South Side Fall Run
Welcome to another fall run edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod Podcast presented by Cape & Islands Mitsubishi and The Olde Cape Carwash! In this podcast, we are joined by Amy Wrightson of Sports Port in Hyannis. Amy gives encouraging news that false albacore are still being caught from small boats and kayaks off south side beaches and the fall run has begun for striped bass and bluefish.
When a hard northeast blow finally lets up on Cape Cod, the first question on every angler's mind is simple: did the fish stick around? For the south side of the Cape, the answer in early October is a pretty encouraging yes. Amy shares what her customers, her family, and the shop's regulars have been seeing on the water. Water temperatures are still warm, the bait is thick inside the bays and harbors, and the fall migration looks to be right on schedule.
Amy's read is that the storm cost everyone a few days of fishing, roughly a four-day pause because of the wind, but it didn't shut anything down. If anything, the fish shifted gears. Here is how the three headline species are shaping up along the south side, and just as importantly, what anglers are using to catch them.
False Albacore: Picky, but Worth the Effort
If you've been frustrated by the albies this fall, you're in good company. Amy was candid that the storm didn't change the picture for false albacore in her neck of the woods. They were difficult before the blow, and they're still difficult now. People are catching them, but it takes an enormous amount of casting. Amy described anglers throwing thousands of casts and feeling lucky to come away with a single fish.
Who is having the most success? The kayak crowd. Paddling gives anglers a stealthier approach, and that matters with fish that have been getting spooked easily. Shore anglers have had the toughest season, with fish that seem to hold just out of casting range. Power boat anglers are getting opportunities, but the albies appear to be more skittish around boat traffic. The silver lining is that after the storm, folks heading out were still able to scare up a fish or two, so the fishery wasn't wiped out.
The consistent message from Amy is that the anglers who are actually catching, rather than just fishing, are the ones putting in the time. Most people have thrown everything in the box at these fish, but a clear pattern has emerged in what's producing.
Epoxy jigs are the story. Amy singled out the peanut-bunker-shaped resin jigs from Monomoy Tackle as a standout. Their profile is a little more oblong and stout rather than long and skinny, and that body shape seems to be preferable to the albies right now. If you're stocking your box and want something with a proven track record this fall, the Monomoy Tackle peanut resin jig is the one to have in the rotation.
When it comes to color, two have risen to the top. Silver has been a winning choice, and olive has been another. Customers have independently reported the same thing, which is about as good a pattern as you can ask for with picky false albacore. Pair a peanut-profile epoxy jig in silver or olive with a stealthy approach and plenty of patience, and you give yourself the best odds.
Bluefish: Still Going Strong
Bluefish have made a bit of a comeback on the south side this year, and a concern after the storm was whether they'd move out for the season. The answer from Amy is that you definitely still have a chance, and her own recent trips back that up.
Amy, her husband, and children have fished in Cotuit and found snapper blues in numbers she'd never seen before. Standing on the bow, you could watch your lure come in and see flashes underwater, which gave a sense of just how large the bait balls were. The snappers were doing that classic slapping on the surface, and there was plenty of them to keep a young angler busy.
The real insight came on a follow-up trip. Underneath those schools of snappers were larger fish, cocktail-size bluefish in the five-to-seven-pound range. They were healthy and well fed, clearly gorging on the abundant bait, and they were hanging below the snappers rather than up on the surface.
How they caught them: For the snappers, small gear does the job: little half-ounce Castmasters or small resin jigs with a smaller treble hook. To reach the bigger blues underneath, Amy's crew switched to a larger Castmaster, around two ounces, which got down below the snapper layer and put them on the cocktail-size fish. It's a simple but effective adjustment: if the surface is thick with small fish, send something heavier down to see who's hiding below.
Amy also offered a practical caution for anyone fishing soft plastics from the beach. With bluefish mixed in, paddle tails get destroyed quickly. If you find the blues are around, it's worth putting the soft plastics away and switching to something more durable.
Striped Bass Inside the Bays
The striped bass story on the south side is shaping up nicely. Amy and her kids were focused on bluefish on one outing and didn't find any stripers that day, but her husband was out with a couple of the kids the night before and caught schoolies inside the bays. That fits with what the shop is hearing from customers fishing around Hyannis, Osterville, and New Seabury.
Most of those fish are in the 20 to 24 inch range, which is welcome news. All season long, anglers have been saying that smaller stripers haven't been especially prolific, so seeing those schoolies show up in decent numbers is a good sign. Amy is also getting reports from customers of striped bass in the 40-inch class being taken inside the bays, a reminder that a bigger fish are embedded in these schools.
What's catching stripers: Customers have done well on paddle tails, SP Minnows, and topwater lures. For anglers fishing from the beach, Amy listed several go-to options:
Creek Chub topwater plugs have been producing. Paddle-tail soft plastics have also been working across the board, including Savage Gear Sand Eels, which come in a variety of sizes so you can match them to your rod setup, and soft plastic paddle tails from Joe Baggs, which Amy says have been working very well.
Keep in mind the same caveat that applies to bluefish. Because blues are so plentiful on the south side right now, a bag of soft plastics can disappear fast if they're mixed in with the stripers. Having a durable plug or two on hand lets you keep fishing when the toothy critters show up.
South Side Looks Good Heading Deeper Into October
What ties all of this together is the bait. Amy noted that there is a ton of it inside the bays and harbors, and fish that are feeding and on the move are a strong sign that the fall migration is underway. Many of her customers have switched gears from albies to striped bass and bluefish, which tells you where the more reliable action is right now.
It's also a great time of year for locals. The crowds have thinned out, the beaches are open, and you can have a mixed bag of species without traveling far. Many of the productive spots described this week were inside the bays, so there's no need to run far offshore to find action.
One more note from Amy: scallop season has just opened in the Hyannis area. Sports Port has scallop dip nets and viewing buckets arriving this weekend, which is a nice option if you want to bring home dinner on a day when the wind keeps you off the water. Put in your casts, pack a mix of durable plugs and soft plastics, and get out there while the water and the sun are still warm!
Tight Lines & Take Care!