With The "Incoming Excursion" for Striperheads only a week away , the fish have arrivved to meet us!
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May 28, 2009
By Rick Bach
Fishing all around the Cape has been red-hot lately, but for sheer size and numbers, if not solitude, there’s no better place to be than the Cape Cod Canal. For the past three or four days, plenty of stripers, and big ones at that, have been pulled out of the ditch. It appears as if a school of big striped bass, making its way through the canal into Cape Cod Bay, has hung around through a few tide changes to feast on mackerel and herring.
We’re talking about big fish here. We have two reports of 50-plus-pound stripers, one pulled from the land cut by a shorebound fishermen, and another taken from a boat outside the west end of the canal.
The boat-caught fish weighed 56.4 pounds, according to Mike from M & D’s Bait and Tackle in Wareham, and the 52-pound fish was taken near Bell Road, according to Bull at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay. There have been reports of fish exceeding 40 inches being caught throughout the Canal.
It’s not so much a matter of what you’re throwing as it is being in the right place at the right time as these fish ride the heavy current of last weekend’s new moon chasing bait. Rubber shad-body lures have accounted for a lot of success. Topwater lures are also taking fish, especially early in the morning. Gibbs Pencil Poppers and Yozuri Mag Darters are taking fish, according to Bruce at Canal Bait and Tackle in Sagamore. “Blue-and-white seems to be the magic color combination,” he said, adding that the canal was full of bait, including mackerel, sea herring, and pollock that the bass were gorging on. Soft-plastic baits like the RonZ on 3- or 4-ounce jigheads are taking their share of fish when the current picks up and the topwater bite turns off. Rich at Falmouth Bait and Tackle added that some of his regulars are catching fish around slack tide on the Sebile Magic Swimmer, and he’s been selling more since the action’s been heating up.
A tide moving from east to west seems to be producing the most fish, although the canal’s been pretty hot on almost all tides. These fish have been in the canal for the past few days, but Bruce is predicting the action will stay steady at least through the weekend. There have been bluefish in the canal, although they’re not thick, so it’s a good idea to use a fluorocarbon leader of at least 40-pound-test and keep an eye on it if you’re getting into fish. Tie a few extra leaders and have them ready to go to save yourself some time if the action is hot and heavy. The blues have mostly been medium-sized, in the 3- to 5-pound range.
On the south-facing beaches, the action has been there, but very location-specific. Jay at Mashpee Bait and Tackle said that your best bet is bouncing around as much as possible, not wasting too much time in one location if the fish aren’t there. Chris at Badfish Outfitters in North Falmouth added that earlier this week the fish and wind were pushing pogies right up onto the beach, and anglers were picking them up and live-lining them. With a stiff south wind, they couldn’t cast very far, but the fish were one top of them, and Chris said he weighed in three fish 30 pounds or bigger caught on south-facing beaches.
On the other side of the Cape, Barnstable Harbor has been hot, with big schools of mackerel and sand eels drawing in the bass. Jay said that while fishing the harbor this weekend, he rigged up an umbrella rig with DOA soft-plastic jerkbaits that did a great job imitating sand eels and had a good deal of success with stripers. Live-lining mackerel has also produced some decent stripers in Barnstable Harbor, according to Bruce at Canal Bait and Tackle.
Cape Cod Bay hasn’t seen the really big fish yet, but expect that to change as big stripers make their way through the Canal and discover a bay full of bait. Fish to 35 inches and 20 pounds are coming out of the Bay on a regular basis. Dan at the Hook Up in Orleans said that the areas around the Brewster Flats were producing fish consistently on soft-plastics such as Slug-Gos and RonZs. He said that most of the fish hitting on the surface were smaller, between 25 and 30 inches, but when they let the bait drop to the bottom, they found bigger fish. They took eight keeper-sized stripers to 38 inches.
Garret at the Goose Hummock in Orleans said the bluefish haven’t showed up in numbers in the Bay just yet, and anglers are taking mostly stripers. He said fly-fishermen were having success on the flats. From all accounts there is no shortage of sand eels in the bay so any lure or fly you can get your hands on that will mimic this bait should work wonders. Try using something with some flash and a slim-profile design. Smaller Slug-Gos and RonZs should work for spin-fishermen while deceivers are a good bet if you’re bringing the fly rod.
The backside beaches are producing some fish, but the action has been hit-or-miss, mostly due to mid-day tides. Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet has turned up a few keeper stripers but at other times has been absolutely dead. A good rule of thumb is not to stick it out too long if nothing seems to be happening. On Nauset Beach in Orleans, fish have been few and far between.
Fishermen targeting Race Point have had some success according to Leo at Nelson’s Bait and Tackle. If you make a run to the Race, try throwing Gags Grabbers Mambo Minnows in the chicken scratch pattern. The lure has apparently produced a few keeper-sized stripers there.
Down on the Vineyard the fishing has been variable but not dead, according to Steve at Larry’s Bait and Tackle. For the last week, variable winds have pushed the fish, and the fishermen, around, but there are stripers to be found. “They’re just not stacked up in any one location,” Steve said. Steve said he saw two 35-pound stripers come in this week. One was caught on a 12-inch black Slug-Go.
Steve said there have been two classes of fish making up for most of the action on the Vineyard: fish that are right around 28 inches, and fish between 18 and 25 pounds. However, late at night, larger fish that are feeding on scup farther offshore are moving into within range for surfcasters and that’s when the bigger fish are hitting the sand.
The groundfishing is heating up around the Cape as well with scup season opening this past Sunday. Some bruiser sea bass are being weighed in around the Cape and Islands. A 7.5-pound fish came out of Edgartown Harbor on the Vineyard last week and an 8-pounder was weighed in at M & D’s that came off of Cleveland Ledge.
Mike at M & D’s said the trick is to drift until you locate the fish, quickly mark your location and concentrate your efforts there. Fish are holding tight so exact location is important. Squid-tipped green Spro bucktail jigs have been producing, Mike said.
Cleveland Ledge has been the go-to spot for bottom-fishermen. Many fish have come in front of the Ledge, so don’t get discouraged if you’re not positioned right on top of it.
Best Bets for the Weekend
The short answer: The Canal. The Cape Cod Canal is your best bet at a big bass this weekend. Prepare yourself for a crowd because it’s no secret that big stripers push their way through the ditch right around this time of year but there should be plenty of fish for everyone. Pencil poppers, RonZs, rubber shads and jigs with Slug-Gos are all good bets to turn the heads of some of the bigger stripers cruising the canal. Boaters might want to check out the east end of the Canal and Barnstable Harbor as migrating bass push through to feed on sand eels and mackerel, or head out for sea bass and scup in Buzzards Bay.
If you’re shorebound but the Canal isn’t your cup of tea, pick a few beaches on the south side of the Cape and bounce around. You might find some of the baitfish-busting action. Winds out of the south and west should pick up temperatures but might make casting difficult so tie on something with some heft if you’re heading to a beach along the southern Cape.
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