The spring Cape Cod saltwater fishing season may be a whopping 6 months away, but it’s never too early in my opinion to talk about the best Cape Cod fishing spots to try out come spring-time 2013.

Finding good Cape Cod fishing spots has increased exponentially in ease since the internet and Google Earth came to fruition.  Yet finding and accessing spots that are tucked away from the crowds takes a bit more effort.

This rings especially true here on Cape Cod where beach and parking access is often limited.

Well next season I am planning on venturing to little-known Cape Cod fishing spots and areas that are a bit more “remote” than your average wire-line jigging trip off Chatham or Southwest Corner tuna expedition.  I am hoping to focus on areas where I’ll be the only fishermen for miles – just me, the fish and a few sea gulls (and maybe the GF from time to time – LOL).

I’m sure I will discover some pretty cool fishing nooks and crannies as I bounce around the Cape next season.  It should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to sharing what happens with you here on the blog.

As I look forward to the spring I can’t help but reminisce about the spring of 2012.  The surf fishing was phenomenal, with more bass in close to shore than the season prior.

Hopefully the biomass of bass will again decide to venture in tight to the Cape Cod shoreline come spring of 2013.  If they do, here are 3 areas and techniques you may want to check out.  Good luck!

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Fishing Cape Cod for Striped Bass

Today was a phenomenal day with picture perfect weather conditions and excellent fishing.  I’m going on my 34th hour without any sleep so I’m just going to cut to the chase with this report so I can hit the hay and get some shut eye.

The bass fishing today was much better than I had envisioned for a hot, flat calm mid-July day.  We found bass in all the mid-summer hot spots that we like to fish in the Bay, and fortunately for us they were more than willing to eat.

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It’s always nice when you mark a school of bass, and then a  few seconds later a rod doubles over and a drag starts screaming.  This was the case today, as the vast majority of marks on the sonar turned into a fish on the rod.

These bass were very aggressive and absolutely inhaled a tube, as long as it was trolled right in front of their faces.  This meant getting the tube down to their level.  For some reason, maybe water temperature related, most of the bass we caught today were taken deeper than usual.

The stripers today in the Bay ranged from 8 pounds all the way up to 32 pounds.  We had numerous instances where we tripled up with one keeper striper, one schoolie striper, and one bluefish.  Some of the bluefish were on the small side while others were absolutely enormous.

The bluefish would have driven me absolutely bonkers had we been primarily using eels or some other kind of live bait.  Fortunately the bass were honed in on the tube and worm, which made dealing with all the bluefish much easier.

All in all we managed over 20 bass (17 of which were keepers) and somewhere in the vicinity of 30 – 40 bluefish.

It was a great day to say the least!  I’m looking forward to getting back out there on the water soon.

Click here for more information on today’s fishing, the techniques used, tips for finding big bass in Cape Cod Bay and more specific info on the areas fished.

Take care and good luck!

Ryan

 

 

 

Cape Cod Fishing Report

There’s been a lot of stuff happening this past week off Cape Cod.  From 5 pound bluefish to 500 pound giant bluefin tuna, just about every Cape Cod fishing report around the web and in the newspapers is saying the same thing – the saltwater fishing is pretty darn good.

If there’s one thing just about everyone can agree upon it is the amount of bait present in many areas around Cape Cod.  Of course not every bay, harbor and sound is chock full – but many are.  From mackerel to squid to pogies there is plenty for the predatory fish to feast upon.

Cape Cod Bay Fishing Report

The Bay continued to fish very well this past week.  During a trip on Tuesday we found loads and loads of mackerel in 70 feet of water.  Mostly tinkers but a few larger specimens mixed in.

One of the most interesting accounts I heard this week came from blog member Paul S.  Paul was out fishing a few days ago and actually jigged up squid amongst all the mackerel.  In 20 years of mackerel fishing I have never caught a squid in the Bay.  Nice work Paul!

There’s plenty of big bass in the Bay as well and most of them, at least at the moment, seem to be hanging tight to shore.  We found hordes of fish this week in 15-20 feet of water and enjoyed consistent action for about 5 straight hours.  Nothing enormous but nice bass in the 10-27 pound range.

Live macks were the ticket for us but numerous other blog members loaded up in the Bay using top water plugs.  Again most of the top water action has been occurring in relatively shallow water, so at least for the moment it seems that the bass have not entered into their deep water haunts summer pattern.

There are some bluefish kicking around in Cape Cod Bay as well, although we have not caught any in the boat just yet – which is A-OK by me.

Click here for information on specific areas that have been holding good numbers of big bass in the Bay.

Cape Cod Canal Fishing Report

As has been the case for the majority of this spring, the Cape Cod Canal continues to produce phenomenal striped bass fishing.  There’s been a boat load of bait in the Canal all spring, and so far it’s not showing any real signs of letting up.

My guess is that there must be a ton of food in the Ditch for the mackerel to feed upon.  Why else would they allow themselves to be slaughtered each morning by hordes of big bass?  As long as the food for the macks stick around, I would say with confidence that the bass will take advantage of the feeding opportunity.

When the bass are on macks the top water fishing can be really exciting.  As is typical the best action this past week was early in the morning, however the mid-morning and afternoon bite hasn’t been too shabby either.

Blog member Nick K. has been doing damage during hours that striped bass are supposed to be resting.  This past week he landed numerous fish in the 30 and 40 inch class between 10am – 12 noon, proving that you never know unless you go.  Nick is relatively new to fishing the Canal, so congrats on a phenomenal start to your Cape Cod Canal fishing career!

However with the heat wave and the crowds, hitting the Canal at night this weekend could be your best bet.

Click here to check out some of the best areas and techniques for fishing the Canal after dark.

Provincetown Fishing Report

I really enjoy fishing P-town, and if it wasn’t for the 20 mile ride across Cape Cod Bay I would fish the area a lot more often.  The great news is that the light winds predicted for this weekend could make that ride a bit easier on the boat, body and wallet.  Believe me you do not want to cross Cape Cod Bay when the wind is blowing 20-25mph!

Fishing in this area is really cool because so many different techniques produce well.  Drifting live mackerel, wire line jigging and everything in between will work during the spring over at P-town.

I remember a few years back at P-town when my fish finder repeatedly “told” me that we were in 10 feet of water when in reality, we were in over 30.  The bass were so thick that my sonar was confusing the schools of stripers for the bottom.  I’m not sure if this is the case right now over there, however word has it that the place is loaded up pretty good.

There are still plenty of mackerel holding in deep water from Plymouth straight across to Provincetown.  100 feet plus has been the magical depth.

Click here for more information on some of the best areas to target stripers in the Provincetown area this weekend.

Giant Bluefin Tuna Fishing Report

My fishing buddy Jason Mazzola is currently sitting out on the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank drifting live bait for a chance at a giant bluefin tuna.  I’ve tried calling a few times but the cell phone reception is pretty lousy out there.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted if they hook up.

I do know they were able to scrounge up a few pogies before heading out which is always a good sign.  However so far the pogie fishing has been on the slow side for us.  Last year we had trips where we landed dozens of adult pogies using the gill net, however this year we have been fortunate to find just a few.

I’d imagine the pogie fishing in many Cape Cod harbors and bays will only continue to improve – I hope!

Contrary to what most folks were expecting it seemed that the tuna bite got off to a slow start this spring.  A lot of guys, myself included, expected to hear about tuna being caught in mid to late May.

Well it took a few extra weeks but the tunas are here and they are BIG.

Most of the bluefins I have heard about so far this season have been over 400 pounds.  The majority of these big boys have been taken by stick boats, however the rod and reel guys are holding their own.

The SWC of Stellwagen is always a good bet this time of the season.  Granted I’m no tuna expert but the corner is where we have always had our best success early in the season.

Hanging a bluefish under a kite is a sure fire way to tempt one of the behemoths that are currently swimming around on the Bank.  Problem is finding bluefish when you need them for bait is not always easy.  Often times it takes some considerable effort to find and transport the blues to where you intend on fishing them.  Nevertheless the extra effort to locate a bluefish may very well be worth it.

East of Chatham is also fishing pretty well.  For the best tuna reporting in the area I would recommend viewing Captain John Bunar’s Massachusetts Fishing Report – just click here to check it out.

Surfcasting Fishing Report

Shore bound anglers have a bunch to look forward to this weekend.  The fishing from shore around Cape Cod this season has been really epic.  I’ve seen more nice stripers up in tight to the beach this spring than I have in the past few years which is really awesome.

There’s really no shortage of great places to fish, however to increase your odds I’d recommend targeting a place that features boulders in close proximity to a harbor, estuary or some sort of significant current.  These types of areas have fished especially well for me this spring.

Bluefish can still be caught from shore in numerous locales around Cape Cod.  This is simple surf casting – just chuck a top water plug out there as far as you can and rip it along the surface.  If the blues are there they will certainly let you know.

I plan on heading down Cape this weekend and doing some surf casting of my own Saturday evening and Sunday morning.  There’s a few areas that I’m eager to try out and it looks like the tides may work out perfectly for these spots.

For more information on where to find a solid bass bite from shore this weekend, click here.

That’s about all the intel I have at the moment!  If you’re interested in reading up on some more quality fishing reports be sure to check out On The Water and one of my favorite fishing forums, Sportfishermen.com.

Tight lines and good luck!

Ryan

 

 

 

Cape Cod Fishing Report

I’m not usually a huge fan of catching bluefish, but when they are whacking top water plugs cast from shore I am 100% in.

Fortunately here on Cape Cod, we see a nice run of bluefish along the beachfront each spring.  May and June, in my experience, has always been prime time for targeting bluefish from shore.

Catching bluefish from the beach is pretty simple stuff for the most part.  To catch a blue from shore you really only need to focus on three things:

1. Locate a beach that has been holding bluefish
2. Go to the beach around sunrise/sunset with top water plugs
3. Bomb the top water plug out as far as you can and work it quickly along the surface

If the bluefish are around you will soon find out!

To make life easier for yourself, remove the treble hooks from your plug and replace them with singles.  You may also want to tie on a wire leader to avoid getting bitten off.  If you haven’t fished for bluefish before, be extra careful and keep your fingers away from their extremely sharp and powerful teeth.

I’d also recommend bringing along a sand spike.  This way when you land a bluefish, you can place your rod in the sand spike and have two hands free to corral the bluefish.

One of the primary baits that bluefish are chasing this time of the year is squid.  Squid are really athletic and quick prey items, so the bluefish has to exert some serious energy to catch them.  What this means is that the blues will be, for the most part, super aggressive and willing to put on quite the acrobatic show.

You’ll have your best chance of finding blues if you locate a beach that has squid holding off it.  Then when the wind turns and blows towards the beach, the organisms at the bottom of the food chain are blown in towards shore.  Next come the small minnows to feed on the small organisms.  Chasing the minnows are the squid and chasing the squid are the blues.

Luckily this is the exact situation Garet and I found ourselves in yesterday.  The wind was howling and the bluefish were holding very close to shore.

It only took 3 casts to hook up with the first blue of the day.  Like I said before, I’m usually cursing bluefish when they are chopping up my live eels, but this guy put up one heck of a good fight and actually pulled some decent line from my light tackle setup.  How could I not find this fun?

Garet and I continued casting directly into a rather stiff breeze, and were able to elicit a strike every 5-10 casts.  The blues were going nuts on the plug and had no trouble whacking it completely out of the water which is always exciting.

We spent around 45 minutes on the sand and hooked and released 4 or 5 blues.  Most of the blues were on the smaller end of the spectrum.  These blues would have looked awesome underneath a kite out at Stellwagen!

I’m sure we could have continued catching but a handful of bluefish is really all it takes to keep Garet and I happy.  We opted for calling it quits early and grabbing a slice of pizza on the ride home.

Just another fun afternoon fishing Cape Cod.  I’d imagine the bluefish bite will remain strong for at least a few more days if not longer.  If you are looking to cash in on some fun top water action I’d highly recommend grabbing some poppers and hitting the suds.

Click here for more information on the best Cape Cod beaches to target bluefish over the next few days.

Tight lines, good luck and enjoy the rest of your week!

Ryan

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If only I could save bluefish like the one above for a live bait tuna trip!

Speaking of tuna, I heard that an 83 inch giant was taken yesterday east of Chatham.  It must have been a little snotty out there with the Northeast wind, but some hard working soul stuck it out and was rewarded.  I’d imagine more fish were taken yesterday – hopefully we’ll hear some positive reports soon.

I’m not a huge fan of catching bluefish from a boat, but I do enjoy catching them from shore.  May and June is a great time to target blues from the beach, so we might as well take advantage before they head out to deeper water.

I fished a few different areas yesterday searching for any signs of life.  Unfortunately it was hard to spot much of anything in the wind and waves.  After hitting up 3 different beaches I decided to make a move east to a nice little deep harbor that I had scouted out using Google Earth.

There’s no better way to catch bluefish in my book than casting big top water plugs.  Catching blues with top waters during the spring is pretty straightforward, as long as you are working the plug nicely back and forth and making some commotion.  There’s a lot of squid around right now, so odds are that bluefish on the end of your line was expecting some calamari when he bit.

I did not get in on a full bluefish blitz yesterday but I did manage to cull up some action.  At around 8pm I made it to the spot and began blindly casting around.

On my third cast, and only about 20 feet in front of me, a super aggressive blue came hurdling towards the surface and smacked my pencil popper.  Fish on!

He put up a good little tug like bluefish always do, but I soon managed to get him up on the beach.  I was happy, as this was my first bluefish of the season.  Nothing huge but a healthy looking guy that, like I said, would have looked real good under the kite.  If only little blues like this were easy to get the morning of a tuna trip!

After a couple quick photos I sent the guy back into the ocean and watched him swim off.  I continued casting around and had a few more chases.  Before I knew it the sky was dark and the action I had was gone.

All in all a satisfying little surf casting trip.  The first blue of the season has been checked off my to-do list.

I’ve been hearing good reports of bluefish in certain areas around the Cape this week, so I would imagine that if you give it a good shot in the right spot you’ll be able to connect.  With the weather the way it is right now fishing from shore may be the only option this weekend, so why not toss some top waters to aggressive bluefish.

Click here for more information on the areas fished, and your best bet for a blue this weekend.

Stay dry and good luck fishing!

Take care,

Ryan

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