Cape Cod Fishing Reports

As a follow up to my thoughts from yesterday about the benefits of adding deep jigging presentations to my usual topwater or upper water column cast-and-retrieve approach, I was talking with Bob Lewis yesterday about his last trip on Sunday to Monomoy.

Even though the focus that day was catching fish on topwater plugs with multi treble hooks as part of a catch-and-release research project Bob has been helping out on for the last two years, as they were drifting from rip to rip, following the bass that was “wearing” a data gathering device, Bob kept an eye on his sonar. What he told me was that in the deeper water between the shoal areas, he marked a lot of what he believes were nice stripers holding on the bottom.

When they are tethered to a bass that is typically pulling out a lot of braided line from a reel in free spool, there is no active fishing during that time, which can last between 20 to 30 minutes.

Going to be plenty of wind over the next three days, which for small boat guides like myself means scrambling to find lee shores where the water is manageable so that folks without their sea legs can stand and cast. This is especially important for flyrodders where the motion of casting must be in rhythm with the movements of the boat. It also helps to have some form of line control device, which for me is a Fiskars collapsible leaf bucket, in which I have a ¾ inch piece of Starboard cut to match the circular bottom and a Line Lair mat. The spikes on the mat help limit the tangling, but I think I’ll finally get around to drilling holes in the Starboard that will allow me to attach the removeable spikes directly. It might not seem possible, but even with the Line Lair almost adhering to the Starboard, sometimes the line gets under it and impacts line flow and casting distance.

Why all this talk about wind preparation? It’s simple. When you know it’s going to be lumpy, it’s important that you keep the abilities – such as balance – as well as the experience of everyone in your boat. Nothing ruins a trip like someone falling, especially when they end up injured.

MONOMOY

RIPS EAST AND WEST

Interesting contrast on the water today for Capts. Bob Lewis and Ben Sussman versus yours truly, with the two of them striking gold and the other not so much.

So. Let’s start with the good news. Bob once again had Olivia Dinkelacker and Grace Castleberry on board the Gotta Fly for a chance at adding some more data logger entries into Olivia’s database as part of her doctoral thesis research.