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

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Well next up on this week's edition of the My Fishing Cape Cod podcast is our great friend AJ Ktz from down at Red Top Sporting Goods in beautiful Buzzards Bay. Aj, how are you this week?

Speaker 6 (23:15):
We're doing well. The shop is fully stocked. Fishing's been okay, so no complaints on our end man.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
That's good to hear. Aj, we get a little bit of a north wind, which is making the bay a little bit of a challenge at the moment, but other than that, let's get into the canal because that's always a spot that's relatively sheltered from the surf. Certainly certain wind directions and current directions can change that, but what's been going on at the canal

Speaker 6 (23:41):
For the past few days, there's been a lot of slot size around, plus or minus you get a couple below, a couple above, but for the guys looking to catch and keep, it's actually been a pretty good time of year for 'em. They're feeding on a little bit of squid at the east end. There's also some blue fish mixed in as well, also feeding on squid. And then just recently we had a pretty good size bunch of peanut bunkers show up, so they're also dialed in on that small bait. So it's a good idea to maybe go lighter on your gear, go smaller on your lures in order to get those strikes because they're less likely with the small bait around, they're less likely to hit a eight inch pencil than they are an epoxy jig or a resin jig or something along those lines.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
So let's talk about going a little bit lighter on the setup in the canal because obviously you still have a variety of different elements that you have to battle in the canal, one being a very swift current as well. Talk a little bit about the ins and outs of maybe targeting your setup to go a little bit lighter, a little bit smaller with this smaller bait, but also at the same time successfully and hopefully relatively quickly in greenly land these fish.

Speaker 6 (24:56):
Yeah, I mean it's a great question. It's a matter of how strong do you have to go as far as the lighter stuff. So you could get away with the same setup that you're going to use for albe off the boat. You're not going to have to cast very far usually when they're the small bait are all on the rocks, so you typically don't have to cast that far. But like you said, I mean the longer you fight the fish, the worst chance of their survival. So it's really a tough balance. But I mean honestly without breaking out any of the old setups or buying a new setup, most pencil poppers, the rod range is probably like two to six for a lot of the guys fishing in the canal. So if you took one of the Joe bags, he's got a new peanut resin that's shaped just like a peanut bunker, it's a great looking little lure. He makes those in a one and a half and a two. You could easily throw those on the setups that you're going to be throwing your three and four ounce pencils in the canal on anyways. So as long as you keep that in mind, I think you can get away with what you got. Or you could definitely buy a new rig or use a rig that you'd use for the back waters and the bays and the early spring for the schoolies, you can use that setup as well.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Well that's great to hear and great intel. And in terms of what you're throwing on that to kind of match the hatch if you will, what is some stuff that you guys offer that can help these guys maybe hone in and sift or cull through this light bait in order to maybe attract some of these, I'll say slot size fish?

Speaker 6 (26:33):
Yeah, I mean I mentioned one of them already, the Joe bags peanut resin, he makes those from three quarter ounce all the way up into ounce in tuna size. So I would say you're probably going to want to be looking at probably the two ounce size is a great replica of the size of the bait and actually the shape of the bait that we're seeing in the canal right now. So that's one great option there. You could definitely throw out a cast master or a deadly dick or some kind of metal lure and you could even throw out an epoxy jig for these fish. More than likely, as long as you dial it back from your seven to eight inch pencil poppers down to a three to five inch bait, I mean you're going to have a lot better success dialing these baits back size-wise, probably color-wise, you probably want to stick with your white or your silver black, stuff like that. Something that really mimics those fish that are around

Speaker 2 (27:34):
And what's also going on off the west end in Buzzards Bay. I always like to check in. We are flipping the calendar to September. Has the water cooling down at all out there? Is there any more action?

Speaker 6 (27:46):
No, I mean if anything the water's still probably increasing. I think I've seen surface temps up to, I mean over 80 degrees, probably 82 in Monument Beach. Connor and I were just talking before you called and he said leaving the marina that his surface temps on the boat were 83 I think he said. So I mean that's like bath water, probably warmer than I would take a bath honestly. So as far as bass out in that area, I would probably shy away. I would lean more towards, if I was going out in the boat I would probably go off of Plymouth or if you're heading out of the canal you can bang a right head over to squirts, Barnstable, that kind of area that they have fish in, in the deeper water, in the colder water out in Cape Cod Bay

Speaker 2 (28:36):
On a day like this, no one's going out pretty much with this north northeast, so that's going to limit that for sure. And with this wind from the storms that are passing out to sea, do you expect that to kind of shake up the fishery at all or feel any effects from these storms?

Speaker 6 (28:52):
It's hard to say. I mean if they come in close it can stir the water up and that'll ruin a few days of fishing while it takes a few hide cycles to clear that out and filter the water out back to cleaner water. Not that we have the cleanest water up here, but if they come in a couple years ago we had that hurricane in the fall and it killed fish and that was kind of the end of it. So I mean weather can definitely play a big part in how these fish move and if they stick around and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
And I suppose too it would have a greater effect on our offshore fishery with all the tuna guys. What have you been hearing about the tuna bite?

Speaker 6 (29:30):
The tuna bite is still solid with this warm water that we have. They're going to be sticking around for a little bit south of vineyard's good east of Chatham like crab ledge. I've heard it's been pretty good out there. So fortunately you don't have to go too far, which means you don't need a huge boat to be able to reach these wreck sized fish.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
And last but not least, we're heading into a big holiday weekend. What's been going on down at Red Top? Do you guys have anything special for the Labor Day holiday or anything new and exciting you want to talk about?

Speaker 6 (29:59):
As of right now, I don't have anything new and exciting other than that. This is the time of year that the Albe show up and the ALBs have been showing up in Woods Hole and in the Falmouth area, thicker and thicker day by day I guess off of ska today. It was pretty good. On a day like today with the wind at your back from the south facing beaches of the cape, you might be able to reach 'em from shore. So it's a cool little fishery that we have that's a great thing to do in the fall and this is the time that we're gearing up for it and ready to rock.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Well it's good to hear you guys are locked and loaded for the weekend. I'm sure you're going to get a lot of foot traffic in there aj. So I'll let you get back to work and we really appreciate you making time to join us here on the podcast.

Speaker 6 (30:49):
Absolutely, Kevin, we'll talk to you in a bit.