Buzzards Bay

I haven’t heard any reports about the kingfish or king mackerel trolling bite that was going on a couple of weeks ago in Buzzards Bay, but there are good numbers of bonito being caught in Rhode Island and the odds are that this heat and southerly pump will bring the bones into the upper Bay. West Falmouth/the Cape Codder, Old Silver Beach, and Red Brook Harbor are where they often show first, as well as to the west around Marion and Mattapoisett.

Any time I can report on funny fish activity is a good thing and the word is out that a number of king mackerel have been caught in the upper Buzzards Bay area this week.

There is no lack of smaller bass around the upper stretches of the bay, but bluefish have been harder to come by. Fluke fishing continues to be a real pick both in shallow water such as around the Mashnee Flats and even the deep edges of the Canal; scup are also on the smaller side, while sizeable sea bass will require a run to deeper water around the Elizabeths.

From Stony Point Dike to Onset, the pilings, and the Maritime Academy, the fishing for bass has been really steady this week. If fishing at night isn’t appealing to you, I continue to get reports from people who are excited to have caught their first striper, typically schoolies they have caught sometime between dusk to full darkness and again at first light inside pretty much all of the harbors and other backwaters from Mo Beach to Quissett.

There are plenty of bass around in the 30-inch range, but many anglers are targeting them with lures that are way too big. Some folks are also switching over to live eels right now, especially at night.

There is no lack of small bass pretty much wherever you look, whether they are heavily schooled up, as they typically are from Stony Point Dike to Widow’s Cove to the grass patches outside Onset/Wicket’s Island to the Maritime Academy. The black sea bass fishing is still productive, although the average fish is definitely smaller.

The winds over the last several days appear to have scattered the bigger bass that were being targeted by boaters fishing the waters between Stony Point Dike, Wing’s Neck, Mashnee Island/Hog Island, the Onset rip, and the Maritime Academy.

The morning and evening schoolie bite remains dependable, especially if there is a turn of the tide at that hour; the dropoffs around the Mashnee Flats, the grass patches along the dike, and Widow’s Cove are spots where small bass are commonly caught, but the shallows outside Onset up the Maritime Academy get more attention on a daily basis.

Locating any school of pogies or the few schools of mackerel that have moved into the upper Bay is your best bet if you are hoping to catch a larger bass. Also, the black sea bass bite can’t be over exaggerated, it’s that good.