Fishing Report July 3rd

FISHING STILL SOLID

Happy Fourth of July weekend to everyone out there! With the return of parades, large civic gatherings, firework shows and Cape Cod League baseball, it is really beginning to feel like pre-pandemic times. The weather will make headlines this holiday weekend. After the heat wave, the winds have shifted to come out of the north and the temps have dropped. Winds and sea conditions will likely keep a lot of people at the docks and homebound, but my hope is that there will be a window to get out Sunday afternoon and maybe Monday. For those going out this weekend, be safe.

MONOMOY

Seems like a good place to start, because I have a first hand report from last week. I fished Monomoy last Saturday. Conditions were what I would call, 'ideal'. Overcast, fog, light drizzle, moving water, and decent tide conditions made for a very productive morning on the water.

Resin Jigs in White Glow and Green worked well cast and swung into the rips

Resin jigs cast back into the rips or trolled along the cresting waves of the rips produced several 25-27" fish. There were small squid present just about everywhere in the shoals. Point Rip was very active.

We trolled umbrella rigs at Bearses as well as squid plugs from Yozuri and these produced as well. There was quite a bit of bird activity.

Pollock Rip also fished very well. Trolling Yozuri squid plugs on spinning gear was a very productive and fun way to take fish. We actually caught a keeper and an overslot fish in this area. The over slot fish took the spinning gear back to the backing on the reel which was really exciting. Happy to see that fish swim off.

Squid was the bait of choice out at the Rips on this day

CAPE COD BAY

The action in Cape Cod Bay has still been strong. There are still quite a few fish being taken at Billingsgate on live bait and trolled offerings. Wire line jigging is still taking fish in the slot. Interesting that the mackerel are not he only bait now as reports of pogy schools have surfaced. Captain Bruno told me that here are a lot of larger striped being taken by the Fingers.

Tighten Up Charters, Captain Matt with a screen shot perfect for vertical jigging

Race Point continues to also fish well as the sand eel biomass is still around. I expect that some of those fish will have turned the corner and made there way down the backside beaches. One of the techniques that will no doubt be employed now is the use of vertical jigs. Captain Matt at Tighten Up Charters is putting his customers on stripers (and tuna) and one of his go to methods for stripers is dropping jigs in the water column. A bit of a promotional note on the Monomoy Tackle side is that FINALLY, the vertical jigs in 3.5 and 4.5 ounces are ready to ship and I will have them available in the shop as soon as they arrive in 7-10 days.

Vertical jigs coming soon to the website

Tube and worm around Skorton Ledge has begun to be a productive method of fishing now that the summer heat has kicked in. While fishing Skortons I think its beneficial to keep an eye out for blitz opportunities for bluefish.

NANTUCKET SOUND AND VINEYARD SOUND

The black sea bass bite has officially moved into deeper waters. I am hearing charter captains say that they are still targeting black sea bass for their customers but they are getting increasingly harder to find.

The fluke bite is really heating up. Captain Bruno was able to make a trip to Davis Shoal and he scored two fish over 28" and north of 8 pounds. I have personally not made a fluke trip yet, but am looking to possibly do so Monday, July 5th. I will not go all the way to Davis but I will look to stay in the shoals between Nantucket and Monomoy.

Captain Bruno Demir with a couple nice fluke from the Shoals.

Some customers from MFCC were able to venture into Vineyard Sound and were able to participate in the fluke bite that I reported in last week's report. They also got into some nice black sea bass.

Some nice fluke are wing taken in Vineyard Sound

LONG ISLAND

Several customers from the New York area have reported back to me that the fluke fishing has been good. The 'XL' rigs that are normally being used for black sea bass has been catching fluke. A separate individual phoned me to speak to me about a recent party boat trip where Monomoy Tackle fluke rigs fished very well. This same person who gave me this report also gave me an idea for a new rig. He indicated to me that I should look at putting a large blade on the rig for fluke. The beauty of fishing is that there is constant improvement and tinkering. ***Product Alert*** Be on the lookout in the next week to ten days for anew fluke rig that will include a metal blade. Full credit to the folks who emailed and called me when it comes to the possible development of this product.