Cape Cod &

the Islands

September 3rd, 2004

Going into Labor

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

Tight Lines!

Dave Churbuck

Buzzards Bay

Captain Joe LeClair reports:

"Good show this past week. I had the opportunity to fish with several different anglers this week for Bluefin Tuna, Albies, Bonito, Skippies, and bluefish... We landed tons of fish on the fly while the fishing was good and had days where we got tired of reeling them in. The week finished out slow but if the weather holds the fishing the next few weeks, especially the fly fishing for Tuna should be excellent. "

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Captain Terry Nugent has been working offshore the past two weeks and providing high entertainment to the forums. Since he departed from Falmouth, and since this report doesn't have an offshore section, I thought to place his report here:

" We ran out of Falmouth at around 0830 (I had to work) we ran about 45 miles south until we found water that looked promising. We began to chunk with butterfish and within 10 miunutes we had tuna at the boat. Chris was on the fly and Jeff and I were on the light spinning gear. We had a dozen or so tuna in around an hour and a half. When the action died we moved a mile or so and tried again. I got the one nice skippy and that was it. We had one pesky blue shark about 6' that made out lives difficult but thats another story.

By now it was noontime and we decided to switch over to sharking. We set out the chum bucket and within 35 minutes we had our first guest. They were mostly bluesharks and they averaged 125-150#. We had a steady stream of them and we caught them on almost every rod in the boat. I wanted to try out my new standup gear and used it to manhandle several of the sharks. When that got old I went to the fly and the little Avet SX on the St Croix 17-40# Musky stick. It was a great setup for the shark up to 150#. Jeff used his combo which was similar. Chris mostly rigged and used the fly rod. We all caught fish on the fly and it was a blast. ALthough the 19wt is WAY to much rod for anything under 200#.

In the middle of all the bluedogs I managed a small thresher about 100#. As we began to button it up for the day a huge blueshark est. 300# came into the slick along with a 100 plus mako. We had no bait left so the skippy was sacrificed. The mako would not eat, but the big blue would. Unfortunatley he would not take the hook. Try as we might we could not get him stuck.

Final tally a dozen tuna to 25#, one skippy around 15# and at least two dozen sharks up to 200#.

Overall a great day OTW. Everyone got fish, everyone got to fight everything on the fly, the Avet/St Croix and the Avet standup gear. The conditions were awesome. Big glassy swells and bright sun. A super day OTW."

The Cape Cod Canal

Slappy (The "Baitshop Boy") writes:

"Despite the recent weak reports I had to go to the canal last night. It was tough to get a hit! I finally gave up on the bigger fish and walked over to the ### to get a few small ones to get the skunk off. First fish was a 34" at the rocks, next was a small, the next fell off, and nobody else showed up.

There were a few (very few) fhis breaking here and there. Not nearly as many fish as further north. I think I will wait for my next trip..."

TonyO reports:

"Hit canal about 0415 this morn. with a buddy. Bungled 1 nice hit on an eel, then got 2 34in fish in differnt spots. Breaking fish this morn also. Lost 1 nice fish on a polaris. Then got 1 blue on plug. Numerous hits and misses on plugs also. 1 little rat on metal after that. Best part was 2 double hook-ups with buddy.No big fish but still fun seeing them try to eat our plugs.Saw 1 massive break across the way. Also saw 1 seal."

The South Side

Okay, we're not making it up. Bluefin are being caught inside Vineyard Sound. MkDurf has the proof in the form on a photo of one of the little buggers caught while trolling at Hedge Fence!

Jim Lukas reports from his run from Cotuit to L'Hommedieu Shoal:

"...nothing...and put in a 11 hour day Saturday last...

Hmm. Might be time to mosey down around Craigville way to prospect for some Spanish Macks and Albies. BigT reports:

"Tons Of Bait Birds And Fish Right On The Beach Yesterday Aft And Early This Am. This Was Asight To See Guys, Blue Fish , Bass, And Probably Some Bones In There Too. Peanuts Were The Bait And They Were On The Beach..wow!"

Martha's Vineyard

Captain Leslie Smith hasn't reported in yet. As soon as she does, I'll post the report.

Nantucket

Captain Lynne Heyer as Crossrip Outfitters on Nantucket reports earlier in the week:

"Bluefin Fever has hit the Island. It may not last much longer but for me I got out last night and had success. Capt. Jeff thoought it was a good idea to get his wifey from out behind the counter. We fished on the Bonito Bar last night. I landed not one but two Baby Bluefin’s on my Flyrod, also two Bonito and a Bluefish. Jeff landed one Bonito and a couple of Blues. I have to say it was awesome. They weren’t really big but a great fight. I haven’t had much time on the water this season but I can tell you it was quite a treat. Seems blue and white flies are the ticket. We also had hits on yellow and white, and pink and white polar fiber minnows.

I got word from the beach Great Point is open and all night for fisher people. The report from out there however is not so hot. Small Blues is all I am hearing. Dave Stetson, fished in the wee hours of the night and he did not get a bite. I was just told that the South Shore is slow but some big Blues have been taken in all the favorite haunts. Watch out tonight sounds as though we are going to get some weather. Unfortunately it may end the fun with the Baby BFT’s but who knows. "

The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy

Venerated Reel-Time founder Thorne Sparkman went fishing with his brother Alex and filed this report:

"My brother and I chased bluefin tuna on Thursday afternoon within 1.5 miles of the Chatham inlet. These fish are marked by "high-stepping" terns, look to be between 50 and 100 pounds, and are actively crashing what must be large sand eels in pods within 2 miles of shore.

"I'm told there are albies around too, but haven't been able to confirm this.

"You would have to have a gnarly 12-14 weight set-up and lots of luck to get into these fish on a fly. I can't imagine ever landing one in this manner, but I do hear of success stories. I was chasing pods with a huge spinning rod with braided mega-line and sluggos, and I felt under-gunned."

GreenpondEd nailed his first 40-inch bass. Congratulations!:

"After having two of my Chatham friends back out on me. I decided to trailer my boat from Falmouth to Ryders Cove, with my yellow lab Hunter. Hunter and I headed off at 6am, planning to troll a HUGE 11" / 6 oz. Mann's Stretch 30+ (Chartreuse/Green) and some other swimming lures, etc. for some stripers until the fog let up, allowing me to go a little offshore to chase some SBFTs. Wind and seas were forecasted to be rough, but were FAC for most of the morning, building after 10:30am.

"I lost one of my favorite swimmers early (the only cut-off I had all day) to what I expect was a bluefish, but didn't catch a bluefish all morning. On the offchance that I ran into some SBFTs, I trolled the Manns with a larger Penn Senator 114H combo with the normal sized swimmer on a medium weight spinning rod. The stripers LOVED the BIG STUFF. Each time the clicker would scream on the Penn, it brought up a good sized striper, about a dozen in total, ranging from a couple around 30" to several at the 35, 36, 38 and finally a 40" before the fog started to lift and I headed away from shore to hunt for the tuna. Each time I reeled in the Penn, I let the other swimmer sink to the bottom. Upon pulling in the swimmer, it brought up dogfish 4 times in a row. At this point I resorted to just trolling the Mann's. My dog, who is used to going ballistic and trying to smother the smaller bluefish and schoolie stripers off Falmouth, didn't know what to do with the larger stripers, that I kept in the water during release. When he got close enough, Hunter would lick the bass in the mouth. Very disturbing!

Anyway, I headed offshore for about 3 miles East of Chatham, when I saw a ton of birds working the area around the hi-fliers. Trolling this area was uneventful, except for a single hit, that did not hook-up. Maybe more dogfish? As the seas started to build I headed home with a sweet 32" striper for the grill that evening!
Maybe I'll find the tuna next time, but this time, the combination of fog and building seas were not real compatible with my 18' parker.

Great morning on the water. My first 40" striper ever. Next time on fly tackle.

The North Side

Scoot reports:

"Got the boat in the water about 1pm, just in after high tide. Sarted trolling off Scorton's in about 50' of water with one tube and one jig. The Blues hit regularly all afternoon, all 8 to 10lbs. One 30" Striper thrown in just to make it interesting. I dropped two fish that felt like they could have had some size, one felt like he was shaking his head like a blue, but the other one I am not so sure. The jig outfished the tube 3/2, with the Striper hitting the jig. The best action was in the vicinity of the Fingers, with Blues occasionally on the surface to break up the monotonty trolling. Another boat nearby picked up a nice 40" bass on the tube. No sign of BFT's 

FWIW the jig was a 3oz. swing hook fitted with a trailer hook. I cut an additional slit in the pork rind to fit the trailer through. All the fish were hooked by the trailer. Water temps were 68-71."