The fishing around the Grey Lady has been “very good,” with albies at both Great Point and Smith’s Point for both shore and boat anglers, with the latter also holding some schools of smaller bluefish.
Nantucket
Albie fishing has been very good up at Great Point, both for shore and boat anglers. Epoxy Jigs have been working best, especially in olive and neutral colors.
The Bonito Bar has been good, but he said it has been up-and-down, with no albies reported as well. Matt spoke to a boater who managed some bass at Miacomet Rip, while shore anglers have been doing best along the southside towards Nobadeer and Madequecham.
There have been some schools of bluefish at Smith Point and the bonito are definitely concentrated on the west side of the island, with Great Point generally slow except for the occasional bluefish from beach and boat.
When folks have been able to fish the Bonito Bar, most are finding that it is fishing really well. Matt Manera at Nantucket Tackle Center said that along with the traditionally popular Yo-zuri Crystal Minnows, this year the pearl variety, which is similar to the pearl Bomber, has been catching a lot of fish when cast to the outside edges of the bar.
Out on the Grey Lady, all reports are pointing to the Bonito Bar as the spot where the fishing is best. Anglers are catching a mix of bonito, bluefish, and bass, but Matt Manera from Nantucket Tackle Center offered a word of caution that this area can become dicey, with eight-footers reported today around the rip. An occasional bonito has been caught at Great Point, with mainly bluefish caught from the beach as you move closer to Sankaty.
Bonito have shown up in good numbers around, where else, the Bonito Bar; pink or olive Epoxy Jigs and Yo-zuri Crystal Minnows are top choices on the island and folks use them from beach and boat. Speaking of the beaches, a few bonito have been caught from the sand up around Great Point, with bluefish in the mix there as well as between Eel Point and Smith’s Point and Madaket.
The word from Matt Manera at the Nantucket Tackle Center is the beach bass fishing has slowed, although folks are still picking some up at night on plugs and Hogy’s along the southside beaches. The Bonito Bar has produced one bonito so far, while Dave told me that five have been caught up around Great Point, so obviously there is room for improvement. The fluke fishing in the deep water and rips of what are called generically the Nantucket Shoals.
The Old Man and Sankaty are popular among the boats looking for bluefish, both casting and jigging wire, while those looking to concentrate on bass have been fishing the Monomoy shoals between the six and eight can as well as shoals to the east of the island. There has been a good amount of squid in these areas, with hot pink or orange popular color choices for plugs and soft plastics, whether alone or combined with other colors such as purple, florescent yellow, red, or rust/amber.
There are still bass being caught inside the harbor, but the challenge this time of year is dealing with the heavy boat traffic.
You can get to within a half mile of the light at Great Point and walk from there, but overall there have only been reports of a bass or bluefish now and then. The boat action off the point hasn’t been much better.