Cape Cod Fishing Report: 6/5/2024
Nantucket + Vineyard Sound – Buzzards Bay – The Canal
Another great day of fishing here on Cape as the shoals in Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds continue to produce fish – albeit in a way that many people avoid at all costs! Bigger black sea bass (BSB) are being caught in greater numbers, although if you fish many of the more popular, named locations rather than having worked on discovering patches of hard bottom that have produced big males in the past, you are still going to pick through a lot of shorts. Finally, more bluefish are being reported and they are big.
NANTUCKET AND VINEYARD SOUNDS
I had the chance to catch up with a couple of well-known charterboat captains in Falmouth Harbor this morning and they confirmed that there are good numbers of bigger bass within a short distance of the mouth of the harbor – if you are willing to jig wire and the pig-and-jig. Capt. Willy Hatch was surprised that I was making the longer run to the backside of the Vineyard, but the reality is that some of the inshore shoals such as Nobska, Hedge Fence, and Middle Ground have slowed in terms of topwater action, perhaps a function of the water getting water and the amount of pressure these fish have seen.
These same areas, on the other hand, are spots where a deeper presentation can really pay off, advised Capt. Eric Stapelfeld, whose charter business and nickname – Hairball – are based on a jig style he created a number of years ago. While the old school parachute jig still catches fish, Eric designed the Hairball Jig with a double hook and rubber skirt material – similar to what you see used on freshwater poppers and frogs, for example. He told me that this has been the best year in quite a while for snapping wire in the sounds close to Falmouth, as well as over along the north shore of the Vineyard.
Now, no light tackle or fly rod angler is complaining about the number of bass from just below the slot to the mid 30-inch class – mainly because a majority of them practice catch-and-release – but the fish that Willy and Eric have been catching on a regular basis have been 40+ inches.
Of course, there are other ways of getting down to fish that are holding in deep water, including right on the bottom. In many cases, this is more targeted fishing as opposed to trolling over a larger area where you have marked fish or are familiar with structure that holds them. There are a number of videos on the Hogy Lure website where Capt. Mike shows you how it’s done and what lures to use, but along with these tools, get your hands on Capt. Mike’s Inshore Playbook where you can find detailed diagrams and instructions about how to jig without resorting to wire. The Search & Drop Approach is especially helpful because it explains how to put yourself right on top of the fish with your electronics and the Playbook also has a detailed section on how to read what your sonar is showing on your screen.
I have been asking everyone I know if they have managed to run into any numbers of bluefish – especially the large ones that lingered around East Beach and Wasque early in the season last year and then moved down between Gay Head and Noman’s right through the fall. Willy told me that he got the word that these fish have been hanging down off New Jersey in good numbers and on my trip to Wasque today, I swore I saw fins and tails like I did last year in the calmer water on the run back to Falmouth. I didn’t stop to make a few casts with the Hogy Surface Pencil or Surface Eraser, but I can assure you that won’t be the case on my next voyage there.
A few large bluefish have shown up in the mix as well in the rips more to east, as Capt. Ben Sussman of In The Net Sport Fishing Cape Cod discovered on his late afternoon trip yesterday to Succonesset Shoal as he caught some choppers that gave him pause when determining the best way to release them since they were just nasty big. This area in the past has been known as more of a bluefish spot, but they have been the outliers that past couple of years with far more bass in the rips and this season the stripers have often been larger, up to 36+ inches Ben said.
While smaller poppers and other topwater plugs will get a lot of attention, Ben opted to use a technique that gained popularity a long time ago, but folks in the know managed to keep it under wraps. Now, pretty much anyone who fishes for bass has heard of the use of large spook style plugs such as the Hogy Dog Walker XL to cull out the smaller fish. This definitely works in the rips, but Ben told me that he worked a piece of rocky structure down Hyannis way yesterday afternoon when the wind had kicked up and there was a good amount of white water; using a white version of this style of plug and managed a couple of mid 30-inch stripers, as well as having his spook walloped by some larger fish.
I recall years ago hearing about one of the Falmouth fishing doctors who would – according to the story – always stop at Nobska and take a few casts there no matter where he was headed on his trip, which was usually somewhere along the Elizabeths, including Woods Hole. As tempting as the rips might be, with birds and bass competing for jetting squid, working rocky structure that you are familiar with is something to consider as part of your fishing plans.
BUZZARDS BAY
I couldn’t tell you for the life of me what the fish are feeding on, but my friend Rich Caruso ran into another one of those situations in BBay this AM where there were birds and bass everywhere, this time off West Falmouth. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they were once again feeding on some sort of really small bait and despite Rich’s best efforts – including emptying his tackle box – he only was able to coax one fish into eating. I know Rich likes to use the fly rod and I assume he gave it a go; if that’s the case, this must be some really interesting stuff these fish were chowing down.
Since the fish were on top, even a small jig like the Hogy Epoxy or Heavy Metal Jig would most likely since below the target zone, but the Hogy Surface Eraser can be worked higher in the water column – hence its name – on a slower retrieve as Capt. Mike shows in his most recent videos from earlier this spring in the bay fishing with Capt. Ray Jarvis in upper Buzzards Bay. On another trip with Capt. Diogo Godoi they opted opted for small Hogy softbaits and managed to crack the code. Both times, the Walk and Gun Approach was a key factor in fishing these schools of bass.
I don’t know what the conditions were off West Falmouth, but I do know in both of the videos mentioned above the water was pretty rough and that can make the fish more willing to eat.
On the other hand, my other buddy, kayaker Mark Tenerowicz continues to be faced with the frustration of large numbers of bass feeding on small bait in calm waters inside Fairhaven Harbor. These fish are super spooky and the only success he had today was dead sticking a small amber Hogy Charter Grade Popper as well as flipping an amber soft plastic.
THE CANAL
The Big Ditch continues to be a real pick, but it was a good sign when Jeff Miller from Canal Bait and Tackle in Sagamore texted me to say that guys were headed to the east end jetties as well as the east entrance in boats with sabiki rigs likes the Hogy Jig Biki as there are loads of spike mackerel that are perfect for livelining. The presence of this much bait bodes well for a burst of activity at some point later this week and perhaps into the weekend as well due to the new moon on Thursday and first light east turning currents.
Otherwise, Connor Swartz over at Red Top in Buzzards Bay explained that the jig bite at night has been improving, but there was no topwater action to speak of today. Last weekend, he ran into some small schools of pogies in the bay and there were some larger bass holding on them and he suspects that there are even more large fish that will follow these baitfish into the west entrance to the Canal and then into the land cut itself. That means the potential is there for the first push of really large bass into the Canal – unless the cows that are being caught up around Boston passed through the Ditch under the cover of darkness and nobody even knew it.
