Buzzards Bay

What I can tell you is that there are still small bass around, with working birds often giving their presence away. A few hardcores are drifting pogies, mackerel, and eels on the edges of the Canal and the rips that form between Stony Point Dike to Mashnee Island/Hog Island, as well as Onset to the Maritime Academy.

The next couple of days will be cool with winds out of the east/southeast and that combination may start to kick the funny fish elsewhere, but the weekend is forecast to be warmer with winds out of the southwest. Next week, the winds are all over the place from northwest to west and southwest; air temperatures are predicted to be only in the 60’s during the day, but still in the mid-50’s at night, for the most part.

As far as any larger bass go, the odds are that any fish that left the Canal through the west entrance over the last couple of weeks have moved down towards the Elizabeths or west towards Fairhaven and Westport.

Albies continue to be locked into their annoying pattern of here today, gone tomorrow, with boaters burning plenty of fuel looking for them. Most of the boaters looking for them have reported fits and starts, but not enough fish to even be remotely reliable.

I’m sure more than a few folks were really disappointed to see these winds settle in as the albie fishing had been off the charts right through Tuesday – or at least as long as boats managed to get out.

Any boat angler who knows anything about bass in upper Buzzards Bay is keeping a close eye on the happenings in the Canal as they should be aware that any departures from the Ditch via the west end could result in some great fishing opportunities.

On Wednesday morning at around 9:30 AM, Ken Shwartz and Jerry Coholon were about two thirds of the way from Mattapoisett to Woods Hole when they sighted something a bit larger than any fish they might be looking for: a finback whale.

It might take some time for the water to clear, but as long as there is bait near the west end of the Ca al, then fishing pogies, trolling the tube-and-worm, and even tossing plugs and big soft plastics such as Hogy’s will pay off.

The level of striper activity should increase around the rocks that mark the many “Necks” along the Cape side of the bay, as well as the many marshes and grassy shorelines up inside Phinney’s Harbor, Megansett, West Falmouth, and other spots, as the water temperatures drop and more and more bait begins to school