Warm days and cool nights are providing a preview of the fall season that's only weeks away.
MFCC members are reporting success in the forum everywhere from the tuna fishing grounds to Monomoy and local kettle ponds. Let's check in on the action!
Surf Fishing Success Stories
In the MFCC Surfcasters' Thread - Summer 2025, Robbie Sturtevant reports that he caught a couple of nice stripers on a Super Strike parrot darter – his personal best night since last July.
Robbie says he was trying a place he normally doesn't fish and covering a lot of ground, keeping his plug in the water until he found fish. As others have reported this year in the surf, fish seem to be setting up in different places every night, so you either get lucky and hit a school of hungry bass or see no fish at all.
For those just new to the surf, Gretchen Stiers has a helpful post on striper lures to get started with — another example of your MFCC community in action!
Several MFCC members got together for some epic action during two nights of new moon tides recently, losing track of how many fish were caught between them. They had the best excuse for not providing good pictures – they were commonly on fish at the same time!
Lures of choice were the Super Snax XL in bone for smaller fish, then 12" Sluggo in eel skin color. Stephen O'Donnell attributed success catching his first slot-sized fish in the surf to Ken Webber, who responded to his recent post with a suggestion of fishing with larger plastics.
Freshwater Bass Action
In the Freshwater Bass (2025) thread, StriperMadness Mike caught a chunky largemouth, reporting an ongoing, extraordinary freshwater bass fishing year on Cape. Mike's been posting photos of healthy bass in the forum since early spring.
In an hour, Jeffrey Cotto landed a dozen bass and a nice-sized perch on a Z Man Gobius swimbait.
Jeffrey Cotto is having a great year chasing largemouth bass. In a recent outing he landed a dozen bass.
Cape ponds are a great place to get young anglers started with bobber and worm setups or small spinners. And while there are some ponds that yield trophy-sized fish better than others, most have enough sunfish and perch to get youngsters excited and having fun.
It's always better to have a youngster using both hands on a fishing rod than just their thumbs on a controller.
Kayak Fishing and Shellfish Reports
The Trolling Tubes (Kayak) thread has some good intel on where to launch in Brewster, Barnstable Harbor, and Dennis, along with critical tide timing information.
In the Shellfishing the Cape thread, longtime MFCC member Richard Banks provides pictures of the before and after – digging and then cooking – as his crew of clammers enjoyed their time on the water.
Richard Banks has been having a successful shell fishing season. This image of his latest efforts is certainly mouth watering!
Images show the clams/quahogs they dug and the bivalves looking delicious opening up on the grill. Clamming is another fun family activity that leads to delicious results!
Bluefin Tuna Season Heating Up
The 2025 Bluefin Tuna Season thread includes some solid reports of success south of Martha's Vineyard and Cox's Ledge, and a report from a charter of a 109" giant.
Matt Malloy's long haul worked out as he is pictured with a nice-sized tuna he caught using a skirted ballyhoo. Matt continued trolling despite the lack of bird action, but sticking with it paid off.
Matt Malloy's persistence paid off as he caught a solid tuna using a skirted ballyo while trolling.
The forum also includes a nice picture of Todd D with his first tuna. A solid day for Todd, going 2 for 4 – trolling for one and jigging for the other.
John Stirpe reports a great day, boating 5 of 7, the first tunas for his boat. Great job, John! And then over in the "Lure Building Should Come with a Warning" thread, John shows the jig he painted that he successfully used to catch two chunky tuna.
John Stirpes is all smiles as he shows one of the five tuna he boated on a recent outing. The time John spent painting a jig he used to catch two of the tuna paid off for sure!
Rolland Zeleny landed a tuna on a jig, fought another estimated at 125-150 pounds until it broke off, then ended the day two for two.
Another example of the MFCC Community in action – Eric Gutekunst and Mike Lucas provide some solid information regarding trolling speed when searching for tuna in the tuna thread.
Be sure to check out the Member Spotlight Eric Gutekunst blog post.
Cape Cod Bay Reports
In the Cape Cod Bay 2025 thread, Logan Bird reports he caught a few over-slot stripers jigging off Brewster around sunset recently.
Tim Donnelly reports five over-slot fish picked up using 12" Sluggo and Snax XL to imitate squid. Tim reports he has been fishing the sand eel bite from the boat and shore with good success, using larger plastics to locate larger bass.
Christopher Gilbert is all smiles showing one of the stripers he caught near Scorton. Chris was lucky enough to have all three of his grown children home for some time on the water.
Christopger Gilbert proudly displays one of the stripers he caught on a recent outing. The fish were a bonus as he was enjoying time on the water with his three children.
Tom Pflanz reports that he has taken a few short trips from Wellfleet out to the south edge of Billingsgate, where he's had good success trolling umbrella rigs close to the bottom. Warm water in the bay seems to be keeping the stripers in the deeper, cooler water.
Canal and Monomoy Action
In the Cape Cod Canal 2025 thread, Kevin Rosetta ran into blitzing bonito and did well on the Joe Baggs 1-ounce peanut epoxy jig. Hopefully this is a good sign of more bonito action coming to the big ditch.
The Monomoy Fishing 2025 thread shows an ongoing bite of stripers, along with fluke and black sea bass. While reports from fishing areas in locations in and around the Cape come with varying results, Monomoy has been perhaps the most consistent area since early in the season.
On a recent outing, Eli Smith reports it felt like an early spring day, catching stripers ranging from 27" to 36".
Rick Vandale reports fish visibly feeding in the rips, resulting in hookups on nearly every cast. Bone-colored topwater lures consistently did the trick! Be sure to check the photos that Rick posted of good stripers caught on topwater lures as well as on flies.
Frequent poster Daniel Rice reported a tough day tuna fishing, but he stopped at Monomoy rips on the way back and caught a couple of large bass, helping to end the day with a smile.
Stopping at Monomoy after a trip chasing tuna, Daniel Rice caught a couple of large bass, turning a long day into a successful one!
Eddy Kooyomjian provided another detailed report of success at Monomoy for stripers and fluke, with his children, father-in-law, and brother on board. Eddy reported the fluke were feeding on squid.
The summer clock is ticking louder – catch 'em up!
Tight lines!
Dan Nahorney
MFCC Forum
Connecting Anglers
Get the latest intel, swap stories, share advice.