June Striper fishing in Cape Cod Bay has been outstanding.  Save one afternoon trip with a nasty east wind, it has pretty well been limits and lots of releases on a daily basis.  We have been splitting our time fairly evenly between Billingsgate Shoal and Provincetown, as both areas are holding tremendous numbers of fish.  The middle of the bay has also been productive, as one afternoon we found acres of migrating Stripers on Top near the Fishing Ledge.  While most of our fishing has been trolling, we haven’t even had to break out the wire rigs once this year.  We’ve also seen far more surface feeding fish than usual, and have been able to break out the spinning gear on many occasions.  Monday, there were hoards of Bass on top,  and seemed like they were fighting each other for 9″ sluggos on top. 

There are no guarantees in fishing, but this is pretty darn nice right now..

Good luck,

-Captain Don

Friday’s good Striper fishing continued right through the weekend.  Saturday we started out by jigging up some Mackeral in front of the canal, but unfortunately the live bait bite wasn’t as good as Friday.  We ran down to Billingsgate and found good numbers of Bass right on the shoal. There was a very good bite on rigs, but since we had a family with four kids on board, we didn’t want to put out the wire.  This probably resulted in less overall fish than we could have had, but with a little extra time and switching a few things around, all the kids got plenty of fish.  Sometimes you have to give a little extra time, but you do what it takes to get the job done.

Sunday the bite on the Shoal was very good, and we got alot of fish with mini-rigs trolled on lead-core line.  The troll bite was constant, and lasted all morning – not sure of the fish count, but it was solid.  Right after the tide turned, all the fish came up and we put the troll rigs away for some light tackle casting.  Grabbed a bunch of fish on the spin gear, and even got a couple of nice ones on 12 lb test.  Just a great time with fish and birds busting all around the boat.

Back out there tomorrow with a morning and afternoon trip.  Give a call for availability – right now we’re booked 20 of the 30 days in June, but we definately have some afternoon trips available.

Thursay – Saturday Report

This week’s Noreaster was a bit of a pain in that we had to cancel/reschedule a bunch of trips, but there were some good parts about it as well.  One – we needed a break, and as much as you don’t want to cancel any trips during the busy season, sometimes you just need sleep.  Second, a good noreaster can hit the “reset” button on the ocean by turning the water over, and getting the fish back on the feed.

The combination of the full moon and the Noreaster did just that as things picking back up and the Fall fishing conditions are just starting .

Thursday – we ran a 1/2 day Striper trip with a fun group from California that are spending the week on vacation in Orleans.  The week of North wind pushed a ton of bait onto the beach between Sandwich and Barnstable so it was nice to have good fishing with a very short run.  We ended up fishing the outer Channel at Barnstable, and there were big schools of Bass stacked up on the edges.  They were tight to the bottom, so we had to jig – but it was well worth it.  Customers got their limit and we released a bunch as well – overall a really fun afternoon.

Friday – We headed offshore with a 1/2 Tuna 1/2 Bass trip.  Commercial Striper season is over, so our bait guy is back in business.  It was nice to come down and have a keeper trap filled with live Pogies.  Got set-up on the Bank in an area with alot of bait and big marks on the machine – this was the best the Bank has looked in about a month.  On our second drift, we had a minke whale swim right through our balloons. In the middle of telling the customers that’s a good thing, the tuna hang with the whales, the long balloon went off.  Long story short, the Fish was a freight train, and dumped 2/3 of an 80 Wide with 40lbs of drag on the first run while we were backing down at about 6 knots.  Unfortunately, the fish chafed off on the leader.  Live by the light leaders – die by the light leaders – it was a heck of a ride while it lasted, good to have a real Giant on for a bit.  

That was our only tuna for the day – they guys really just wanted to bend some rods, so we headed in to the shoals to Bass fish.  We jigged up a few keepers, shorts, and big blues – overall not great fishing, but we made a day of it.

Sunday – Great trip with one of our favorite customers.  The Ruch family came back again this year on their annual trip from Buffalo, and we had a great day.  Last report I mentioned things lining up for the big bass run close to home, and they definately have.  We fished tight to the beach at Sandwich, in less than 20′ of water, and despite the crowd of knuckleheads, we had a great day.  10 good fish, and 4 were between 25 and 30 lbs (on a real scale – all the guestimates at the dock were alot more).  We also broke off 2 will keep me up at night for quite a while.  Overall the bite was slower than we expected, and alot of boats went home skunked. But given the number of fish on the screen when they turn on for real, it will be insane.

Quick Rundown on the week so far:

Sunday – Cod trip up to Stellwagon.  Alot of shorts and dogfish on the southern cod spots, but after some good intel from a friend, we hit the cod really well.  Good mix of markets and 15 lbers, along with some of haddock and a few pollock.  Long run from home, but well worth it.

Monday – Very good bass fishing close to home.  Largest fish of the day was 35 lbs (on the scale, not a guestimate).  Pretty sure we limited out as well (all the days are blending together here) as we hit the outgoing tide at Barnstable and had alot of fish on the feed.

Tuesday – Good bass fishing again – had a pair of fish that looked like twins, both a hair under 30 lbs.  Few more stripers in the box and a few bluefish to keep things fun.

Wednesday – Made the run up to P-town with a full day trip.  So much for the rumor going around that it had died up there.  Limited out, and I’m not sure what the total was, but it seemed like a ton.  Great group of guys that have been coming for a long time now.  We’ve got a picture on the site here of a little kid with his first big bass – now he’s a Senior in high school and catching more fish than his dad.  Scary Stuff.

Schedule is pretty tight right now, but the afternoon bite has been just as good as the morning.  We’re double booked a bunch next week, but there may be some afternoon slots still open.  Give Betty a call on the home #, or try Don’s cell.

Good luck out there.

Fishing at the Race was a little slower than it has been, looks like this massive heat-wave has finally started to affect the fishing a little bit as the water temp got up over 70.  That said, we were still able to find good #’s of stripers – we just had to work for them a little bit.

Not sure the final count, but we ended up with 8 or 9 keepers, and a bunch of schoolies.  High point of the day was the 9 year old getting the largest fish of the day at almost 40″.

All fish were on tube and worm today – easy tackle for the kids to handle.  Hot color of the day was Ruby Red, followed by Ruby Red, and some more Ruby Red – there’s been a trend this season.

Unfortunately, we left the camera at home – but hopefully the customers will email some pics so we can get the kids on the site.