Cape Cod and the Islands
Region

July 17, 2008

Buzzards Bay

Hey, it's July, there aren't any reports.  That said, we know that Cuttyhunk isn't that far from Block Island, and Block Island has had huge fish, and Cuttyhunk is known to hold *even* huger fish.  Do the math...

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Nary a word.  Check out the Vineyard report to get an idea what's up.

The Cape Cod Canal

Hard to say what's going on.  On the one hand I hear it's slow.  On the other hand I have people telling me about morning blitzes and even the Cape Cod Times is reporting about pushes of keeper size fish coming through almost daily.  I'll figure the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The South Side

Stripers and blues...figure on finding stripers in some off the shallow water spots, and the blues should be hanging in the rips.  Other than that, no info, as I was down in RI last weekend.

Martha's Vineyard

Capt. Brice Contessa at FishingtheVineyard.com reports:

Photo by Capt. Brice Contessa

Fishing The Vineyard Report 7/17/08

The name of the game on the island right now is sight casting for bass and fishing the east end shoal water for blues. The bluefish are fairly nice size wise this year, with a 4-6 pound average and several in the double digit range put up on the fly and light spin by team Fishing The Vineyard and our clients in the past week.

The flats fishing for bass is fantastic at the moment. North and west side flats have been literally crawling with fish this past week. The fish range in size from fairly small to many over 36 inches, and some which you see coming down the edge and you’re convinced that the tarpon migration has tracked further north this year. Poling from the boat and wading on foot have both been effective. This picture is of Chris Taylor from Washington State. I had him in the book for a beach trip in the evening, but switched it to an afternoon sight cast/wade trip and we were rewarded with some nice fish. These were Chris’ first stripers! Hot flies have been Skok’s Mole Crab, Lady Crab and Phlounder.

No word on the tuna scene, but the rumors still abound. I’ll have a better fix on it next week, as Boyle’s headed down that way as we speak. We still have some great dates available, so come see us! Thanks…

Captain W. Brice Contessa

Capt. Phil Cronin at Capawok Charters reports:

I love June on the Vineyard as the bass fishing is at its peak and the anglers I take out are mostly hard core but July introduces some added species at both the beginning and end of the month and the anglers, while not always as experienced as those in June, are a blast to fish with. Besides bass and blues we can target fluke and black sea bass during the first half of the month and towards the end of it we can start to look for Atlantic bonito. No matter what the species or sizes, the smiles on the anglers broaden during July and the excitement and satisfaction of hooking onto and landing a fish becomes a hoot.

During one of my charters this past week I took out a group of four over a two day period. We had two guys and two gals the first day and three gals and one guy the second. They were all family and mostly beginner to intermediate in their fishing skills level. It was an all out blast as we easily found loads of bass in the morning pushing herring in Menemsha Bite. The amount of birds, bait, and crashing fish was truly amazing and the action was steady for a solid two hours as the numerous triple and double hook-ups confirmed. They weren’t big fish but they were an all out blast to catch on the light tackle I provide. If there is one thing that is most important to me as a charter captain it is the smiles that I see on anglers faces as they fight a fish. It definitely is what makes it all worthwhile.

Following two days of solid and consistent bass action I took out a fellow from Georgia who wanted to catch some bass. Thinking it would be an easy matter to put him on the same fish we had scored so well with over the previous two days, I meet up with him in Menemsha and proceeded out into the Bite. Flocks of birds were again indicating bait and fish and all around we saw crashing fish. The problem was they were all bluefish; acres of them! We fished them for awhile hoping to locate some bass among the blitzes but there were no linesiders to be had so I decided to ply the rocks along the north shoreline. What a difference a day makes! The previous days we couldn’t keep the bass off the hooks and then we couldn’t buy a bass. Finally after throwing among the rocks with a 6” slugo he finally connected. After a challenging fight he brought a schoolie to the boat. In his words it was not large but the highlight of the day. He could have caught loads of blues but he was happy with the challenge of catching one Vineyard striped bass. That’s what makes this job so rewarding.

The annual VFW Fluke Tournament was held this past weekend and our team consisting of myself, my son Jay, Scott Patterson, and John Schillinger gave it an all out and exhausting effort. John caught our largest fluke weighing in at an impressive 8.2 lbs. I love the change of pace that fluke fishing brings and not knowing what will come up next from the bottom is both exciting and challenging. With 21 teams signed up we did fairly well placing in sixth. The format is fairly simple as each team weighs in their four largest fluke each day of the two day period and the heaviest total seizes bragging rights for the next year. We didn’t get bragging rights but we did finish the event with many great memories of a hard fought battle and a total weight of 45.4 pounds. Scott even managed to achieve a fluke tourney slam consisting of a 7 pound doormat, a 5 pound black sea bass, and a 23 pound striper. Nice going Scottie!

Krill is starting to funnel into Vineyard waters but not yet in the quantity that distracts all the bass from other forage. In last weeks report I mentioned I was going to comment this week on tips and techniques for successfully catching bass when they are focused on slurping krill but with the length of this report so far I better but it off for next week. With that said,

Tight lines and singing drags,

Captain Phil Cronin
Cell: 617-448-2030

Nantucket

Cross Rip Outfitters reports:

Tuesday, July 15, 2008  

Just a quick report, Bluefish are covering the Island from Great Point to Madaket. Yes Great Point is also open to the Point. I have been told the seals have been very hungry and trying to steal people’s fish. So maybe move off the point a couple hundred yards and try the flat water for fish. This seems to be working for our Beach Guides Dave and Burt.

Madequecham, behind the airport to Tom Nevers seems to be pretty  good too. Blues during the day and Bass in the evenings. I even got a report along Miacomet of Blues and Bass. The flats are also producing some Stripers. I haven’t had the greatest luck to get them to eat but we keep trying.

Captain Shawn and Capt James will be heading out looking for some hungry Tuna’s. Last trip Shawn went offshore he landed a couple of nice Bluefins.It made for great eating. We are all still waiting to catch the first Bonito. Should be soon.   
 

Capt. Shawn Bristow of Squaretail Outfitters reports:

As I look back through the log book for the past 3 weeks all I read is bass, bass, bass. The striper fishing has been great, consistent all day action. Thats not to say the blues have not been mixed in though. The early morning and evening charters have seen the best striper action with the morning being the prime time. It seems as the sun gets higher in the sky the blues thicken up and your bluefish to bass ratio goes from 5 bass to 1 blue, up to, 2 bass for every 5 blues. Still good odds, but not straight bass. The offshore rips that hold bass have been loaded, the six hour trips are having a blast catching stripers on top water plugs, hogy’s and almost anything else to chuck at them. Some results and highlights from the past 3 weeks are: 39# and 36# bass, 8# fluke, 12# bluefish. I have been on the lookout for Bonito, any day now were going to get them… The tuna fishing is becoming a consistent fishery, with fish to the south and also the east of the island. We managed to go 2 for 3 on Friday, large fish was 54 inches. I’ll be heading out there a bunch in the next 2 weeks so we will see. For more info checkout http://squaretailoutfitters.com

Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches

Randy Jones at YankeeAngler.com reports:

7/10
We sight/fly/wade fished all day. We started off with a school of 100 Bass all Keeper's just sitting there not moving while they rested.  We hooked some up. :) Then it was keeper Bass in schools of 1,2, 20, 30, 50 for the next hour steady (approx. 300). But, no schoolies. Then we hit a lull and all we could find were those nice fighting 10 lb. Blues on the flats while sightfishing in 1,2's, 7-8's and 10's (approx. 40), but no schoolies. We had to force ourselves to put on the wire and play with these darn Bluefish in 1 foot of water. :)  Then as we moved along the flat looking over the edges, we finally found some schoolies in 1,2's and 3's, (approx. 30 of them in total.) They were off the main flat and seemed to be in hiding. Then as we progressed along the flats to another section all hell broke lose. School's of 3lb. to 10 lb. Blues in singles, doubles, 10's, 20's 30's, 40's all the way up to school's of 100. (Saw easily over 1,000 Blues in less than 2 hour's. AMAZING!!  :)
In total we sightfished while wading and useing fly rods to approx. 1,400 fish in a 5 hour time period. (Most of which came within easy casting range of a fly rod in less than a 2 hour period.) Almost steady fish all day with sometimes only seconds inbetween them. At times they surrounded us and Ray Charles could have sight fished to them. :)
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7/11
Started off slow on the flats. Saw a school of approx. 7 Bass in the first 1/2 hour. Then we left for greener pastures and again, found nothing for the next 1/2 hour. Left again for another flat and as soon as our ankles touched the edge it was fish, 12 O'Clock, moving right. Fish ON! As we fought this fish we saw more pass'n us by. As we proceeded to walk along this edge we saw more and more fish, had lots of opportunity, caught zip.
I always jokingly tell folks that if you want to improve your odds, then blindcast. You don't have to be fast or accurate, you just have to get it out there. If you want to TRY to catch fish, then sight cast. :)
As we approached the main flat for the day we began to see BIG Bass, more and then some more. Then, as expected, we began to see those schools of blues and more Blues. Amazing numbers. The Bass sighting's slooowed down so we switched to Blue fish rigging and proceeded to hook them up. Along with these BIG numbers of blues, we also began to see these keeper Bass again. Combination of very good numbers of both species consistently on the flats. If you can imagine seeing several pods of blues in schools of 20 to 100 ( in 1 foot of water) and also at the same time seeing 2-3 keeper bass all around you, then you have the picture! Tourqoius water, almost matching the color of the sky and looking exactly like the Caribbean. The only difference is that you didnt have to spend $1,000's of dollar's for the experience. :) A good sized Bluefish will give you almost the same run - fight as a bonefish in my opinion. The only difference is about $1,000 per fish. :)
Another amazing day while sight fishing with a fly rod in these crystal clear waters LOADED with Bass and blues. Ended the day with another Blue attacking our lil Sand Lance fly pattern with another one of many spectacular speeding bullet runs ending at the rod while landing with the normal bite off. :)Darn, and that was my favorite fly. :) Amazing, simply amazing. I hope you all get a chance to experience this fishery.
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FYI - If booking me and your schedule is flexible and I'm not booked up. I'd like to try to get you out on the best weather day possible. Sight fishing with a good sun and light breeze. If not, then we will fish with whatever weather we have, as long as safe. :) This is a lil something I try to do when Im not booked everyday and your flexible.
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7/13
First flat of the morning had a school of 100 Fish in 1-1/2 feet of water just hang'n around that we sight cast too. Hooked a couple, in 2 cast's. They moved into another area that had a couple more schools hanging around. Played with these for awhile. Then off to another area flat complex and found some more here and there to cast at. We then moved to the honey hole. This hole has had approx. 1,000 to 500 fish in it lately. It was LOADED today. Every single cast replied with numerous Blues crashing our surface lures. We had a competition on who could retrieve it the fastest and make the most cast's without hooking up. We tied with each of us unable to keep the plugs away from them by our second cast. Incredible jump's, somersault's, speeding bullet runs. Ye-haa! My guest tried fishing bait on the bottom and in 4 cast's caught 4 Bass. Blues on top and Bass underneath them. Tremendous amount of bait spraying. I even had fun taking the hook off :0 the lure and letting the blues hammer the plug time and time again. :) Wrist's and arms sore, no more challenge, tooo easy, left.
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7/15
Lot's of Bluefish. Had a blast! Had our slooow periods and our fast and furious times. Nice day out on the flats sight fishing.
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7/16
Slooow day while spin fishing, surprising so. We had to work for every slam'n bite. Incoming and drop the best.
Had some NICE Bluefish slam'n the top water lure's. Ye-haa!
Randy

Invasion of the Bluefish, Flats, Wade, Fly, Chatham

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Invasion of the Bluefish, Flats, Wade, Fly, Chatham
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I'm having more trouble this year than any other year getting a steady pattern from day to day on these fish. I never know exactly what I will find from day to day which is different than years past. Fortunately, I know the water inside and out, so that helps. Most of my spots are pretty consistent, but not always.
In the last week and a half, those 10 lb. blues have been making a mess of things in the area's that I fish. The bigger Bass are always around as usual, but this last week the 20-26 inch Bass have been in hiding due to all of these Blues. Incredible tides also! Holes and Flats that normally hold 100 to 1,000 Schoolies per day are coming up almost blank. We then only have a lot of Keeper Bass and Blues to play with. It's always nice to have some schoolies to fill in.  Presently, I am noticing a higher than normal invasion of Blues up to 10 lb.s.
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Today was a perfect example. We sight/fly/wade fished all day. We started off with a school of 100 Bass all Keeper's just sitting there not moving while they rested. We hooked some up.  Then it was keeper Bass in schools of 1,2, 20, 30, 50 for the next hour steady (approx. 300). But, no schoolies. Then we hit a lull and all we could find were those nice fighting 10 lb. Blues on the flats while sightfishing in 1,2's, 7-8's and 10's (approx. 40), but no schoolies. We had to force ourselves to put on the wire and play with these darn Bluefish in 1 foot of water.  Then as we moved along the flat looking over the edges, we finally found some schoolies in 1,2's and 3's, (approx. 30 of them in total.) They were off the main flat and seemed to be in hiding. Then as we progressed along the flats to another section all hell broke lose. School's of 3lb. to 10 lb. Blues in singles, doubles, 10's, 20's 30's, 40's all the way up to school's of 100. (Saw easily over 1,000 Blues in less than 2 hour's. AMAZING!!
In total we sightfished while wading and useing fly rods to approx. 1,400 fish in a 5 hour time period. (Most of which came within easy casting range of a fly rod in less than a 2 hour period.) Almost steady fish all day with sometimes only seconds inbetween them. At times they surrounded us and Ray Charles could have sight fished to them.
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The other day we had all Keeper Bass flashing, chasing bait on the shallow, almost white sand while wading with a fly rod sight fishing all day, but no schoolies.
You can see that Im not used to all of these Blues around in these numbers nor bigger size than usual for this time of the year, in my opinion.
And the effect it is having on the large number of schoolies that usually help to fill in the holes and flats.
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2 days ago we had some Keeper Bass around but not as many as the day before. Got skunked. No schoolies or Blues. Water seemed to be void of almost anything swimming. We did see a couple flash and 1 chasing some bait. But, that was all. Sloooow, terrible day on the flats and we had very good visibility! We had 2 days like this last week again. Never know! It seems to be feast or famine.
You can see by the above report that the fishing on the island is just that, Fishing.
Good Luck everyone,
Happy Hook'n,
Randy

North Side

I can't see where much has changed in the last week.  Figure if you want stripers, your either looking at schoolies in creeks or you're fishing deeper water with heavier tackle.