Another trip around the sun has passed and before looking ahead to what may be in 2025, I find it fun to look back at some of the memories and highlights of the 2024 season. Before getting into the anthology, I first want to thank everyone that made the year what it was and that includes all the family, friends, and collaborators that made it possible and make Monomoy Tackle possible.
APRIL - TAUTOG
Spring 'tog fishing basically replaced by normal efforts to chase haddock. Reports of haddock seemed hit or miss compared to the exciting reports of the early season Tautog bite, so it was a pretty easy decision to change gears and head to the near shore waters of Buzzards Bay.
Rigs and jig both worked well for us. Anchoring was a must. The practice of 'building the bite' by chumming and then working a spot till the tautog arrived in strong numbers competing for the baits worked well. It's a fantastic way to start the season.
MAY - EARLY STRIPED BASS MIGRATION
My own spring Striped Bass fishing was a bit limited with weekend commitments to softball and soccer with my children, but it certainly didn't stop me from being enthusiastic about it. Photos came in from New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut of some nice Striped Bass being taken on a variety of plugs.
When I did manage to get out, much of our early season striped bass fishing was down in the rip waters off of Martha's Vineyard in the popular waters near and around Middle Ground. The squid were in pretty consistently but a common theme this season was the seaweed, mung and debris in the water resulting from the winds which dominated the spring run.
Poppers in the 'Bonetreuse', Translucent Blackback and Blurple Ghost worked well to imitate the squid. The smaller Z-Steps worked to imitate some of the small baitfish moving through.
The squid run saw some larger squid in the mix. Poppers and other surface plugs imitate different sized squid fleeing from striped bass in moving water.
MAY - SQUID, SCUP, AND SEABASS
One of the great pleasures of May is getting out of the house and being like a kid again fishing for a multitude of species. Whether its squid, scup, seabass, or striped bass, there is something for everyone. It's often difficult to choose what to target. It's quite common that our trips end of being 'combo' trips fishing for multiple species in the same general area.
It's always fun to take kids fishing, but for me, May is the best month to take kids of all ages fishing. I was fortunate in May of 2024 to take two members of MFCC and a couple of their grandchildren fishing.
My son Jack with a squid he jigged off Monomoy using traditional squid jigs rigged in a sabiki style. He also managed to catch a black sea bass using a Slow Fall style jig.
Images from a trip with MFCC members Tom Sangermano and Jeff Richard and their families.
A note on the black sea bass, it was a curious season for us. Buzzards Bay fished 'ok', but if you have been an angler that has fished the Buzzard's Bay seabass over the last several years, this season may have felt like a bit of letdown compared to past years. The fish seemed a bit more spread out and in deeper water (generally). Were there fish in the traditional shallow water spots, of course there were some, but that consistent larger, 'jumbo' seabass were noticeably fewer in numbers. Was this an adjustment in their spawning pattern? Hard to say. The fishing seemed stronger off of Hyannis (generally). This is something to keep an eye on. Jigging for seabass on assist hook with or without a teaser above is one of my absolute favorite fishing techniques of the entire season.
June - Stripers, Fluke, and Cobia ?!?!
By the time June came around we had settled into our trips off of Monomoy working the Rips off the point and also beginning to look at fluke. The Striped Bass had definitely arrived, chasing squid and pogies. The fluke fishing took its time getting started. My cousin, Bruno Demir, took a couple of trips with Rick Dupont and Derek Barber and managed some much larger fluke.
June offers some interesting catches and surprises. Peter Stalnaker had purchased some fluke rigs to fish the traditional grounds off of New Jersey. I was not very surprised to get an email with a photo from him, but I was floored by the image and the story that he had hooked a cobia on a party boat. Thank you Peter for being a good customer and friend of the shop and thanks for the memory from the season.
July - Sand Eel Bite Off Chatham
The 'Outer' beaches of Chatham began fishing well for us in July and the bite was fueled largely by sand eels with Striped Bass slurping them on the surface or just below. I had been waiting intently for this bite to develop. Matching this hatch had always been a bit of a 'trick' to solve whether it was the small size, the slender profile, or the tight action of this lure just below the surface. Soft plastics and slender metals had always been my lure of choice. This season a small size, lipped jerk bait did the trick and it was easy enough to cast and fish for both me and my 10 year old son.
July - Cape Cod Versatility
I get asked many times what my favorite fishery or species on Cape Cod is and I usually respond with 'all of them'. On most trips, we catch several species using the same technique in a general area. During the summer, the length of the days and the weather grant us opportunities to fish two 'different' areas on the same trip and focus on those areas. On the rare day, are we blessed with a chance to do a 'Triple' in a morning. On one such day in July, we were able to do Striped Bass/Bluefish in the early morning followed by fluke. Our fluke portion got done early enough and the seas were calm enough to give us a chance at haddock out by the shipping lanes. Truly a unique day. Unexpected and not fully planned, but the opportunity was there.
July from the Surf
I managed some time along the beach fishing from the surf. I had been using paddletail lures from the boat on several instances, but I was eager to try my hand from shore. During the 2024 season I was able to land several Striped Bass along south facing beaches near Chatham.
July - Bonito Bonanza Begins
2024 will go down as perhaps the strongest showing of bonito on Cape Cod in my adult lifetime. I'm comfortable making such a statement and perhaps someone that reads the blog will point me to another year, but I can't remember one. From late July through September these speedsters were around in larger than normal numbers and taken on several different types of techniques.
August
The month of August marked some very memorable trips with family and guests that are not 'regulars' on my boat. It also marked an influx of the 'funny fish' mixed in with the Striped Bass and Bluefish and each cast with a small thin profiled bait could result in a strike from just about anything with a tail. The level of speed and power could vary depending on the species, but it was an extremely exciting time to be on Cape. We mixed in some fluke fishing. We mixed in some deep water jigging with diamond jigs for Striped Bass.
In the video below from provided by Grant Stark, a great angler and member of MFCC, you see the level of froth and feed that was fueled by the peanut bunker on the south side of Cape Cod.
Left: Bonito in the waters of Martha's Vineyard; Right: A Spanish Mac landed on a Peanut 'Hardshell' Jig, Photo provided by Grant Stark.
One of the truly meaningful things about fishing is the relationships that can be created through the activity of being out on the water. I met Tim Whitman through the Fluke versus Cancer benefit held through MyFishingCapeCod.com. Tim donated to the fundraiser and won a drawing to come and fluke fish on my boat. Tim and I have kept in touch and we set up a trip this summer to take his dad fishing. We had a very productive trip picking up Striped Bass in deeper depths using paddle tails and a limited number of fish on top water. We enjoyed some fluke fishing. On our way back to the boat ramp, we found some bonito tight to sure and Tim and his dad both picked up some quality fish.
September and October - Fall Run
The Fall Run fishing for me and my family was limited with my children going back to school and having weekend soccer and softball. When we were able to get out within a weather window, the fishing at times was quite good.
The region avoided a direct hit from a major storm and the fluke stuck around which was actually quite good. Our annual MFCC trip had us taking Guy Tunicliffe out with us. The weather was a bit sporty, but we managed a strong 'freezer filling' trip for Guy. As in prior years, the more important part of the trip was making a new friend and a new relationship that will last a long time.
Our 'Fluke Versus Cancer' guest Guy with a nice fluke caught south of Monomoy. Thanks to MFCC and my cousin Bruno Demir for hosting this great fundraiser for Boston Children's Hospital.
The Albies arrived in numbers, but they were at times very frustrating to catch. Plenty were seen. The few we caught had been feeding on really small baits. Matching those baits proved to be the largest challenge of the fall run for us and apparently several other anglers. The bonito stuck around and they were less picky. As the fall wore on, the bonito bite seemed to moderate and the number of feeds reduced, but as mentioned earlier, it was a bonito season for the books.
Left: Anthony Besaw with a nice false albacore; Right: Russ Glinos made good use of a peanut hardshell on a variety of species at Monomoy; here with a nice Albie.
In September and October, we made a handful of Cod trips and found ourselves going into the shipping lanes and beyond them to find a few keeper cod, haddock, and pollock for the table.
We rounded out October with a couple of Tautog trips and put a few fillets away for the offseason. All in all it was a great season.
Thank you again to those that contributed. There are many images and texts that I have not included in this write-up that made the season exciting and interesting, particularly during those times where I was not able to get out an participate myself.
Thank you and Happy New Year. Tight Lines in 2025!
Eddy K
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