Hi Folks,
If you have been to Bearse's Shoals anytime in the last week or 10 days after reading my last reports you might be scratching your head and wondering if we were fishing in the same oceans. The squid have moved out, the water temperatures have warmed and the striped bass fishing has dropped considerably. There are stripers out in the deeper waters of the cod and tuna grounds though, as we have been catching them accidentally on our squid bars as we troll for the medium sized bluefin tuna. There are bass in the rips though, but smaller sized ones for the most part, with an occassional decent 36 or 38 inch fish in there as well. The trick is fresh bait presented in a natural fashion. It is like pulling teeth but these fish can be caught. If you prefer to catch more consistently, I can take you to the more distant rips outside of the 3 mile line, but we will have to practice catch and release because retention of striped bass outside of state waters is prohibited. There are scattered bluefish schools between 3 and 5 miles east of the Chatham Inlet, but it can be spotty, with the fish biting good on one tide and hard to find on the next.
The medium school size bluefin are around in decent numbers and we have been chartering for them as well. The numbers caught per trip are not like you are used to when we bass fish, but we have been getting one to three nice 47 to 50 inch bluefin per trip. The fish are ranging 50- 65 pounds and can put up a nice battle on our light trolling gear. There are on occasion some larger class fish being caught regularly too. These fish are in the 60 to 75 inch range and will weigh from 100 to 200 pounds. One other boat caught a giant right next to me. Is your charter going to be one of the lucky ones to get the next big fish ?
I have only 2 openings for August for a tuna charter. I am completely booked for bass trips and have no dates available. September is more open but booking rapidly. Call as soon as you can to reserve one of these available dates. Due to the latest EEZ enforcement issue, those of you looking to upgrade a morning 7 hour bass trip to a tuna trip, I may be able to do this for you, depending upon scheduling on that day and the amount of notice you give me.
Thanks very much,
Bruce & "Marilyn S"
