Cape Cod and the Islands
Region

July 02, 2006

Buzzards Bay

Bob Paccia of Shoreline Charters reports:

"The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"…
The good news was that finally, this skipper and most of his clients had a chance to spend the entire week on the water. The bad news was most of that time was spent navigating the treacherous waters of our flooded basements. Rather than listening to the purr of an outboard motor, our ears were being assaulted with the disgusting sounds of shop-vacs, fans and sump pumps. Instead of releasing trophy-sized stripers, we were discarding wet carpets, cardboard boxes filled with irreplaceable fly tying materials and other ruined family treasures. Needless to say, it was an ugly situation. Of course, compared to the destruction that some of our inland folks endured, we got off easy.

What was it that Henry Wordsworth Longfellow quoted? Oh yes, "Into each life some rain must fall, some days be dark and dreary". He did say, some rain and some days, didn't he? This weather pattern has been ridiculous! Is it the effects of global warming? Something, is going on. Our offshore waters are registering record high water temperatures for this time of the year. Warm seawater species are showing up much earlier than normal. A perfect example of this is that the Portugese man-a-war jellyfish are already being reported in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts's waters. The pessimist in me says that this is bad, but the optimist in me is questioning whether this will mean that the bonito must be close behind. Optimism is a necessary key factor in successful fishing.

The recent exceptionally poor weather has been very costly to charter captains and has ruined the dreams of many clients who have planned their trips for months, only to have them cancelled because of miserable and sometimes dangerous conditions. With the pace of our current work and lifestyles, it's always a shame to cancel a charter because of weather, but safety is always the prime consideration for all responsible charter captains.

With all of the bad weather, we did manage to get out a few times this week. Buzzards Bay had plenty of action for fly fishermen and light tackle anglers who were willing to put up with the conditions. Water temperatures had risen and the sand eels and silversides were active in the upper water column. With the absence of larger baits such as alewives and blueback herring in our waters, smaller and easier flies to cast were in order. Matching the fly size to correspond with the bait that was predominant was a priority as the larger bass were very picky. Using very sharp hooks we managed to snag one of the sand eels. A quick comparison and fly change to an appropriate size made all of the difference. We were targeting the larger stripers that worked well below the surface schoolie activity. We were using full sinking lines that were cast well up-current in order to let the fly to get down deep where our sonar was spotting the larger bass. Once we reached their depth and used an aggressive 18" to 24" staggered strip, we were into 25" to 32" fish on almost every cast.

One client who insisted on using his intermediate line caught nothing but 18"–20" schoolies until he reluctantly switched over to a sinking line. The current was moving pretty fast and his intermediate line just couldn't get down below the schoolie action on top. The same problem also happens when using sink-tip lines that have an intermediate running line. The intermediate section hangs up nearer the surface and doesn't allow the sink tip to get down or worse, the higher floating intermediate section causes a drag due to the current which makes the fly act in an unnatural manner. Either way, the more savvy and mature fish, that have seen every type of artificial lure and fly thrown at them since they were young just shy away. Big fish don't get that way by being stupid. If you want to catch them you have to look at your flies and presentation the same way that they do. Match the hatch and presentation…

The next charter was a father and young (9 years old) son team who wanted to catch bluefish and stripers top water on poppers and sliders. Luckily, the winds were in our favor and they had a great time with blues up to nine pounds, a lot of schoolies and several respectable stripers over 28". We'll post the pictures that they took of each other in a future report after they e-mail me copies.

We're looking forward to some better weather and fishing during this coming week. Good luck to all.

Joe LeClair reports:

I have been catching some great fish ! I have fished from Block Island to P-Town. I have hooked up a few Bluefin on the fly rod, but have not landed any. Most of them on the larger side (15 weight fish). Bass fishing has been Hot, cold, then Hot Again...

Martha's Vineyard

Jeff Sayre of Fly Fishing the Vineyard reports:

June 27, 2006 -- The Rod and Gun Club's Catch & Release Tournament wouldn't be the same if the weather wasn't aweful or the fishing was aweful. This past saturday the weather was definitely aweful but the fishing was pretty good...but for small fish. My buddy Jimbo caught and measured a 7 and 3/4 inch bass! That's small!! The rain was coming down hard all day but let up a little after dark. By then everyone had pruned up hands and water down their sleeves. The rain didn't bother the fish and we caught a bunch of very small ones and ended up with only a few that were respectable. Most everyone caught small fish and the biggest of the night was 36 inches. That's good sized for this year. We all thought that moving it to the end of the month with a new moon was going to mean lots of big fish for the tournament but that wasn't the case.

The usual hot spots of Dogfish Bar and Lobsterville have been complete duds this year. It's not even worth the ride. You could do better at State Beach and save money on gas. If you like catching Hickory Shad and 13 inch stripers then you might want to go. I hate to be so cynical but those spots are usually on fire at this time of year and it's something you look forward to and now it looks like it's not going to happen at all. I love walking the beach at night listening to stripers gorge themselves on sand eels. I miss that sound. I was up there the other night on a late falling tide and I didn't even see or hear one fish break. We caught some twinkies and one 29 incher and a bunch of shad. That's a good night there this season. At this time last year it was going off big time. There just seems to be no bait or very little. Now I'm sure there has been the rare exception of someone having a decent night up there but I wouldn't count on it. I've had to look elsewhere and have found good numbers of fish but mostly on the small size. One of the spots we've been fishing has been producing larger fish but you have to sort through the little ones to get one.

Another dud this year was Middle Ground. People were getting bass there but it never blew up like it should have. There didn't seem to be much squid out there so it didn't fish like it did last year...that's for sure. It was actual rare to go out and see bass busting on squid while most years it happens the whole tide no matter time of day it is. Oh well....I hope it's good next year.

On the other hand...the bluefishing continues to be excellent. Chappy is still loaded with them and they are still decent sized. They are more than willing to hammer poppers and flies and have been lots of fun to catch.

Steve Purcell of Larry's Tackle reports:

"Bucky Burrows" at Larry's Tackle Shop described the fly fishing as "very spotty. If you find them great, but if you don't, be prepared to try lots of different spots and tactics.

At the recent 12-hour, all night catch-and-release tournament, the turn out was great – 204 saltwater fly fishermen – but the fishing was rotten as it poured down rain. The biggest was fish from shore was 39 inches, which is a great fish for anyone, but most did not fare as well.

Bucky reported some recent success with fly rod charters by boat especially along the North shore of the Elizabeths where there has been excellent site fishing in some of the bright bottom coves. Fishing there with a first time saltwater fly fisherman, he caught 3 keepers, but warned it's highly tide dependent.

Normally Bucky would be fishing the south side of Naushon and the Elizabeths, but weather has limited things. The north shore of the vineyard is dirty from the big south swell wrapping around the island, and making the water dirty.

On a positive note, a bonito was caught at week ago at Menemsha, and Bucky suggests there are surely more at the Hooter and Noman's. His charter book has them around the island typically beginning from the 25th of June on.

Nantucket

Lynne Heyer of Cross Rip Outfitters reports:

Good Afternoon, I can’t believe it’s summer. I don’t know if it’s all the rain and junky weather but I can’t believe the 4th of July is coming up fast. It really hadn’t hit me till yesterday boy what a busy day. We had Fly Tying Extraordinaire, Dave Skok in the shop for a tying demonstration. And we had lots of customers stopping it to check out his tying demo. For those of you that forgot or weren’t on Island, Dave will be back on August 5th. I have to say I didn’t get that much time to watch Dave tie but I did pick up a few new tricks. Clark Whitcomb also stopped by and now he is blending master. Jeff and I got Dave out on the water Friday and we caught some nice Bass. Dave landed a 33.5” and many smaller fish and I landed a bunch too. It was my first day on the water that I got a chance to really wet a line. It was awfully nice. Dave went out on the beach with Burt this morning and had a fishy morning. I guess they landed a bunch of Blues and had shots at many Bass. I didn’t hear if they landed any or not. They fished so late that I didn’t even get to say Good Bye to Dave. I think Burt just dropped him off at the boat. Dave is heading back to the Vineyard to crash on Jaime Boyles couch for a few more days of fishing.

Captain Shawn and Capt. Bill have been having good luck with Stripers on their early morning trips. Big boys too.I am also getting reports of Bass along the south shore from Miacomet Rip to Madequecham Valley in the evenings. Blues seem to be everywhere. Even thought the weather is wet and drippy the fish don’t care they are already wet.
Cross Rip Outfitters
http://www.crossrip.com

Saturday Update

Thorne,
I have attached a cool picture of a Father and Daughter team (Dexter Family) who fished with Captain Shawn Bristow last week. Fishing here has been pretty good with Bass and Blues. There has been a stray Bonito caught, but I think the last few days of big swells and lots of wind has cooled that off for now. The wind has put most of us fishing the North Shore of the Island for Blues and Bass. I also know there has been some good fishing up Great Point with both species. I will do a regular report after this also but thought you would like the photo to add something special. I love the photos with the kids.
Lynne
Capt. Lynne Heyer

Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches

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

Great June! (In my opionion). July's fishing is shaping up nicely with what I'm seeing daily. Very good influx of bait recently in the S.E. Cape area shallows. Birds reacting feverishly to it, fish too: pods of Sand lances, Shrimp as usual. We have been hitting fish most everywhere whether fly/spin - blind casting or sight fishing. Lot's of keepers around being their usual fussy selves, but catch-able. Forecasting the fishing to be challenging for some but not all the first week of July. Then all heck letting go in the middle of the month with exaggerated (dangerous) faster tides with nice average tides to finish up the end of month. Some anglers having a slow time of it while other's doing better. That's fishing :) Randy Jones

Jeff Smith of Finaddiction Charters reports:

Fishing on the nearshore waters off the lower cape continues to be great this week. Fish to 40+ inches have been coming over the rail on poppers and sliders fished on floating lines. The fish bite best when the water is kicked up on top with a stiff wind....It makes conditions lousy in terms of boating but excellent for fishing. With commercial season nearly upon us we hope the big schools of big bass hopefully stick around.

 

Angler Chris Kokorda reported that Monomoy is extremely tough of late, perhaps due to the number of fishermen out there throwing flies at the bass. Like many shore anglers on the flats, Chris focuses on the area between south beach and north Monomoy, and the channels in this area are increasingly pounded by dozens of anglers daily.

In addition, there may be an effect based on the fact that there is a smaller break through to the ocean. Perhaps the temperature of the water is a little different his year, or less bait – both are theories I have heard now – or perhaps the fish just feel less tide on their noses, and are less tempted to feed.

For whatever reason, Chris described hi last day on foot as a nine hour trip around north Monomoy where he fished well and wirked hard but managed only two small fish.

On a lighter note, there are early reports of bluefin offshore at Crab Ledge off Chatham, and there are definitely increasing numbers of bass in the rips, especially the inside rips of Handkerchief shoal and even some further west.

North Side

Jeff Smith of Finaddiction Charters reports:

Today I took Gary Lascola ala *lucky lascola* from the Goose Hummock fishing. We got a late start *6:45 am* and headed out into a stiff South wind.......Upon arriving to our destination, we found porker bass and blues finning in the waves on top. Gary busted out the 10wt with floating line and a mini meathead and took this guy and several others plus alot of bluefish. The seas built to the point it was downright uncomfortable in the skiff....The bait was thick and the bite tapered off a bit so we made a move and found some HUGE bluefish on top which we hit drift after drift. There were some nice bass mixed in with them but you would get 6-7 blues before a lazy old big bass could get the fly first....
Fun day OTW with Gary, Bill Strakele, Rippie....