I like to take a proactive approach to fishing the Bay, which involves a lot of scouting around before ever making a cast. Sometimes I come up empty, with nothing more than a serious gas bill to take home. Other times, I get lucky, and stumble across the motherload of big striped bass.
Fortunately for myself and my crew, the latter result has been happening quite frequently so far this September. We've been finding huge masses of big fish, simply because a lot of bass have moved into the Bay. This is a nice change of pace, compared to the fishing during the heat of summer. These bass are, to be completely honest, what I have waited for since the season began.
And I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way!
The talk at the bait shop, in the online forums, and amongst fishing buddies at the bars, all tells the same story. The big bass are here, and they are biting.
Folks fishing at first light have been hooking up. The afternoon crowd has been taking home nice fish. I'm not sure if anyone else has been fishing evenings, however we have been finding big bass at night as well.
It's hard to not have high hopes for great fishing this weekend. Historically speaking, a few days of sustained onshore winds (like we have had this past week) really kicks things into high gear during September. Knock on wood, but there is a fantastic chance for some phenomenal fishing to continue right through the next few weeks.
What Happened this Past Week
In Cape Cod Bay, the bass have been showing up at Scorton Ledge on a daily basis. This is easy fishing as far as bass fishing in Cape Cod Bay is concerned.
The Ledge is one of the few pieces of structure in Cape Cod Bay, to which bass congregate and hold. Most of the time, when bass are found in Cape Cod Bay, they move quickly, and rarely hold in one area. Such is not the case when the bass stack up at Scorton.
The early morning bite at Scorton has happened on the Ledge and off the Ledge, right on top of it, and even in tight towards the beach. If the bass aren't at one of these spots, then check back in a few hours. They have been showing up in one of these areas at some point throughout the course of each day.
If you do strike out at Scorton, don't worry, there are plenty of bass to the east and even to the west of the Ledge. The bass seem to be holding in tighter to shore around sunrise and sunset, and then slowly trucking out to deeper water during the middle of the day and night.
Before the wind picked up this past week, we found an emormous school of bass in 25 feet of water down off Sandy Neck, just before sunset. Luckily, we were able to stick with the school as it slowly moved out into 30, 40 and 50 feet of water.
We eventually lost that school, but quickly found another, even more massive pile of bass about one mile to the west. This just goes to show how many fish are swimming around in the general area. When you can only go a short distance before you mark another huge pile of bass, you know that there are a ton of fish in the area.
The even better news is that most of the bass being caught are on the larger end of the spectrum. We had fish to 40 pounds on a recent trip, and there's little doubt in my mind that we had at least one 50 pounder swim under the boat. Maybe this will be the fall we finally hook into one.
Many other anglers have been weighing in bass 30 pounds and up. Most of these fish have been taken on the tube and worm.
Looking Forward
Now that the fish are here, lets cross our fingers that the weather allows us to fish them. According to the calendar, summer is not over, although it sure felt like it was over this past week. I still think a few more beach days are in our future, and with them hopefully light winds and calm seas.
It's no secret that Scorton Ledge is the place to be right now. All the reports, and talk at the marina and bait shops revolve around the Ledge.
If you'd rather not deal with the crowds, there are even more bass holding in the stretch along Sandy Neck and East Sandwich Beach. One of my favorite methods, pitching live eels, doesn't usually produce well at the Ledge, so I'll often bypass Scorton (and the flotilla of boats) for some peace and quiet, and a few fish to boot, down to the east.
Big bluefish have also been a part of the mix, and I would expect this to continue. This has arguably been the "year of the bluefish" in Cape Cod Bay. I've never seen so many monstrous choppers off Sandy Neck.
Small bluefish and snappers have invaded many of the south side estuaires and harbors. Hyannis Harbor has its fair share of snappers and four to six inch juvenile menhaden. This is fun fishing for 12 and under crowd. If the 15-20 inch bluefish aren't showing, then break out the ultra light tackle and flip some one inch Kastmasters around the harbor for snapper bluefish.
These small blues, especially the 15-20 inchers, make awesome live bait for tuna. Now is the time to load up the bait cage with these cocktail size bluefish. Prime bait like this will prove more difficult to find once October rolls around.
The word out of Plymouth is that a decent giant tuna bite has setup on the west side of Stellwagen Bank. Last October a phenomenal chunk bite developed in the deeper water off the southwest corner of Stellwagen.
We certainly have a lot to look forward to this late summer and early fall. Best of luck this weekend, stay safe and tight lines!
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