Cape Cod and the Islands
Region

June 16, 2007

Buzzards Bay

Capt. Bob Paccia of Shoreline Guide Service (508)-697-6253 reports:

The Big Stripers Seem To Be Hanging Around This Year...
In recent past years, in the Buzzards Bay area, mid-June usually marks the time when most of the really big stripers have pretty much depleted our dwindling alewive and blueback herring supplies and start moving off to their summer stomping grounds in search for big bait. As many of you may know, I'm a true believer in the "big bait big fish" theory. Actually, with me it's the "big flies big fish" theory. Most of my "seasoned" repeat clients try to reserve charters during the height of the herring season (mid-May to mid-June) when they would have the best opportunity to hook into a trophy bass.

So far this season we've been into some really great fishing, especially in regards to big fish. I think that part of the reason that there seems to be a lot more big fish around for us fly and light tackle casters, is the fact that there is a lot less competition because of the current moratorium on using herring or alewives as bait. Also, I'm sure that the fact that there are so few herring and alewives in our waters as compared as years past, has also had an impact. Whatever the reason, we are into many more big bass in the 36" to 45" class.

This year, as a major bonus, we also have been blessed with the return of pogies (menhaden, bunker) and in good numbers. We haven't seen large schools of pogies in our waters for a lot of years. Hopefully, this is the reason that the big fish are hanging around and postponing their departure from our waters. If the menhaden population continues to stay around, so will the big stripers to feed on them.

Many of my regular "herring-season" charters are now re-booking to become the new "pogie-season" charters.The fly fishing techniques are very similar, although the flies do get bigger.

Before planning a charter I always make it a point to check with the client to get an idea of what they really want to do. Do they want to catch a lot of fish of mixed sizes (20" to 30" or do they just want to target big fish (36" to 42+"). It's an important question because if the answer is big fish than the tactics and skill level needs to be upgraded: They need to be an above average caster They will need to be able to get their casts off quickly with no more than three backcasts They need to be able to cast full sinking lines They will need to be able to cast large (6" to 15") weighted flies Know how to use an aggressive two handed strip Understand the importance of proper line management (Keep in mind, that if a big fish hits and your loose line jumps up off of the deck or out of your stripping basket in a tangled mess, it can knot-up and tear every guide off your rod. Understand, that I will spend a lot of time teaching and going over these points so that the client is comfortable when we get into a big fish situation.

Although the tough weather this week made for several cancellations, we did get into some great fishing. Dan Miller and his 12 year old son Mathew were visiting the Cape from their home in Denver, CO. Dan is a very experienced fly fisherman and Mathew was a "first-timer" to saltwater. Dan had asked me if we could do a combo trip. He wanted to give Mathew a chance to cut his teeth catching a bunch of schoolies and then spend the rest of the time seeking out some bigger game.

We spent a little time at the marina stretching their fly lines, checking reel drags, leader knots, sharpening fly hooks and going over safety equipment on the boat. I could see the anticipation growing on both Dan and Mathews faces as I fired up the Merc. As soon as we cleared the marina we could see birds working both sides of the channel. We wasted no time getting into position. Mathew wasted even less time getting into his first saltwater fish. It was about 22", but it was a fish that he'll never forget. Mathew wanted his dad to take a picture of first striper. Unfortunately, his camera was back in his car. With a big smile on my face, I pulled out my camera and nothing. It didn't even turn on. I knew that I had recharged the batteries last evening. The damn things were still in the charger, at home...

Over the next couple of hours Mathew had caught and released more than 25 schoolies with two of them over 30". He was thrilled and hooked on saltwater forever. Dan had received a call on his cell phone and was going to have cut the trip short as people were waiting for him back at the cottage. He said that he wished that he had left the cell phone in his car instead of his camera.

On our way back to the marina we were coming on to a large flock of large gulls that were working the edge of the canal. My binoculars revieled that they were herring and blackback gulls working over a pod of herring that were being pushed up onto the shore. I didn't have to ask Dan if he wanted to take a shot at the fish pushing the bait up from the depths of the canal. He was starting his false casts as I was trying to position the boat. His perfectly placed first cast and retrieve did nothing. I told him to cast and just let the big fly sink until I told him to start his stripping. On the count of twenty, I said, "Strip!" At the same time his rod doubled over and all he could was, "Wow"! Mathew could say nothing until he fanally said, "Dad, Dad it's a monster!"

The big striper fought had, but Dan's experience with large fish paid off as he finally brought the striper alone side. I reach over and lifted the 42" striper for Dan to hold. This was his largest striper ever. It would have made wonderful picture...  

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Joe LeClair of North Eastern Anglers reports:

I am having some great fishing and with this bad weather there has been very few boats on the water this week to contend with. I think we landed a solid dozen fish on the fly rod over 30 lbs. and one topped the scales at 42 lbs. After spending the month of May in Africa hot conditions in SouthWest Florida this cool weather is a nice change. The slower periods of the day have been a great time for casters to practice casting in heavy winds with schools of bluefish everywhere. I find that while we are catching these blues people get a chance to work on things like casting, hook set, and fighting fish that will reward them later in the year when they get a chance to tackle big bass.
Captain Joe LeClair
North Eastern Anglers

The Cape Cod Canal

No fly fishing reports from the canal this week.

The South Side

Eastman's Tackle 508-548-6900 reports:

Been blowing east for 3 solid days. What really happens is it dirties the water, and they don't undserstand it. It changes the coloration of the water. Jiggers and live bait but really nobody has been fly fishing. There are bunker on the west side: a few. Rips are loaded with bluefish and bass in the 40's. Anyone with live bait like a scup, or dead pogies can do well, and there are lots of bigger fish.

Martha's Vineyard

Capt. Jaime Boyle reports:

Right now I have been concentrating on fishing the rips, with squid being the primary bait. Big colorful squid flies and topwater plugs have been the ticket.

Jeff Sayre of Fly Fishing the Vineyard reports:

June 12, 2007 We are now enduring a week of brisk N and NE winds which is making it feel more like October than June. Boat anglers are pulling their hair out waiting to get back out. Some of the shore spots that were turning on are close to unfishable, at least with the fly rod, for the time being. At least here on the Island you can always find a spot tucked in one of the ponds. The rips were fishing pretty good for boat fly rodders as bass were chasing squid and were readily taking flies and plugs. By the weekend the winds will ease and it'll be time to get back out there.

Before the blow, big bass were being caught on a regular basis by boats fishing live scup and some big ones were also being caught from shore. Morgan from Larry's Tackle landed a 52 lber! We've been catching bunches of fish from shore on fly but haven't landed any real big ones yet.

The Rod & Gun Club Catch & Release was held over the weekend and as usual the weather acted up a bit. East Beach had been fising well but the night of the contest the wind blew NE and it was tough for anglers. I didn't enter this year (had to get up early) but fished awhile with the guys who won. We hit a few spots on the North side and did pretty well with squid patterns and floating sand eels. When the wind comes back around from the SW there should be some excellent fishing. The usual spots like Lobsterville should come alive and the end of June looks like the time to be here.

Capt. Phil Cronin reports:

Martha's Vineyard Fishing Report June 12, 2007: Good things happening on the Island – before this stretch of North winds that is! Over the past week a lot of anglers on Martha's Vineyard have been smiling. Bluefish are readily available but on the small size. The rips at middle ground have heated up somewhat and the same holds for Wasque. The stretch of great fishing was looking like it was going to hold on throughout the month. The big problem is the wind turned north and it looks like it will stay that way for the next several days. We can only hope when it resumes its normal southwesterly course, the fishing will bust loose all over again. For me it's been tough the last couple of days since Sunday.

The big news is that a 52 lber was beached the other night by surfcaster Morgan Taylor. If you want to see a picture of this trophy fish go to www.mvsurfasters.org. Congratulations to an excellent angler for the catch of a lifetime.

Boat Fishing – It seems all the rage is in dropping scup down for bass. Everywhere I go there seems to be boats using this very productive method. I can only hope the scup population keeps on multiplying. Wasque rips have been good to fly throwers lately while middleground has had its ups and downs. The Elizabeths have been disappointing for me but perhaps others have had better luck lately. Several flats I have fished have had mixed results as well but I'm guessing that after the blow of north winds the bait will be packed up along the north shore and we can expect better results.

Shore Fishing – I've hit several spots around the north shore over the last week that provided half decent action but with small fish. Hopefully that will change soon. The biggest fly rod fish have been in the 30" class.

Martha's Vineyard Rod and Gun Club Catch and Release Tournament – held last Saturday with around 200 fly fishers participating. Fishing was good until around 10PM when the wind began its relentless turn to Northeast. Once that happened most of those competing claimed the fishing shut down. My group, Team Capawock, managed to catch 51 bass between the five of us which was good enough to take the most fish caught and released category.

Nantucket

Capt. Lynne Heyer of Cross Rip Outfitters reports:

Cross Rip Outfitters Fishing Report for 6/14/2007Fishing ReportWind, Wind, Wind, when will it go away??? We have been plagued by North East wind here for the last 4-5 days. It certainly has slowed the boat guides down as of late. So that means I don't have a great boat report today. The beach report I got last night was good though. The New Jersey contingent of fisherman found some good fishing on the South Shore the las

Capt. Bill Toelstedt of Nantucket Outfitters, (917) 584-5270 reports:

For those of you haven't heard... the BIG news around Madaket(Nantucket's West end) is without a doubt the new "opening" or "cut" that broke through into Madaket harbor several weeks ago with the latest storm. This new opening has once again seperated Esther's island from the Nantucket and proves to be around awhile as depths of over 20 feet of water have been recorded in the new channel. More importantly it has created some great new fishing ground/shoals that should prove productive in the coming weeks. Just a quick warning to anyone fishing the area ...especially with kids.. i have been through the cut several times now this spring and amazed at how fast the water moves... i have not recorded an actual "speed" for the currents in there but i can tell you its fast!

As far the fishing goes... i can tell you that compared to last season at this time... we are way ahead of schedule. Yesterday, i circumnavigated the island and found fish nearly everywhere i went. The water temperature averaged around 62 nearly the whole day... which is right around where it needs to be for the bass and blues to hit the offshore rips. I was amazed to see how many bluefish there where around the beaches of the island.

Fishing with Matt and Amanda from Atlanta yesterday we found an edge that was so loaded with fish we wound up calling the trip early after they exhausted their arms after only 2 hours. We wound up landing many bluefish up to 8-9 lbs (which are big for this time of year) and although we did not catch any bass we were treated to a show of bass and blues exploding on schools of 4-6" squid which left HUGE clouds of ink in their wakes that looked like someone had dropped a 10 gallon pail of black oil in the water with each pass!! For the flyrodders, Nantucket and Madaket harbors have continued to produce in good numbers of bass... and to the west of Nantucket we have found several pods of bigger fish to be had on large squid and herring patterns up to 35". June is a great time to fish on Nantucket. Whenever people ask "whats the best time for striped bass?" ... the answer is always WITHOUT QUESTION mid-late JUNE!! So, with that time of year at our doorstep...GET OUT and FISH! Because this is it!! it only gets better from here on out...take care and tight lines, Capt. Bill

Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches

Randy Jones - http://www.yankeeangler.com - Fishing Reports of Yankee Angler reports:

6/10/07 Wade S.E. Cape Cod "and Beyond" Fishing Reports, Humor, Articles, Tips, Pictures and Ramblings :

All surf, most flats N-S-E and W., pretty much the entire Cape Cod area inside and out are with Blues and Bass of all sizes in our Spring fishing locations. Bring your wire for the blues if fishing anytime soon. :) Sight fishing, blind casting, Wade, Fly/Spin, are all producing nicely. Keepers - Resident, Migratory, Etc.., Easiest time of the year to catch a keeper while wading, Experience helps! Fish in all the normal Spring spots. Its just a matter of how many. Sometimes you will find one on almost every cast and other times you'll need to work for them. I guess that's fishing. :) Same ol same hole. Please be extra careful with these exaggerated tides. Please remember to carry a whistle, GPS and a compass should the fog roll in fast and make seeing more than 10 feet away impossible. It is soooo easy to get turned totally around in a heavy fog (I have) on those flats. Thats why they call them a flat, there is normally no up or down to help you navigate your way back to safety. Please remember, their is only one right way back (and that will probably zig - zag) and about a thousand wrong ways to walk back to the safety of shallow water or dry sand when we have pea soup fog and the tide is coming in. I like to take a compass reading once Ive reached my fishing location. Even if the weather is bright and sunny and their is no forecast for fog. It can roll in heavy and fast. Be safe as always, they are not worth it.

Tom George of Fish Pier Charters reports:

Big story of the last week was the tuna. Some decent sized fish and some commercial ones. The fish are on the move, they're not here for good. They are two or three weeks early. They could stick around, depends what the wind does.

North Side

Capt. Jeff Smith writes:

It's been hit or miss but when you hit you hit big.....Lots of legal fish on the fly this past week.  Fish are feeding heavily on sandeels and mackeral....

 

Captain Jeff Smith