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Cape Cod and the Islands
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In honor of this action, veteran Buzzard's Bay guide Bob Paccia has a few tips that can help you get started chasing tunoids, and I thought I would pass them along: A few suggestions that may help you be more successful this season: Flies to try: The Bonito Bunny Clouser minnows Sand eels patterns Slab flies (also called crease flies) Thanks for the wisdom Capt. Bob! Tight lines, Thorne Sparkman, Publisher
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There are now both bonito and false albacore around Martha's Vineyard, which get ths nod this week as the best place to fly fish around Cape Cod. There is an abundance of bait, and the tunoids are gettinbg geared up for a fantastic end to the Summer.
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Buzzards Bay
Capt. Bob Paccia of Shore-line Guide Service (508-697-6253) reports [Editor's note: sorry for publishing this report a little late, but it is still really helpful information]: August 17th, 2007 Shoreline Guide Service Report: The Stage Is Set and The Curtain Is Rising... Buzzards Bay water temperatures have reached a level that has triggered pods of immature alewives, blueback herring and baby bunker to leave the protection of the estuaries and inner bays to venture out into deeper waters. Sand eels too, have grown in both size and numbers and continue to work the sand flats in Cape Cod canal edges. The scent of all this bait passing through our waters has not gone unnoticed by both stripers and bluefish of all sizes. Blitzes of both species are happening with increasing regularity. Don't think for a minute that all this action is strictly schoolies and small bluefish. We've been taking some big stripers and blues that are feeding under and to the sides of the busting schoolies. It's time, once again, to adapt our fly fishing techniques to the prevailing conditions. The predominant bait is now running relatively small (2"-6"), so my "big bait/big fly" mantra generally will not hold water. It is especially important now to know what the bait is and "match-the-hatch". At this point in the season, big fish are taking advantage of all the small bait that is available to them. The secret here is to find and identify the bait. Note the bait's shape (long and thin like a sand eel or full bodied like a bunker), size and color. Your flies don't have to be exact copies of the bait, as long as the size, profile and color are close. Anything close should work well, especially if you are targeting stripers and bluefish. However, if sharp eyed bonito or false albacore are your quarry, you need to pay closer attention to your fly selection as well as your leader and tippet choice. Did someone mention BONITO ? Let me first say that we have not seen any bonito in Buzzards Bay, yet. Yes, they are around the Vineyard, off Falmouth and around Woods Hole, but we haven't personally seen them here. We have checked out a number of bonito sightings in Buzzards Bay, but they've all turned out to be small bluefish breaking the surface in bonito like fashion. From a distance, they do look similar and are often mis-identified as bonito. We do expect bonito to be showing up any day now because the water temperature and bait conditions are ideal. "Bones", "hardtails", or "funnyfish", call them what you may, but there's no denying that these pelagic speedsters are welcome guests to our waters. However, the "funnyfish" season seems to bring out the worst in many boating or shorebound anglers. Fishing and boating etiquette and common sense get cast aside due to the frantic excitement and frustration that these fish create. Each year we hear horror stories about boating accidents and near accidents that are caused by someone doing something stupid in all of the excitement. We've all got to be extra careful not to be one of the "jerks" that cause the problems or one of the victims of their actions. We all need to fish and boat defensively. Don't be a "Runner and Gunner". On the water your responsible for all of your actions including your wake. "Runner and Gunner" tick off other boaters causing them to finger point ,(usually not the index finger) or do something else stupid or dangerous. |
Falmouth & the Elizabeths
Joe LeClair of North Eastern Anglers reports: |
going nuts for the few bonito that were sliding through New England last week I had the opportunity to hook, land, and loose some really great Striped Bass. Most of the fishing I have been doing has been in the afternoons these days. With the great weather and long days it is always fun to take the ride home just after sunset and it has allowed me to spend some time with my family in the mornings. One eveing this past week the fog moved in at sunset and we slowly worked our way back to the dock with less than 20' of visability. It was an erie feeling knowing there were several large ships out there looming on the radar. I communicated with the tug boat opportaters on channel 13 as I crossed the shipping channel and we made it home safe and sound. For those of you that do spend time out in the fog, remember that most of the larger boats do talk on channel 13.
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Martha's Vineyard
Martha’s Vineyard Fishing Report August 16 thru August 22, 2007 My fishing meter for the past week- Boat Fishing: Excellent fishing a short distance from the Vineyard. Blues and Bones are easily obtainable. Bass in certain spots and albies on the way. Shore Fishing: Fair I’m told. Haven’t done much myself. Capt. Brice Contessa of Fishing the Vineyard reports: Fishing the Vineyard Report 8/22/07: I really can’t stress how good the fishing on Martha’s All four of our major local inshore species are in the mix as of now, with some areas sporting all of them feeding in close proximity to each other. Albies are the most recent addition to the scene; I landed my first one of the season yesterday after losing a handful of them in the previous days. The inshore bonito fishing is the best that any of us have seen in years, with double digit catch numbers on flies and plugs becoming common place. Huge schools of small to medium sized bluefish are available just a bit further off the beach than the green fish, and bass are still available early in the morning hours. The bait fueling the current fishing fire is predominantly peanut bunker, with baby squid, silversides and sandeels on the menu as well. This wide variety of bait allows us to throw a wide variety of flies and plugs; personally I’ve caught more bonito on topwater stuff this year than ever before. The fishing fantastic right now and only seems to be picking up steam; it’s shaping up to be a truly special fall. |
Capt. Phil Cronin of 
you have to put your time in and be at those places during the favorable part of the tide. Bluefish have invested the waters out in the sound. Each day when we leave in search of bonito we pass over acres of blues under hundreds of birds. It is a sight that gets your blood running and your enthusiasm high. Normally we’ll stop and catch a few just to warm up for the rest of the day. Bass are a little more active, especially in and around the estuaries. In fact, now is an excellent time to pick up a Vineyard Slam! As for albies, they are definitely starting to slowly filter in. In the last two days we have spotted albies in the bonito mix. Some of the other boats 
have caught them, we have not yet. The fly of choice remains the Scotty fly.
Vineyard and surrounding coastal waters is right now. I have been extremely impressed with the condition of the fishery this year, and it just seems to keep getting better. 
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Nantucket
Capt. Bill Toelstedt of Nantucket Outfitters reported from last week (no new reports this week yet): Bonita fishing remains steady here on the island... although this morning seemed to be the first day anyone seemed to have trouble on the "bar". This past week we had a mix of weather with winds from all directions...but it did not seem to matter as most folks scored on both north and south winds. We had a heavy blow out of the southwest yesterday afternoon which seems to have stirred things up a bit and resulted in scatterd bait and fish this morning. Capt. Bill Toelstedt |
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Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches
In the waters around Chatham, I'm tempted to say that little has changed since last week, but that is the easiest report to fall aback upon. Here's the rundown, and some of the subtleties. First of all, there is God's own amount of bluefish around Chatham, especially to the west of Monomoy. The fish here have been on the surface, virtually all day from what I have witnessed. The blues are feeding on sand eels, and most recently, tiny one-inch bunker, which have spilled out into Nantucket sound all the way out to the end of Monomoy. In addition, there are some very large choppers INSIDE Stage Harbor where they are hanging around several schools of adult bunker. These fish are catchable all day long, and are great sport. Look for them in the cut, and just inside. There are still some bass in Bearse's rips, but slower tides, and mid-day floods have made There are pretty many tuna east of Chatham, but the fish are 18 to 20 miles out – at least that is where the whales and shearwaters are concentrated. There is virtually nobody fly fishing for the bluefin, or even using light tackle. Everyone is trolling using squid bars and heavy tackle. Most of the fish look to be around forty pounds, but there are some bigger fish reported too. I have seen absolutely no bonito, even with all the baby bunker around, and am tempted to say it is not possible to catch them on purpose. |
for much slower fly fishing. Bass are still visible on the bottom under the first wave, but they are more difficult to catch, and stay low in the water column. I have caught some bass along the beach at the end of Monomoy while looking for bonito.