August 15, 2009Hi Folks,
Mid August on Cape Cod ! The streets are crowded, the humidity makes it so you need the air conditioner on at night. At least its cool out on the water. The air is anyway. The water temperatures east of Chatham have warmed considerably. Although in the last week or two, we had some nice breaks from the fog, it seems its is back again today, the dew is on every thing this morning.
Last Friday’s Gordon Vierra charter had full limits of nice bass. Then on Saturday the water temperatures went from 59 degrees to 66 degrees in one day just outside the Chatham bar. The next day it stayed at 65 degrees. It has now held pretty steady in the 64-65 degree range all this last week. The great schools of mackerel that were scattered along the east side of Cape Cod has disappeared for cooler waters. Most of the commercial striped bass fleet has been operating off P-Town. There are some schools of stripers to be had on the bottom between the 2-A and C buoys, if you look and fish on the small piles of fish you see on the fishfinder. There are also still some striped bass mixed with blues and dogfish in the rips at Bearse’s. The dogfish seem to be quite voracious with the reduced flow tides. The bass there are the smaller recreational sized fish, generally found in the warmer less oxygenated waters. Generally, its been a tough week for striper fishing. We are now in the August/September pattern of finding cooler waters, having good bait and using lighter tackle to get the fish to bite. Yesterday’s charter had us seeking out the rips with cooler water temps and eddies. Generally this will take some extra travel time to get us out of the main areas of warm waters. This extra travel time requires a minimum of the 7 hour trip to be successful. If you are wanting good bass fishing I suggest that you opt for the longer duration striper charter to get to optimum waters. Friday’s charter was with long time customers Gary and Ziggy from western MA. We did get the limit of bass ranging from 32 to 38 inches, and a bonus limit of nice fluke as well on the trip.
I have not had a tuna charter recently, I’ve been doing bass trips every day. My next tuna fishing trip is on the 25 th of August. The tuna fishing seems to be fairly consistent from what I can pick up listening to the radio, yet the days of slow fishing are still there every so often. It seems that the more bunched up the boats are, the more spotty the fishing is. Its as though the “followers” don’t have the confidence to go out of the fleet. They are so busy staying on top of the “leaders” and staying in the fleet they never really “find” their own fish. The fish end up being driven over and over and over, and it does eventually effect the fishing to the negative. The boats that consistently find bluefin tuna pay attention to location, timing and presentation. This isn’t rocket science ! Be where the fish, the feed, and the whales are at a time when they want to bite, and present the baits to them in a controlled fashion. Don’t be afraid to go find your own fish either. Colors that seems to be working well are the naturals and the rainbow.
I have recently ordered more Shimano equipment from the factory representative. You may or may not know that Capeshores Charters is enrolled in the Shimano VIP program, thanks to sponsorship from the Goose Hummock Shop in Orleans. This program enables me to provide you with the finest fishing equipment made for targeting the speedster atlantic bluefin tuna. With these fish measuring 65 to 70 inches this year, its pretty hard to still describe them as “footballs” ! Having good tackle and a safe, well prepared cockpit is the only way to go after these fish.
Good luck and Good fishing to you all,
Bruce & “Marilyn S”
