MFCC Member

Hello My Fishing Cape Cod! 👋🏻 My name is Tim Donnelly and I've been a member of MFCC since August of 2016.

Recently I was asked by Ryan if I'd be interested in helping creating blog posts which highlight some of the exciting things happening inside the My Fishing Cape Cod forum.

I enjoy trying new things, so jumped at the opportunity!

In my first-ever blog post, I am going to provide you with a "snapshot" of what’s been going on recently inside our forum. Please scroll below to see highlights from some of our members' recent fishing trips for stripers, bluefin tuna, trout and other species. 

You can also jump to a specific section by clicking on the table of contents.👇

Striped Bass Fishing

Quite a few MFCC members have already pulled their boats from their moorings and slips, and have shrink wrapped and winterized them for the season.

However, some members are still getting out on Cape Cod Bay, the Sounds, and nearby estuaries trying to put a bend in the rod.

A couple of weeks ago there was a lot of talk inside the forum about the hot and heavy schoolie bite. These bass had their bellies' full of a smorgasbord of different types of bait. 

There was concern that a couple big Nor' East storms earlier in the month might mark the end of the 2021 striper season. However, after the storms, large flocks of gannets, cormorants and seagulls were reported feeding alongside striped bass on the surface.

In early November surface feeds were reported inside Cape Cod Bay, in the Sounds, in the Canal and in Buzzard's Bay. Big schools were moving through during the day, and were often reachable from the beach. 

Recently a significant drop in the overnight lows and daytime time highs has pushed water temps around Cape down into the mid-50s. Even the Canal seems to have slowed down now.

Nevertheless, optimism springs eternal around My Fishing Cape Cod, with some MFCC members still hoping for one last push of bass to move through. Things can change quickly in the fall so you never know.

Bluefin Tuna Fishing

Back in late October, first year MFCC member Brian Larsen headed out to the Crab Ledge area, east of Cape Cod, on a charter for his first-ever spinning rod tuna fishing trip.

Using an Al Gags whip-it fish, Brian hooked up blind casting in an area where tuna had been breaking, proving once again that you can't catch a fish without getting your line wet!

Catching a tuna is always challenging, but it's especially challenging when you are fishing solo.

Nevertheless MFCC member Kyle Wiley has been out there by himself, and he's been having some excellent results.

Photo by @finchasersportsfishing

Back on November 7th Kyle boated this beautiful 107 inch, 730 pound giant bluefin tuna.

Fellow My Fishing Cape Codder Alex Ridgeway was aboard a nearby boat, and helped Kyle land the massive fish.

Other Saltwater Species

Funny fish seem to have moved on from our Cape Cod waters, but MFCC member Amiel Ian Jazon found them on November 9th and had a day to remember.

Matching the hatch worked for Amiel. The albies were feeding on silversides and he imitated them using an epoxy.

He was even equipped with Maggi Savor Liquid Seasoning and wasabi paste for making sashimi on the boat!

I'm not sure if Amiel was fishing on Cape or to the south in Rhode Island, so I'd recommend checking his forum post in case he decides to share a little more information about where he found the albies.

Catching keeper tautog from shore is possible, especially from jetties. Every now and then a member posts pictures reassuring us they are still within casting range.

Tog move offshore as water temps drop, but that didn't stop Brandon McCurley from pulling two keeper blackfish and a bunch of shorts from less than 10 feet of water on October 31st.

Trout Fishing Report

With the salt water season starting to wrap up, members have been shifting gears and targeting trout and largemouth bass, with the occasional bycatch of pickerel and other species.

On the night of November 17th longtime member Tim Mugherini did well on trout under the bright moonlight. Powerbait worked on rainbows and a small shiny rapala fooled a skinny brown.

Tim's golden retriever "Chuckles" also had a great time!

Anthony Besaw also enjoyed a beautiful evening of fishing on November 17th, catching and releasing five rainbows.

According to Anthony the trout were "all over a hatch" but after multiple lure swaps he finally cracked the code. You can learn more by reading Anthony's forum post.

Nick Beltramini posted on November 14th that the old reliable Joe's Fly in-line spinner was working well for him.

Nick's goal is to catch a big brown trout but he hasn't gotten any takers yet. Keep at it Nick and I'm sure you'll get that big brown!

On November 10th four year MFCC member Mike Osborne posted these photos of his son with a beautiful trout caught at Little Pond in Plymouth.

The light coloration of the fish led to speculation that it might be a laker, but they’re not stocked in this particular pond.

There are always opportunities to learn on MFCC, with members pointing out that lakers have a distinct forked tail. The lack of a distinct forked tail means that and that this is a tiger trout.

On November 11th member Gene Dorney headed out onto his kayak for largemouth bass. Yet as it's been said before, "The best laid plans of mice and (fisher)men often go astray".  

However, Gene didn't mind the lack of largemouth bass, landing a bunch of beautiful rainbow trout from his kayak!

Back on November 6th, second year member Johan Frenje was pulling a personal best brown trout and sizable steelhead off-Cape in upstate NY. 

The Salmon River and Oak Orchard Creek are well known world class fisheries, but according to Johan any of the tributaries of Ontario or Erie can produce big fish.

Largemouth Bass

On November 15th My Fishing Cape Cod member Sean Lawrence went out hunting for trout and ended up hooking an absolute monster of a largemouth bass. 

The fish weighed 9.2 pounds and was 24 inches long. Sean caught the lunker using a fire tiger twitch bait on his ultra light 6 pound test trout setup.

Nick Caparell also posted in the forum about a bizarre moment he experienced the night of November 9th. In the darkness Nick stumbled across a big largemouth cruising in shallow water.

The bass was not phased at all by Nick's presence, and he was literally able to scoop her up with his trout net!

And as you might of already seen in recent blog posts and videos, My Fishing Cape Codder Jack Renfrew and MFCC founder Ryan Collins have been catching some solid largemouths over the past week using big swim baits at night.

You can learn more about how to fish swim baits at night for big largemouth bass by reading these posts and watching this brand new video:

Other Freshwater Species

One of the extraordinary things about fishing on Cape Cod is the vast variety of different species which are available. 

For example, three year My Fishing Cape Cod member Todd Holden had a nice day of fishing on November 15th, catching a smallmouth and some big bluegills on the fly rod.

White perch are another native species to both freshwater and saltwater on Cape Cod, and on November 14th Anthony Besaw and his buddy caught over a dozen.

Of course another native to Cape Cod's waters is the pickerel. On Cape it is not all that unusual to find pickerel that are pushing 30 inches. Some lakes on Cape Cod even have pike.

MFCC founder Ryan Collins, as well as member Tim Mugherini, have both shared some nice catches of pickerel recently. This often undervalued fish can be a very fun species to target during the upcoming cold weather months.

In Conclusion

For any beginners who are interested in getting into fall and winter trout fishing, check out outdoor writer John D. Silva's 2015 article on the Top 4 Cape Cod Destinations for Trout.

John's article is filled with useful info and links to other resources (such as the MA DF&W Bathymetry Maps). Even more experienced anglers may decide to try some new fishing grounds after viewing those bathymetry maps.

In conclusion, there is great action happening in the salt and sweet waters of Cape Cod. The striper season is no doubt coming to an end, but estuaries are continuing to produce some fish, and trout are hitting both day and night.

Recreational shellfishing is also opening up in towns that don't have summer harvesting, and people are thinking about tying flies and other winter activities.

Don't pack it in too early! Opportunities abound and there are still windows of good weather in the forecast. 

Be safe out there and tight lines!

Tim