A lot of people from My Fishing Cape Cod have been having fun squid fishing so far this 2021 season - myself included! If you're a member of MFCC then you can see everyone's squid updates here.

Last week on May 6th I met up with Ryan Henry of the Goose Hummock Shops for an afternoon of squid fishing. Ryan had never been squid fishing before, so I was hoping the squid would cooperate.

We met at 2:30pm and quickly noticed that the wind was howling out of the northwest. Our plan was to fish from my little 12 foot boat powered by an 8hp, but I was concerned that the seas would be too choppy.

I gazed out at Nantucket Sound and watched as white caps rolled into the distance. Fortunately the forecast called for the winds to diminish, and after a half an hour of indecision, I decided to launch the boat.

Ryan and I figured we would go for a cruise up a nearby river, while we waited for the wind to die down. 

It was a bright, warm, and clear day. The trees along the shoreline were getting ready to burst forth with leaves, and the water was crystal clear.

Spring had arrived on Cape Cod.

As we cruised along both Ryan and I noticed the huge homes which overlooked the marsh.

Some of the homes had construction crews busy at work, getting the houses and grounds ready for the summer season.

Eventually the breeze did begin to back off, so Ryan and I decided to make the trek out to the squid grounds.

Nevertheless I remained cautious and alert, which is especially important when fishing from a small boat or kayak.

Drift Fishing For Squid

Eventually we made it out to 20 feet of water-which when fishing off the south side of the Cape can be a fair distance from shore. Throughout the trip we fished about 1/2-1 mile offshore.

The main squid fleet was a couple miles to the east. Steaming over to the fleet in my little 12 footer was out of the question, so we just setup a drift in an area that "felt right". 

With no sonar we dropped our jigs to the bottom in what we figured was about 20 feet of water, and within seconds Ryan's rod bent over.

He was on with hist first-ever squid on his first drop of the trip!

It was a great start but we quickly became inundated with mung and weed. The mung was clinging to our line and jigs, so we decided to make move a half mile to the west.

We again dropped our jigs to the bottom and began a slow pick of squid.

Ryan and I did not impart much action to the jigs, and instead allowed the jigs to drift almost stationery just above the bottom.

The squid fishing was not fast and furious, but we would pick up a squid here and there.

We were having fun and I was glad that the weather and sea conditions were cooperating.

Of course we also got hit with plenty of sea water and ink, which the squid propel when under stress!

I did not pay particularly close attention to what size and color squid jigs were producing the best.

It seemed like the squid were for the most part showing interest in all the jigs.

Eventually we decided to try anchoring up instead of drifting.

Maybe if we remained stationery we could avoid the mung and increase our catch rate.