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Cape Cod and the Islands
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The weather is rotten this weekend but there are ample opportunities to fish inshore if you can't make it out Remember to keep moving if you can, as sometimes schools might work around a pond and visit the same spot more than once. Also, watch the surface, as sometimes schoolies will reveal their presence with slappy rises. Finally don't forget the surface flies: slides, crease flies and poppers can sometimes wake up schoolies and draw them in. Tight lines, and stay dry! Thorne Sparkman, Publisher, Reel-Time P.S. Please send me reports and pictures that I can post! |
to the Bay or the Sound. But this week, the BEST fishing may be in the ponds. Anglers in Chatham's Pleasant Bay, and around Buzzard's Bay and the Vineyard and Nantucket all mentioned finding fish way inside. These fish might be snaking through eel grass, or maybe hanging around rocky shorelines, or cut banks, and you may have to work hard to find them, but they can be fun. | NEWS |
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The weather is bad and getting worse, with rain and winds up tp 30 knots this weekend. |
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Buzzards Bay
Larger Stripers have moved into the cuts around the islands and are holding in shallow water with large rocky outcroppings which makes them perfect to target with the fly rods. In addition we have had massive schools of finning Bluefish in shallow waters just outside of the local harbors. The best Striped Bass fishing of the year for us will probably happen in the next four to six weeks and there is always a possibility that someone could hook into a monster on the fly rod. Captain Joe |
area. With fish still hanging around the calm waters of the protected harbors and estuaries along Buzzards Bay we have lots of options.
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Martha's Vineyard
Elsewhere in the island, there are still plenty of good fish in the ponds, and these are good targets for both shore-based fishermen, and small boaters. Morgan mentioned Sengekontacket pond (more information here) as a good example of a place to get started with this type of angling. While fishing in the early hours is likely to be the time to find cooperative fish, the schoolies and bigger fish are both in the ponds all day, so definitely get out and fish whenever you can, especially on the higher tides. If you are fishing from shore, just walk the perimeter and focus especially on the cut banks. Try throwing sliders or crease flies. If you're fly fishing from a boat, the Wasque rips or Middle Ground area have been fishing well, and throwing a squid fly would be a good choice, as would working a foam popper. |
Nantucket
Lynne Heyer of Cross Rip Outfitters reports: |
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Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches
We fished the top of the tide from 10 AM through 4 PM today in a light drizzle. It In Meeting House Pond, there were some fish on the surface that looked like shad, but we could not tempt the fish. Once the tide started running out, we fooled a few more schoolies at Strong Island at the edges of channels, but in short, it was a day of discovery with a few schools of day-saving schoolies. Tomorrow, we'll likely head into the Nantucket Sound side of Chatham to look for happier, and maybe bigger fish – or even some of the marauding bluefish we've been hearing about from Paul and Matt at Chatham Bait and Tackle. |
was a big tide, and we had to work hard for the fish we found. The local "go to" spot is the back side of Strong Island, but we caught no fish there when the tide was not moving. We followed the top of the tide back through the creeks going deeper into Pleasant Bay, and thankfully, found a cooperative bunch of schoolies along a boulder field abutting a channel.
North Side
Curt Jessup of Capt. Curt Jessup reports: They were great students and wanted to put their new found skills to work in a calm and low stress environment. So we packed up the flats boat, some smoked turkey sandwiches and headed out to Barnstable Harbor for a short trip in Great Marsh. Kathy picked up two fish with her first two casts and Doug followed up with the same. We picked up quite a few fish in the am and had shots at some honest 35-inchers on the West flat. If adrenaline had not kicked in and prompted the "trout set" we would probably have the big boys in the pics as well. The pictures are really about a woman enjoying fly fishing and these always seem to be few and far between. Doug really wanted his wife to have a great introduction to the sport of fly My Best, Terry Nugent of RipTide Charters reports: Capt. Mike Mathews of Offshore Angler Charters reports: |
We had a wonderful morning picking up small stripers on mussel beds and sand flats and Kathy had a riot. An outgoing tide and brisk wind from the East made for challenging conditions but Doug and Kathy showed they were good students indeed and mastered the back cast, strip-strike and showed great line control. 
fishing and I think she's hooked for good!!! I truly enjoyed having both Doug and Kathy on board and this trip was a very pleasant and relaxing charter. Trips like these always renew my love for the sport and make me feel good about guiding. Now I have to set my alarm for "0 dark thirty" and dig out those bucktail jigs. 
and rain had the surface temps in the mid to high 50's! Thats quite a drop in only a few days. We ran around and searched the area with both radars looking for any signs of life. I had some ideas where the bait might be after the wind got ahold of it so I started heading that way. After about 30 minutes I started seeing birds on radar. Then I saw the motherload! Several miles of birds and all of them were on fish! I hailed Mike and told him to get there as fast as he could. We proceeded to hammer the fish… We had fish from 36-40" for three hours. 
started with a few question marks. We got a late start at 9am from Sesuit Harbor and set out for the location that had been holding fish over the last few weeks prior to the storm. True to form the location was still holding fish and tons of bait. Within minutes we were hooked up 3 rods at a time with 30-35" fish. [Later] we set up away from the schools of feeding stripers on top with hopes of landing a big lone cruiser. Just as I was about to move BANG, screaming line and we got a big one on. While we are fighting that fish we get another big one on. First was 41" and 27lbs and the second was 40" & change but skinnier.