Cape Cod &

the Islands

July 19th, 2002

Tuna Time...

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Tight Lines!

Dave Churbuck

Buzzards Bay

Small blues continue to cruise around and there are schoolies and some legal fish hanging deep around the Hog Island/Mashnee Island area, as well as the deeper edges of the Mashnee Flats. Some larger bluefish are out around Cleveland's Ledge and around Wing's Neck, Scraggy Neck, and West Falmouth, there are still some decent bass in tight to the rocks, with Seal Rocks a good spot to try.
Of course, Captain Bob Paccia has some suggestions about how to enjoy those warm summer mornings in his Shoreline Guide Service report this week:
Early morning top water action has kept smiles on the faces of clients this week casting poppers, sliders and gurglers. The explosive takes of bass and bluefish of all sizes is an adrenaline rush never to be forgotten.
This is especially true on those picture perfect mornings with mirror-smooth seas and a big red/orange sunrise as a backdrop. The angler, Bill Darling from New York, lays out a perfect cast that gently drops his fly line and popper on the surface some fifty feet from the boat. The big popper just sits there for a few seconds as the surface rings around it disappear. I start to say, "Great cast", but before Bill even gets a chance to make his first strip the ocean explodes beneath his popper and his popper and a 26" striper go several feet skyward in a dazzling firework-like spray of saltwater. The refracted light from the backlit sunrise made this a photographer's dream and would have been an award-winning picture of a lifetime, if only I had my camera ready.
 It's interesting, that although Bill caught a lot of fish that morning, including some much larger fish, the only one that we really talked about later was that "sky rocket fish". What's even more interesting is that, that fish was never really caught at all. In fact, it never came in contact with the popper's hook. It was just one of those spectacular strikes that will stay in our minds forever.  Sometimes it's not the catching, it's a good cast or a great strike or just super sunrise on the water.
Get out and practice casting those surface flies. They take a little getting used to, but they are well worth the effort. Even a slow day on the water can be a lot of fun if you are working the surface. Need some help? Give me a call at 508-697-6253 or mailto:CaptBobPaccia@attbi.com.

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Woods Hole was alive when I went through on Tuesday with Steve Murphy and Monty Wilson, with birds and breaking fish all over Red Ledge and Middle Ledge. We had fun with topwater stuff, but once again fast sink lines and Clousers will catch far more fish, albeit without the explosions on the surface.
Shore anglers are also catching some bass around Nobska back to Trunk River, with night and first light the best times; poppers, gurglers and sliders will get some attention, as well as small baitfish patterns like Dave Skok's Mushmouth series, Hi-Ties, and Deceivers.
The water is incredibly warm in the southside ponds, but at first light there is still plenty of bait swirling on the surface and small bass and blues will find it, especially on the outgoing water around the jetties and outflows. Dead drifts and slow retrieves are key.
The Elizabeths continue to fish very well, especially with live eels which make black rabbit strip flies popular. Steve and Monty hit one stretch along Naushon where they took 10 fish from 24 to 40 inches in just over two hours of casting - and they were still hitting when we left. Cuttyhunk has also been OK, but frankly any stretch of this archipelago can hold fish; it's just a matter of knowing what area to look in according to the stage of the current and tide. And, of course, that only comes with experience. Two spots to look: the corner of Tarpaulin Cove and down off Cobbley Beach on Pasque.

The Cape Cod Canal

Unless you have bait, pretty much forget it in the Big Ditch. My buddy Jim Lowe got some 20-inchish fish last weekend at the beginning of the good east turning tides at the mud flats, but the plugging action definitely did not shape up as the rats had hoped. Jim found that silverside patterns, that is olive back and silver flash, did best, as would make sense considering the bait back inside the flats.

The South Side

Some small blues from Waquoit to Harwich have kept shore anglers with something to do, but most folks who want something larger are fishing bait at night. Flyrodders would be advised to do the same - not fish bait, but fish at night. The rivers and bays have smaller fish early in the morning and you can sometimes wake them up with topwater flies, which is always fun.
Succonesset has small blues and very good fluke fishing; if you've never caught a summer flattie on a fly, this is the time to bounce some Clousers on the bottom with a fast sink line. Yellow is always a good color, as is white or chartreuse.
Horseshoe has bluefish up to eight pounds, but they are hanging deeper; it is possible to bring them up with a hookless popper on a spinning rod and then cast to them with the fly, but it is best to do this before the high sun of midday makes the fish lethargic.
Schoolies are still up inside Bass River, although some larger bass hang around the bridges and the deeper holes, while the Harwich beaches are suffering the same malady as elsewhere on the southside - warm water and summer heat.

Martha's Vineyard

Captain Leslie Smith of Backlash Charters has joined the tuna frenzy on the island and offers her take this week on the bite that has bitten good numbers of Martha's anglers:

It's been hard to get excited about inshore fishing this past week, as the offshore action has been stupendous on the bluefin tuna. Only twenty miles south of Wasque, in an area known as Gordon's Gully, there have been literally hundreds, if not thousands of tuna, from young school up to 300 pounds, crashing like their smaller cousins, the bonito. In fact, it was very much like fishing for bonito, as they would come to the surface chasing very small baitfish, in schools that at times, covered acres of water. They were easier to hook on casting metals, such as big Krocodiles and Kastmasters, using 30 LB line on stand-up spin outfits, than on trolling tackle. Getting them in was another story. A seventy-pound tuna on spin is quite the battle, much less on fly. Capt. Jaime Boyle battled one of these bruisers for three hours before getting it in, caught on one of Dave Skok's Mushmouth bonito flies! Remember if you target these fish, you need a HMS Pelagic Federal Permit, which can be bought online at the NMFS website. Recreationally, the boat is allowed four fish per day between 27 and 73 inches, with no commercial sale.
Word has it that the first bonito of the season has been caught at Hedge Fence. Shouldn't be long before they move into the area around the Hooter and within a couple of weeks, start showing in all their usual haunts. Striper fishing off Wasque still continues, but mainly small fish in the rips unless you use bait. Blues are still plentiful, with the eastern shoals a good bet for quantity, if not quality of size.

Matt Malowski added that besides the emergence of bonito, there have also been some weakfish caught on the south shore, with a 29 1/2-inch, 7-6 pound weakie caught as Seven Gates. Squibbie has been the most consistent boat spot for stripers, while the shore crew has been finding the Menemsha jetty popular. The rest of the north shore has also been good, as well. Wasque has slowed for bass, while the hordes of small blues continue to surround the island.

Nantucket

As is often the case, Bill Pew at Bill Fisher Tackle had some good stories to tell, as well as the latest fishing news to offer. His most interesting tale concerned the Baby Doctor on the island, Dr. Hinson, who has been using conventional reels ever since taking up the surf fishing game. Well, a friend from Australia sent him one of those side casting reels, an Alvey by brand name, and a custom rod to boot. It took Bill and the good doctor almost a half hour to fill the reel, which has a huge capacity. The next morning, Dr. Hinson went down to Miacomet and after two casts that he acknowledged were less than artistic, on the third try he got things working - and landed a 36 inch bass. If you want to see these rods in action, take a look at John Holden's book, "Long Distance Casting," which opened up the subject of the pendulum cast and other techniques used in Europe to cover incredible distances from the shore.
Miacomet was also the sight of Bill's other story, where an angler was doing OK with blues until he hooked up with one that suddenly seemed to get much heavier. When a seal surfaced with his bluefish in its mouth, this fisherman played it as long as he could, but eventually Skeezix claimed the fish, but at least he got his plug back.
Overall, Bill said the bluefish have returned in force, with Great Point, Maddequesham, Surfside, and Tom Nevers all harboring choppers. The darkness of night has also seen some decent bass caught in these locales, with Clousers and Marabou Merkins working well for flyrodders. Many flyrodders are still fishing up inside the Harbor, while one of Captain Tom Mleczko's skippers had a couple of bonito up to the boat on a charter earlier this week, but they evaded final capture.
The word from Jeff Heyer at Cross Rip Outfitters is the flats have been pretty good. The fish are still eating reasonably well, with Clousers and crab patterns properly fished doing well; as of yet, Jeff hasn't had to go to something too exotic. On Wednesday, they sighted plenty of bass, including three good ones they cast to, with one hooked and landed. The rips at Tuckernuck and Muskeget have been OK, while the shoals between Eel Point and Smith's Point have some bass and small blues. Great Point is probably as good as any place for bluefish, while friends of Mike, who works in the shop, did well on choppers at Miacomet, according to Lynne Heyer who took over to give the shore report. One angler came in yesterday to say the blues were literally jumping on the beach in the morning. Flyrodders also continue to sight cast to bass and blues at Great Point, with small, sparse tan Clousers working fine, as is a shrimpy pattern called a Raging Cravin'.

The Outer Beaches, Chatham & Monomoy

Mung is the optimal word hereabouts on the beaches, with everybody talking about how tough it is to find clean water.
Gary Lascola down in Orleans called things real slow, with so much weed around. Things are a little cleaner down towards Monomoy and up around Race Point, but anglers are bemoaning the red weed that is choking things off. Gary is focusing much of his time around the common flats off North Monomoy and has been doing OK, although the fish are definitely spooky. Sparse half-and-halfs tied in olive/white are working, with two to three inches about right. Most flyrodders are using nine to ten-foot leaders, and in some cases 12 foot. The rips around Monomoy are fishing well with squid flies, while inside Pleasant Bay the action is dead with water around 80 degrees and the same goes for Stage Harbor, where about all you'll find is small blues outside.
The word from Rob LaBranche in Eastham is things are spotty. It's been pretty weedy around Coast Guard and Nauset Light, as well as the inlet and down to Nauset Beach, while things are a little better up north. There have been four to five pound bluefish pretty regularly around the Race and the occasional bass, including an 18 pounder taken on a Kastmaster, which might indicate the presence of sea or juvenile herring in the area.
Finally, Jack in Provincetown said the phenomenal fluke fishing is saving the day, with plenty of nice, meaty three-pounders around. There were some bluefish around on Wednesday on the ocean beaches and off Herring Cove, with some as large as 15 pounds. The bass fishing is real spotty, with nothing over 33 inches, which has the commercials pulling their hair. Schoolies remain in the harbor as well. An interesting note is the eel fishing is way off, with jig-it eels doing the trick, especially in green, when they can be fished without weeding up.

The North Side

The bass seem to have gone deep here as well, with action around Sandy Neck and the Sandwich creeks slower. Jeff Howard, whom I fish with on a regular basis, sent me this report about the action in the creeks and Barnstable Harbor: I tried Scudder Lane on Friday but the wind was too strong. I fished
Old Harbor Creek last Saturday on the outgoing tide and the wind had stirred up a lot of red weed that the incoming had brought up into the creek. On the outgoing tide it was difficult to make a cast without picking some up. Stayed about an hour at the entrance and had to move back up inside to find clear water.  No sign of birds, bait or swirls and went home without seeing
a thing.
Trollers keep working the parking lot to Fingers stretch with some success, although it has slowed a little, perhaps due to all the commercial pressure in the area.
Billingsgate is definitely slower, with many of the charter boats heading up to the Path and beyond to find consistent action. The interesting thing is that flyrodders familiar with the Wellfleet area will often be able to sight fish for bass and blues at this time of year, although the fish can be picky, and the big boats just can't get in on these shallows. Gurglers in the morning work well, while later on it's sand eel patterns and crab variations.
Jack mentioned that there have been small blues off the Pamet, while Rob LaBranche noted that anglers are still taking bluefish from shore around Kingsbury Beach and Sunken Meadow in Eastham.