Posts Tagged ‘cape cod tuna fishing’

Cape Cod Bay is absolutely filled with Mackeral.  I think it might actually be possible to walk on them from the Canal all the way to Green Harbor.  With that, there are serious #’s of  Stripers in all the early season spots. 

Cod fishing was solid on our trips this week as well with a good mix of cod, haddock and redfish.  The Herring and Mackeral are stacked 25-30ft off the bottom on the SW Corner.  If the water temps stay down, we are setting up for an incredible opening to the Tuna season on June 1.

Well, looks like we did a terrible job of updating the site with 2011 fishing reports.  I did try to keep up with the Facebook site, as that is alot easier to log on and post photos, so that worth a look if you want to see what we’ve been up to.

That said, 2011 was a fantastic season for Big Stripers in Cape Cod Bay.

Friday’s good Striper fishing continued right through the weekend.  Saturday we started out by jigging up some Mackeral in front of the canal, but unfortunately the live bait bite wasn’t as good as Friday.  We ran down to Billingsgate and found good numbers of Bass right on the shoal. There was a very good bite on rigs, but since we had a family with four kids on board, we didn’t want to put out the wire.  This probably resulted in less overall fish than we could have had, but with a little extra time and switching a few things around, all the kids got plenty of fish.  Sometimes you have to give a little extra time, but you do what it takes to get the job done.

Sunday the bite on the Shoal was very good, and we got alot of fish with mini-rigs trolled on lead-core line.  The troll bite was constant, and lasted all morning – not sure of the fish count, but it was solid.  Right after the tide turned, all the fish came up and we put the troll rigs away for some light tackle casting.  Grabbed a bunch of fish on the spin gear, and even got a couple of nice ones on 12 lb test.  Just a great time with fish and birds busting all around the boat.

Back out there tomorrow with a morning and afternoon trip.  Give a call for availability – right now we’re booked 20 of the 30 days in June, but we definately have some afternoon trips available.

Thursay – Saturday Report

This week’s Noreaster was a bit of a pain in that we had to cancel/reschedule a bunch of trips, but there were some good parts about it as well.  One – we needed a break, and as much as you don’t want to cancel any trips during the busy season, sometimes you just need sleep.  Second, a good noreaster can hit the “reset” button on the ocean by turning the water over, and getting the fish back on the feed.

The combination of the full moon and the Noreaster did just that as things picking back up and the Fall fishing conditions are just starting .

Thursday – we ran a 1/2 day Striper trip with a fun group from California that are spending the week on vacation in Orleans.  The week of North wind pushed a ton of bait onto the beach between Sandwich and Barnstable so it was nice to have good fishing with a very short run.  We ended up fishing the outer Channel at Barnstable, and there were big schools of Bass stacked up on the edges.  They were tight to the bottom, so we had to jig – but it was well worth it.  Customers got their limit and we released a bunch as well – overall a really fun afternoon.

Friday – We headed offshore with a 1/2 Tuna 1/2 Bass trip.  Commercial Striper season is over, so our bait guy is back in business.  It was nice to come down and have a keeper trap filled with live Pogies.  Got set-up on the Bank in an area with alot of bait and big marks on the machine – this was the best the Bank has looked in about a month.  On our second drift, we had a minke whale swim right through our balloons. In the middle of telling the customers that’s a good thing, the tuna hang with the whales, the long balloon went off.  Long story short, the Fish was a freight train, and dumped 2/3 of an 80 Wide with 40lbs of drag on the first run while we were backing down at about 6 knots.  Unfortunately, the fish chafed off on the leader.  Live by the light leaders – die by the light leaders – it was a heck of a ride while it lasted, good to have a real Giant on for a bit.

That was our only tuna for the day – they guys really just wanted to bend some rods, so we headed in to the shoals to Bass fish.  We jigged up a few keepers, shorts, and big blues – overall not great fishing, but we made a day of it.

Sunday – Great trip with one of our favorite customers.  The Ruch family came back again this year on their annual trip from Buffalo, and we had a great day.  Last report I mentioned things lining up for the big bass run close to home, and they definately have.  We fished tight to the beach at Sandwich, in less than 20′ of water, and despite the crowd of knuckleheads, we had a great day.  10 good fish, and 4 were between 25 and 30 lbs (on a real scale – all the guestimates at the dock were alot more).  We also broke off 2 will keep me up at night for quite a while.  Overall the bite was slower than we expected, and alot of boats went home skunked. But given the number of fish on the screen when they turn on for real, it will be insane.

Big week of Striper fishing in Cape Cod Bay.  We were out straight this week, so this will be more of an overall recap as I don’t think I can keep the individual trips straight.  We ran doubles most days, and I believe the final tally was limiting out 7 out of 8 trips.  Most fish were in the 32″-40″ range with a few bigger ones sprinkled in and more schoolies than we could count.  For the most part, we fished Billingsgate shoals in the am, and then ran up to P-town for the afternoons.  Snapping wire was the ticket on the shoals, where the jigs definately outproduced the tubes.  However at P-town, the tubes were taking solid fish while the jiggers were stuck with mostly schoolies.

One noteable catch this week was by Mike Gonsalves’s 11 year old son – his first ever Striper was 40″ and he did a great job landing it without any help from his dad.  Fishing was unreal that day, as we were marking schools 10′ deep that filled the fishfinder.

Full disclosure, the 44lb cow that Jay is holding was not taken on the L-J.  Jay did an overnight trip with his buddy Eddie Gotovich on Ed’s Doghouse.  When Ed isn’t commercial bass fishing or solo tuna fishing, he fills in as a mate for us.  Whenever Ed decides to start chartering on his own, he’s going to fill up fast, because the guy catches.

Without being too specific, conditions are lining up for our local big bass run.  For our customers that have hit this with us in the past, give a call soon, as this is usually the best big fish time of the year in the bay.  No wire, just tubes, and lots of 40″ plus fish.

On the Tuna front, things have been slow.  We ran 2 trips this week with only 1 bite on a livie to show for it.  Last week we went long giving it a solid 12 hour effort with only the one hit to show for it.  We did have a few surface shots way east, but didn’t convert.  This past Saturday we had a 1/2 tuna 1/2 bass that turned quickly to bass as Stellwagon seemed like a dead zone.

Moving forward, the combo of this Noreaster and the Moon should get things turned back on, and we’re confident that the Fall Fishing will be outstanding.  In the meantime, east of the bank is covered in sharks, so these are a great option for people that want to bend the heavy tackle quickly.

Overall, fishing has been extremely consistent.  If this is the Summer slowdown, I can’t wait for the September runs.

Good luck out there.

Quick Rundown on the week so far:

Sunday – Cod trip up to Stellwagon.  Alot of shorts and dogfish on the southern cod spots, but after some good intel from a friend, we hit the cod really well.  Good mix of markets and 15 lbers, along with some of haddock and a few pollock.  Long run from home, but well worth it.

Monday – Very good bass fishing close to home.  Largest fish of the day was 35 lbs (on the scale, not a guestimate).  Pretty sure we limited out as well (all the days are blending together here) as we hit the outgoing tide at Barnstable and had alot of fish on the feed.

Tuesday – Good bass fishing again – had a pair of fish that looked like twins, both a hair under 30 lbs.  Few more stripers in the box and a few bluefish to keep things fun.

Wednesday – Made the run up to P-town with a full day trip.  So much for the rumor going around that it had died up there.  Limited out, and I’m not sure what the total was, but it seemed like a ton.  Great group of guys that have been coming for a long time now.  We’ve got a picture on the site here of a little kid with his first big bass – now he’s a Senior in high school and catching more fish than his dad.  Scary Stuff.

Schedule is pretty tight right now, but the afternoon bite has been just as good as the morning.  We’re double booked a bunch next week, but there may be some afternoon slots still open.  Give Betty a call on the home #, or try Don’s cell.

Good luck out there.

Striped-Bass fishing on Cape Cod Bay continues to be excellent this week.

Saturday, we had the Glassman family out for a 1/2 Tuna, 1/2 Striper trip.  Last year they scored a big Bluefin, unfortunately we couldn’t repeat this year.  One tuna tried to eat our kite-bait, but didn’t get stay on the hook.   After getting frustrated by the tuna, we moved inshore and had great Striper-fishing.  We took 8 or 9 fish in about an hour with the bigger fish topping out around 38″.

Sunday, we had a group of guys from Connecticut that were vacationing with their families in Sandwich.  Very good fishing at Provincetown despite the crowds.  For the most part we were able to stay out of the crazy crowds and limited out on good size stripers.  All fish were on the tube and worm again.

Monday we fished down off of Barnstable, and had another good day.  The tube wasn’t working as well, as the fish were tight, tight to the bottom.  We switched over to jigging, and got quite a few fish.  Fun day, with a nice family that were very happy when we finished up.

Tuesday – good group of guys that won the charter at an auction to benefit the Jay’s kid’s elementary school.  The guys wanted to target some larger fish to torment their one friend that couldn’t make the trip.  There are areas of Cape Cod Bay that will hold less fish, but they are often big – so we hit a couple of those holes.  We only ended up with a few fish, but they were rewarded with decent size – the bigger ones were in the mid-20’s and one just over 30 lbs.  All in all a fun day.

Very busy this week which is a good thing.  Right now the Saturday afternoon trip is open, as well as a few slots in the middle of next week.

Good luck out there.

No charter today so we broke out the 130’s and went out east looking for Giant Bluefin.

Settled in out on the East Side of Stellwagon with good #’s of breaking fish around. Mixed bay of tuna there with 100lb – 200 lb class fish with some real Giants showing from time to time.  Had 1 bite on a live bait pretty quickly, but we couldn’t stay pinned to him.  Not sure on the size – could have been another one of the 70″ class fish that have been so prevelent this year.  Makes me feel better to think that than having lost a market fish.

We got chased off the bank pretty quickly as the numbers of huge bluefish and Stripers there made it impossible to get to get a livie through to the tuna.  Stripers are fun, but when they are eating live baits that cost $5 each, – not so much.

We went way out to the East where one of the Spotter pilots had been seeing good #’s of fish, but unfortunately there was zero visibility Offshore.  It can be pretty hard to troll when you can’t even see your spreader bars.

Highpoint of the day was seeing a 4-500 lb class Bluefin come up and absolutely smash a dead bluefish that was floating on the surface.  He took two good shots at it, coming all the way out of the water – I couldn’t hook him, but it was still fun to see

Good to be out there, back Striper Fishing tomorrow with another charter

Striper fishing in Cape Cod Bay has continued to be excellent.  We’re riding a nice streak here, limiting out every charter over the last two weeks (knocking wood while I write this).

While that’s been fun, Saturday’s trip gave us reason to brag:

Kate and Jack (Captain Don’s Grandkids) age 7 and 9 made their first trip looking for some keeper Stripers.  Fishing was great and the Bass cooperated.  Each of the kids got 6 or 7 nice keepers, with Kate leading the day with a 38″ fish and Jack following up with one a little better than 36″.  We are also fishing in the Canal Bait and Tackle Striper Tourney this week, and to make their day official we went and weighed up the fish.  Although I’m sure they were knocked out within the hour, the kids did rank 1 and 2 on the leaderboard after their weigh in – and to a couple of little kids, that might have been the highpoint of the summer.

On the tuna front – they are all over the place.  Don took a group out whalewatching today, and just for kicks put one line out when the tuna came up smashing everywhere.  They ended up losing the fish they hooked, but it was just some extra fun while checking out the whales.