Cape Cod Fishing Report - July 1, 2021

Sweltering weather and thunderstorms rolling into this weekend, and, we hope, a reprieve from what feels like an endless amount of strong southwest winds.

Those winds have kept many fishermen from what had been an excellent tuna bite south of Martha’s Vineyard. Large shoals of sand eels attracted schools of 30- to 48-inch bluefin, and fishermen found great action on the troll, jigging, and casting. Whether the fish will be there when the weather allows boats to return was TBD when I made the calls Thursday morning, but according to Pat from Eastman’s Sport and Tackle the tuna fishing is picking up east of Chatham where fishermen have been finding 55- to 80-inch tuna. Pat also said the canyon bite is picking up with yellowfin and bigeye in Atlantis, so even if the baby bluefin south of the Vineyard have moved, there are other tuna options developing around the Cape.

The Canal has been decent for stripers according to Grady at Maco’s Bait and Tackle. Monday had a good blitz, and there’s been a pick since. Jigs seem to be working best. AJ said the seals, which have increasingly become a nuisance to Canal anglers, have been plucking out 30-pound bass, but that the fishermen haven’t had the same amount of luck. AJ also heard of a pilot whale poking its nose into the East End of the Canal earlier this week. You never know what’s going to show up in the Big Ditch.

Boats fishing for stripers in Buzzards Bay seem to be doing best with wire-line jigging reported Pat at Eastman’s, but the best action is off the other end of the Canal in Cape Cod Bay.

Trolling is the key in Cape Cod Bay, where AJ at Red Top Sporting Goods said fishermen are catching on tube-and-worm rigs around Billingsgate. Captain Mel True of Fishnet Charters said schools of good sized stripers are popping up at various locations around the bay, but the when and where of these bites have been tough to predict. Mel advises looking for schools of bunker and fishing around them for the best shot at hooking bass.

There’s decent schoolie action along the South Side from shore, and there are still some small fish at Middle Ground, but they seem to be thinning out. There’s a good schoolie bite in the Gut on the Vineyard reported Julian at Larry’s Tackle. The good fishing for larger stripers on the north shore of the Vineyard seems to have cooled off as the water has warmed up.

Fishermen casting along from the beaches in Cape Cod Bay and along the Outer Cape are catching good numbers of schoolies and slot-size fish. Minnow plugs and needlefish are working well, but with all the sand eels being reported by the boat fishermen in those areas, it could be a good idea to add a teaser above your plug. Last year around this time, when sand-beach fishing was picking up, Andrew Burke and I filmed a video on rigging teasers for fishing the beach. You can see that below:

The bluefish seem to be settling in around Buzzards Bay and the South Side. All the shops in those areas commented on the good bluefish action happening right now. Hedge Fence is a good spot for blues right now, according to Pat at Eastman’s. Wasque on the Vineyard has some great fishing, reported Julian at Larry’s Tackle. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your own take) the beach closed to driving this week. The fish are still there, Julian said, and fishermen willing to walk out from the parking lot are finding bluefish and elbow room in abundance.

Horseshoe Shoal is well stocked with big blues right now, and surfcasters on Nantucket are putting some beautiful bluefish on the beach using topwater lures.

Another toothy summer visitor has made it to the Cape. Julian at Larry’s reported that brown sharks have been spotted chasing bluefish around off some the Vineyard’s beaches. Since those first reports, a few fishermen have spiked rods baited with cut bunker or dead eels and caught a couple of the sharks. Catching and releasing brown sharks is legal, but the fish are protected and must be released unharmed, without dragging them out of the water.

We did a video with Dr. Jeff Kneebone in 2019, filming his ongoing brown shark tagging study, where he’s using satellite tags to determine how well surf-caught sharks survive catch and release. You can see the video below, from a night with our friend John Malloy, where we tagged and released three brown sharks, all of which showed goods signs of surviving the encounter when Jeff later reviewed the data.

Bottom fishing is fair to middling for sea bass and fluke. AJ at Red Top reported Mashnee Flats in Buzzards Bay are producing some keeper fluke, but that the sea bass fishing has tapered off in the Bay. Grady at Maco’s said there are still a few keepers to be had for anglers willing to find some less-pressured spots in the 25- to 30-foot range.

Better sea bassing will be found in deeper water right now. AJ said anyone willing to run to the wrecks around Noman’s Island would likely be rewarded with good-sized sea bass.

Julian on the Vineyard has done pretty well with fluke around the island, catching fish as large as 24 inches. Lucas Shoal, however, seems to be paved with short fluke, said Pat at Eastman’s. Fishermen looking for keepers would be wise to target deeper water.

Lastly, there have been several bonito reported around the Vineyard already. It could be worth taking a trip to the Hooter in the near future to see if they are present in decent numbers.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

By land or sea, there’s ample opportunities to celebrate America’s birthday with some fishing. Many fishermen think with all the sand eels, those small bluefin will be there after the blow, but the developing tuna bite east of Chatham with larger fish is a solid backup.

Stripers are all over, and while many of the fish are smaller, ranging from 20 to 32 inches, catching them on light tackle from shore at sunrise makes for a great start to a summer day.

There’s enough keeper sea bass in the deeper water of Vineyard Sound and off the Elizabeth Islands to get some fish for a weekend fish fry, and the blues are abundant enough to take a few to smoke up for a delicious fish dip that will be a big hit at any barbeque this weekend.

Also, in case you missed it, we’re giving away six sets of StrategicAngler Custom Lures through our YouTube Channel. A couple weeks back, with talked about fishing stickbaits for bluefin tuna with creator of StrategicAngler, Merv Rubiano, and Captain Dom Petrarca of Coastal Charters Sportfishing. Merv and Dom shared some great advice on targeting tuna on spinning gear, and some insights into what makes a good tuna plug. To enter for a chance to win one of these lures, check out the video, and in the comments section on the video, tell us the size of your biggest ever tuna (even if it’s 0 pounds, 0 ounces), and we’ll select six winners at random on Tuesday at noon.

Have a great weekend and Happy Fourth of July!