Hi Folks,Its been a while since I’ve had anything worth reporting. Now that spring has arrived and the herring and schoolies are charging our shorelines, I figure its time to get back to the keyboard. There are a few changes to the regulations this year to note.
On Bluefin Tuna, the bag limit on a PRIVATE BOAT, has been increased to 2 school BFT from 27” to 47” AND 1 BFT from 47” to 73”. On a CHARTER BOAT, that limit has been increased to 3 school tuna from 27” to 47” and 1 BFT from 47” to 73”. On any boat fishing recreationally north of Great Egg inlet, NJ is allowed to take only ONE BFT over 73” per year. South of that no trophy catch is allowed. This one per year for the angling category is why all charter head boats sell any trophy (>73”) we catch on the commercial side of our permit, because if we took one, we would be done for the year.
On Cod, Haddock and other ground fish, the Gulf of Maine regulations are reduced to ONE cod of minimum size of 19” for PRIVATE vessels year round. For -Hire vessels are not allowed a cod take until August 1 through Sept 30 and the limit is ONE cod of 24” For Haddock, the bag limit is 15 fish of a minimum size of 17”. There is a spawning closure from Feb 28 to April 15. There are some differences in Federal regs and MA state regulations though, it is best you make sure by going to the website regulations at: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dmf/laws-and-regulations/recreational-regulations/printable-recreational-finfish-regulations.html.
On stripers, there seems to be a pile of schoolies swarming the Cape right now, the herring counts are way up and hopefully they are on the rebound. Who knows what effect the growing seal population will have on our returning stripers ? The commercial bass season will start on June 23 and open days are Mondays and Thursdays until the annual quota is caught and MA DMF closes the season. That in the past has been close to 23 days of fishing, so if you are looking to plan a recreational charter you may want to consider doing it on one of the less crowded days.
Speaking of better or less crowded days, here again is my tides email, where i list the bigger tides that are more conducive to stripers and the lesser tides that are preferable to bluefin.
“2016 Tide Predictions
Hi Folks,
You have probably seen previous postings about tide predictions for the upcoming fishing season. For those of you that have fished with me before, you have learned that tide is a big factor in the quality and success of your fishing trip. I don’t only mean the timing of when it is “high” and “low”. There is much much more to it than that. Observing the size and timing of the tide and moon phases is very important to planning your fishing trips ahead of time.
I will go briefly into the “how and why” here with a short description, and then offer a list of the more extreme tides throughout the season after. I will list tides smaller than 9.5 feet as “smaller” and those of over 10.5 feet as “larger.” There are too many days of good fishing on the average size tides to list in between, so I am only listing the extremes of the ranges in this list. If you wish to understand tide more fully, come out with us on one of our bluefin tuna or striped bass fishing trips and we can talk more in detail. It is my belief that Bluefin tuna prefer less tide velocity and Striped bass prefer a stronger flow of current.
The moon’s gravitational pull is what makes “tide”. Basically, when the moon is nearer to Earth, the gravitational effect on the surface water is greater than when it is farther away in its elliptical orbit. Here on Cape Cod, tide can range from 7.5 feet to 14 feet in height. Other factors such as wind direction can alter the total height amount too, but I may be getting too technical. In a 24 hour period we have two highs and two lows. These change roughly every 6 hours. When the heights are very large, a whole lot of water must flow in one of those 6 hour periods, and the speed of that flow is increased. When the height (or size) is very low, there is much less water flowing in that same 6 hour period. The speed of that flow or velocity is what changes. Fish live in this constantly flowing water, and they must swim against it, across it, or with it to eat, breath and reproduce. Changes in the velocity of this water flow, DO affect how fish act.
SMALLER TIDES
JUNE 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 (full moon is June 20)
JULY 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, (full moon)
AUGUST 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, (Aug 18 is full moon)
SEPTEMBER 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, (Sept 16 is full moon) 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
OCTOBER 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, (Oct 16 is full) 23, 24, 25, 26
NOVEMBER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, (Nov 14 is full) 21, 22, 23, 24
LARGER TIDES
JUNE 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 23, 24,
JULY 5, 6, 7, 8, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31(July 19 is full moon)
AUGUST 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31 (Aug 18 is full moon)
SEPTEMBER 1, 2, 15, 16 (full moon), 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
OCTOBER 14, 15, (16 full moon) 17, 18, 19, 20,
NOVEMBER 13, 14, (Nov 14 is full moon)15, 16, 17, 18
The largest tide of the fishing season is on November 16 with the height of 14.6 feet. The smallest tide is on October 9 with a height of 6.6 feet.
Call Captain Bruce Peters at (508) 237-0399 or email him at bruce@sportfishingcapecod.com to reserve any of these unbooked days for your summer and fall fishing experiences.
More information, including many photos and video of our outings can be seen at www.sportfishingcapecod.com. We also regularly update the Capeshores Charters Facebook page with photos, videos and fishing reports from time to time. Come check us out on Facebook and give us a “like” !
Thanks very much,
Capt. Bruce & “Marilyn S”"
