Cape Cod Fishing Reports

Join us each week as Capt. Dave Peros combines his own experience on the water with that of his network of Cape Cod & Islands charter captains, recreational fishermen and tackle shops to create the region’s most comprehensive weekly fishing report.

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Latest Reports

Cape Cod Fishing Report: 5/27/2024

May 27, 2024
By saltycape

Cape Cod Fishing Report: 5/27/2024

Sometimes it’s possible to overthink things when it comes to fishing, so I avoided succumbing to my tendency to try a new place even if I have been doing well in another location for a number of days.

So in this case, I started my trip with Tom Bishop and Irwin Chu, along with their nephew Thomas, in Woods Hole. Once again, we were welcomed by foggy, cool conditions and the fish were not quite as active as yesterday. That said, Irwin and Thomas landed two of the largest bass caught on the Katie G this season and all of the fish we caught in the Hole came on the amber Charter Grade Popper.

There were a couple of other boats milling around in the soup and overall I wouldn’t describe the action as gangbusters, but I would suggest keeping your eyes peeled on flat or calmer water well in front of the different rip lines, which in this case are formed by boulder fields or a rocky reef constricting the water flow and producing the all-important turbulence that fish can hang behind and thereby save their energy for chasing squid or other baitfish or use as an ambush spot where they can lie in wait and simply pick off their meals.

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Cape Cod Fishing Report: 5/25/2024

May 25, 2024
By saltycape

Cape Cod Fishing Report: 5/25/2024

You couldn’t have asked for a better day on the water today, but the fish weren’t as cooperative as I would have liked. I had the chance to fish with Jon Kolb who has been flyrodding Woods Hole and the Elizabeths with me for a good long while. Simply put, we covered a lot of water from the Hole down to Quick’s and saw no signs of life -birds or fish, although we did see a coyote lumbering along the Pasque shoreline – and got no response to the flies we blindcast into the rocks.

We did see a trio of boats plugging inside Robinson’s on our way through to Buzzards Bay and there was still a gathering of four or so boats in the same area as we made our way back up the sound from Quick’s. I have no idea if anything was happening and unlike a couple of other boats that elected to move in to what was clearly a congested area– you know, if you see boats in an area, they must be catching fish – I had no interest in joining the crowd.

My choice was to head across Vineyard Sound to check a series of rips between West Chop and Menemsha in hopes that there wouldn’t be as many boats as Middle Ground would be harboring on Memorial Day weekend. It was a good move as we did find some bass, especially as the tide began to slow around midmorning and they were active both back a ways into the rough water as well as in the flat water out front. In fact, I caught sight of a great visual, with five stripers in a line pursuing a squid from the rip line into the smooth water; they weren’t swimming in a straight line, but sort of in a conga line, almost as if each one was trying to anticipate which direction the squid would go. Overall, it was a good reminder that it’s a tough life being a member of the Loligo Pealeii family, especially right now.

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Cape Cod Fishing Report: 5/24/2024

May 25, 2024
By saltycape

Cape Cod Fishing Report: 5/24/2024

I fished a number of shoals in Nantucket Sound between Falmouth and the Vineyard today, as well as inside Woods Hole, but the action was very disappointing. I don’t know if it was just me, but the currents seemed surprisingly sluggish and it took much longer for the rips to set up. Ultimately, I was so desperate to explain the pick of small fish on both poppers and soft plastics that I fell back on the old saw about things being slow the day after a full moon because the fish were feeding all night. On the other hand, I did see a charterboat out of Falmouth stemming the tide down around Nobska and dropping wire lines back into and beyond the white water line with some good results, so I am once again reminded that I have to mix things up as you can see Capt. Mike do in his video on the Hogy website titled Fishing for Striped Bass at Nobska Point in which he demonstrates how switching to a subsurface approach – in this case with the Hogy Thumper Jig – can put you into bass that aren’t on the surface pushing squid or other baitfish.

If I recall correctly, in that taping the fish were apparently feeding on herring, which I don’t recall being in the typical May rip scenario, but a discussion I had with Doug Asselin at Dick’s Bait & Tackle in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard reminded me that no matter what fishing journals and predictions based on past experience may suggest, the reality is that every season is different. In this case, Doug said that in the 17 years that he has been working at the shop – and folks who have been fishing the Vineyard a lot longer than that – he has never seen mackerel linger for more than a month in pretty much every harbor, both down island like Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and Vineyard Haven as well as up island inside Menemsha. Owner Steve Morris said he remembers catching tinkers inside Oak Bluffs when he was a kid, but Doug said it was possible to catch mackerel of all sizes pretty much any day you wanted to, from boat or shore. I mentioned a while back that I ran into some microbait down along the Elizabeths that I could not identify and Doug said the mackerel were feeding on something very similar and I sure would like to know what it is.

Oh, and the mackerel are still around as Steve picked one up this week while jigging for squid, which is just starting to pick up in these parts and the presence of more Loligo Pealeii at this end of the sound as helped to create more action – mainly with 24 to 26-inch bass and the occasional slot fish – around Middle Ground and Hedge Fence, to name a couple of the more popular spots. And I can tell you, based on what I experienced this morning, that you are going to have plenty of company in these locations and prepare to play bumper cars as boats jockey for position and race to be first to where some fish popped up on squid or gulls signaled where fish were holding.

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