Sea Bass Biting, Funny Fish Building Off Vineyard
In this report, we welcome back Eddy Kooyomjian of Monomoy Tackle to talk all things Monomoy. Ed had just come off the water yesterday with a great crew aboard his Stiger — his father-in-law Peter, his neighbor, and his son Jack — and the timing could not have been better for a fresh, boots-on-deck report from Monomoy.
Originally working in close to shore off the south side of Cape Cod looking for birds, pods of bonito, and bluefish, turned into a great day of black sea bass fishing out at the Monomoy Rips! What follows is a full rundown organized by species: black sea bass, striped bass, bluefish and bonito, and a look ahead at false albacore as the calendar looks toward the fall run.
Monomoy Black Sea Bass
Ed and his crew shoved off yesterday morning with a classic combo-trip game plan: Plan A was to run the beaches close to shore toward Saquatucket and in the direction of Bass River, looking for diving birds and glassy surface activity from bluefish or funny fish. That bite never materialized, so the crew pivoted to Plan B and made the run out to Monomoy. Even there, conditions weren't dramatic — there were birds working the deep water off Butler Hole, but Ed identified those as marking mackerel rather than stripers, and he noted an unusually heavy biomass of mackerel around Monomoy over the past three weeks.
With obvious striper action absent, Ed reached for the slow-pitch rods he has kept rigged and ready under the gunnel for the better part of a month, betting on the black sea bass bite that has been quietly consistent at Monomoy all summer. The setup: hard-shell, resin-coated slow-fall jigs around 100 grams, fished with no bait — just a small hook and an assist hook clipped on — worked on light tackle with low-profile reels. Ed worked the jig in typical slow-pitch fashion, popping it up off bottom and letting it flutter back down; the vast majority of strikes came on the fall, which is the entire point of the slow-pitch presentation.
The results speak for themselves: all four anglers aboard connected, with fish ranging from 14 to 21 inches over a 60- to 90-minute window, and the crew brought several home for the table. Ed was working depths of 50 to 60 feet around Monomoy to locate the fish, and he pointed to habitat as the key — the drift carried the boat over a large mussel bed, evident from the mussel shells occasionally hauled up on the hooks, along with tiny crabs visible in the beds. That mussel-bed structure is where these sea bass were stationed and feeding, likely on the crabs and other small forage tucked into the shellfish.
Matching the Jig to the Bait
Ed also touched on color selection for sea bass, which he says can be strangely bait- and situation-specific. Monomoy Tackle's XL tandem rigs come in a green sand-eel pattern and a more orange pattern geared toward times when squid are in the mix, and matching the hatch with color can make a real difference over rough bottom or mussel beds.
Eddy's personal preference, when conditions allow, is to skip bait entirely and fish a jig with an assist hook on its own — he considers a Monomoy sea bass on that light tackle to be genuinely sporting, comparing the fight and the table quality to a grouper-like fish. Fishing without bait also has a practical side benefit: it tends to keep other, less-desirable species off the hook.
Striped Bass at Monomoy: Still the Missing Piece
The striped bass picture at Monomoy remains the storyline that isn't quite adding up this season. Ed and Kevin have both chronicled this trend over the 2026 season as the bulk of consistent striper action set up early in Cape Cod Bay and has largely stayed there, rather than spreading out to Monomoy and the south side the way it typically does by mid-August.
Ed confirmed that pattern is still holding. He checks in regularly with his neighbor, who fishes live bait and has been out often this summer, as well as other live-bait anglers and MFCC members working artificial lures and soft plastics on the forum. The consensus has been consistent: fishing has been hit or miss, and while Ed is careful not to sound alarmist, he does believe the overall biomass of stripers around Monomoy has been lower this year than in each of the last five seasons. Encounters are unpredictable from day to day and tide to tide.
His practical advice for anyone heading to Monomoy hunting stripers right now is to build in a Plan B and stay agile. Fluke and black sea bass are both in the water column and biting reliably, so packing gear for those species — rather than banking everything on stripers showing up — is the difference between a fun, fulfilling trip and a frustrating one if the bass don't cooperate.
Bluefish and Bonito
Bluefish have shown up in patches close to the beaches along the south side of Cape Cod. Ed described a Wednesday trip earlier in the week where he watched a genuine bluefish feed working tight to shore, which is part of why his crew ran the beaches toward Saquatucket and Bass River yesterday morning before eventually diverting to Monomoy. That same Wednesday trip also produced a mackerel feed Ed had never witnessed quite like it before — mackerel visibly working the vertical face of the waves, keyed in on tiny sand eels that are currently the dominant bait in the rips.
Amy Wrightson of Sport Port, reported strong customer success on the Monomoy Tackle Z-Step for both bonito and bluefish, particularly off the south side beaches and in the sounds. Ed backed up the lure's value and broke down how he rigs and fishes it. The Z-Step is thicker at the head and tapers toward the tail, which lets it be cast a long way even in the smaller, under-four-inch size. Retrieved with an erratic, walk-the-dog action, it splits the difference between a spook and a popper — the head splashes while the tail walks — which makes it effective when bait is small, matching the juvenile forage currently in the water.
Rigging the Z-Step for Different Species
Ed rigs the Z-Step with a single hook on the tail and a treble on the belly by default. When bluefish are in the mix, he pulls the belly treble and fishes the single tail hook alone for a much easier, safer release. When albies or bonito are around, he flips that setup — keeping the belly hook on and often removing the tail hook instead. The lure comes in two sizes: the smaller 7-S at about three-quarters of an ounce and just under four inches, and the larger 15 at roughly one and a half ounces and just over five inches.
The bigger size gets more play in spring during the squid run, while the smaller size is proving popular right now given the small juvenile bait currently in the mix. It should also be noted that the Z-Step translates well from open beach and sound fishing into the rips at Monomoy for boat anglers working bluefish or bonito pods mixed in with top-water activity.
As for direct Monomoy action on bluefish and bonito this trip, Ed's crew had Z-Steps and mini poppers rigged and ready but simply couldn't locate a feed during their run, despite conditions — warm water and abundant small bait — lining up well for both species.
False Albacore: Reports from the Vineyard
With August at its midpoint, false albacore chatter is starting to build, and Monomoy Tackle is going to be a central source for funny-fish intel as the season progresses into September and October. Ed fishes locally off Stage Harbor, where water temperatures are hovering around 75 degrees and peanut bunker are showing up in small schools right at the dock — conditions he considers squarely in the zone for albies and bonito to show up in force.
On the Monomoy front specifically, Ed has heard the same secondhand report: word of a false albacore caught off Monomoy within the last three or four days. Neither could confirm it firsthand, but it's consistent with conditions. The report Ed feels more confident staking his reputation on is that Martha's Vineyard is currently surrounded by false albacore, feeding on extremely small bait that is making them notoriously difficult to fool. Multiple sources have told him the Vineyard albie population right now is sizable. The hope is that this biomass gradually filters west and closer to shore, reaching the south side and inshore anglers on Cape Cod who are eager to get in on the bite.
Gearing Up for the Funny Fish
Looking ahead to the fall run building through September and October, Ed laid out his top three lure picks from Monomoy Tackle for anglers wanting to stock up now. First and most essential are the peanut-shaped, resin-coated jigs in three-quarter-ounce, one-ounce, and two-ounce sizes — versatile, effective, and already in high enough demand that two Vineyard tackle shops have placed restock orders, which Ed reads as an early signal that the bite is heating up.
Second are straight metal jigs, a one-ounce, fish-shaped lure that casts like a bullet and comes in silver, pink, and green; Ed rigs these with a single inline hook, and he has already had to restock the color due to demand over the last month.
Third is a newer addition to the Monomoy Tackle lineup this year: the Peanut Popper, a roughly half-ounce popper just under three inches with a generously sized cup that throws a lot of commotion on the surface for its size, offered in the same colors as the resin-coated peanuts.
Funny fish are firmly entering the chat here around Cape Cod and the islands as we head towards the second half of August. Cape Cod Bay is still holding a bounty of large over-slot striped bass. Bluefish have begun to make their presence known off the beaches of the south side of Cape Cod. We also have been blessed with an extended black sea bass fishery in a variety of areas as well as a very strong fluke fishery in 2026. No matter what you decide to target this week, enjoy all this beautiful area has to offer in August!
Tight Lines & Take Care!🎣