Summer Winds Down Along The South Side
Labor Day weekend is still a week away, but the calendar already knows what's coming. Amy Wrightson of Sports Port in Hyannis provides a rundown of what's biting off the south side, the sounds, and out at Monomoy. It's a great time of year to fish Cape Cod as the traditional summer crowds begin to thin out and the fall run takes over. Bluefish are keeping rods bent everywhere from the boat to the beach, black sea bass are still very much worth targeting this weekend before the new fall limit change, and the first real flickers of bonito and false albacore are starting to show up on the edges of the sounds.
Boat Reports of Sea Bass & Bluefish
Amy kicked things off with a report from her own boat! With family visiting from the West Coast, she took two of her sons and her nephew Will out into Nantucket Sound, working the water between Craigville and Osterville. The tell-tale signs of fall feeding activity were already there — diving birds concentrated tightly over bait, exactly the kind of scene anglers look for when they're hoping to connect with false albacore.
The albies didn't cooperate that day, but the consolation prize was hard to complain about: cocktail-size bluefish, roughly three to four pounds, on nearly every single cast. For a crew that included a nephew who doesn't fish often, it made for fast, nonstop action and a memorable outing — exactly the kind of steady bite that keeps newer anglers hooked!
The trip wasn't just about bluefish, either. While trolling on the way back in, the group picked up a keeper-size black sea bass, which came home for dinner alongside a couple of the smaller blues. That catch lines up with what Amy is hearing from customers at Sports Port: black sea bass fishing remains strong in Nantucket Sound, with anglers finding keepers in 20 to 30 feet of water using the usual bucktail jigs tipped with Gulp.
There's a bit of added urgency to this bite right now according to Amy's Hyannis customers. The daily bag limit on black sea bass is set to drop on September 1, which had shop customers planning to get out over the weekend to take advantage of the higher limit before it changes. The good news for anyone who can't make it out in time: the new two-fish-per-angler limit holds through roughly October 16, a modest extension compared to years when late-September anglers have had to release quality fish they'd normally keep. It's a small regulatory silver lining as the season transitions into fall.
Bluefish from the Beach: South-Side Surfcasting
Not everyone chasing this bite has a boat, surfcasters are having fun working the south-facing beaches and jetties. The albie-and-bonito-within-casting-range reports that surfcasters dream of aren't quite there yet, though that could change quickly as the calendar flips into September.
In the meantime, the cocktail bluefish blitzing offshore have been reachable from shore on most nights for Sports Port customers. Amy relayed that Christian was down at Dowses Beach last night with one of his kids and hooked into several cocktail-size blues, calling it a great time. It's a solid consolation for surfcasters who don't want to wait around for the funny fish to show — and a reminder that the same bait and bird activity fueling the boat bite is often pushing fish within range of the beach and jetties too.
As for albies and bonito from the sand, Amy's advice was straightforward: there haven't been strong reports yet, but the situation can flip with the next tide. Anglers who are rigged and ready and willing to put in the time have just as good a shot at being the source of the next good report as anyone else. Kayak anglers working the south side were also mentioned as having a good option once that bite develops, offering another way to get funny fish within range without a full-size boat.
Monomoy: The Best Bet for a Mixed Bag
When it comes to picking a single spot to point the bow this weekend, Monomoy came out on top of the conversation. It's shaping up as the location where an angler could realistically tangle with striped bass, bluefish, black sea bass, and the "funny fish" — bonito or false albacore — all in the same outing, weather permitting.
Albies specifically have been showing up more consistently around Monomoy than elsewhere in the Sound, and when anglers do connect, the fish have reportedly been running on the larger side. Word from the shop is that a few anglers have had good luck out there over the last several days by sizing up their jigs — going with two- and three-ounce resin jigs rather than the smaller profiles that are typically the go-to choice. It's a bit of a departure from Amy's usual recommendation, but a good reminder that switching to a bigger profile can sometimes be the move that turns a slow morning into a productive one.
With the choice between running toward Martha's Vineyard or toward Monomoy being the perennial decision for boats leaving the Hyannis area, this week's read from Sports Port leans clearly toward Monomoy as the higher-percentage play for a mixed-bag day.
The Funny Fish Report: Bonito and False Albacore
"Funny fish" season — the local shorthand for bonito and false albacore — is still very much in its early innings, but the picture is starting to sharpen. Bonito have been the more consistent of the two, though the best of that action has been centered around Martha's Vineyard rather than right off Hyannis. Closer to home, the more solid reports have been coming from off Falmouth and in the Popponesset area, which Amy noted is a step up from what the shop was hearing even the previous week.
For anglers targeting bonito, a handful of smaller-profile, slimmer swimbaits have been standing out: Monomoy Tackle Talons, Yo-Zuri Hydro Monster Shads, and Yo-Zuri Fingerlings have all reportedly been producing well. False albacore reports remain much more scattered — mixed in occasionally with the cocktail bluefish blitzes in the Sound, but with nothing consistent enough yet to call a pattern. When albies have been hooked, though, they've tended to be on the larger side, which makes them an especially exciting target for anyone who manages to connect.
Between the more reliable bonito action drifting closer to the Cape and the early — if inconsistent — albie bite at Monomoy, the funny fish picture should keep improving through September. As Amy pointed out, this transition from late summer into the cooler, less crowded days of September and October is often the most productive stretch of the whole season on Cape Cod!
Tight lines, take care, and thank you for listening!🎣