Cape Cod and the Islands
Region

July 03, 2008

Buzzards Bay

No reports this week. If you're on the water, share the joy and let us know what's going one. 

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Much the same as the Vineyard.  Bass, with the occassional bluefish.  Again, not a lot of reports...

The Cape Cod Canal

Last weeks reports had things quieting down significantly.  No reports this week almost makes me think that it might be worth a stop this weekend.

Martha's Vineyard

Captain Phil Cronin at Capawock Charters had this report from the Vineyard:

And So Ends the Month of June…

Traditionally, June has been the best month of the year to catch bass and blues on the fly rod or light spinning rig. This year has been no exception in fact It has been an absolutely fantastic month and my experience tells me the action will last well into July. The bass are not only hold up in the various rips and shoals but they are also eagerly feeding on sand eels at just about every rocky point along the island’s north shoreline. From West Chop to Gay Head we are finding friendly, well fed bass. All along Vineyard Sound you can also easily locate bluefish chomping on top. The action in and around Vineyard Sound is as good as it gets.

Over four days this week I took out anglers who live in Texas. One fly fisherman was from Dallas who chartered mefor two days and another group of spin fishermen were from Corpus Christi who also booked a two day trip. All had great days with countless bass and blues, and all were experienced anglers. On Wednesday and Thursday I took out an exceptional fly fisher who had never taken the opportunity to fish our waters. He was astounded at the tremendous fishery we have and scored very well on the squid hounds. His biggest fish during his stay was a bass in the 20+lb class and a blue in the 9lb class. Along with these beauties he caught many smaller ones.

On Saturday and Monday (30th) I took out a family group consisting of dad, sons, and grandpa. Four anglers one day and three the second and they hauled in fish for most of the time on the water. The biggest bass was caught by one of the sons and was in the 15lb class while the largest blue was around 8lbs. All the Texans were great guys and represented the best of their lone star state. I was very pleased to meet them and it was a privilege to take them fishing.

On Tuesday (24th) I took out Steve, Ginny, and Kevin for a combination fluke and bass charter. Steve arranged the charter and mentioned he wouldn’t mind some fluking. I didn’t realize at the time he booked the trip but soon found out he was no slouch when it came to fluke fishing. His experience and expertise shined as we brought up some beauties from the deep holes I like to fish. Things started pretty slow until he suggested we cut up some bluefish strips to entice our flat friends and boy did they do the trick. Later back at the dock I found out that

Steve was as good with the fillet knife as he was with the fishing pole. Thanks Steve for showing me some of your style.

As we go into July I look forward to more night fly fishing from the shore. In past years I’ve found that July fishing from the beach is much more productive than some people have thought. As the bass start to filter off the shoals with the appearance of fewer and fewer squid, they hit the beach hard late at night. The flies of choice have always been floating sand eels, small squids, jiggy’s, and small black deceivers and snake flies. June is a fantastic month for shore bass but late nights in July can be just as much of a treat with fewer anglers to get in your way or fish out your spots.

Thanks again to all those anglers who went out with me in June but it ain’t over yet… Happy Fourth!

Tight Lines and Screaming Drags,
Captain Phil Cronin
www.capawock.com
Cell: 617.448.2030

Larry's Tackle reports on their site (check them out for the latest...)

Bluefish- The best bet for bluefish is along the north shore. Just a few strays at Wasque and the rest of Chappy.

Lobsterville also has bluefish mixed in with stripers. West Chop is still good at dawn.

Striped Bass-Lobsterville & Dogfish Bar are still decent. Wasque and east facing Chappy beaches were hot for the last week but cooled off considerably last night. 3OZ Tattoo squid darters in “creamsicle”, pink or squid brown-Super Strike “Mr. Hanky” clear amber darters, and Spro bucktails dressed with pork rind were consistently taking fish in the ten to twenty five pound range. The big surf earlier in the week completely shut down Squibby.

North Shore regulars said things have slowed.

Boat Fishing:
Boat Bass fishing is ON!! Any side of the island. Any kind of fishing.

Call the shop and book a charter!!

Bait:

Sandeel's, Silversides and Alewives. Squid reports in Vineyard Haven Harbor, Menemsha and Edgartown. It has been

hot and cold.

Capt. Bruce Contessa from FlyFishingTheVineyard posted this report via his site...

The striped bass fishing is red hot right now pretty much 360 degrees around the island. It’s nice when the biggest problem you encounter all day is figuring out which ramp to leave from.This season has been marked by open water bass blitzes on a variety of local forage, including sandeels and squid.

Hot flies during this type of feeding activity have been wig hair Clousers and Jiggys, Silhouette Sandeels, sparse Flat-wings and of course the trusty Red Can Squid and Humboldt Squid. Open water blitzes of this nature are most often marked by birds, especially gulls and shearwaters, and fishing guides. Fish size in these open water scenarios has ranged widely; the majority of the fish seem to be between the 24 and 36 inch range, but there are many larger specimens present with quite a few over the 30 pound mark and a couple over 40 pounds being landed on the fly by the Fishing the Vineyard team this spring.

The fishing in the shoal water has been excellent as well; with north shore rips as well as those on the east side giving up impressive catches to fly and spin-fisherman alike. The blues are filled in quite nicely to all of their summer haunts. Putting up serious numbers on teeth is a nice diversion from chasing bass on the days when they’re tough or when the weather prohibits a varsity striper effort. They’re also mixed in with the bass out there, so be sure to use a shock tippet to avoid losing all your nice squid flies.

If the open-water isn’t your fancy, there have been plenty of bass on the flats as well. East and west end flats are producing well at the current juncture, with the majority of the activity moving outside the ponds and estuaries and onto the cooler shore line flats for which the Vineyard are famous. Hot flies have been the Green Diablo, sparse Ray’s Flies, and standards like Skok’s Lady and Mole (Blind Crab) crab patterns.

Shore fishing has been better this season than many in recent memory. West end and north shore locales are giving up nice fish to those in vampire mode; Fishing the Vineyard’s friend Justin Pribantic registered one just over 30 pounds on the fly from the beach last week. He won’t tell me where he caught it, but they’re out there, you’ll get um. Hot flies on the shoreline have been sandeel and squid patterns. Surfcasting has begun to improve as well, with more squid available to those attempting to bottom fish with fresh bait.

Still slow on the tuna front out this way, we’ve all thrown at a couple behind the island at this point, but they were only really there in fishable numbers for a few days. Best bets for this action seem to be to the north and east; we’re all hoping to get up there soon with clients or on an off day, so stay tuned. Prime dates are still available, so if you’re coming to the island this summer give us a call.

Captain W. Brice Contessa
http://www.fishingthevineyard.com/

Nantucket

Capt. Shawn Bristow at Squaretail Charters reports from the gray lady:

The bass have arrived in great numbers!!! We have been finding them in rips, shoals, flat water, shore lines and pretty much everywhere else. Some nice fish have been caught as well. This week alone, the squaretail has boated 2 fish over 30 pounds, one being 36#’s,  and 10 fish over 25 pounds all on light tackle spin and fly rods.  The blues have also been around in great numbers, finning on the surface and chewing in the rips, average fish weighting 5 pounds with the odd 10 pounder mixed in…. I have not made to the tuna grounds in a little while but the report is good, the weather is suppose to hold so the fishing should continue at this pace…

Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches

Mustad Hooks, one of the breas-, errrr, I mean, one of the best hook's on the market. I use them exclusively year round for all of my Saltwater and Salmon - Steelhead needs on the Salmon River, Pulaski, NY!

Randy Jones at YankeeAngler.com had this report
Over view:
I've been fishing around on a number of different flats from all around the entire Cape Cod area, depending on several factors or variables.
Just like my last overview, the fishing has been just that! Fishing! Everyday is different and you never know exactly what you will find. Whether we are blindcasting or sight fishing. Some days have been sloooow, some days have been ok but most of our days have been OUTSTANDING! These fast tides that we are having now have improved the fishing from last week in my opinion. Very normal.
Look for your flats fish to become much more spooky and fussy. Time for your stealth presentations, flies, etc... The balance of our resident population of migratory Bass will finish arriving this first week of July (Approx.) Best time to catch a keeper before they get a phd in whats real or not. :)
Best places to fish here on the Cape will be places that have a cold water influence off the Ocean along with moving water over a hole or some type of structure while wading. Find these things and I'll bet you will find some fish. The ONLY reason's the fish wont be in these locations is if they are threaten by predators, Water is to warm or there is not enough food for them. I dont know of a single area that has the above, that does not have fish presently with these incredible tides.
If you dont find any fish in these locations then you are either there at the wrong part of the tide, rigged improperly, presentation is incorrect or fly is wrong. (also if the blues have just been thru or seals) With our present fast tides Im finding fish in all the normal places.
Good luck everyone and go get'm!
Happy Hook'n,
Randy
-
Some Wade Fly/Spin Fishing Highlight's over the past couple week's:
7/2
Holy Cow-a-Bunga! We absolutely hammered the fish today while wade, fly. Bass and Blues. Blindcasting and sight fishing. We started off blindcasting and within a few cast's were tight. Then another and another. Boring :) (just kidding:) While sight fishing we first came across some singles, doubles and schools of 10-20 Bass (One school had no less than 150 Bass in it) with only an approx. 20-30 foot visual window due to being fogged in. Once the skies cleared we found a school of approx. 500 Bass, all having what I call a jacuzzi party. They had no place to go and just hung out with us in 2 feet of water or less (for an entire 2 hours) and allowed us to constantly - consistently hook them up while sight fishing. We stayed 80 feet away and used the wind at our back to help place the fly on the button. We also used the edge of the flat to hide from them. Then, we waded after them and or stood still and allowed them to come back to us time after time. After they finally left the flat they hung out in another location allowing us to see them easily and continue catching them. We saw over 800 fish today, with most of these being the 500 Bass that just hung around with us for a loooong time. Simply AMAZING. I hope you all get the chance sometime in your life to experience this endless, all you can eat buffet while wade sightfishing with the fly/spin rod.
-
6/26
Played with a bunch of bass and Shad while blindcasting. We stayed inshore today due to high and gusty winds. Hardly a drop of wind and lot's of fun fish to play with! This was my second day with the same client as Wed. By mid-day today he was throwing a 3 foot loop, double hauling expertly and throwing 80 feet consistently like it was child's play. :) With a solid foundation (fairly easy to achieve with proper patent instruction) it's easy to take it to that next level.
-
6/25
Fun day today! My guest's played with a few fish (along with a good number of very nice opportunities) while we did a combo of blindcasting into some holes with lots of current. (Fish flashing - Eating, crashing BIG Silver sides on the surface) And also saw approx. 100 Bass while sight fishing in the morning and afternoon over a very short window of opportunity. Combination of shorts and keep's. Picked up a keeper Bass on the fly rod. Super! Took my guest into his backing and gave him a great fight all the way. Fish released for you to enjoy next time your out fishing :)
At one point today within approx. 20 minutes I counted about 60-70 fish that all swam by us within 10 to 50 feet. Sometimes we only had seconds between fish. Sometimes we had so many in front of us that we just cast into the middle of them. Unfortunately, the breeze was blowing straight into my guest's face, so it made it a lot more challenging to get the fly on'm.
I helped everyone in the group work on their fly casting, presentation technique, as always. :) We covered it all from the most basic foundational things to the more advanced. All to help my guest's increase their opportunities to catch more fish for the rest of their lives. Great day with even greater guest's!
FYI - The bait that I saw today was large Silversides (a nice deceiver imitated them nicely, VERY small shrimp and the normal Sand Lances - pencil sized and smaller.
-
6/24
We had a presence of bait, birds crashing bait and some fish ALL day. Played with a few, and learned a TON of new and exciting fishing info. (habitat, presentation and rigging) to help my guest return on his own and catch lot's of big'ns for the rest of his life. Ye-haa! Left for home early due to lighting storms all around us. Not safe!
-
6/19
Had a slooow day on the flats while sight fishing. Only saw approx. 450 Bass all day. Most of these were all Migratory keepers. The rest were migratory Blues and resident Bass.
The morning started off unexpectedly reeel slow. The fish must have over slept. :) Around 11 we started to see them in small numbers. Then unexpectedly, at the BEST part of the tide where we normally see a crescendo of fish, it died. We left for greener pastures and found a few more. Still not enough to make me happy so we left for another flat. Before we even got there all hell broke lose. Would you believe that in the last 25 minutes of sight fishing today, that over 300 Bass (mostly keepers) came by us within fly casting range in schools of 20 to 50? WOW!
-
What's very funny about this report is the average angler would think seeing 450 fish wouldn't be considered a slooow day. The only reason I'd say slooow is it took awhile for them to show up, once they did they didnt last until the normal ending period - time for this flat. Also, once we started to see reeeel good numbers it was all at once with about 60 seconds or less in-between them.) We like to see them spread out evenly over the entire day. -
6/18
Ton's and tons of Baby Sand Lances. Incredible size of pods. Birds working feverishly. Lot's of fish underneath them out in 20-30 feet of water off hardings beach.
-
Massive amounts of tooth pick sized Sand Lances covering the flats today. Slooow sight fishing, but we still had a blast trying our hand at seeing and then casting to a moving target. Schoolies, Blues and a number of keeper sized bass. Saw 1 school of over 100 Bass that looked to be all Keepers. Other school's in 10, 20, 30 along with the usual 1,2 and 3's. Good number of snapper blues that we donated a few flies too. :) Did a lil blindcasting with success also. Another fun and exciting day! Can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow.
-
6/17
We sight fished almost all day and were rewarded with a good number of opportunities. Short's to a nice number of resident 20 lb. Bass! Saw very very few migratory Bass. The largest school of migratories had approx. 100 Keeper sized bass in it.
As we approached a particular section of the flat, I explained to my client that sometimes the migratory Bass will just sit on the other side, off the edge. Just relaxing, taking a break, having a lil Jacuzzi party is what I call it. Wouldn't you know it. As we approached the edge I suddenly asked my guest to stop walking. 100 feet in front of us was one of those school's of approx. 100 Keeper sized Bass. Just hang'n around, not moving. I've had Bass sit in this location and others for hours on end. But, not today. My guest made one cast into the school, hooked up immediatly and then they all got spooked by his fly line slashing thru the school with his fish on it. This sent them on their way. Besides all of the other fish that we saw that was the most memorable part of the day for me. I love it when what you hope for materializes and I get to share this incredible world of sight fishing the flats while wading with a new fly/spin rod angler. Needless to say it was another amazing, memorable day in many of late. :)
-
6/13
Sight fished to approx. 750 Bass in 2 feet of water or less, the ENTIRE tide while wade w/fly. Enough said. Ye-hha! Randy
-
6/11
As soon as we approached our first flats of the day while wading with fly rods, it was FISH, 50 feet, moving left, 40 fish. Then it was FISH, 60 feet, head shot, get it out there fast. Then, well, I wont bore you, same ol same hole for the next hour. Steady fish on the flats with in easy casting range with the fly rod in 2 feet of water. Moved to 2 different flats close by and it was 1 here 1 there, slow. Moved to another location close by and we started to get into'm! Did a lil walking to check out a coupl'a other holes and on the 3rd one we hit it. Fish on and on!
That was our day in a nut shell. Another one of many great days to be out on the flats sight fishing and forgetting about work!
-
6/10
First 2 holes nothing. I bet the seal that was patrolling this area made the fish feel like bit'n. NOT! :) 3rd hole was like magic. Could see 30-40 keepers patrolling these waters and flashing. Beautiful day to be out sight fishing these crystal clear waters on an almost sugar colored flats bottom. Ye-haa!
-
6/9
Sightfishing today. Saw one fish in a guzzler, saw another 6-7 at the low in a low tide spot, stood around for an hour and 1/2 nothing? And this is in one of the best low tide to incoming spots. Then, in the last 1/2 hour all heck broke lose, School of 40 migratories, another school of 30, 20, 10, 20, another 10, 1, 20, 1, etc.. Over 100 fish on the flats in a 1/2 hour! Wow!! Overall a very slow day.

North Side

No reports this week: if you're out let me know what's up (even if you want to keep it, uh, a little vague...)