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(00:01):
Hey everybody, it's my fishing Cape Cod podcast host Kevin Collins. Thanks for taking the time to check out the My Fishing Cape Cod podcast, presented by Cape and Islands Mitsubishi and Cape Codder Boats. What you're about to listen to is an excerpt from our weekly Fishing Report podcast published on Friday, August 4th. In this piece of the podcast, you're going to hear from Amy Wrightson from down at Sports Port in Hyannis. Amy and I are gonna chat about the offshore bite for Blue Fin Tuna. We'll also touch on the mahi mahi bite out there offshore, as well as stripers blues, fluke sea bass, and SCUP in closer to home. Now, if you want to hear the entire podcast, head on over to my fishing cape cod.com. It's there. You can use your username and login in to hear the entirety of my conversation with Amy, as well as the rest of the podcast.

(00:50):
If you're not yet a, my Fishing Cape Cod member encourage you to head on over to my fishing cape cod.com. Sign up for a membership and you will have access to this podcast as well as all of our past and future content in the podcast section. We publish a new Phish Report podcast every Thursday or Friday for you right here on my fishing cape cod.com. So sit back, relax, and enjoy our conversation with Amy Wrightson of Sports Port. Well, up next on today's edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod podcast is our good friend Amy Reson from down at Sports Port Hyannis. Amy, how are you today?

(01:24):
I am great. How are you, Kevin?

(01:27):
Doing fantastic, Amy. Uh, it's finally good to chat with you while I'm, I'm back at home here on Cape Cod. I sure have missed it.

(01:35):
Yes. Welcome back.

(01:37):
So I wanna start off Amy, uh, with you and I have been kind of chatting a little bit before we started taping the podcast, and it sounds like you had a, a, a really awesome adventure with your son offshore. I know you're new and kind of getting introduced to the offshore angling in the tuna fishery. Uh, I consider myself a bit of a novice as well. I'm just fortunate enough to get out there when invited by other folks. But how was that trip? Tell us about it.

(02:03):
Yeah, so, um, my son Tucker and I have been going with Ben Sussman, who I work with at the shop. And, um, so we've been going out, you know, south of the island. So we've gone, you know, once a week for the last three weeks I think. And, um, every time we have the best time, it's been incredible so far. We have been unsuccessful in landing at tuna, which, um, really has been like, you know, sort of our main goal. Um, but in my mind it's, you know, it's okay because tuna can be tough to get. And like you said, you know, I'm, I'm certainly new to the tuna game. Ben is certainly more experienced than I am. Mm-hmm. Um, my, my son is definitely new to the Tuna game, so, you know, we've, um, missed a couple of fish. We fought a fish for, you know, 30 or 40 minutes and it spit the hook.

(03:02):
Um, so just to be able to feel the power of that fish was just so exciting and really impressive. So that was very cool. So each time, um, you know, we've sort of, you know, had our tail between our legs with the, the tuna fishing. We've then gone to, uh, to find the pots, the high flyers, and, um, done really well with the mahi. And if you've ever done it, I mean, this is like super exciting, lots of action, uh, just so much fun. And those fish are so vibrant, so colorful, delicious to eat, um, just really, really a fun, fun fishery. Um, so that's been a ton of fun.

(03:51):
So back in the, to the bluefin, uh, you know, your, your last three weeks in, in this experience, I wanna dive deeper into the bluefin and then the mahi. Can you talk a little bit about your strategy with the bluefin? Definitely don't want to burn Ben's, you know, spots or all his secrets, but just give a, an overall kind of a look into how you guys were trying to get him.

(04:12):
Yeah, so, you know, I think the first trip we did about three weeks ago, we were, um, you know, trolling bars and, um, we weren't getting anything doing, doing that. Um, we, you know, found a fleet out there south of the vineyard and it was obvious that, um, everybody was, uh, was jigging, you know, so we were out there, uh, two, two days ago, I guess it was, you know, a lot of people in the fleet were hooking up and the the fish were mixed. They were actually getting yellow, uh, yellow fin tunas as well as, um, bluefin tunas. We, we asked, uh, a boat after, um, watching this boat hook up more than once, you know, was it metals or plastics? And these guys said that they were using metals. Um, the jig they had was a hundred grams. And, uh, you know, we were, you know, mark and fish, um, that were pretty deep.

(05:12):
We were fishing, you know, probably 180 to 200 feet of water, and, uh, they were usually closer to the bottom, and some of the jigs that we had just weren't heavy enough, so we couldn't get all the way down. Um, but the, the size, they said they were using a hundred grams and, um, we had one that was one 20, I think that was our lightest jig, and we couldn't get ours down, so whatever we were doing wasn't quite right or whatever jig we had wasn't the, the secret sauce that day. But recently, it's really, it's been all about the jig. Um, and that can be, uh, tiring, <laugh> tiring work, especially when you're jigging and, uh, not jigging any fish up <laugh>.

(06:01):
Yeah, for sure. But it's really interesting to hear about it, and I'm sure you know, a really great memory for you and your son to have out there together. You know, especially a, a new way to kind of introduce him to fishing here this summer.

(06:14):
It's, it's been really, really awesome, um, just like you said, to be able to do that together and, uh, you know, and then moving on to the mahi, um, where it's just, you know, a lot of action and a lot of fish and, um, you know, you're kind of working as a team, just kind of getting out of the other person's way and Yep. Moving through and letting the next person, you know, hook up and, um, uh, it's, it's just really a ton of fun.

(06:45):
Can can you talk a little bit about the strategy for the, the mahi with the high flyers? I'm sure that's, that's a site. We have a, a member here, Bruno Demir, who's also a guest on the podcast. Uh, he's down in, uh, Nantucket sound area, but he got a chance to get out there and fish around the high flyers and he posted some awesome video on his Instagram of these fish. The water just seems to be so clear. You can see down, you know, 10 feet or more below the surface and see these fish schooling below the boat. Can you talk a little bit about that experience, what it's like, and also a little bit of your strategy and how you were able to catch those fish?

(07:21):
Yeah, so, you know, first, you know, you find the, the pots and, um, you know, you kind of pull up on 'em pretty, pretty slow. You don't wanna, you know, spook the school. Um, and you can usually tell pretty quickly within a cast or two whether there's mahi on that pot. Um, you know, so we were throwing, you know, small, we had like very small bucktails or, you know, small epoxies or small metals. Um, we did, we did, we did a lot of different stuff actually. We did small, um, jig heads with, uh, little soft plastics on it. Um, and I think we caught fish on all of them. And so our, our strategy would be pull up slow, quiet couple casts, and you usually see one or two or a whole school follow. And so, you know, you, you've gotta work pretty quickly because they can, uh, get pretty finicky kind of quickly.

(08:26):
So you do that, you know, sometimes you can even, you know, leave a foot fish on if you catch one, you know, in the rod hole or on the back just to kind of keep the school there. Um, and then if you feel like, you know, the action's starting to slow down, uh, you know, what we were doing is just taking, uh, you know, one day we were out there, we went through like two pounds of squid. You were just, you know, cut up into the squid, up into tiny little pieces, you know, throw, you know, four or five pieces out just to keep 'em interested, you know, just sort of a little chum. Um, and that would kind of keep 'em interested. Um, you know, one week we were, we switched over to little, little circle hooks. Uh, there were probably like a size one with a piece of squid on it, and we would just throw that in there. Um, the other day we just used the squid and just kept using lures and that was working well. Um, so that was, you know, a, a lot of fish. I think the other day we probably caught 30, 35 mahi.

(09:33):
Oh, that's awesome. Um,

(09:34):
Yeah, it was awesome. And it was not, you know, a ton of time either. It was, I guess, you know, time goes by pretty quickly when you're catching all those fish.

(09:42):
Yeah. When you're having fun it goes <laugh>.

(09:44):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. For us, it's been, you know, smaller, smaller lures. Um, and the squid definitely helped keep the fish interested. And, um, and biting

(09:58):
And talking a little bit closer to home. Uh, we, we did a, a good chat right there on the offshore. Uh, talk a little bit about what it's been like closer to home. Uh, we'll touch on, you know, stripe bass if you're hearing about any blue fish. And then I understand you wanted to chat a little bit about kind of off the south, uh, there's a kind of a, a smorgasborg of, of fish available to us.

(10:20):
Yeah. So, um, you know, to start off with strip bass, um, south side, it really still sounds like monomoy is the, the spot to go for those. Um, you know, north side, they've also been doing well, um, doing well from shore off of, um, sandy neck, um, you know, from a boat out in front of Sandy neck. Um, they're doing, you know, live lining macro, um, chunk macro and then, um, soft plastics as well. Um, you know, things like Albee snacks, I guess there's, uh, a lot of sand deals out there, so that's a good sort of match the hatch soft plastic. But yeah, they're getting, you know, slot and uh, just over slot size as well. So, um, you know, that's fun for the shore guys and the boat guys, you know, as far as uh, blue Fish goes, um, you know, it seemed like for a while there we were only hearing of, you know, big blues out at Horseshoe, you know, trolling pretty deep.

(11:25):
Um, but now I've heard a few people, um, you know, getting some closer to like the south side, uh, beaches, you know, I think from a boat. Um, but more of like that cocktail blue size, some, you know, bigger schools of the smaller blues showing up, which is, you know, definitely fun and a little more palatable if you want to keep 'em. And then we had, uh, uh, you know, a boatload of kids out the other day. We were just, um, out off of Osterville and Katuit and um, you know, we were just fishing off the bottom and we were getting tons of scup, you know, the, the kids that had the rigs, we were using the um, uh, the fish bites, you know, like the artificial bait, um, just small hooks and fish bites. Those kids were getting, uh, scup and we were getting, you know, shorts as well as, you know, keeper size, scup, you know, not far from shore.

(12:24):
Um, and then we had, you know, like Spro jigs and uh, gulp and those seemed to be getting, um, lots of Black sea bass, which I don't think we had one keeper, you know, the keepers are certainly in, um, deeper colder water, but we were getting a ton of Black sea bass. And then on one of those jigs we actually got, um, a fluke as well that was just, of course, half an inch too small, <laugh> too small to keep. Um, so that was, you know, a lot of fun to have a bunch of kids out there and everybody caught a lot of fish. So that was great to be able to do that, you know, pretty, uh, pretty close and not have to go too far out.

(13:06):
And the last thing I wanted to ask you about Amy, is what's been going on down at Sports Port, you know, while I've been away, it's anything new or exciting going on with the shop or anything you're hearing, uh, you know, in the shop that's making you excited?

(13:19):
Um, you know, I feel like, um, the shop has been super busy. Um, we always get like a little bit of a dip after the 4th of July. Um, but the fishing has been really great and, um, you know, Ben, like I said, Ben's been, uh, taking us out and looking for tuna. And I should mention too, that Ben, you know, will take people from shore and in a kayak and um, he does a great job, you know, putting people on the fish and making sure everybody has a good time. And, um, so that's been a lot of fun, uh, sort of getting people going and um, and having fun out on the water. And, um, we've met a ton of new people in the shop and, you know, getting people rigged and ready to go who are just getting started. So that's always fun to talk to them and get them set up and then hear about, you know, the first fish that they caught and how much fun it was. And so, yeah, things are certainly, uh, busy at at Sports Board.

(14:27):
Well, thanks for taking time outta your schedule for joining us here on the show, Amy, I always look forward to our chats and the next time we chat, it'll be kind of mid to late August and we'll be pushing toward the fall run. So can't wait to catch up again.

(14:40):
Yeah, me too. Thanks so much, Kevin.

(14:42):
My thanks to Amy Wrightson of Sports Port from down in Hyannis for taking time out of her week to join us here on the My Fishing Cape Cod podcast, presented by Cape and Islands, Mitsubishi and Cape Codder Boats. Like I mentioned in my intro, if you want to hear the entire podcast, head on over to my fishing cape cod.com right now. It's there where you can access the entire show, as well as our entire library of past podcasts. If you're not yet a member, please feel free to sign up, give us a try. You've really got nothing to lose. You can cancel anytime after you sign up, but it really is a great value, not only for the podcast content, but all the other great stuff Ryan throws up there from the M F C C forum to all of his tutorials and how to videos to Lauren's great recipes. It's really a great community to be a part of. So I sure hope you consider giving a membership a try. And until we chat again, this is your host, Kevin Collins, signing off tight lines and take care.

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