Cape Cod and the Islands
Region

July 13, 2007

Buzzards Bay

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

July 12th Shoreline Guide Service Report: There are still plenty of large bass and blues working the waters of Buzzards Bay from the Elizabeth's to the Mass Maritime Academy. We've had great success fishing the deep holes and drop-offs using large, (16" to 24") weighted American eel flies, as well as large herring and pogy patterns. We are casting heavy full sinking lines with short (7') tapered leaders. The leader set-up is a very important consideration in order to turn over any large weighted fly. In our case, we use a 20# test tapered fluorocarbon leader with a 12" to 15" 60# shock tippet added with an Albright knot http://www.killroys.com/knots/albright.htm. The heavy shock tippet gives us some protection from abrasion and equally important, it helps us from losing too many of our big and expensive $20+ flies to bluefish. Our flies are always attached to the shock tippet with a non-slip mono loop knot http://www.flyfishlouisiana.com/nonslip_loop_knot.htm. This knot has a very high strength factor and allows fly to have plenty of natural movement.

Top-water action has been great when the wind conditions have been favorable for many of my charters who want to use poppers, sliders and gurglers for some spectacular surface fly fishing. Both bluefish and stripers of all sizes have cooperated and made for some fun fishing. Although floating lines can be used for casting these top-water flies, we have better success using intermediate lines for saltwater fishing. Wind, current, wave and wake action in saltwater tends to make proper line control when using floating lines. Also, when using an intermediate line for poppers, the action on the popper seems to be more realistic to the fish and therefore provides more strikes. After the popper is cast the line does sink a bit, but the popper stays afloat. when the line is stripped the popper dives underwater. In between strips the popper again rises to the surface. It looks a lot like an injured baitfish trying to escape, looking very natural.

Our flats sight-fishing has certainly been hampered by the windy conditions lately. However, we are looking forward to things calming down soon. On the few occasions where mother nature smiled on us, we did very well using both intermediate and full sink lines with 9 1/2' fluorocarbon tapered leader with both clousers and half and half flies. We were into stripers from 20" to 37" with a bonus of several fluke which agres, one of which was over eight pounds.

Tight lines, but not too tight, Capt. Bob

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Joe LeClair of North Eastern Anglers reports:

bass, tuna, and tons of bluefish. Lets not forget the bluefish. Many poeple have sent me emails asking me if the tuna will still be around when they take vacation in August. I don't know I tell them but there will be plenty of bluefish around and I am an excellent guide for catching bluefish...

Bucky Burrows reports:

I have been fishing the south side of Naushon, and you'll go 500 yards and not get a strike, then catch a few in quick succession, then go for another long stretch without seeing fish. We're looking for the fish, but also for swirls in the water, or showering bait, or just about any sign.

Woods hole has some fish eating the little squids that have been in the rips there. The bait has been washing back and forth on each tide, so you can get several shots at finding fish on the feed. The bait is tiny little one-inch baby squid, so a little white bunny fly works well as an imitation.

The South Side

Bucky Burrows reports:

I was at Middleground with fly rodders yesterday. We caught 25-inch to 28-inch fish -- all bass. Nothing big to speak of really, and the action has been a little bit hit-and-miss. We would catch a fish or two in one place, then the action would stop. We would move around, and we might find another place with some fish willing to eat a fly. The fish are tending to be in the shallowest rips, and that means that once a boat has gone over them, they tend to stop feeding for a while. They have been hit so hard recently.

Martha's Vineyard

Bucky Burrows of Larry's Tackle (508-627-5088) reports:

Quite a few bonito down in the Dogfish area. A reliable source also mentioned "acres of bonito, that were impossible to catch." They are feeding on juvenile sand eels, and wouldn't take even a Dealy Dick or a jig.

At the same location, and on the same bait, fly rodders have been doing great at night with deer heair sliders -- the later the better since the fishing just seems to improve as the night goes on. Small floating sand eels on a floating line have been the ticket. Last couple of nights have been calm which is great, except that the gnats are out.

There are also lots of bass on the surface on the north shore but they are eating krill and not much else. They don't like the flies but an olive mushmouth can work. Sometimes a jumpin' minnow can get them excited, so the bait-and-switch can work too.

On the flats, a client of mine caught an 11-pound bluefish in 4 feet of water. Dogfish bar, Lambert's cove, the fish are hit pretty hard so they can be hard to catch.

Brice Contessa of Fishing the Vineyard updated the report somewhat at the end of the week:

On the home front, the bass fishing on the Vineyard has remained very strong. The shoals off Chappy are still producing nice bass on spin and fly alike. The bass fishing this year has solidified it self as head and shoulders above the previous two years. The fish are bigger, more plentiful and more aggressive. They also seem to be hanging in their inshore haunts longer than they have in a great while. There are a host of factors that could be contributing to this, including water temperature, bait population and numbers of fish in general. It’s most likely a combination of these and others.

Not that many people have started looking for tuna south of the island as of this report, but they surely will be soon. A couple of bonito have been landed in Vineyard waters, and it shouldn’t be long before we’re dealing with them in fishable numbers inshore. The beach fishing has been predominantly a Lobsterville thing, with some nights stronger than others. The clouds and the fog have kept me off the flats for the most part, but with high pressure and clear skies predicted to return soon, I should have a far more detailed flats report next week. All in all the fishing on the Vineyard and in surrounding areas is very strong at this point. Usually we’re talking about a slow down at this point of the season as the summer doldrums set in, but right now is prime time.
Captain W. Brice Contessa
www.fishingthevineyard.com

At the end of last week, Capt. Tom Rapone, also of Fishing the Vineyard reported:

With water temps still hovering in the mid-to high-60's in our oceanside spots, bass fishing continues impress us on a daily basis. Squid continue to be at the top of the menu, and some of the squid blitzes have been so intense that 5-to 10-inch squid are actually jumping right into the boat! The bass this week have been ranging anywhere from 26' to 30 pounds. The best days have been those with a lot of wind and large seas. As is often the case with stripers, wild weather leads to wild fishing. Add a whole bunch of squid to the mix and it can get downright crazy. It should be a great week of fishing ahead with a moderate SW breeze predicted for the next 4 or 5 days out.

Also, the first couple of bones have been caught in Island waters. Great to hear, but I wouldn't expect any consistent greenie fishing for at least a couple of weeks. On the shore scene, Lobsterville is still the word of the day. Fish up to 40' have been chewing flies and plugs consistently for the last week. Capt. Tom Rapone

Phil Cronin of Capawock reports:

Martha’s Vineyard Fishing Report July 4 through July 10, 2007: It just can’t get any better; or at least so they say. Every day we have been out on the water the last week has been exceptional. Whether throwing to the squid hounds on Middleground or Wasque rips, playing with cocktail blues off East Chop, Cape Higgin, or Cape Poge, or bringing up a fluke or Black Sea Bass from 100+ feet of water in some North Shore hole, it just doesn,t get any better. Several days of this past week have been described by my anglers as "epic" as fish after fish has been brought to the boat. On one trip to middleground we were tripled up for the better part of 2 hours. During the weekend fluke tourney sponsored by the island’s VFW four of us limited out each day. Today (July 10) my anglers, a young couple from NYC, doubled up on healthy bass at least ten times with numerous additional singles in between. This has definitely been a great year so far and every indication is that it will continue right into the albie and bonito season right around the corner. Bonito have already been caught around Menemsha and boats are starting to test the waters at the Hooter. Dogfish Bar has again lit up both at night and during the late afternoon hours as bass are slurping up acres of krill that recently made their appearance. Everything is in play now and it is a great time to throw a fly or cast a plug anywhere around the Vineyard.

Boat Fishing: spectacular action in the rips. Look for the gulls and you will find the squid hounds. It might not last much longer as the water temperature is rising steadily. Don’t be surprised to see some bonito breaking soon in the usual early show-up spots. Still plenty of blues around although they are mostly of the "cocktail" size.

Shore Fishing: get up to Menemsha or Lobsterville for the best action on fly or light spin gear. During the daylight hours if you find bass slurping krill, throw a snake fly or on spin throw a big slugo or jumping minnow. In the dark hours, throw everything in your fly box or tackle bag until you unlock the secret.

Nantucket

In Nantucket, some bass have been caught on the flats, mostly out at Tuckernuck, and on the Eel Point flats. Also there are some bass moving out of town harbor and working the shoreline outside the harbor, and these fish can be sight fished as well.

Also outside the harbor, along the Chord of the Bay [editor's note: that's the area on the sound side of Great Point], there have been bluefish from 6 to 15 pounds prowling up and down, and eating just about anything thrown in their direction. The south shore has had some big bass, but most of this news comes from surf fishermen.

Finally, Capt. Shawn Bristow has been doing well on the bluefin tuna, including on fly when he has customers with the right skills. He has been running as much as 30 miles east for the bluefin, but having success when he finds the fish.

Capt. Lynne Heyer of Cross Rip Outfitters sent her report at the beginning of the week:

Good Morning and Happy Late 4th of July. Summer is in full swing and we are all very busy. I good thing but it makes it hard to keep up with my reports. Stop wining right!! Okay on with the report.

Fishing has been really good with all kinds of spots fishing well. The beach fishing was on fire for big Blues yesterday in the wind out along Coatue. Beach Guide, Dave Stetson, fished in the wind along Coatue with John Nobles and friend Dennis landing lots of big Blues in the 10# range. Stripers and Blues have been steady out behind the Airport at Madequecham Valley. Stripers have been better at night or early in the mornings.

The boat trips have been very successful as well. Stripers and Blues have been pretty steady so far this season. Our bigger boat Captains Capt. Shawn Bristow and Capt. Bill Toelstedt have been traveling a little further to target Bass but have been doing very well. Capt. Shawn has also been fishing Offshore for Tuna’s already with success as well. I know I will be eating Tuna for dinner when he goes. One Tuna sure does feed a lot of folks. The flats have been fishing well too. Jeff and I have been fishing the inshore flats and shallows with good results. It’s been a lot of fun so far this season with the fishing being pretty consistent. Just around the corner is the Bonito fishery. We are curious how they will set up this year. It will be interesting to see if anything changes with the new Smith’s Point cut. Will it affect the Bonito in a good way? Some think that the Bones will come back ! into Madaket Harbor at Eel Point.

That would be cool!

Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches

I explored the tuna grounds last weekend, fishing the area between Crab Ledge, and the BC buoy. We ventured as far as 16 nautical miles off of Chatham, and by seven in the morning, had found dozens of humpbacks feeding lazily on large schools of sand eels, amid about a dozen boats trolling for tuna. We had shots at only two breaking schools however, and though we were able to get shots off, we had no eats. On Sunday, we repeated the procedure, and caught some large bluefish that had found the schools of sand eels, but saw no tuna whatsoever.

After tuna fishing in the morning we, and many other boats, explored Bearse's rip at the end of Monomoy. As reported last week, there were indeed bass chasing squid sporadically in the rips – small squid only an inch or two long. It seemed important to find the gulls, and to watch the rip line for boils and fleeing squid. When drifting through the rips, you could clearly see the bass hanging in and behind the first wave, but unless they were chasing squid, they were holding pretty tight to the bottom. We managed one really nice fat bass though, of about 36 inches, by letting a 350 grain fast sinking line sink for 20 or 30 seconds as we drifted towards the rip, and making sure the fly went through the zone well before the boat.

Finally inside Pleasant Bay, there are bass on the flats, which few seem to fish for some reason, as well as small bluefish, snappers really, aggressively feeding on sand eels in front of the lighthouse.

On the flats of Monomoy, Randy Jones of Yankee Angler reports:

Some fresher fish filtering in with these tides. Inshore wade spots starting to slow as the water warms. Recommend looking for wade, moving water, cooler water, deeper water. Flats looking real good if you can get a sunny day without toooo much wind, clouds, lightning or heavy fog. :) Snapper blues making their normal apperances all over the place. Fun top water action. We have recently had some very dangerous lightning and heavy fog around the Cape Cod area. Please use caution and be prepared for the worst case scenario. Cell phone, Compass, Whistle and GPS should be your fishing buddy for the rest of the summer.
Best Fish's,
Randy Jones

North Side

Captain Brice Contessa and the rest ofthe crew (of Captains) from Fishing the Vineyard report:

I've never really known the origin of the term 'Busman's Holiday', but it's a phrase that is commonly applied to a day when two guides have the day off and go fishing together. That's what happened this Monday, when Jamie Boyle and I both found ourselves with a blank square in the calendar and the itch to get our first tuna of the 2007 season on the fly rod.

With tuna on the mind we met at the Vineyard Haven public boat ramp at 4:30 AM. Joining us on this mission was longtime friend and talented angler Patrick Courtney. After loading Jamie's boat with the necessary tackle, ice and provisions we steamed north, up toward Cape Cod where we had reports of surface feeding bluefins from reliable sources that live in the area.

Once we arrived at the grounds it was not long before we began to see fish on top. Seeing your first leaping tuna fish of the year gets the adrenaline pumping, I don't care who you are. After a couple of fly changes and tippet strength modifications we came up on a group of fish that was busting pretty hard and one throw in with a small olive over white Mushmouth yielded a hookup almost instantly. After a battle that lasted the better part of 30 minutes we had the fish boat side. Some fine work on the part of Jamie at the helm and Patrick on the gaff brought the fish over the rail, a nice fat 46 inch specimen that we estimated to weigh in the high fifties, a personal best on fly for me.

Next it was Patrick's turn, and a couple of shots with the spin pole produced a fish in short order. Pat is an expert with the heavy spin stuff, having taken many tuna and marlin in this fashion. As a result of his experience he knows what the tackle he uses is capable of, and ten minutes after he went tight we released a nice tuna in the 45 to 50 inch range.

Now it was Jamie's turn. I wasn't accustom to driving shots in Jamie's boat, which is significantly bigger than mine, but regardless of my needing a little time to work the bugs out it only took Jamie two casts to tighten up to a nice bluefin on the fly. Like Patrick, Jamie is quite accustom to landing big fish on relatively light tackle, and he was able to best another tuna in the same size range as the previous ones in less than 20 minutes.

The action began to slow around mid-day, but it did open up for us for a short time in the afternoon and we were able to hook two more fish, landing one. Four fish landed on five hookups, 3 on fly and one on spin, not a bad way to open up the 2007 tuna season. All the fish were in the 45 to 50 inch range and weighed between 50 and 60 pounds. Hot fly was the Mushmouth (big surprise), and the spin lure of choice was the Maria, although we did have some fantastic hits on top water stuff.