Cape Cod Fishing Report- August 10, 2023

With late summer storms and the start of hurricane season, fishing patterns can change overnight. Like the flip of a switch, a fluke bite can shut down, an endless supply of peanut bunker pop up, and before you know it, you’re casting tins into frothy topwater feeds where you were dragging bucktails and Gulp just a day prior.

This week, more consistent reports of hardtails came in to tackle shops and anglers saw shifts in conditions that altered the day-to-day fishing in places like Vineyard Sound, Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay.

In Buzzards Bay, the father/daughter duo of Sam and Leah Smullin had a run in with a pod of weakfish, catching three of them, each around 20 inches, in under 20 minutes as they sought out fluke fishing spots. Meanwhile, larger fluke in the mid-twenty-inch range were caught near the Mashnee Flats and down in Vineyard Sound near West Chop, and birds blitzed on small bait from the Elizabeths up to Cleveland Light. But before we take a full dive into the fishing in Buzzards Bay and elsewhere, East End Eddie Doherty reports on the big ditch:

“Full-size mackerel have moved into the Canal so let’s hope they stay. Some bluefish and a couple of schools of over-slot stripers came through on the early east rising tide. Most weren’t showing on the surface, like the 32-inch bass caught by Pheaktra Sameun of Seekonk on an Al Gags Whip-It Fish. Joe Keegan reeled in a 35-inch striper that hit his green mack Savage on the bottom. “Paulie the Painter” Gravina, Tim “Hollywood” Petracca and Bill “On the Grill” Prodouz were all tossing white Magic Swimmers to fish that were hanging in close on the first shelf. The surfcasting trio, known as “The Boys of Summer” from the Roger Kahn classic, each scored above slots as Bill registered high hook with a 25-pound linesider. Veteran Canal Rat John Doble also had success with his Magic Swimmer, which fooled a healthy 40-inch striper. I was on the mainland when a nice fish broke out of range on the Cape side, so I cast my Guppy in that direction hoping that one of his cousins might be swimming on the outside of the school. A few small splashes from my white JoBo Jr. and it was attacked by a hungry a 32-inch striper that fought way above his weight. Many anglers say that fish seem stronger this season, as you think you are reeling in a 36-inch bass that turns out to be only 30 inches… Maybe they’re eating Wheaties!”

While the Canal is giving up fish, it’s a tough grind at the moment. I talked to Connor at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay, who said he hasn’t spent much time down there and instead has been going offshore. He went to The Dump on Sunday and found little to no activity. However, on the way out there, he noted that the The Claw was loaded with life. There were dolphins everywhere, and they spotted 4 or 5 other boats hooked up to giants. Back closer to home, the Red Top guys said they’ve been getting reports of albies at The Hooter and in Vineyard Sound, but not in numbers. Bonito have been around too, but it is harder to pinpoint their location as they’ve been bouncing around between Buzzards, the Elizabeths and the south side. Connor said it’s worth checking out anywhere between Nomans and Quicks Hole if you’re looking for some hardtail action. For those interested in bottom fishing, fluke fishing has been decent in northern Buzzards Bay, with lots of shorts and some keepers in the mix. There have been very few reports of stripers and bluefish though, and even the Canal has been pretty quiet with most of their customers finding action from 25-inch bass on jigs.

When I spoke to Morgan at Macos Bait and Tackle in Buzzards Bay he said the fluke fishing has been good this week. When he went out to West Chop and Middle Ground in Vineyard Sound, he caught 5 to 8 keeper size fluke in a few drifts. Captain Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard has also been focusing his half-day trips on fluke, and reported similar experiences on the fluke grounds, despite having to cancel two trips this week. However, on longer trips, he is running to Squibnocket and finding bluefish big and small for his clients.

Later in the week, Morgan of Macos saw tons of birds working in Buzzards Bay, diving on schools of small bait all the way down to Hog Island. He said they were catching small stripers beneath the birds with occasional bluefish at first, and now those schools of bait are being harassed by only 6- to 8-pound bluefish. Morgan said they were throwing up peanut bunker and he was catching them on Jumpin Minnows, but casting metals would likely work as well. Today (Thursday), he did some fluking off the Mashnee Flats and hooked two big fluke each ranging from 23 to 25 inches. The key to hooking up was finding the pocket they were piled into and making quick drifts over it to stay on fish.

Down on the south side of Cape, Evan Eastman at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said the the fishing has been pretty good this week, and that the best thing going right now is bonito. They’re pretty close to Falmouth with lots of boats chasing them around the south side of Cape all the way out to Edgartown. One of his employees caught a whole bunch out by the Vineyard near State Beach. Albies are in too, but not quite in numbers just yet, with only a few reported around The Hooter and in Vineyard Sound. Evan said there are still big blues stacked up around Gay Head and Nomans because of all the bait out there too. He also said that striped bass fishing has been slow around Falmouth, except for the 5 or 6 customers who are coming in for eels each week; they are doing well along the Elizabeth Islands in the morning, and some of the bass they’re catching are pushing 30 pounds. A few of their customers were doing alright jigging for yellowfin down by northwest corner of The Dump, meanwhile The Claw is a mixed bag of rec. and commercial size bluefin.

Captain Ross of Cape Cod Charter Guys in Bourne said they have been fishing on the south side of Cape this week finding lots of fish in very choppy conditions. They had a tough time out there in the changing, gusty wind this morning (Thursday) but ended up taking a trip further from the launch to duck out of the wind and it worked in their favor. They found over-slot stripers and some jumbo blues with them, and then later on, caught some black sea bass, tautog and scup. The stripers, bluefish, sea bass and even a few tautog were hitting the Captain’s homemade diamond jigs, which made things easy. They said there were fields of bluefish in Vineyard Sound all the way down to Nomans which kept them busy the rest of the week. They even snuck around the backside of the Vineyard and did some trolling with deep divers to catch some larger stripers, but it was really tough to find them. Once they did though, the bass were stacked up.

 

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Heading east, Ben at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis told me he had a ridiculous day of fishing out at Monomoy on Monday with nothing but 30- to 40-inch stripers on top. He said it was the best fishing he’s had for bass in a while, with up to 6 fish visibly competing for their spooks and Albie Snax on almost every cast. When the bass are on squid, they are fired up, and it shows. Ben also reported anglers catching bonito around Martha’s Vineyard, along with albies on both the north and south sides of the island. He also said his friend, Vinny, caught a 6- to 8-pound bonito while trolling a mackerel colored Rapala in Cape Cod Bay, so there are definitely some larger bonito around after that initial push of 2 pounders at The Hooter a few weeks back. As far as bottom fishing, cod and pollock are being caught east of Nantucket, as well as a massive 135-pound halibut, but inshore bottom fishing has been slow, with the exception of anglers catching scup in the rivers and off of the jetties. Scup are taking both natural and artificial baits like squid or Gulp on high-low rigs.

When I spoke to Captain Cam of Cambo Charters he said the commercial tuna fishing has been great south of the Islands, and that there are some solid rec. size fish down there as well. On Sunday he pulled the hook on one giant—which ate a live hickory shad that he brought down from north of Cape Cod—and then he landed the second fish, an 86-inch bluefin, on live mackerel. Back inshore, Cam had a bass charter off of Monomoy today (Thursday) and they did well with under- and over-slot fish on soft plastics and poppers. The stripers were not stacked in the rips but they found a group of fish that were willing to eat, and hung with them for a bit. The stripers, he said, were spitting up squid, which is consistent with the live squid tuna bite going on offshore.

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Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

Get your tins and resin jigs ready because there are bonito, racer blues and schoolie stripers already blitzing on peanut bunker in Buzzards Bay. Boat fishermen have been chasing flocks of birds down around the south side too. If you’re looking to capitalize on the presence of bonito, and possibly stick your first albie of the season, scour the area of Quicks Hole and the Elizabeths down to Nomans. If nothing else, there will certainly be some bluefish willing to eat. If you pick some eels, it may even be worth slinging some live ones in tight to the rocks along the eastern side of the Elizabeths.

Diamond jigs, various tins, resin jigs and epoxy jigs are must-haves on board any boat or kayak this time of year. If not casting them at hardtails or bluefish, they can be dropped down to jig for sea bass and scup, and who knows, maybe even a tog. If you’re hitting the fluke fishing grounds in Buzzards Bay or Vineyard Sound, Gulp and bucktails are the way to go, and always use a teaser. Around Middle Ground, the fluke fishing improved, but that’s also in close proximity to the places anglers have been picking away at bonito this month.

In the next week or two, keep an eye on the water for signs of albies in the way of breaking fish, nervous bait and diving birds. There’s still plenty of time to dedicate toward good bottom fishing before every inshore angler on Cape Cod becomes overwhelmed with the fever, and I’m not talking about more cowbell.

Wherever fishing finds you this week—whether miles from shore, or casting from it— be safe, respect the fish, respect each other, and fish hard.