*Please login or start a membership to access the full version of this podcast.

(25:05):
Well up next on this edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod podcast is our good friend Evan Eastman of Eastman Sport and Tackle down in beautiful Falmouth, Massachusetts. And Evan, it's a beautiful fall day out there today.

(25:17):
Yes it is. Season's coming to an end but still got a few nice days like this left hopefully.

(25:24):
And I know that we're winding down for the season, but I'm sure there's still people kind of bustling and hustling in and out of the shop. What's been good down there? Is there reports of any fish around still, whether it be striped bass, blue fish, anything like that?

(25:39):
Yeah, the last couple weeks, the south side of Falmouth has been pretty good. There's been a lot of peanut bunker inside of Falmouth Harbor, great Pond, green Pond, Waco Bay. So the south side's been pretty good. I've had a couple guys who've been fishing surf drive beach pretty regularly the last week and a half and they're catching a lot of blue fish. There's definitely some stripers mixed in, but it seems like they're mostly catching blue fish surf drive down to say Trunk River. There's been schoolies and slot and over slot sized fish in Waco Bay and in Green Pond. So it seems like primarily they're all feeding on some five to six inch peanut bunker. So I would expect that with the water temperature still being roughly 60 degrees and all the bait, I think the fish should be around here for another week or two.

(26:43):
That's very promising. But one thing I've noticed, Evan is at times these fish, especially striped bass in my neck of the woods inside the bay, there's peanut bunker here as well. I witnessed a pretty biblical feed on peanut bunker last night right around sunset on top water, which was really cool. But it can be a little bit frustrating at times getting those striped ass interested in whatever we're throwing among those peanut bunker feeds. Is there anything in particular that you think might be successful targeting those fish down in your neck of the woods when they're on that kind smaller peanut bunker?

(27:21):
Yeah, a couple guys have had success with alvie snacks. Seems like that's been doing a good job replicating. You can also throw a spook smaller spook style plug, like a jumping minnow in the bone color, small white poppers, smaller swim baits would work. Soft plastic paddle tails with the blue fish around. I tend not to air for using the soft plastics, but if you're really trying to catch bass then that'd be the way to go, but you might get bit off by the blue fish. But yeah, something like that seems like that's what a lot of guys have been using recently.

(28:05):
And with these blue fish around, I know there's a lot of guys whose ears perk up. Evan when you mentioned Blue Fish one, they're an excellent fighting fish and they're great in the smoker and two, they're excellent tuna ba and I know there is still guys roaming around on days that you can get out looking for giants and redfish. Are these blue fish, are they mid-size? Are they the big ones? Are they more the cocktail? Do you have any idea on the size of these guys?

(28:33):
Yeah, it seems like mostly guys are getting the mid-size, say five to 10 pounders, mostly around that five pound range. There's definitely a few cocktail blues mixed in and a few really big ones, but it seems like the bigger ones are farther down Cape around like Monomoy area. The guys that I've been talking to that have been fishing surf drive have said yeah, they're roughly medium sized inside the SA ponds inside of Walkway Bay. Sounds like there's some smaller blue fish around, but from what I've heard, yeah, they've been roughly medium sized.

(29:10):
And another question I had for you, Evan too was about the salt ponds in general. It's something I don't have a ton of experience with, but you mentioned they're still holding fish, the water temperatures are good, there's plenty of bait, and as long as that setup is there, those fish really don't have a reason to migrate or go anywhere, so they might stick around for a while. Is it also, I'll say commonplace or possible too for some of those fish to hold over in those saw ponds or will it inevitably get too cold for them?

(29:39):
There's definitely some baths. Definitely not blue fish but some stripe bass that will stick around and be in the salt ponds throughout the winter, but not a ton. I mean at a certain point there really isn't much for 'em to feed on. And I would say the vast majority of the bass do migrate south, but over the years I've had customers who fish really hard, they'd be lucky to get one or two baths a week if they're out there four or five times a week. So I've seen YouTube videos with guys say on Martha's Vineyard trolling in February and they're guessing a few baths here and there, but I would say there are some, but most of them, vast majority do go south.

(30:29):
And as we're flipping the calendar here, looking at November into the late fall and into the early winter, I know that there'll be some guys still giving their try, whether it's at holdovers or trying out the freshwater kettle ponds. We don't seem to have very many ice days left here on Cape Cod with how warm it gets at times during the winter. But I'm hoping, do you guys stay open year round down at Eastman's? You have a more scroll back schedule? How's it going to work for the winter?

(31:00):
Yeah, so starting next week, I'm going to be closed on Mondays during the week already. It's been really slow, so going to be open six days a week until two weeks before Christmas and I'll be open every day. I will be closed the whole month of January and then in February I'll be open probably four days a week, three days a week, something like that. I haven't really decided yet, but I will be gone the entire month of January. But outside of that I'll be in the shop at least three or four days a week.

(31:31):
Awesome. And while we're wrapping up here for the season too, one of the things I also wanted to ask you about, I know that Tog is still pretty well here inside the bay. Is it still present at all down where you are?

(31:45):
Yeah, it's been very good selling a lot of crabs. There's some spots in Buzzards Bay, the guy's been doing well, whether it's off Gansett, west, Falmouth Harbor, kind of towards Cleveland's ledge area and then a lot of my customers fish the vineyard sound side of the Elizabeth. So it's been very good. Seems like starting about two and a half, three weeks ago, a lot of guys were reporting a lot of shorts. They had to catch a lot of fish to get their limit. It seems like the amount of time it's been taking to get their limit has gone down, so there definitely is some bigger fish around. So yeah, really targeting that rocky structure. And that's the great thing about Falmouth is that pretty much the whole coastline from West Falmouth all the way to Walkway Bay for the most part is all rocky structure, particularly Woods Hole, Naska area, and then along the Elizabeth Islands as well. So that's really picked up. I expect that to be good through the end of November. So if you're looking to extend the season, Togan is a great way to do that and it's a lot of fun. So I expect that to remain pretty good for the next call it month or so.

(33:03):
Awesome. And just poking around here, I don't have a chance to get down toward the Elizabeth very often. Evan, I used to love to go fish that area with Ryan when we were younger would go down toward Cudi hunk and we'd throw big plugs and Danny plugs looking for big stripe bass at times. I know that the tog bite is good down there. Are any of these guys reporting any striper action down there or do you think it's mostly tog?

(33:27):
No guys definitely still catching fish along the Elizabeth, or I should say bass specifically along the Elizabeth, I had some guys who were trucking needles, some guys who were throwing plugs into the rocks. A few guys been trolling tube and worm, not many, but I have talked to a few guys who have been doing that and catching some fish. But pretty much the guys that are fishing along Elizabeths are primarily are tossing eels into the rocks. That seems to be a really effective way to get 'em. But like I've said, I haven't heard much about Cape Cod Bay, but I know that both sides of sounds, it has a ton of baits. So a lot of those fish are on the south side around the entrance points to the salt ponds. So fishing around the salt ponds has been very good just because there's so much peanut bunk around, but guys are trucking needles and plugs in the rocks as long as Elizabeth can get in some decent fast.

(34:27):
Alright, Evan, thanks so much for all your time that you've spent with us this year. It was really a pleasure to have you on the podcast and on behalf of all the members benefiting from all the information you shared, thank you for not only all your time but all your expertise and your willingness to share with us here on the show. It was a pleasure to have you and hopefully we can do it again next year.

(34:48):
Absolutely. Thanks for your time, Kevin. Really appreciate your hosting and if you don't talk to you, have a great winter.

(34:54):
My thanks to Evan Eastman of Eastman Sport and Tackle for joining us on this edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast presented by Cape and Islands, Mitsubishi and Cape Cod or Boats. I'd like to take a moment to thank all of our guests that joined us on today's program, starting with Bruno Demir of Cape and Islands Mitsubishi, Amy Wrightson of Sports Port in Hyannis. And you just heard from Evan Eastman of Eastman's Sport and Tackle in Falmouth, Massachusetts. And most importantly, thanks to all of you, the listeners that have stuck with me through thick and thin during this podcast season. I know my travel schedule provided some challenges, but we tried to do the best we could and still deliver a podcast every single week of the season and we were able to do that, so we accomplished our goal. Hopefully everybody enjoyed listening to these and was able to get something out of it.

(35:45):
If you like these MFCC podcasts, there's more to come this winter. I know Ryan is working on releasing another one of our Advanced Anglers Series podcasts with the legendary angler Patrick Bil. So please keep an eye out for that as it's on the horizon in the very near future that will be published and I'm sure we're going to have more conversations with Patrick and other fascinating guests as we go through the winter months. So on behalf of my cousin and MFCC, founder and creator Ryan Collins, I just want to say thank you to everybody again for being part of this podcast. It was a true pleasure to bring it to you each and every week, and for the very last time in 2023. This is your host, Kevin Collins, signing off. And until we chat again next year, tight lines and take care.

(36:36):
Thanks for tuning in to the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast. For the latest local news, information and fishing reports, be sure to log onto my fishing cape cod.com. From all of us at my fishing Cape Cod tight lines and take care.