Chasing December Giants

Hello My Fishing Cape Cod!

My name is Carson Schemenaur and I'm a diehard fisherman from Sandwich, MA. Recently I received a message from Ryan of MFCC asking if I would be interested in sharing my experience giant tuna fishing this past December on Stellwagen Bank.

I've been following along with My Fishing Cape Cod for many years so I jumped at the opportunity to officially contribute something to the site. 

I hope you enjoy the following report, and I hope it helps to get your blood pumping for the upcoming 2025 Cape Cod fishing season.

December 1st - Northwest Corner

On December 1st I left Green Harbor in Marshfield at around 4:30 in the morning.

My buddy Jay and Pat, as well as a few other buddy boats, had all heard that the Northwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank was the spot to be. 

A few days prior to this trip I had been talking with a few guys that I work with from up north. They had mentioned how there'd been plenty of mackerel schools coming through at the Northwest Corner, as well as herring. 

Knowing that the bait was there, I had a gut feeling giant bluefin tuna were there too. 

Streaking Tuna

I made my way across to the bank, and as light broke I could see tons of birds and whales feeding on the surface. I ran over to the life and immediately found the schools of bait. 

I could see a few other boats in the area fighting fish, so I quickly put down a mackerel. Suddenly there were five giant tuna marks on my sonar. The fish were streaking up from the bottom to 75ft which is exactly where I had set my down rod.

Instantly I went tight!

Unfortunately the hook pulled very early on in the fight!

As the morning went on the action got slower. I marked maybe three or four more fish on the morning tide. The bait became scarce and I was only catching mackerel every so often.

I made a few drifts in different areas that I thought looked better due to increased bird life. A whale would also come through every now and again.

Nevertheless, it seemed like the bulk of the tuna had come through earlier in the morning before most of us had gotten out there. Or maybe it was just going to be a later bite.

Porbeagles Everywhere!

I decided to drive south down Stellwagen Bank until I found more life. I was hoping to find whales feeding, and about half way between the northwest corner and middle bank is where I found life that looked worth fishing. 

I made a few drifts through life and immediately noticed enormous schools of bait on my sonar. It wasn't long until I had my first mark under the boat. I turned around and watched the rod bend over.

However, the fish made one small run and then that was about it.

Instead of a giant tuna, I had hooked a giant porbeagle that was probably between 300 and 400 pounds, and not very happy. After releasing the shark I went onto catch several more. Other boats in the area reported the same. 

I spent the last little bit of the day drifting and praying a tuna would come through before another shark. But unfortunately it was shark after shark, and I ended up releasing around 10 porbeagles that were each pushing 400 pounds or so.

Finally I called it quits and pointed the boat to Green Harbor to go home and regroup.

December 2nd - Southwest Corner

I decided to make a few changes to my plan for the following day. I took a bit of a gamble and went to my old numbers from last year on the Southwest Corner.

The morning was just as cold as the day before - a grueling 24 degrees. At about 4am I wiped the frost off the windshield and launched the 21 contender from the Sandwich Marina.

A little ACDC and Redbull had me up and at it, and ready to go, for a good run across Cape Cod Bay. I made it to the tip of the Southwest Corner in the dark just before sunrise.

I usually stop at the edge of the bank and watch my screen as I come up onto the high ground. Usually I see lots of bait just as I get up into the shallower water, and it didn't take long before I found a giant school of macks. For the most part I was jigging up small to midsize macks that were around 6-8 inches long. 

I picked away at a few bigger ones and then made my way a little further up onto the high ground of the southern part of the bank.

Birds Lead the Way to Tuna

It wasn't too long before I saw my first pile of birds working tight to the surface and moving fast. 

The birds were on a pile of giant bluefin tuna that were pushing water, and I counted maybe 20 or 30 fish milling about on the surface.

I bump trolled two macks right outside the school. After passing by the tuna my floater mack went off in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately after about a half hour fight I pulled the hook!

Immediately I went back to try and find the school of giants. I saw one or two pushes on the surface about a mile away so I ran up and made drifts in that area, but had no luck.

Afternoon Slack in Cape Cod Bay

By 12pm I knew the afternoon slack was coming up so I went to my afternoon spot inside Cape Cod Bay just off Long Point in Provincetown. There were a lot of boats piled up in a small fleet inside Provincetown Harbor, with not a single boat tight or doing anything. 

I was one of three boats outside the harbor waiting for the tuna to come through. It was like the bank-the bottom was painted with mackerel and herring.

I drifted from 90ft out to 110ft and on my second drift I marked two fish. Ten minutes later I look down and four more fish were on my screen at 40 ft!

Before I could turn around the rod behind me swung around and started screaming.

After about a 25 minute fight at 50 pounds of drag, and after being towed around by the fish, I was finally able to gaff and tail rope the tuna.

The fish was 91 inches and 487 pounds gutted.

The tuna was stuffed full of mackerel and herring. I counted over a dozen giant mackerel and a few sandeels as well!

In Conclusion

I sold the fish to Bubba from North Atlantic and received $10/pound. This past December I heard of anglers receiving anywhere between $7-$12/pound for their fish.

December fishing is definitely not easy. It's freezing cold and usually the sea conditions are questionable.

But if you can pick your days and do it safely, then in my opinion it is the best time to fish for giant bluefin off Cape Cod.

Tight lines!