Cape Cod and the Islands
Region

September 06, 2007

Buzzards Bay

Schools of albies have now been spotted all the way to the top of the Buzzard's bay where they have been blitzing schools of peanut bunker, especially at first light.

Falmouth & the Elizabeths

Joe LeClair reports:

..well Bob I am hearing reports of 20 Albies a day on fly.... Can we do it ? Yes we can !!!

[Also from the BBS came this update from Joe LeClair]

Had the opportunity to fish with local fly shop owner Scott Wessels from The Bear's Den in Taunton, Ma. this morning for some False Albacore. We had a great time and I personally enjoyed heckeling someone who knows what they are doing but still skrews it up. Now that I have that out of my system I can go back to being a nice captain who never yells at anyone when they make a mistake. Just a side note, Scott brought along some new gear and flies that worked really well for these Albies, so if you think you are going to head out on the water in the next few days and need some retail therapy before you go, give him a call...

The Cape Cod Canal

No fly fishing reports from this area  this week.

The South Side

David Churbuck of Reel-Time reports:

I fished last weekend off of Osterville, albies mixed in sporadically with blitzing schools of 2 pound tailor blues pigging out of drop back herring or peanut bunker -- who cares? Sucks to be bait this time of year, but the waters off of the depth line from the end of Osterville Channel out to Horseshoe shoal was solid explosions. I fished em with a sink tip rigged for albies with bunnies, but got bitten off more times than I cared to tie more flies. Inside is still tons of snappers, fun on the trout rod, good times for the little kids. Oh, and saw a Spanish Mac impersonate an submarine launched Polaris missile when it caught four feet of air about 20 yards to leeward as I sailed around Dead Neck.

Sucker made Michael Jordan look like a gimp. Only caught one in my life, and that was while fishing with Jenks and lighting a cigarette. Figures, do nothing with the fly and it gets eaten.

Martha's Vineyard

Capt. Justin Cronin of Capawock Charters of Martha's Vineyard reports:

Martha’s Vineyard Fishing Report for August 30 through September 4, 2007: In his 1929 works “Rod and Line”, Arthur Ransome wrote: “… fishermen value most the fish that are hard to take and value least those that are offered to everybody on a fishmonger’s slab.” Well for the past week his thoughts have been our calling as we have pursued large schools of inshore speedsters everyplace we have fished. Albies and Bones are now available all around the island and these hard charging, crafty fighting exotics have fulfilled many an angler’s dream. With the continuing abundance of bait, the start of our fall fishing season has been a light tackle and fly fishers chance of a lifetime.

From Menemsha to Edgartown and now along Chappaquiddick’s East Beach, we are running in to fish no matter what the time of day or stage in tide. Certainly, some tides are better than other’s but the fish seem to have the feed bag on at all times. Now having so many fish doesn’t always mean catching them is easy; just the opposite holds true often as fish are definitely keyed in on the bait and getting them to hit a fly or lure can be frustrating. Matching the size of the bait is important but once the secrets get unlocked, hooking up becomes a reasonably successful effort.

The fact that we have a phenomenal run of false albacore and Atlantic bonito after several years of less than mediocre seasons is great but what is even greater is that the fish are big. Albies brought to the boat are averaging 10 pounds plus while bones are running from 5 to 8 pounds. For those who might not realize it, those are nice fish. The largest we have boated in the past week is a 12 pound albie and an 8 pound bonito. We have seen and thrown at some that are even considerably larger. As far as blues are concerned we have been passing over huge schools of blitzing bluefish and not even bothering with them. Bass have not been a target for me lately but soon we will be pursuing them as well.

The Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby starts this Sunday and the island will be totally focused on it. We expect a banner derby and I predict some record albies and bonito weighed in. I also predict that that elusive flyrod shore grand slam will happen this year. It has been many years since Chip Bergeron caught his bass, bluefish, albie, and bonito from the beach with flyrod. We have all been chasing him since it happened and perhaps this will be the year someone catches up to this uncommon feat. Good luck to all in this year’s month long derby. Catch ‘em up!

Jeff Sayre reports:

Over the past week large schools of hungry false albacore have invaded our waters. It's quite a sight watching them blast through schools of hapless peanut bunker. There have been so many fish crashing in these schools that you would think you'd be on every cast but that is not the case. At times we were pulling our hair out trying to get a take. Those albies can get real finicky while on small bunker. Most of these albies have been large too with fish in the 11 to 12 lb range and I heard of one 16 lber. The Derby starts on Sunday so you can expect plenty of 7 lbers to move in then. It's like they know!

The wind made fishing a little challenging over the later part of the Labor Day weekend. On Monday it was blowing HARD out of the SW and by mid-morning it there were gusts to 30 mph. Chasing fish was tough and so was setting up a drift but we managed to get a few.

We also found some good schools of bonito on Tuesday that we much more willing to hit lures thrown their way. They were keyed in on silversides which made them easier to hook.
As I mentioned before, the Derby starts on Sunday. The books and hats are in all the shops and make sure you sign up for it if you are going to fish! It's a $45 insurance policy. You don't want to be the one that catches the big fish but didn't sign up for the Derby!

-Jeff Sayre

Nantucket

Capt. Lynne Heyer of Cross Rip Outfitters reports:

Fishing Report: Albie fever has hit the Island. Yes, the green speedsters have arrived. I have seen them and have caught some too. I am getting reports fairly wide spread around the Island of the Albies being seen and caught. I think Capt Shawn caught the first one for our Cross Rip team. Chris Brown landed one at 14#’s. I had a trip with Joe Santucci on Monday and we landed 3out ! of 4 fish, 3 Albies and one Bonito on the Bonito Bar. The fish running down the waves were unbelievable. I have to say the visuals were very cool. Hopefully this marks a great Fall ahead.

A few days back I had an awesome trip with Paul and Kristi Stanley. We fished the Bonito Bar and landed Bonito and Blues then moved down along the Tuckernuck shore and Kristi landed a 14# Striper. It was just an awesome site. Pictures to follow, they are still locked in the camera. I will have to say that I have had some great folks fish with me this summer and it has been a lot of fun. I hope the Fall will be the same. Captain Jeff had Warren Stern out and they landed his first False Albacore on fly over the weekend. Seems like everyone is getting into the fish. Get out there and enjoy.

Cross Rip Outfitters
http://www.crossrip.com

Chatham, Monomoy and the Outer Beaches

Matt at Chatham Bait and Tackle says that anglers are starting to see some bonito. In fact, a good friend got two of them off the end of Monomoy. Another angler actually caught a few of them at Hardings Beach, at high tide at dusk.

As for albies, Matt has heard of a few off the tip of Monomoy, but they are not concentrated or in big numbers.

Bass are closer to shore than they have been for a while, and are even inside the bell outside of Pleasant Bay. The rips are doing alright as well as far as bass are concerned, reported Matt, and he even said there have even been a few tuna caught inside of four miles from shore, which is a really good area for fly fishermen to look.