabs, Mole Crabs and anything that is getting stirred up in the wash. Fly guys should be looking to through along the shore with patterns that match the quarry, crab patterns the Ragin’ Cravin, or anything that looks crabby. Spin guys also should cast along the beach with maybe small Storm Lures and critter type stuff. You can actually sight fish for these fish so keep you good polarized glasses handy. Don’t forget Coatue also, I had a customer say he was also sight fishing to Stripers along the beach. He said they weren’t all that big but a lot of fun. I haven’t heard anything about the fishing on the South Shore as of the last report, but in the predawn and dusk times the Bass have been along Surfside to Cisco. Seems pencil poppers work real well. I also hear good reports from the shore of Madaket with a mix of fish. Get out and wet a line and enjoy. " |
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The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy
Randy Jones reports, "Still plenty of good sized Bass in all of the many Cape Cod shallows. C.C Bay, Outside and S. E. area's all with fish. It's that time of the year where a thermometer can be one of your best tool's when wading. Search out the coldest water you can find, add current and I'll guarantee "Fish On" providing you have a thourghal and complete understanding of these fish and the many variables needed to be achieved proficiently on a per cast basis. This includes angler ability level, rigging, flies, knowledge of habitat, bait, fleeing reaction of bait to imitate, etc....... "The fishing this last week has been over all good to great! These fast tides (as predicted) are one of the reasons. As the tides slow and change, so should your fishing style, etc... and locations fished. "(For additional information, articles, pictures and almost daily fishing reports for the S.E. Cape Cod area "and beyond", please visit Randy's web site at http://www.yankeeangler.com )" Charlie Devens, aka ChuckD, posts: "The full moon dead low was treacherously low coming thru Stage Harbor and especially at the South Beach Cut we hit some sand, luckily had slowed the boat down to idle so no one went flying out of the boat. Got out there and saw the birds working and bango!, we were into them for the next 4 hours pretty much non-stop, moving around here and there when the bird activity would heat up. The water was literally brown and looked like it was raining the sand eels were so thick. The bigger fish seemed to be more consistently locked in on the smaller schools of larger (5-8 inch) sand eels which also had some blues mixed in(you know those big bass were just scavenging beneath the blues). Final tally +/- 60 bass, very few not legal sized, with 25 fish over 30 inches and 2 that were +/- 30 lbs(+/- 45 inches). My best pattern was a long olive over cream flat wing but also did well on a few different large sand eel patterns(one with a bunny tail, another straight clouser). The rest of the boat was using spin gear and sluggos on jig heads, which I switched over to once the tide really started humming and I was unable to get my fly deep enough(mending out my entire 550 grain line on the 12 wt.). My best fish on the fly was a 39"...not too shabby." SageFlyGuy posted: "Found fish in eating mood almost everywhere. Best action of the day came in a un-named rip that I've never seen before. Squid were launching themselves out of the water to escape certain death. A large purple popper that I had the guys @ the Bear's Den order in this past winter had bass up to 40 inches leaving the water cartwheeling try to eat it. Best fish on the fly was a mad as haddock 40 incher that whooped my butt good. Switched from fly to spin/casting gear, when a 10#er blew apart my new 8 weight Albright EXS(what was I thinking)........Single hooked super sized Chug Bugs provided phenomenal top water action that my brother caught on film. If I can figure how to up load it I will post it.............Also put to use new AVET MX on a heavy St Croix musky stick......This is one super fish fighting tool in a compact size more usually seen on a fresh water stick..." SeaStrike16CC reports: "Fished the various rips on the backside of monomoy on both Saturday and Sunday. "Squid, Sand eels, even saw bass eating Crabs that were floating into the rips - what a sight !! "H2O temps were 52-55 degrees. |
"Most of our biggest fish are here. If you own a boat then try any of the many rips around the Cape or off any of the outer beach's in 30 to 80 feet of water for some of those big fat hog's you've been (seeing) hearing about. |
Bob Parsons reports: "Fished Barnstable flats late of 7/6 and then again this morning on the same outgoing tide. Outgoing was not very productive at either time. At least in the morning there was some scattered bird activity (Might have been more earlier but missed sunrise launch due forgetting some stuff and having to retrieve it) Set up a long drift towards one group of birds only to have a boat cut throught the area I was targeting. "Worked my way over to Nobscusset pt. with no results, worked the 15'-20' depth off Sandy Neck for a mile or so but still with poor results. "Back to the Flats to catch the incoming tide. Saw tons of bait lining the edges of the bars. Fish entered the channels in droves to proved solid action. I could see some very good fish but it was always the little guy the grabbed the fly. Most anything that resemble a sand eel worked but for me green over white worked best. There were 4 boats in the area, all nicely space and anchored up, then a guy came over in a grady white, he was very close to (John's boat, a fly cast away). He was drifting and did not realize how shallow the area was that we were fishing. Tilted up his motor and stirred things up and worked his way out, passing right through the area I was fishing getting within 15' of my boat. Luckly this is where the fish wanted to be so after a few minutes, the action resumed. "Even a jet skier coming right up to the boat to ask how's the fishing could not stop the the fishing for long. "Today I launched late to avoid most of the outgoing tide. Worked the boat onto the flat when there was just enough water to motor in. Wade fish the remainder of the outgoing with a bump and one small fish. Water temp was 70. About 45+min. after the tide changed, the change reached where I was, water temp drop to 67 and the fish turned on. Today I started with a few larger fish (23"). Once the tide rose enough I dragged the boat over to a ridge in the sand bar that was still exposed and started to sigh cast. Tuff to see any distance but these fish could be seen fairly close. Just as I was thinking of changing fly, There was a flash, hook set, big splash and we were off to the races. In the shallow water the fish almost took me to my backing when I turned it. Every surge was accompanied by a big splash in the shallow water. Fish was 28" and released to do it again another day." Keep those reports coming, |