Thursday October 6th Cape Cod Fishing Report

Kevin:
Well, hello and welcome to another edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast here on myfishingcapecod.com. I'm your host, Kevin Collins, back with you for our first October edition of the podcast for this year. And man we've got a great show in store for you today. We've got four really knowledgeable guests lined up, chomping at the bit to get on the air here. We're going to be led off by MFCC founder and creator, Ryan Collins. Next up will be Sam Mullen from down behind the counter at the beautiful Goose Hummock. Then we'll head out onto the high seas and get a live report from our good buddy Bruno Demir of Cape and Islands Mitsubishi, who is live out there fishing the Monomoy Rips.

Kevin:
And last but not least, we'll check back in closer to shore and we'll talk with MFCC member Calvin Toran-Sandlin, who has had an epic surf casting season. And he's going to give us a report from before this big wind that we've been experiencing this week and what he thinks that wind will do to the surf casting bite now that we're in the middle of the fall run. So a great lineup today on the program. Let's dive right in. Well, as usual, first up on this week's edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod podcast is none other than MFCC founder and creator, Ryan Collins. Ryan, how are you today?

Ryan:
Pretty well, Kevin. After this northeast wind, we actually have a little bit of a break in the clouds and the sunshine just broke through, which is nice to see.

Kevin:
We get an action packed podcast in store for folks today, Ryan. It's going to be our first October edition of the 2022 season. The first thing I want to get to in our agenda as we tape is next weekend we're going to have the 24 hour grind, My Fishing Cape Cod's surf casting tournament. Talk a little bit about that and is registration still open for that?

Ryan:
It sure is. We're looking for 25 two angler teams. If we get more than that, that's awesome. The more the merrier. And this tournament's going to start Saturday at 1:00 PM and it's got to run until Sunday at 1:00 PM. You can go over to the blog and find more information and sign up completely free. I'm going to have some cool prizes. We're going to have some gift certificates to themightyfish.com, some plug bags, some lures.

Ryan:
And on Sunday at 1:00 PM, all the participants are welcome to join us at Sandy Neck Beach in Barnstable. But if you're listening to this and you're not going to fish in the tournament, you can still come on down. It's going to be just another opportunity to meet up, have some Snowy Owl coffee and I'm going to have some raffle prizes for people who just show up. So you don't even have to participate in the tournament, if you'd like to swing by 1:00 PM Sunday at Sandy Neck Beach. Again not this weekend, but October 15th and October 16th. So it'd be cool to see you in the tournament. It's a catch and release team tournament, your two biggest fish. Most inches wins.

Kevin:
Well, staying on the topic of fishing tournaments, Ryan, we have our first ever Cape and Islands Mitsubishi Anglers Cup, which is proudly sponsored by our good buddy, Bruno Demir from down at Cape and Islands Mitsubishi. And he'll be joining us coming up here later in today's program. But while we're on the topic of tournaments, why don't you give us an update on how that tournament's going?

Ryan:
It's going pretty well, Kevin. We've got just a couple days left here. It closes on October 10th and this was for largest blue fish, largest bonito and largest false albacore. In the blue fish division, we've gotten Mike Peck with a 33 inch blue leading the way, and we've got Mark Lewis and David Slick in second and third place. So as things stand, it looks like Mike Peck is in the running to win $500 for the blue fish unless somebody can top him. Then moving over to largest bonito, Colin Ward, which is one of the younger anglers on MFCC, he's in the running for 500 there with a 20.75 inch bonito. And then largest false albacore, we've got David Swick who has a 28.25 inch false albacore from September 30th. Just recently took over first place from Mike Peck. So he's in the running for $500 for largest false albacore.

Ryan:
And now I'm going to move over to the junior division. We've got a brand new rod and reel up for grabs here, and we've got Chris Garner's son with a 26.25 inch false albicore. He's in first place in the junior division there. And for largest blue fish, it's Trevor Bigger and he's got a 27 inch blue, again in the junior division. So just a couple days left here in the Cape and Islands Mitsubishi Anglers Cup. And if you want to join that, you can download the FishDonkey app, search for Cape and Islands Mitsubishi Anglers Cup and [inaudible 00:05:28].

Kevin:
Now before this big wind kicked up over the past week, that's just starting to break now, it's as you alluded to, going to get nice this weekend and folks should be able to get back out on the water in their boats. But you had a chance to get out on a couple of tuna trips going into last weekend and they were very successful. I was the benefactor of one of those trips. You were kind enough to share some fresh bluefin with myself and my family. But why don't you give folks a taste of what those trips were like.

Ryan:
On September 30th, I'm headed out with Cathleen Cohen and some members from the website, Danielle Ray, female angler, awesome to have her onboard. Richard Walker, been a member for quite a long time. Mark Fatting, also been a member for a while, and my dad was on board for that trip. So we had a pretty epic crew. We let the sea settle down a little bit and headed down at 8:00 AM and I've got more details about where we were fishing available inside the forum within the 2022 bluefin tuna thread. So if you're interested in learning more of the specifics, you can check that out. But we caught fish on live mackerel. We caught fish casting plugs. They were between 48 and 58 inches.

Ryan:
And then we did the same thing again the very next morning. Snuck out earlier to squeeze in a trip before the northeast wind started on October 1st and I had my college buddies on board for this trip and we hooked up twice with live macro, again fish in the 50 inch class. Great whale show as well. So there's plenty of small tuna around. And if you'd like more details, it would be on, like I said, that 2022 bluefin tuna thread going on inside our forum.

Kevin:
Now you obviously had plenty of meat from those trips, Ryan, very successful trips last week. I understand you spent a lot of time fileting those fish, even smoking and canning some of them.

Ryan:
Yes, I spent probably five hours fileting those two fish and I got all the meat from not just the loins and the belly but also from the head. And I even used a spoon to scrape off meat from the racks. So I got as much meat as possible from those fish and then I gave plenty away. You got some. We enjoyed some as sushi, poke bowls, seared tuna steaks. But then there's just so much meat left over, what do you do with it? So what I decided to do, and I've talked about this before, is I smoke the tuna for about an hour and a half, and now I'm going to can the tuna in olive oil and jalapenos for long term storage. And that way, we'll be able to enjoy this tuna for many months, perhaps years to come. And it's just a good way of utilizing the whole fish, putting it all to good use.

Kevin:
Now, flipping to fresh water, Ryan, something that we like to talk about in the spring and in the fall here on Cape Cod, the many kettle ponds that are available to folks. I understand you're going to be doing some filming this weekend, freshwater style.

Ryan:
I am. I'm going to meet up with a couple younger anglers, some high school bass tournament anglers, Jared Coates and Lucas Osborne. And we're going to fish Great Herring Pond in Bourne, and we're going to be targeting large mouth and small mouth bass. And the cool thing is these two guys, they've been fishing the freshwater bass tournaments here and they're high school anglers. So this is something any high school angler can get involved in, are these bass fishing circuits that they have going on. And I'll get more information, I'll share more as time goes on here for anyone who's interested in participating. But I'm really looking forward to teaming up with these guys and they're just going to pretty much guide me around the pond. I'm going to capture as much of it as I can on video and we're going to make a little episode that will air in season six of My Fishing Cape Cod TV this coming winter.

Kevin:
Well, we'll look forward to that and I know you'll keep us updated on when we can expect to see those episodes coming up of MFCC TV. Moving back to the website, the forum as always has been very busy. Just a couple updates here, Carol Gerard Irwin, a Giant Gator Bluefish up to 36 inches off P Town. John Keach, hope I'm saying that right-

Kevin:
Off P Town, John Keach. I hope I'm saying that right. And Calvin Torin-Sandlin posting very actively in the forum of awesome bass blitzes from shore. I know we're going to talk to someone from the Goose Hummock later in today's show. And they've indicated as well that the surf casting bite out off those backside facing beaches is still pretty good. So just a lot going on in the forum.

Ryan:
There is. And I'm interested to see how things go today, tomorrow, through the weekend. Because the last few days, you mentioned the outer cape beaches, those was probably been unfishable I would think for the last few days with the northeast wind that we've had. But there's still plenty of time left here in October. And if you're looking for surf casting in particular, October is one of the best months with so much elbow room out on the beaches. So I know not a lot of folks in the forum have probably been fishing much the last few days, but I'm expecting an explosion of activity today, tomorrow, and this weekend now that the weather is finally settling down.

Kevin:
Last week, Ryan, I saw some highlights of you speaking at the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association seminar. I saw some video highlights, was able to catch a part of your presentation online. This week, I know you have another seminar. Why don't you tell folks about what you're going to be doing this week?

Ryan:
This week, it's going to be at the Buzzards Bay Anglers Club. And I believe that's probably open to anyone. They're very open and interested in having more people come down and check out their club. That's got to be this Thursday evening. And I'm going to be giving the same talk that I gave at the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association, which is 15 things you never knew striped bass can do. And we're going to go through 15 behaviors that I've caught on camera. It should be really fun. So if you're in the area, the Buzzards Bay Anglers Club this Thursday. If you Google Buzzards Bay Anglers Club, they'll have information about it.

Kevin:
All right, my friend. Now that the weather's cleared, I'll let you get back to prepping for your weekend of fresh water fishing. But really appreciate you joining us on today's program, and look forward to doing at least a couple more of these before the season's up.

Ryan:
Sounds great, Kevin. Tight lines and take care.

Kevin:
Well, next up on this week's edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast is our good buddy Sam Mullen from down behind the counter at the beautiful Goose Hummock shop in Orleans, Mass. Sam, how are you on this Thursday?

Sam:
I'm doing pretty good, Kevin. The weather could be better, but hey, that's fishing though. And that's the weather.

Kevin:
Well, I got good news for you, Sam. I'm up in Plymouth and it's starting to clear. The sun has come out, the northeast wind is still northeast, but it's laid down to about I'd say five to 10. And Cape Cod Bay is kind of flattening out. I'd say two to three-foot waves. And I think that weather is hopefully heading your weight.

Sam:
I hope so too. Yeah, it's been pretty gnarly out there the past few days. But yeah, it's really started to light up last night. I fished a little bit and didn't do much. Got some schoolies from the flats, but it had been good. So hopefully go try to find some more fish later on.

Kevin:
So let's talk real quick about before this giant blow that we had that lasted what seemed like an entire week from last weekend into present day. Before the blow, Sam, I think the surf casting bite had been pretty good. Can you give us a little bit of a taste of what that was like?

Sam:
Yeah, it was good even a little bit during it too. Just all the backside beaches ranging from [inaudible 00:13:30] Coast Guard and then South Welfleet and then and [inaudible 00:13:34] was very good. A lot of slot-sized fish mostly, and a lot of it was all last light. And then it kind of just died off a little bit once it got dark, which is very strange. But it's been like that. It's been kind of the same pattern pretty much all summer light like that. It's the bite just kind of dies off. I think it's because it's a lot of it's peanut bunker around. And they'll just feed the last two hours of daylight and then a little bit into dusk. But after that, it pretty much shuts off.

Kevin:
Now, when these fish were on the peanut bunker, did you experience kind of a finicky bite? Or were you able to throw something out there that was attractive to them?

Sam:
No, pencil poppers were really just, they were killing it. It was very effective. And it's the best on top water. And then guys were doing bucktails and metals too, but I would say pencil poppers was the best. And you can't beat a top water striper from the surf. It's the best thing in the world.

Kevin:
Now, you mentioned you were out on the flats last night. How was that? You said a lot of small fish?

Sam:
Smaller fish, yeah. It had been okay from what I've heard. And then there was some decent fish in the mix, but last night it really kind of shut off. But water was clean, tide was good and everything. And then those fish just seemed like they moved on, so I kind of just missed the bite on that. But I think maybe those fish, they might have just gone west working their way out.

Kevin:
Well, you hit the nail on the head too in terms of the bay, I think, Sam, too. Because down where I am north of you inside Cape Cod Bay up in Plymouth, I kind of expected with all of this north swell and heavy duty wave action, I think we had eight to 10 feet at one point on Sunday into Monday. I expected a ton of weed, but I'm not really seeing much.

Sam:
No, it was really weird how clean the water was. And then especially last night, I just was expecting a crazy bite for such clean water. And when it's clean water and you're in a good spot that you've caught fish before, you pretty much know you're going to catch. But when it's mungy and chocolate milk, you just know you're not. But last night was good conditions.

Kevin:
So have you got any reports on the outer facing beaches as to if those are all weeded up at all?

Sam:
Yeah, no, it's been pretty clean out there too. Especially Race Point has been blanketed with blue fish. Absolutely just hammer blues up there around Race Point, which is sweet. It's been like that for quite a while a little bit now, and it's still carrying on through it even now throughout the blow. And there's probably some nice bass up there too. That's another good part of the surf fish, and it's been Race Point for sure.

Kevin:
In terms of the store, guys that are coming in striper fishing that are fishing either the outer facing beaches or inside Cape Cod Bay, other than the pencil poppers, what's been some hot items that have been going?

Sam:
Yeah, it's pretty much just SP Minnows as always. Just the swimming plug, a slow presentation. And then I'd say probably Cast Masters, Hoffmann Spoons, they kind of just representative of a peanut bunker and juvenile herring. Nice silvery, shiny baits that cast nice, so that's been good.

Kevin:
Now, how about an albie report?

Sam:
Albies, I haven't heard too, too much. They were kind of stacked up in the corner pocket of by Monomoy Flat and Stage Harbor. I don't know if many guys have been going to them for recently, but that's been pretty good. And then that, and then there's been a lot of around the vineyard too. I actually saw a cool post. Some guy caught a skip jack in the middle of an albie feed.

Kevin:
Wow.

Sam:
Which is pretty cool, yeah.

Kevin:
That's interesting. You never know what you're going to get out there offshore.

Sam:
Yeah, they call them funny fish.

Kevin:
Yeah. And I know that before the blow as well when it was still safe to get out, the rec tuna bite, the footballs, the bite was kind of off the chain. What do you think that this blow is going to do? Have you heard anything of people trying to get out so far either yesterday or today?

Sam:
Yeah, I know. It was very good around Lake Crab and [inaudible 00:17:25] that Friday, Thursday, Friday before all this crazy wind. But, I mean, I would assume that they're really going to start to... I mean, there's a lot of fish up north too. So, I mean, [inaudible 00:17:36] is honestly your best bet just kind of working that 180 to 260 feet of water. Sometimes you got to go into 300 feet of water. I would say that's your best bet. And I think they just keep on moving all the way from Wildcat to Southeast Corner and they're just kind of working the tuna coast.

Kevin:
Now, in terms of the store, we've moved into October. This is our first podcast that we've done with you guys in about a month because of the Norwalk Boat Show. Can you give us an updated kind of schedule on the store hours?

Sam:
Yeah, so we're Monday through Saturday. We are 9:00 to 5:30 and then Sundays we're 8:00 to 4:00.

Kevin:
And in terms of the store, you guys still stocked up? Anything special going on you want to tell the listeners about?

Sam:
Oh yeah, we got these really cool Nomad Madscads. We've been shipping them crazy over to California for their yellow finbite and bluefin bite. And we've had some high hopes of trying to use them for trolling for bluefin. You just troll them really fast. They're kind of like the old style bonito, kind of like the blade baits, like the stick baits. They're very similar to that. And we got a variety of colors. And they come in at 200 gram and 220 gram. They're pretty cool baits. They've been flying off the shelves to California. Those guys have been jonesing for them. I think we're the only place in the country that even has them.

Kevin:
All right, Sam. Thank you so much for keeping us up to date on what's going on at the store and for the report. We might have one more visit before the season ends.

Sam:
Awesome. That sounds great, Kevin. Hopefully a good rest of your season. I'm actually going to the vineyard next week to fish at the derby, so hopefully there'll be some good fishing then.

Kevin:
Yeah, maybe we'll get an update from you one last time after the derby.

Sam:
Yeah. That sounds great, Kevin.

Kevin:
Well, up next on this week's edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast is our good buddy and proud MFCC member Bruno Demir from down at Cape & Island's Mitsubishi. And Bruno, I can already tell from the breeze you're out on the water, my friend.

Bruno:
I sure am. Hello [inaudible 00:19:38]. Tight lines to everybody. We're here live straight out of Monomoy at the [inaudible 00:19:44].

Kevin:
So give everybody a taste of what you're doing. You're not in the [inaudible 00:19:48] this morning because you'd be sheltered from the breeze.

Bruno:
Yeah. Today, we took the center console out. Buddy of my mine's got a beautiful 23-foot Parker center console. And we're out here chasing albies, Kevin.

Bruno:
Out here chasing albies, Kevin.

Kevin:
So have you had any luck, that's the big question. We're all anxiously awaiting what you're seeing out there because everyone wants to know how that big north wind, for four or five days in a row, is going to affect the fishery.

Bruno:
Well, I can tell you there is some big, big stripers and blues right now at the Monomoy Rips. Matter of fact, when I get back on dry land, I'll make sure I get on the forums and I'll post the exact numbers that we're fishing and the rips that we're fishing. There's some really big bunker, they're on bunker right now, which is great cause that just means they'll leave anything that you throw at them. So far we've landed stripers and blues up to 36 inches, but no sign of Fat Albert yet. However, we still have a couple more hours to look at the normal spots that we always see him and we're hoping to see our albies stone sticking around.

Bruno:
That won't come out until later when I'm done fishing, and I'll post that on the forums too. A nice surprise, which I haven't seen out quite in a while, we saw a nice 15 foot, maybe more like a 12 foot juvenile great white, working that same rip that we were working with blues and stripers. Soon as he came around I kind of died down, so we decided to move and now we're on the hunt in another rip, seeing if we can find Fat Albert.

Kevin:
Now did you get a good look at the shark, Bruno, when he was cruising around?

Bruno:
Oh yeah, he must have been a good... Derek, what do you think, 15 feet off the bow?

Derek:
Oh yeah.

Bruno:
About 15 feet off the bow, both fins up, and about a 12 footer and soon as he came around the pike kind of died out. Which is weird because usually don't see him that close to the other side of Monomoy where we were at [inaudible 00:22:18]. Usually I've seen him at pier since, sorry, outside of Monomoy Island, but never that close to inside.

Kevin:
He was just searching for some breakfast Bruno, he was hoping you'd dangle your legs overboard and soak your toes.

Bruno:
Yeah, well rule number one, stay the boat.

Kevin:
With this blow that we've had, Bruno, it's great to hear that there's still plenty of life in the rips. What were you up to before the wind? Were you able to get out wreck bluefin fishing?

Bruno:
Unfortunately not, but I can tell you, guys that were able to get out there did really well up off of P-Town and if you go into the forums, a lot of guys posted on where they got them out of P-Town, but off the backside there's some really good bluefin fishing before the blow. I haven't seen facts, but there was a lot of... I personally know of one person that caught one pretty close, but not right off shore from Plymouth inside Cape Cod Bay.

Kevin:
Yeah.

Bruno:
With the big blow where those fish went, we don't know. I know that Monday's going to be a really nice day, along with Tuesday and Wednesday and next week. So I plan on going for a wreck fish on Tuesday. So Kevin, this is your chance, if you can get Tuesday off, you welcome aboard on the Gaviota. We're going to go out and chase some wreck size bluefin.

Kevin:
We're making plans live on the show, you can absolutely count me in. I'll put in for the day off as soon as we get off the podcast.

Bruno:
You got it. Then on Wednesday I'll be commercially fishing for bluefin with my buddy Derek.

Kevin:
You've got quite the schedule lined up here for the next four or five, six days. It's good to hear that the weather is finally going to kind of cooperate for us, and for losing the week that we did Bruno, I'm hopeful we're paid back tenfold with a couple more weeks of really good weather here in October.

Bruno:
Tomorrow it's going from North to Southwest, so hopefully that'll warm things up. The Sound is only 58 degrees Kevin. So that was pretty quick, how quick the water dropped down. Tomorrow, I will take the Gaviota out. It's still too rough to really be too efficient east to Chatham from me anyway, so we're going to get a big bucket of crabs and we're going to try our luck some tautog off the rocks and south side of Cape Cod.

Kevin:
That's awesome. Our next report, Bruno, I'm definitely going to follow up with you. I'm going to make a note to see how that's going. I've seen some great reports. The Goose Hummock is posted some great things on Instagram lately, of members of their team going to get some tog, so it's kind of that part of the season where the water's cooling down again and it's a great fish, it's a great eating fish as well.

Bruno:
Absolutely, I'm looking forward to seeing if we can get our limit tomorrow and some nice filets for the dinner table.

Kevin:
That's awesome. Well, the last thing I want to check in with you on, is we've moved into October, just give me a taste of what's going on at the dealership. Everything going well down at Cape and Islands Mitsu.

Bruno:
Everything's going great. We just got another load of the new Mitsubishi Outlander. It's a seven passenger and it's about $7,000 less than a Honda or Toyota SUV. So if you're in the mark for an SUV, we're to your person to check out. Also don't forget, we have the largest pre-owned pickup truck inventory on Cape Cod. So if you don't want to spend $60,000 for a new pickup, you could pick one up from us for half that price.

Kevin:
All right, Bruno, that's awesome update. I'm going to let you get back to albie fishing and we'll look forward to catching up with you on Tuesday.

Bruno:
Sounds good, man. Tight lines everybody.

Kevin:
Well up next on this week's edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod podcast, Is Proud M FCC member Calvin Toran-Sandlin. Calvin, how are you doing on this, what's turning to be a beautiful Thursday?

Calvin:
It is turned into be a very nice day, Kevin, and I'm doing very well. I appreciate you guys having me on today. Seems to be breaking and the wind seems to be dying down a little bit.

Kevin:
Yeah, it seems like it's going to shape up to be a pretty nice weekend. Then the first part of next week looks great, it looks like the wind's going to turn around from the southwest. It's going to get a little bit warmer. So from your lips to God's ears, hopefully we have a great October.

Calvin:
Well, I'm excited for, we have the full moon coming up. I'm hoping that gets the fish on the move again. I'm hoping the big moon tides flush out some more bait and we'll finish up October strong with some serious fish before the end of the season.

Kevin:
Now you've been a great member, Calvin, we've had you on the podcast before and I know you're extremely active in My Fishing Cape Cod forum. You're always sharing tons of knowledge and information in the forum, so I want to give you credit there. Thank you too on behalf of all the members for all the intel that you've been sharing, but for those that might not be initiated to the forum, why don't you give folks a little bit of a walkthrough of how your season's gone and where we are at this point?

Calvin:
All right. Well, I think everyone who has spent some time on the water this season, can say that there's been good fish around. You definitely have to work for them. I've definitely been putting in my time this season, fishing as hard as I can between work and other obligations. When you put in your time, and for me, what has worked for me has been chasing the tides and chasing the wind pattern. Especially this fall season, so far I've been trying to fish with the wind in my face preferably, doesn't always happen.

Calvin:
Sometimes a tide or a spot might fish better at different stages and the wind doesn't coincide with that. In general, the outgoing tide produced well for me all summer and it's continuing to produce well into the fall. And again, that onshore win, pushing in the bait, which also pushes in the predators, has been a really good strategy for me. It's resulted in a good season. A lot of sizable, over slot fish and a lot of slot fish

Kevin:
Now in the fall so far, we're in the middle of the fall run and we'll see how this north northeast wind will affect that, but where have been some of your more successful locations, surf casting? Has it been the outer beaches? Have you been inside the bay where have you been?

Derek:
I've been around the cape all around the cape, kind of chasing the wind and the tides again. The bay has been really productive for me this entire season. As the water temperatures begin to drop and we start seeing more bait and more fish in Buzzards Bay, I'll start moving into a lot of those spots in mid to late October. It's all night fishing for me over there. A lot of it is throwing eels, trying to pick up some bigger fish that come in close to shore, into the boulder fields and the structure of Buzzards.

Kevin:
That's, that's a great tip. So the live eel, is a great option here as we push through the next couple of weeks it sounds like.

Derek:
Well, I think live eel is probably one of the best fall baits. I remember a few-

Calvin:
Live eel is probably one of the best fall baits. I remember a few seasons back, I dropped what was probably one of my biggest bass I've ever had on a live eel in very late October. October 25th or 26th up in a small cove of Buzzard's Bay. But throughout the entire season, and especially into the fall, the live eel or similar soft plastics. The GT eel, the rigged slug-go... Anything along those lines that imitates that bait or that pattern just does really well in the fall.

Kevin:
Now, how about in terms of the fall run, with where we are right now, what do you think that this wind pattern that we just had... We had a pretty severe ocean churn, 8 to 10 foot seas out of the north, northeast. We had 40 mile an hour winds over the weekend and into the early part of this week. What do you think that's going to do to the surf casting experience for the next couple of weeks?

Calvin:
Well, I've still been finding fish. Working around the wind was definitely a bit of a challenge. A lot of places, you'd be fishing with a lot of basically side winds, that make it very hard to make an accurate presentation. The cross wind is killer, especially when it's heavy in the fall. But when you can find that onshore wind and punch into it, that's productive. The fact that we just had a heavy blow, it can do a few things early in the fall run. I tend to think that it disorientates bait, it pushes in bait. It also will push in a lot of weed and dirty the water. But once that clears through a few tide cycles, a lot of times we'll see good fishing afterwards. Later in the season, a heavy blow can sometimes put a stop to a bite in a particular region, or it can push the fish out as they migrate farther south. But right now, I'm still expecting at least a couple of good weeks of good migratory fishing here on the cape.

Kevin:
Yeah, that was going to be my next follow up, was based off your past experience... And I know you're a guy that kind of keeps track of your experience every year, kind of logs what goes on. When does the striper fishing and those last, I'll say big slugs of migratory fish, kind of depart the area? When does it quiet down for you?

Calvin:
Well, I think the last week of October is a general rule of thumb for when the fishing goes from great to putting in work to find the fish. Into November, there'll still be migratory fish around. I'm fairly confident that I've caught migratory fish into mid to late November. Fishing in boulder fields and in open beaches, not in the back bays where you'd find holdover fish. So up until mid to late November, I still expect to be able to find some fish. It just becomes a lot more difficult. You have to put in your time, preferably fishing something like live eels or working right in the bottom structure with buck tails and soft plastics. It's going to be a lot slower, more tedious presentation, but it will produce fish up until the mid-November time for me.

Kevin:
Now, I have a follow up question, in terms of the... Two of the keys that you've pointed out so far are wind direction and tide direction. You've also given a strong preference to the live eel as a bait so far in the fall. Now with our New England weather, it can change at the drop of a hat. They say, "If you don't like the weather, just wait an hour," when you're up here. So, what I wanted to ask you was, I have a lot of experience fishing live eels, and it's generally been a summer thing for me inside the bay. Generally more late July through the month of August is when I've generally fished them.

Kevin:
When you're fishing with them in the wind, right, that's not something I have a tremendous amount of experience with. Is there anything that you can do technique wise or rigging wise to get them to, I'll say fly the way you want them? To get them out there when you're fishing into a heavy wind into your face?

Calvin:
Well, if you're fishing a live eel, I tend to try to fish with the wind to my back. If I'm fishing into a wind, a lot of times it's going to be something like buck tails or needle fish, something that I can punch and cut through the wind. And also keep taut on the end of my line, that I can really work. A lot of times the live eel, you almost have slack in your line as you let the eel work. But if I'm punching into the wind with an eel, a lot of times I'll choose to use something more like a rigged eel that has a jig head on it. That's a good option. Or another option is, again, fishing a slug-go or similar plastic. That mimics an eel, but can be rigged in a variety of different ways easily. Something like a one ounce or one and a half ounce jig head will punch through the wind and allow you to make that presentation. That would be a little more difficult with a live eel.

Kevin:
Totally makes sense. And when you're fishing with a live eel, like you said, you want to let them do eel things. Because that's what's going to attract the fish.

Calvin:
Absolutely. I just try to keep tension on the line, so I can feel the movements of the eel. You'll feel the classic "tap tap" as the fish hits, and then it's just bow to the fish. And with these circle hooks that we use, just slightly retrieve, keep tension on it, and the fish will hook itself. It's an easy process once we have it down.

Kevin:
Calvin, one last thing I wanted to ask you. We talked about wind, we talked about tides, we've talked about bait. Any last pieces of advice for folks that are looking to, I'll say emerge from this crummy weather pattern and take advantage of the fall run? Any last pieces of wisdom from you?

Calvin:
I would just say start covering the water again. Get out there and fish as hard as you can. There's no secret for me. It's just that I try to put in my time and cover as many different stages of the tide, as many different moon phases, as many different spots as possible. And you'll start to put together a pattern that works. This season has been all about patterns for me, and there's been a lot of consistency in where the fish are holding and what we'll produce.

Kevin:
All right, Calvin, thanks so much for sharing some of your wisdom with not only myself, but all the listeners here on the podcast. It was a pleasure to catch up with you and I wish you very tight lines here for the rest of the fall run.

Calvin:
Well, thank you very much for having me on. I appreciate the My Fishing Cape Cod Forum, and the membership, and the community,

Kevin:
We certainly appreciate members like Calvin Toran-Sandlin right back, for all of the contributions that he and so many of you have made in the forum throughout the 2022 season and beyond. It's certainly a great spot, a great resource if you're fishing the cape and the islands. So that's going to put a wrap on today's program. Want to thank all of our guests that took time out of their busy weeks to join us... Starting with MFCC founder and creator, Ryan Collins. Sam Mullen from the Goose Hummock. Bruno Demir from Cape and Islands Mitsubishi. And last but not least, Calvin Toran-Sandlin, proud MFCC member who just joined us to give us that knowledge on the surf casting during the fall run.

Kevin:
As I mentioned, that's going to conclude today's program. Sure hope you all enjoyed it. Until we chat again on the next episode of the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast, this is your host, Kevin Collins, signing off. Tight lines and take care.

Speaker 2:
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 myfishingcapecod.com. From all of us at My Fishing Cape Cod, tight lines and take care.