Cape Cod and the Islands
Region

June 24, 2006

Martha's Vineyard

Jeff Sayre of Fly Fishing the Vineyard reports:

This past week was great weatherwise. It looks like we are now in a summer pattern and SW wind should be with us a bunch. That'll be great for all the shore fly fisherman coming down to do a little exploring before the Catch & Release which will be held on Saturday June 24. Since this tournament is being held at the end of the month this year I imagine the numbers of stripers caught will be way up. The new moon is on the 24th which is perfect. Warm days and dark muggy nights are the ingredients for some awesome all nighters. I did a little casting along the beach last night and found some decent fish with biggest being 34 inches. The next few weeks are going to be great for shore anglers.

On Tuesday I took Bob and his brother Fred over to a spot on the Cape and in the flat calm conditions we found hundreds of decent sized blues finning in every direction. We had them crashing the teasing plug on virtually every cast which brought them in to the boat all charged up to eat their flies. Double hook ups were the norm and my boga grip got a good work out. In 3 feet of water they put on quite an aerial display. We also fished a few rips and found bass chasing squid but not in huge numbers. We did land a few but the real large ones we could see would not indulge us. At one point there was a massive school on top herding the squid but they ony came up once. Enjoy the the weekend!!

This wind is driving me crazy!!! I have lost 4 charters this year already. Scup fishing the North shore has been producing some big fish. 40+ pound fish!! Toms fishing has been good. One day its more Bluefish than bass. The next Day more Bass than Blues. It has been on and off. In the rips. I think the squid boats have done a number on the squid. I am not seeing as many on the rips: both Middle grounds and Wasque.

Nantucket

Lynne Heyer of Cross Rip Outfitters reports:

The fishing this past has been pretty hectic. Lot's of Blues all around the Island. My last couple trips out the biggest Blue was a "bus head" huge head and skinny body but it weighted 10 ½ pounds. The Bass fishing has also gotten better. I am hearing reports of Bass along the south shore behind the Airport on the Flats and at Great Point.

Fly Tier Dave Skok is coming to Nantucket this weekend. Dave will be in the shop this Saturday, June 24th from 10-5. He will be tying some of his favorites, the Mushmouth series of flies and a bunch of others. Dave will be demonstrating his techniques in the shop all day. Please stop by and feel free to watch and ask questions.

My folks just left after their annual trip to the island for a little fishing and. golf. Monday wasn't that happy a day with strong winds and no where to hide but they tried, while I went off to another Monday at work. Tuesday I left work to go with them on the Squaretail. We still had some wind and fog so we headed out along the North shore hoping to find a few fish. Wel wwe found some, Mom in the bow with her fly rod, me and Dad throwing ballistic missles whichever way we could. By the time the fog rolled back in we had caught between 50 and 60 fish in the 3- 9 pound range and my parents who are nearing retirement age, smilling in the bow like a couple of little kids.

Wednesday was perfect so we went down the South shore with Capt. Lynne from Crossrip Outfitters. We saw just as many fish but they just wanted to chase the plugs and snap at each other rather than actually eat. We only landed 15- 20 fish but had a great time watching squadrons of blues coming at us and chasing the fly or plug, whatever was coming at us. Those fish would follow right up to boat sometimes but not really hit. On the flip side, they seemed to be bigger fish. It was especially enjoyable since Mom has trouble seeing fish in the water but she could see them this time around.

The folks were very happy and tired when they left this morning but it was well worth it. No matter what anyone says, for pure fun nothing beats fighting a whole mess of fiesty bluefish on a fly rod, they trun everyone on the boat into a little kid again. Tight Lines... Shane

Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches

Reports from conventional anglers around Chatham indicate that a push of fish has rounded Monomoy and should soon be establishing a Summer pattern right about, well, now. That means that fly anglers should soon be able to catch some fish in Bearse's rip for instance, when fish chase squid to the surface, or by dredging some areas at the cut-through area of Monomoy, or south of the C-buoy.

As further evidence to this trend, further up the coast of the outer beaches, Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters reported (on the RT bbs) a serious conflagration of bass that ranged up to 40 inches and fed for several hours on the surface. These were competitive hungry bass that must have migrated around the elbow and stopped on a big school of sand eels. These are bass that that will certainly eat a half-and-half or squid fly, and now is a good time to start prospecting along the Chatham and Outer Beaches' coasts.

North Side

Curt Jessup of Capt. Curt Jessup reports:

This past week I had the pleasure of having Josh Gruss from New York City fish with me. This young man is one of the best casters I have ever had on the boat. He can shoot line with one back cast and can roll cast an honest 40 feet. He has great distance and accuracy and can lay a Clouser in a coffee cup from 60 feet! I think Josh will agree with me, we a great time fishing the flats, but at times we were frustrated when the big boys spat a fly or would just not eat.

Although we had ample hook-ups, we were targeting big fish in shallow water and we all know this assignment is tricky and oftentimes difficult. Yet we saw our fair share of 40 plus inch fish and had 3 fish over 35 inches eat our fly! The most difficult part of this type of fishing is the hook set when the tide is pushing towards you have to very quickly take up any slack in your line and keep rod pointed straight at fly line with rod tip pointed down towards the water. The "strip strike" (pull fly line directly back with stripping hand, set hook and then raise rod slightly) is critical to hooking and landing these big flats fish. If you raise rod too quickly, odds are the hook will dislodge and you either sit down and take a deep breath or throw away $500.00 and break your rod over your knee! A double hand retrieve will increase your odds of connecting and landing big fish in shallow water. If you always have one hand on fly line while stripping, it is quick and easy to "strip strike" and set hook with right or left hand. If you strip line with only one hand---you have a brief moment where you cannot set the hook because you are setting up for next strip.

We had success with both intermediate and fast sinking line. We fished intermediate with a weighted fly and long leader in 3 to 5 feet of water. It is imperative to lead fish by about 10-15 feet or the weighted fly will blow out fish in very calm and slick conditions. In fast moving tidal water and anything over 5 feet we fished a fast sinking line with a neutral buoyancy fly ( Tabory's snake fly or Skok's Mushmouth) and shorter leader to get fly down. We had many fish come up and aggressively attack fly which is very cool to see in 2-3 feet of water. Enough of this theory!! The flats are still loaded with fish and hitting the right tide can yield some great opportunities. If you want big fish I suggest high outgoing tide on the flats. If you want lots of fish, I like early incoming tide set up on a tidal rip slightly ahead of structure or a sand bar. Take your pick, great fishing can be had this time of year!!!!

My best to all,
Capt. Curt jessup
www.capecodoutfitters.com
capecodoutfitters@adelphia.net
508-400-5627

Red Clark and I fished Barnstable today. Took a dozen fish to a top of 36" all on squid flies. About half around the horseshoe bar and half away up inside.

And much further north from Sesuit Harbor, Capt. Mike Mathews of Offshore Angler Charters also found fish, and you can read about it here.