On The Water, 9/3/05 Cape Cod

1. The poor weather of the early part of this week and predictions of miserable weather over the weekend, combined with the end-of-summer, back-to-school lull in fishing activity, only put a temporary slowdown on what was apparently a pretty good bite over last weekend.
2. Jim at Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle, North Kingstown said the fluking was still pretty good in the Newport and Jamestown areas prior to the recent storms. Up inside the bay anglers were catching fluke, but on average they were smaller fish with many throw-backs. No doormats reported this week, but customers fishing the south shore were consistently taking fish up to five or six pounds.
3. Scup are thick in all the usual places. Ohio Ledge, Hope Island and other rock piles throughout the area are holding good numbers of these easy-to-catch fish for those looking for sure-fire fast fishing action and decent fillet material – should the fluke not cooperate.
4. Bluefish catches are improving lately up inside the bay, as well. Mostly small stuff, with those one- to three-pound “cocktail blues” dominating the fishery, but there are some 10-pounders ripping around. Jim believed that the late arrival of blues in the bay this year was due to the school bluefin tuna competing for food at the mouth of the bay, keeping them from entering on schedule a month ago.
5. Bass fishing is good if you put the time in after dark. We are in the summer doldrums and are lucky there are decent bass still around after all the miserable heat this summer. Jim feels that the bite is still a couple weeks away from breaking open for the fall. The striped bass normally leave the bay early in the fall. No big fish of any flavor to report this week, but the customers are happy with what is going on along the coast and in the bay in general.
6. Mike at Saltwater Edge, Newport told us that not much is going on other than some good fishing for bluefish up to about 10 pounds that are tearing up everyone’s expensive eels “out front” along the shore in Newport. The tuna are pretty much gone, with only one random report of a sighting on Sunday. But remember that was only a report and not a direct contact from any of the guys who work in the shop.
7. Bonito are showing up now in place of the bluefins, but no false albacore are mixed in quite yet. Normally, Mike noted, it’s the first or second week of September before they show up in catchable numbers. The bonito are ripping around from Lands End all the way down to Point Judith and east to Sakonnet Point. They (the guys who charter out of the shop) missed a few trips due to the bad weather midweek, so the information they could offer is at best three days old.
8. Captain Andy Dangelo of Maridee Bait and Tackle in Narragansett, R.I., said he didn’t even fish on Wednesday because it was so rough. He’s still doing well with striped bass out around Block Island during the ebbing tide when he can get away from the crowds of boats that have been fishing in tight around the island. A regular customer caught a 30-pounder on eels off the beach Tuesday evening in all the wind, rain and turmoil that blew in as a result of Hurricane Katrina’s remnants.
9. Shark fishing has been good on his offshore outings, with many throw-back makos in the mix. He caught a 180-pounder a week back, his best in a while. The blue sharking has been good south of the gully for those interested in some fun fishing action.
10. The bluefins that were around Block Island have moved east to Chatham on the Cape as of last week. It’s odd this year because the normal places that hold schoolies such as the Mud Hole were barren a few weeks back when the fish were in along the surf break. However, the captain said the bait is coming back into these deep-water areas, and so will the bluefins. A few boats are fishing down around the 600 to 500 line and taking occasional albacore or yellowfin. But they are spotty.
11. Deep Hole at Matunuck and Five Cottages have been pretty productive for striped bass from dusk through dawn on eels. To the east, Stinky Beach and the other spots to the light are also producing nighttime fish.
12. Kevin at Breachway Tackle, Charlestown said the weather has kept people home pretty much all week, but the fish are still out there to catch. The Walls at Point Judith are O.K. during big blows, but the Charlestown Breachway has been too rough to cast from lately with the strong winds. Bass, blues, scup and fluke were coming into the shop in good numbers prior to this stormy week.
13. The fluke fishing has been slacking off as fall approaches. The best fluke in a local tournament was 11.3 caught back in July, but the best fish in the past three weeks have been under 8 pounds.
14. People are going out after tuna running offshore; the bluefin blitzes along his stretch of beach are over. Bluefish and snapper blues are abundant off the breachway and up in the salt pond as a source of bait and fun action for the kids.
15. Kevin noted a report of a big great white shark spotted not too far off Block Island late last week, for what it’s worth. As long as there isn’t a whale carcass or something like that to draw it in closer to the beaches, all should be well, but under the oddball conditions this season and the strong winds blowing onshore this week, I know I wouldn’t go swimming in the ocean for a while.
16. Bob at Wildwood Outfitters, Wakefield was not around when we called this week.
17. John Swienton, owner of Twin Maples Tackle out on Block Island, told us that live eels have been hard to find this week, so his personal fishing has been hindered along with his eel-fishing customers.
18. The bonito are still abundant up the entrance to New Harbor and Charlestown Beach. Good bluefish and bass catches are being made from the beach and boats off the north end of the island at Sandy Point. Anglers are trolling successfully off Black Rock with tube and worms in water less than 15 feet deep. Parachutes are still doing well off the Southwest Reef area, as always. There are no monsters to report this week, but the overall angler participation has been slow due to the back-to-school thing. Payne’s Dock was half-empty as of midweek, but will fill up over this holiday weekend for sure.
19. Captain Don of Captain Don’s Tackle, Charlestown, Rhode Island said the fish had lockjaw for a while during the big high-pressure system that blew into the region last week, but that came to an end on Friday. He said that that night they turned on big time, with Watch Hill and the Weekapaug overlook producing nice catches of bluefish by day and bass after dark on eels, yellow Mega Baits and Hab’s Parrot Green Needlefish.
20. Lots of nice sea bass and fluke have been coming in from the waters of the state beach, from the shallows on out to as much as 80 feet of water.
21. Tube-and-worming has been very consistent in 13 to 15 feet of water over the rocky hard bottom found to the left of Quonny Breachway, as well as up inside the pond itself. It’s been this way since June so don’t expect much to change other than for the fishing to get better as the fall progresses, if history holds true again this season.
22. Don saw bonito rolling around and pushing bait up inside the breachway earlier in the week when he checked his boat after one of the heavy rains.
23. Don at King Cove Marina, Stonington said that prior to the big blow (jibing nicely with Captain Don’s report), there were bass all over the reefs from the hill to Fishers Island. Anglers were catching them on everything prior to the winds this week.
24. Fluke fishermen are now working harder for their few keepers on what has been a slow pick for fluke, but sea bass are picking up nicely off Latimer Light and in the deeper waters off Wilderness Point. These fish are being caught mostly by accident. Look for small rock humps and ledges, and you will probably find sea bass.
25. Anglers are catching a few blackfish, as well. Some are targeting them on clam bellies, but no one is asking for crabs yet. These are some of the folks who have been catching sea bass in the process of targeting blackfish with clams for bait.
26. Porgies are a give-me everywhere, with some real giants to be caught when the tides are slowing out around those same reefs that are producing all the bass and bluefish. I caught my personal best scup years ago on a whole squid intended for stripers out near Catumb Rock. That tiderunner scup was 2.75 pounds and around 18 inches and looked like a dinner plate with a tail. We’ve caught them up to 17 inches while tubing along the south side of Fishers Island, both last summer and the one prior.