Cape Cod Fishing Report

Allen at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay says there are plenty of stripers biting from Plymouth all the way through the Canal and into Buzzards Bay. Bait is still hanging in the Canal including mackerel and bunker. Customers have been coming into the shop and purchasing tog gear, but Allen has not heard many reports. Freshwater fishing has been good at Peters Pond and one of the regulars has been doing well at an unnamed stream in Plymouth.

Evan at Eastman’s Bait & Tackle says togging is good in Buzzards Bay and at the Elizabeth Islands. One of Evan’s buddies caught a 7.5 pound tog and there are some 5 to 6 pound fish in the rock piles at the Elizabeths. For the most part, boats are limiting out if they put in the time and chum. Striper fishing is slowing down but the salt ponds are still producing schoolies, slot fish, and the occassional over slot.

Frank at Sports Port in Hyannis says there are some still tog and bass around locally, but most anglers are transitioning to freshwater fishing for trout.

John Clothier of Fish Chatham Charters says his charter reeled in a 101-inch tuna on live mackerel weighing roughly 600 pounds yesterday. Although the bite has slowed down and there isn’t much life besides mackerel, gannets, and whales, there are still some tuna still around. John says the action has been better up at Stellwagen Bank. The smaller fun-sized fish that were holding off the Cape seemed to have disappeared. Nonetheless, there are stripers off the beaches. 

Cape Cod Forecast

As the weather gets colder and windier, finding windows to get out on a boat becomes increasingly difficult. Keep an eye on Saturday, especially since the winds are going to die down to 5 knots and seas will be 2 feet in Vineyard Sound, according to NOAA.

Now is a great time to explore the beaches of Cape Cod in solitude while catching your final stripers of the season. Jerry Audet wrote a nice piece in the November/December issue about finding one last large fish as bass migrate along the outer Cape beaches. It takes perserverance and determination to get out there in snotty and finger numbing conditions, but sometimes the effort is well worth it, especially when sand eels are around.

Don’t overlook some of the larger salt ponds, particularly because there have been some slot fish being pulled in the past week, according to several people I spoke with on the phone.

Barring inclement and poor weather, tautog fishing is the best saltwater choice since there are keepers and some decent sized fish holding to the boulders and rocks around the Elizabeths.