With outer Cape Cod’s
Nauset & Coast Guard beaches to the north, and
Monomoy Island & Nantucket Shoals to the south,
we have great fishing in any direction. During the
summer and fall the waters east and south of Chatham
teem with abundant supplies of bait and game fishes.
If equipped with polarized sunglasses, one can usually
observe the fish on the bottom as the boat drifts over
the more shallow rips. At times, large schools of Striped
Bass, Bluefish and small Bluefin Tuna will come to
the surface and can be caught by casting to them. This
can be very exciting for customers (and to the Captain)
with birds wheeling and diving into the feeding fish.
Our season starts in early June with the
early fish being located in the rips near Nantucket.
In addition, a tremendous migration of striped bass
occurs onto the west side of Monomoy and the shoals
or "flats" there. I have seen schools of
stripers so thick one could literally walk on them.
By the first of July, the water temps on the east side
of Monomoy Island and Chatham have warmed enough for
the schools
of sand eels to attract the bass around the point,
providing some unbelievable top water fly fishing action.
Bluefish are also very
prevalent in Nantucket Sound in the early season and
as the waters warm they come around the tip of Monomoy
and can be caught with the light tackle off the east
side of Chatham as well. By late August and September,
the blues can be so thick on the inshore spots that
my customers will say "enough!" and direct
me to go find some cooler waters and some
stripers. Some days it can be hard to find the cooler
water in which to catch only stripers, but Captain
Bruce has the experience to put you on the fish.
Anglers target these giant tuna for the challenge and the thrill of the long battle. A 300 to 1200
pound giant bluefin tuna is a very valuable fish if properly taken care of and delivered quickly. Capeshores
Charters boats were commercial fishing boats before they took parties out and we still carry a federal Atlantic tunas permits to sell
any legal giant tuna we catch on the appropriate "commercial" days. Some prospective customers ask if they can sell the fish or receive
a share from the sale of a fish, to offset the cost of the charter. Capeshores Charters policy is to not give shares or proceeds of
the sale of Giant Bluefin Tuna to the charter. Some boats will offer a free fishing trip; some will offer a discounted trip or another
gimmick to entice the individual to book the $2000 charter. Then as they waste the day trolling in an area void of fish, the customer
realizes that there really isn't going to be a "payday". If you wish to catch a giant, I can take you where they are, at the time they are
in the area, show you how I would do it, hook you on to one, and even let you reel it in, but I will be selling the fish when we get to dock.Cape Cod is known for and named after the steadfast cod. Over the years overfishing and habitat loss has decreased the cod numbers considerably, and once the commercial gillnetters have their nets on the bottom, its pretty hard to fish most of the spots with GOOD results. Capeshores Charters offers very limited Cod fishing trips to the areas to the east and southeast of Chatham, MA. These areas have local names such as "The Mussels", "The Peaks", "Crab Ledge", "The Figs", "The Shells", "Bill and Sills" and "The Channel" etc. These areas are further offshore and are a more costly fishing charter than the inshore fishing charters. Cod trips are 8 to 10 hours long and start at $850. We can however try for cod at the end of a tuna charter and many folks do opt for this type of a combination trip. We do have a fantastic whale show during the summer months and whale watching has been a recent addition to my fishing charters. The whale watch trips are generally of lesser duration and costs that the fishing charters. Please email the captain for the latest info and rates. Captain Bruce has a recreational lobster license that allows him to fish up to 10 lobster pots offshore in the deeper waters where the commercial lobstermen fish. We have a hydraulic hauler and if the fishing is a little slow we can always go haul the traps for fun ! I cannot give the charter any of the lobsters because that would constitute a commercial use of a family permit, which is unlawful. But, we can put your kids in my foul weather gear and play "Deadliest Catch" and run a string of pots. Hooking the buoy, emptying and rebaiting the trap, tossing back starfish, crabs, and other surprises can make a slow fishing day more memorable

