SUMMER FISHING
Since the 4th of July, the weather has been marked by long periods of wind and rain and a recent period of nice weather. We are coming up on the full moon and the breaking tide period that may invigorate the fishing in certain parts. For me, the fishing during the rainy part was actually better than the recent bluebird weather. Anyone that knows me or has fished with me knows I prefer to fish in overcast, light fog, light rain, or otherwise 'iffy' weather.
I am still fishing the point off Monomoy and the Rips but my time fishing those spots is split with a second part of the trip being fluke or cod fishing. The recent fluke fishing excursions have coincided with the launch of a new product called the Spoon series. I have also been fishing popcorn rigs from the MTO series. We have kept our trips to the outer Monomoy Rips and haven't ventured deep into the Nantucket shoals, but the plan is to do so in August. I made a trip out for Cod and Haddock yesterday which produced ten keepers total, some shorts, and a whole bunch of dogfish. The dogfish are a part of bottom fishing this time of year whether its fluke or cod. We had to move around quite a bit yesterday and ended up on the eastern side of the shipping lanes finally. At every location we did catch a few dogfish even though we fished with teasers and jigs only and no bait at all.
MONOMOY
Since the last fishing report I did, I have probably fished the Monomoy area five times and each time have caught stripers and bluefish. Over the last month, the striped bass have gotten smaller and the bluefish have become more prevalent. I don't think this is unusual as the summer patterns have definitely settled in. The striped bass bite bas been a morning affair. All the traditional methods have seemingly been producing whether its jigging, trolling plugs, live lining or casting to breaking fish.
Your best chance at a keeper striped bass at Monomoy is either Stonehorse or Pollock Rip where the cooler deeper water is holding some slot sized fish.
There are more bluefish this year than the previous five years. They are at Monomoy in good numbers and they provide fast action even on slow days. As the peanut bunker head out into the sound, bluefish blitzes and funny fish action will heat up and it makes for some very exciting fishing. I caution everyone that there are a lot of seals around. I had a seal take a bluefish eight feet from the boat and kept us occupied while a blitz was going.
CAPE COD BAY
Consistent with normal patterns and history, the warming of the bay waters as made the striper fishing more difficult than it was in June. There are still bluefish to occupy anglers, but the striper fishing at Billingsgate, Brewster Flats and Barnstable have become dawn and dusk affairs or require wire line jigging or tube and worm. I have heard of some instances where anglers are using eels as well.
Pogies have been difficult to come by this season and that seems true of CCB and other areas surrounding Cape Cod. The pogy schools that made fishing very interesting last year from surf and boat are seemingly not around and the ones that are found don't seem to have alot of fish under them. It's a good thing that the sand eel presence has more than made up for it.
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