Cape Cod &

the Islands

September 9th, 2004

Abnormal Psychology

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

Tight Lines!

Dave Churbuck

Buzzards Bay

Captain Bob Paccia reports on Saturday 9/11:

So far we’ve been spared any really severe weather from either hurricane Charley or Frances and our fingers are crossed for future storms. Our hearts go out to those who caught the full brunt of these violent storms. We missed a few trips because of high winds and high seas, but our coast had only minor damage. Sometimes these storms can rave havoc on our local fishing. In some cases striper and baitfish migration schedules and routes have been altered because of severe storms along our coast.

I had a recent trip with a charter who came up from Florida to fly-fish our waters for stripers, blues, bonito and false albacore. We couldn’t get out on the day that he had scheduled because of our weather. He called me a few days later and explained that he was going to be staying five or six days longer then expected in our area because his town in Florida had suffered so much damage.

 
We re-scheduled another early morning trip and this time Mother Natures was smiling on us. The stars were bright and there was hardly a ripple on the water as we edged our way out from the mouth of the Wewantic River mouth into the Bay. The eastern skyline was brightening with a red/orange hew with what promised to be a spectacular sunrise. We weren’t disappointed with the sunrise or with what we saw happening in the bay.

 
The waters of Buzzards Bay were teaming with large schools of baitfish, including juvenile alewives, baby bunker, sand eels and silversides. You could actually smell the not unpleasant aroma of tons of bait in the still-morning air. Huge flocks of gulls and terns hovered close to the water’s surface in excited, noisy anticipation that something was about to happen. Ravenous bluefish, schoolie stripers and even cormorants all join forces to corral the hysteric schools of baitfish into tightly condensed bait-balls. There was a tenseness in the air that you could cut with a butter knife. It was a strange and very surreal feeling as though we were not really there, but observing from afar. Suddenly, and with all the precision and fury rivaling modern day weaponry, bluefish and false albacore rocketed up from the depths and smashed into the helpless balled-up bait. The surface explosion that followed sent bait, scales, salt spray, bluefish and false albacore skyward in a spectacular aerial display that should have been captured on film. Next time we’ll be sure to have the camera ready.

 
We caught all of the blues that we could handle. Most of the bluefish were taken on poppers using 60# fluorocarbon bite tippets. Some of these blues were in the 9-10 pound range with the majority running around 4 pounds. The stripers that we caught were mostly smaller schoolies with a few that just inched over the 28” mark. The bluefish were so aggressive that we had difficulty getting down to where the bigger stripers were feeding near the bottom.

 
By mid-morning we spotted numerous pods of false albacore busting the bait along the old canal route from Wings Neck to Hog Island. After numerous casts we finally both got hook-ups at the same time. Neither of us had these fish on very long as our lines crossed in the beginning of the fight. The fish broke off as soon as they headed in opposite directions. The “secret” fly for success was a 1 ½ “ baby bunker pattern tied with green over white “FlyFur” with jus a hint of purple “FlyFur” running along the lateral line behind the very large silver eyes. We fished these flies on full sinking lines using 12# test fluorocarbon tippets. This has been the go-to fly pattern for albies so far this year. We didn’t run into any bonito on this trip, but we have seen some during the week.

 
I have not mentioned this charters name in this report as he requested me not to. I think that he was supposed to have been back to work a day or two earlier. Although he comes from one of the fishing capitols of the world, he was super impressed with the late summer fishing in our Cape Cod and is planning another trip next year.

 
http://www.shore-line.com/
mailto:CaptBob@shore-line.com

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Bonito still crashing up and around Tarp Cove and Lackey's. Bassing is only going to get better in the holes and passes from here on out. Blues and more blues massing over black bait balls -- when the wind isn't screaming.

You know things are good when Capt. Joe LeClair sends a morse code message like this one:

"Catching Bluefin Tuna 20-50 lbs. on the fly all week....

The Cape Cod Canal

Big Blue reported:

"Fished the Canal early Saturday morning. Got there about 2:00 AM and the tide went slack. I wanted to try bouncing a 6 oz. Bucktail Jig along the bottom while walking along to keep it in the same depth. The tide finally started moving at about 3:00 AM and I only got to try a few drifts.
Nothin' Honey!

Went down to the East end and tried some jigging, but it was dead. Caught a couple of schoolies on a schoolbus colored Bomber."

BobG wrote:
"I went out for a couple hours myself last night. Figured I'd give it till at least 10pm. If they're not biting, I'll be home to watch the Sox.

"I was home to watch the Sox with time to spare. The canal is so d-e-a-d for me at the moment (and practically all season). Threw 4oz plastics non stop for the better part of two hours without so much as a bump. It was so quiet where I was, it was spooky. No bait, no people, no signs of life. Then, when they play "taps" (now everyone knows where I was), I expect Rod Sterling to pop out of the weeds and tell me I'm not on the canal, but in the Twilight Zone... "

Bill Downing chimed in/

"Most of the action lately has been at first light to a couple of hours after, and mostly schoolies. Night, by comparison, has been like the Gobi desert unless you are using live bait. Plenty of juvi herring and peanut bunker around the west end last night, but nothing on it."

The South Side

Yes, your humble narrator went fishing this week. Being self-employed, your humble narrator can blow off a 70,000 word book contract with a November 15 deadline whenever he feels like, so I did, and I fished hard with my good buddy Bob Goff on his very new, very sweet, turquoise-colored Regulator 32.

We looked at the Wianno Cut in a tough southeaster but not much was happening. So we went to Craigville where Bob's brother-in-law Mike Pajolek nailed three albies on Monday, Labor Day, but that was barren too. Floored the twin Yamaha four-strokes and banged (those boats are smooth) to Popponesset, looked at the shoreline, saw nothing. Went into Waquoit. Saw more of nothing (see, I speak the truth in my introduction, I cannot see fish unless they leap into my arms), went out to L'Hommedieu where Bob Parsons got himself a nice spanish mackerel earlier in the week (everybody feel sorry for Bob, school is back in session and the peripatetic angler is no longer fishing more in a summer than the rest of us combined can fit into a lifetime), but saw nothing.

Then we zipped over to the Chappy Gut and yep, albies and bonitos and blues. But guess who didn't catch one?

Dryfly reports from Hyannis:
"hyannis harbor on sunday had albies in 2 ft of water chasing inch long bait- it was like watching bonefish on speed as they zipped through the shallows."

Bob Parsons worked the waters at the end of his summer vacation:

"Drop the wife off at Washburn Is Beach and headed out into the sound. Choppy and cold so I hung around the protectected side of the jetties. Rip at jettie started to built and the schoolie bass were erupting as bait was swept through. Anchored up and proceeded to catch a couple on a white bunny fly. Castin was into the wind so I could not always reach where the fish were. After the action slowed I putted over to the golf coarse where I saw some snapper blues chasing bait. By the time I returned to Waquoit conditions settled down so I went out to L'Homm. Did not see any birds or fish so decide to give the area a quick troll with a short crystal minnow. Almost right away I was hooked up. Fish felt much different, and after a very nice fight, landed my first spanish mack of the season. Released the fish and started again soon I had a 5# bluefish. After that nothing for 45min. Headed back to Waquoit. High tide and wind driven waves were pushing bait through the broken jettie. A cast right into the foam on top of the rocks were give a quick hit. Most fish were about 18" with largest out of the rocks at 20". Ending the sumer with a slam was a nice way to end the summer."

Martha's Vineyard

Derby time. Get your pin. I fished the Gut. I saw fish. I saw fish landed. I caught none. Word is Edgartown Harbor has fish too.

Capt. Leslie Smith at Backlash Charters has been off the water for a little while, but sends her regards and reminder that this is the island's Time in the Sun. She's getting Derby Fever in a big way.

Mendy reports:

"Spent a great short week fishing out of Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard. Fishing mostly from the boat we hit a number of spots in both Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay. There were Bonito, Albies, Blues, and Bass in the Sound and primarily Blues and Albies in BB. Fished with friends, family, and had a couple clients come down from Boston to join the fun. One of the highlights was Friday morning. The water was calm, the sun was shining, and my client Bill Fleming landed both a Bonito and an Albie on the flyrod. Sinking lines and thin profile Skok flies were the order of the day.

The Albies and Blues were cooperative most days and the Bass and Bonito were fewer and further between. Reports indicate that the Spanish Macks have arrived though we did not find any ourselves. The Albies were just starting to make their way around the Vineyard which usually means the impending departure of the Bonito for a while. Overall the fishing was excellent and the weather was near perfect as well.

I'm now back in Boston and am gearing up for what will hopefully be a great fall run!

Fishtale Charters
www.fish-talecharters.com
Boston, MA

Nantucket

Captain Lynne Heyer at Crossrip Outfitters says the false albacore are in:
"Albie’s are here. They have definitely arrived. Great point is the place to be. Fishing off the beach has been awesome. There has been a mix of fish up there as well, Spanish Mackerel, False Albacore, Blues and Bass. Seems Deadly Dicks and assorted metals are doing the trick. Captain Jeff reported this morning his client, Jim Beasley landed a Striper had other shots and tried for Albies but they weren’t obliging.

"Tim Griffin is sitting in the store just now and his report is something like this, today the Albies were at the Jetties he landed one had shots at others. Yesterday, He lost count of how many Stripers he caught. He said they weren’t really big but fun. He did mention that the night before the fish tended to be bigger.

"My last bit of my report, is our expedition offshore on Tuesday. Bluefin landed 5 lost 2. It was much fun. We were hoping to hang out behind a dragger and fish in amongst his by-catch. We did find one dragger and landed 3 Bluefin’s in his by-catch dump. It didn’t last long enough for me to get any on fly but I think I landed two in that spot. We tried chumming to keep them happy but I guess all good things come to an end they didn’t stay with us. There were a couple of other local boats that went out about another 10-15 miles and they found the draggers and had lots of tackle bustin’ action. By the time we had all of our fish they hadn’t even begun fishing. We were already 30 miles out and in a 23’Parker with the wind picking up and the waves picking up we decided to be safe and not sorry. I will be ready when the call comes again, got my leaders and flies all set."

Sandy reports in the forums from the holiday weekend on the island:

"Just got back from a very windy Nantucket. I got out to Great Point yesterday afternoon and kept having to pull over and grab my rod every 300 feet on the way there. Schools of blues were popping up all along the Galls. They were on something very small and weren't taking rangers or other plugs so I had to use light tackle with deadly dicks which was difficult with a stiff east wind in my face. I could have sworn that I saw some bonito speeding around but I can't confirm that. I finally made it out to the point and instantly saw a huge school of blues in the rip. You could see them stacked up in the standing waves of the rip. It was late and I had to bring dinner back so I caught a couple and headed home. It was my first time out there in three years so it was good to catch some fish. This morning I went out on a charter with my girlfriend's family and dredged up some monster stripers with deep tackle. On the way back to the harbor we saw massive amounts of krill inbetween the jetties. Cruising through the krill were large schools of scup on the surface. Our guide told us there had been bonito around and we did see an occasional quick blitz come up so we stuck around and casted for an hour but got nothing."

The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy

Thorne reports:
"the albies have arrived in Chatham.  I caught one on Sunday.  About 6 - 8 distinct pods were feeding heavilly from 12 - 2 on Sunday.  I caught the 4-or-so-pounder on fly, and my brother long line released one on a deadly dick.  Reasonably low yahoo factor: 2 guys trolling through birds, 2 grady whites chasing obnoxiously.  Monday, at the same time, there was only VERY sporadic action."

Bronko posted in the forums:

"Sunday morning we left Allen Harbor headed to the Chatham cut. As we passed Red River and Hardings beach we saw 30-40 groups of birds working various schools of breaking fish. We were rigged for heavy striper action, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to throw some tin at some blues....? When we got close we realized they were not blues or stripers. It was albies AND bonito. They had TONS of bait stacked up for as far as the eyes could see. There were fish and bait busting everywhere. There were other boats out there, but I am not sure if they knew what they were chasing. Fish were chasing 1/2 inch bait (maybe smaller). We didn't have the proper tackle, but did get a couple of hits on a 6" deadly dick, however lost both fish. We spent a while chasing and then just watched for a bit. Smaller spinning setups and flyrods would have been a blast. I have never seen these fish in that close to the south facing beaches. At some points they were a couple hundred feet off the beach. Hope this helps, ask around to some of your spies to confirm. It was a pretty impressive display of feeding."

Chuckster reported:

"On Saturday morning the entrance to Monomoy out by the A marker was a wall of bluefish and birds as far as the eye could see. The swells/wind/current made it a little shakey in my bay/flats boat, but we stuck it out and did well with topwater plugs on spinning rods, and snake flies rigged with Orvis Haywire Bite Guards on the flyrods.

Saw some fish crashing bait right in front of the Rip Ryder launch but they turned out to be small blues, as determined by the decapitated Sluggos..."

blueYak reports:

"I hiked down south beach on sunday (with girlfriend and spin rod). Sat on the windy cold side for an hour - saw some seals, kite surfers, and a fferman who fell into the water neck deep. moved to the bathtub side and watched schools of blues chasing bait. pulled the rod out and hooked and lost one. The fish were moving fast like albies but i didnt see any airborn or the long typical surface slash. Also saw fishermen chasing and not catching (a sure sign).
question is Has anyone ever caught or seen albies indide of the tub? I caught a big one once at the stage hbr mouth."

The North Side

Scorton Angler was surprised by some hickory shad off of Sandwich:

"On the evening high tide on Labor Day, I caught a big, strong shad off East Sandwich Beach. Surprised the heck out of me; I really didn't know they migrated to or from CCB.

Are these fish common in CCB at this time of year? I never see any postings about having caught one. If so, I may target them more. I've fished for them plenty in Connecticut's Niantic River, where they are legend. Great on the fly, as many of you know."

Keep those reports coming,