Exploding with Striped Bass !Hi Folks,
Happy Fourth of July ! Fireworks were first used to celebrate the Independence of our new country in 1777. It seems this year the striped bass that we all love to fish for have celebrated their arrival to the Monomoy area the week of the July 4 holiday as well. Bearse’s Shoals and the rips there all have breaking bass and birds on them for the last couple of days. Handkerchief Shoals too has good numbers of bait, birds and bass. Stonehorse Shoal also will have good action particularly on the incoming tide. The fish range in sizes from 30 to 45 inches, and on our light 14 pound test spinning gear are lots of fun to catch. We had our limit today in less than two hours and were throwing em back. On other boats, you can catch em quicker using a heavy rod and cranking them in over the top of the water while the captain continues trolling, but i like a more delicate approach to catching them. There are also some good bass numbers off Chatham harbor and Nauset in the open waters if you can find the bait and mark the fish on your fish finder.
The Bluefin tuna had shut off for a few days last week. Many top fishers never caught a fish 3 or 4 days in a row. Today there was again a decent bite in the morning, as long as you were away from the bass and blues and kept your lines clean. I expect decent tuna fishing from here on out, as there were small slot fish mixed in with the larger fish, showing us younger year classes. (a positive sign)
Give us a call for some great striped bass and bluefin tuna fishing. There are still a few openings available for the week of July 12 - 16.
Good Luck,
Capt. Bruce & “Marilyn S”
