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May 2002 The worm hatches that were so consistent last season appeared erratically this year. May 8th began the hatch on Quahog Pond and then the next 2 days appeared strong on Oyster Pond. I managed a few fish in the 24"-26" range although the majority of others were small 10"-12". Then with the high winds and cold weather the hatch disappeared and returned sporadically at the Chappy bridge east cove and then at Nashaweena bridge and then in West Falmouth harbor. Because of the unstable weather the worms came on strong one day and then were gone the next. When the hatch occurred there were hundreds of small stripers that came in with the incoming tide. Only one day early on in the hatch did some bigger fish show. I spend hours following this hatch so was fortunate enough to land 2 keepers 28" and 31" as the hatch began. There were a few other fishermen who came later during the fanfare of feeding and were also into many smaller fish practically every cast. Then again the next day the winds came up and the fish and worms disappeared. Concurrently, the herring run began early with many fish in local runs. Big fish were caught throughout the month in the Canal, Cape Cod Bay and around Middle Ground where 40+ pounders were reported. The number of good days fishing from a boat during the month were limited. Most charters were done via land or in the protected back bays and estuaries where numerous small stripers were present and feeding actively. Some big blues were also caught in Waquoit Bay and around Cotuit. My first charters of the year were for Graham Allison and his 12 year old niece who caught her first stripers ever. Graham is an accomplished fly-fisherman and landed a host of schoolies around West Falmouth harbor. The next 2 charters were for some of the Orvis shop Owners form Pa and a couple regional managers. We fished Buzzards Bay with success for schoolies and Waquoit Bay for somewhat larger fish and a couple of slammer blues. Both bass assassin jigs in white and chartreuse and clousers and deceivers in the same colors produced well. The end of
May brought blues and some bigger stripers down from the canal into
Buzzards Bay and when the winds permitted, we caught blues in the 3-5
pound range with occasional bigger ones to 8 pounds and a larger bass to
39" on a Yozuri Swimmer. Wood Neck Beach and Nyes Neck held baits of
small sand eels and some large squids that were regurgitated by some of
the landed bluefish. So Mag Bomber plugs and large herring flies simulated
what I thought were the squid. Fish also were busting outside West
Falmouth harbor and fishing was great until the SW winds made our safety
questionable in the flats boat. So inside the harbor we retreated and
caught schoolies until our arms fell off. June 2002 I fished Jeff Ladd and his buddy Jay fished at Barnstable Harbor. We fished around this time last year and had nonstop action on the surface for stripers to 29". This year continues to be around 2 weeks behind schedule at the harbor and with the size of sand eels which is the primary bait there. Jeff had a couple casts to some very large bass coming out of the harbor with the outgoing tide and it reminded me of the tarpon I fished to in Naples Florida this spring jumping a couple in the 100+ pound range only to lose them at the boat. Well, we didn't hook up any big fish but J&J managed a bunch of schoolies especially as the tide turned. We anchored up at East flat for the end of outgoing and the start of incoming and saw many good fish on the move. These flats fish are spooky and difficult to catch when on the run but both anglers got the technique down quickly. We then ventured to Horseshoe Flat where the flats were just beginning to be flooded over. Hundreds of smaller stripers were gorging themselves on very small sand eels barely an inch long. It was difficult to match the hatch and to get our flies into their feeding lane as the water churned over the flats quickly. So after a short time we needed to head in vowing that next time we would figure out the mystery of these flats fish. Well with persistence, patience and fishing with some of my flyfishing buddies like Russ Texeira Curt Jessup for The Sporting Life and my Orthopedist, Jeremy Stern, the mystery of the flats soon unfolded. We resorted to fishing sinking lines 300-350 grains and longer leaders then the traditional 5' sections with a Bob Popovics fly called the Jiggie Fly. It is tied with a cone head and sparse bucktail or synthetics colored like sand eels and then the head is epoxied. This setup works great with outgoing or incoming waters and in high water. We beagn hooking up regularly with the hundreds of schoolies that were visible leaving or coming onto the flats. Also a number of keepers were caught if the fly was left to drop below those smaller guys.
When the fish were in skinny water we resorted to clear monocore intermediate lines with long leaders to 10# flourocarbon. When the fish busted on top, we used an EP floating sand eel or surf candy epoxy eel. As a result of our R&D sessions, the next few charters scored big with many fish and keepers most every outing over the last 2 weeks of June. Fighter pilot Steve Arthur and his buddy were up at Otis doing some training session following a stint in Afghanistan. They both needed a break from their work and fished well at Barnstable despite a heavy wind. Rob Tartalia fishes Boston harbor a lot but fell in love with the flats around Sandy Neck and caught some nice schoolies on the long wand.
The Barnhart brothers, Bob and Richard had a super day weather wise and fish wise catching numerous fish to 28" sightcasting on the flats as well as fishing to surface feeding bass. 6 stripers over 30" were taken during this span with only one of them to a spinning rod with a jig and sand eel plastic bait. Dave Cole and his buddy needed a break from their conference at the Sea Crest and booked an early evening jaunt to Barnstable. Dave is a very good fly-fisherman and his buddy was just picking up the sport. He however is an ardent spin and light tackle fishermen. They were both into schoolies right from the start with both the long wand and spinning gear. It was helpful that I fished with Curt Jessup a couple hours before the charter so we found schools of stripers come onto the flats. We caught a number of these but didn't want to spook the school so we moved on. By the time we got to the charter the fish had moved further down the flats which is very common as the tide increases. After a number of fish I took out the binoculars and saw fish busting off East Flat. We hightailed to them and hooked up frequently to bigger fish in the 26"-28" class with a couple slightly bigger ones to the boat. Dave used a sand eel fly while his buddy fished swimming plugs and jigs. I fished again with Dave from shore wading to Sippiwissett. He wanted to sightcast to stripers coming into the marsh from Buzzards Bay. He caught a few in the surf and then we started to see bigger fish moving up. Visiblility was tough due to the strong SW winds and big waves and made catching these bigger fish difficult. Dave fell in love with the flats and hooked up 4 or 5 nice fish although the big ones beat us this time. Captain Bob Belekiewicz from Lemke Ann Charters specializes in bottom fishing for fluke, scup and sea bass as well as in an expert in chumming and chunking up big blues, stripers and bonito. I fished a few times with him in June and as always we filled the boat with fluke and had a number of nice stripers. This really marks the start of some of the best fishing on the Cape.
JULY 2002
July began as June ended. It doesn't get any better especially on the flats. Hundreds of fish moving up with the incoming tide makes for very exciting although nerve racking fishing as Stuart Hartzel from St. Louis can attest to. He is fairly new to fly fishing although he has landed some big steelhead and salmon. He was at the Orvis fly school with Curt Jessup and Lou Tabory and simply fell in love with the Cape. So we venture to the flats and after my speech about how difficult these fish can be in skinny water he hooked and landed a 30" fish as his first striper. There were many fish around and conditions were ripe for a great day and that it was. I fished Stuart again with his friend Diane. She felt more comfortable with a spinning rod so we fished both on Buzzards bay catching a mixed bag of stripers and blues. Stuart was overjoyed and bragged that this was the most fish he has ever caught. He had well over 25 fish with the fly. Great job Stuart!
Long time buddy Jack Snow came up with his wife for a vacation. We wanted to fish but also wanted our wives to enjoy the beach so we loaded up the boat and headed for Sandy Neck Beach. Since it was dead low tide I dropped the girls off at Beach Point and Jack and I anchored up, got out of the boat and waded to fish coming up onto the flats. Tons of fish moved up and we sight casted for a couple hours until the girls flagged us down. We got so caught up in the fishing that we didn't notice the incoming tide had surrounded them on an 8'X8' island. We had lots of laughs and some great fishing stories.
Jack fished with a sand eel plastic bait with jig head and I fished with sinking fly lines and my sand eel pattern of the season-the jiggie fly. Peter Goulet, owner of Crabapples in Falmouth, lives on a freshwater pond and fly fishes for trout and bass. He is a good caster and catches a bunch of fish there. He never hooked up in the salt with the fly rod so I took him to B-harbor and even though the winds were howling pretty good, he managed to catch 7 or 8 nice schoolies as the tide dumped water off of East Flat. By the time the tide turned, and the winds picked up even more, we were drifting too fast over the fish and Peter was working much too hard. So we both got out of the boat and cast to stripers coming onto the flats. Fish to 30" were caught and released and 2 bigger fish got the better of me one busting off my 10# flourocarbon tippet like it was a piece of thread as it headed towards the channel with me giving chase. The other fish a fought to within 20' of me before it spit the fly in my face. She was a legitimate 15 pounder. Barnstable Harbor was a little tough for Captain Bob and I fishing a day off together. We weren't seeing any fish on the flats which is common during a cold front but we noticed hordes of fish marked on the fish finder screen in the middle of the channel. We had brought some fresh sand eels and began drifting the channel and hooking up immediately. we had a host of schoolies to 28" and Bob lost a big one that tug on his drag for a couple minutes. As the sun began to set, hundreds of fish moved into the shallows and we caught a bunch with jigs and swimming baits and flies. The next day we went out on Bob's boat and fished Gil Wade and his grandson Oliver who is 7 and whom I have fished with for the last 3 years. He has been mentioned a number of times in previous reports because he has an instinct for fishing. At 5 years old he jumped up on the casting deck with his little spinning rod and caught stripers and blues like a veteran. He even caught fish with the fly rod last season. Well we decided to do some fluking as I also promised my father-in-law Bill Scranton some food fare for father's day. So he came along to and what we had was a banner day with limits of fluke, 4 stripers over 20# with Oliver's biggest one that tipped the scales at 25#. We also had many blues to 10# and all in all it was a day to remember.
Curt Jessup and I fished Barnstable again for a couple hours after my charter. We had a bunch of schoolies during outgoing to jigs and bass assassins with a grand slam of stripers, blues and fluke coming to boat. I was fishing alone next to buddy Russ Texeira and his sport anchored up at East bar. I had already hooked 2 fish over 30" in the channel with the fly rod and jiggie fly and proceeded to catch another 10 fish before the tide was too much so we moved eastward and I got out of the boat to wade. I was using a 400 grain and a new Reddington 12 weight for R&D. I hooked and landed 5 fish on almost consecutive casts blind-casting to the deeper water off the flat. I hooked and released another 30" fish and then Curt called to tell me to get him at the launch. So I needed to abandon my hot spot but was pleased that Russ jumped into the spot with his flats boat. By the time I got back with Curt there was again too much water although he managed a couple small fish blind-casting as we drifted . We then decided to fish Striper Alley as we call the area in front of Sandy Neck Beach. It began blowing pretty good and sighting these fish and maneuvering the boat was difficult. With Curt at the bow I noticed a pretty good fish coming onto the flat from a distance. Curt was in to his patented backcast but didn't see the fish immediately. Then he caught sight and put a perfect cast onto the fishes head and stripped into the fishes path. She gobbled it up and the then the drag sang. It was a perfect execution and right in our sight. I catch probably 20 fish blindcasting to everyone sightfishing but must say the sightfishing is more memorable. The fish was light sandy color like so many of the flats' fish and was about 28". Curt told me to get up on deck and he would captain me to a fish. No sooner did he say that, then a fish moved up onto the flat, Curt saw it ,pointed it out to me and a repeat performance followed. I only wish we had it on video because it was simply perfect. Kudos go out to a family friend Jerry Romano and his buddy Tom from Chatham. These 2 young men went out tuna fishing in Tom's 19' boat, 26 miles offshore. They hooked up a big tuna that took over 2 hours to bring to the boat and then another 5 1/2 hours to drag the fish to port.
The boat was listed 20 degrees and got looks from every person on the water. But the fish weighed in at over 800 pounds and is at the market right now. That is a fish of a lifetime!!!!! Last heard these two "Young Men and the Sea" were negotiating to sell their catch. Best of luck you guys
The end of July proved difficult at best especially in Buzzards Bay with only small blues showing up sporadically and rather inconsistently. The stripers have gone to their nighttime patterns or off on some of the rips such as middle ground and the like. Still there are stripers however at Barnstable Harbor and sight-casting to them remains very good as well as blindcasting with the3 incoming tide especially around east bar. It does seem like the doldrums are upon us and August has only just begun. AUGUST As usual, August picked up where July ended. Spotty striper fishing in Buzzards Bay, inconsistent bluefishing. Thanks goodness for a couple bottom fishing trips with Capt. Bob from Lemke-Ann with fluke and scoup and seabass. We are all awaiting the funny fishing with great expectations for this year as last year was rather poor. Still, the fishing at Barnstable Harbor and Scorton Ledge and the east end of the Canal turned on big time around the middle of August with some really big stripers being taken by trolled bunker spoons and tube and worm etc. We also had great light tackle success with white jigs and sand-eel metal patterns for the spinning group and as before the "jiggie" fly has proven to be my all time best sand-eel pattern with the fly rod. We caught a number of keepers throughout the middle of August with some 20 pounders topping the list. A 35" and 37" fish were taken while fishing with Mike Cassidy one-on-one. Also, Curt Jessup from The Sporting Life and I took out some Woolrich bigwigs and casted to large schools of stripers near the east end of the Canal near the town landing. Big fish were spotted although getting them to eat before the smaller guys proved difficult.
So by the middle of August reports of Bonito being trolled up around Hedge Fence and the east side of the Vineyard. I fished with Al Balavender where we had a number of shots at bones in Lackey's Bay and in the Hole but couldn't hook up. It finally happened August 19th for me fishing solo and checking spots for my charter with Jeff Ladd and son Thomas. I hooked up and landed 2 bonito and got broken off instantly by big Atlantic Speedsters that looked to be Spanish Mackerel although maybe the teeth of the bonito caught my 10# fluorocarbon tippet. I also landed the first albie of the year near my favorite spot. The Cape Codder in Buzzards Bay. Secret Spot so don't tell anyone!!!! Steven Reid and brother, Proctor, caught a host of schoolies in Buzzards Bay and had a good learning experience to boot despite somewhat difficult fly fishing winds. Jeff Ladd still has not broken the albie curse although some good shots were had. It was about a week too early but then all hell broke loose and the albies have arrived in masses as well as being very large for this early. My charters have managed 23 fish to date with 2 fish over 10 pounds, Some 13 and 14 pound fish were weighed in already and many stories of break-offs and spotting large fish are being told. One thing for sure, huge pods of albies and Spanish Mackerel are seen throughout Buzzards Bay chasing and eating pogies and peanut bunker and silversides. Lots of bait and lots of fish. This is a great omen for the rest of the season.
SEPTEMBER
Well the good news is that the Albies are here in numbers. By mid-September we have boated 32 Speedsters with 3 bonito, 2 Spanish Mackerels and the rest Albies. Some of the Albies are pushing the 11 pound mark. One such fish exploding my 9 weight silver label when a knot got caught in the guide and the fish did one of it's powerful dives as it approached the boat. What a thrill to hook up these fish! Most of the bigger fish have been taken in Buzzards Bay from Quisset Harbor where Fred Tartaglia and I caught and released 9 albacore, 7 on flies. The good news is the hordes of peanut bunker around and they are getting bigger than what was earlier reported. Bait to 4"-5" are driving the predators nuts. Buzzards Bay was loaded with fish everywhere we looked, from Woods Hole to the west end of the canal. Most harbors are holding these baits in especially during the incoming tides and the fishing is non-stop or at least the chasing is non-stop. I had Steve Reid and his buddy out for a 12 hour marathon. We sped over to Lackey's Bay hoping to get a shot at a speedster but only managed a couple blues and schoolies although Steve had on a very nice striper that spit the fly back. It looked to be around 30". We stayed with that for awhile but I didn't want to deviate from the plan to fish for Atlantic Speedsters. We charged all around the Bay without a trace of blitzes or surfacing fish. Then I remembered that Megansett Harbor was holding some fish and the tide was just starting to turn so we headed into the harbor. Sure enough there were pods of Albies busting baits in very shallow water. They casted for 6 hours and were only able to hook up a handful of blues although the excitement of seeing these fish and casting to them was more that worth the price of admission. They got so close on numerous drifts that we thought an albie might even jump in the boat. My only thought was that some days they will hit anything and others they become some selective and keyed in on a particular bait???? Then the next few days following a cold front, the albies were gone from Megansett and couldn't be found anywhere in the Bay. So I went back to Lackey's and hooked 6 stripers and one albacore that tore up the entire bay with a handful of boats watching and applauding. It is worth the chase. I was thinking that it doesn't get any better than this when fellow charter boat Captain Bob Belekiewicz called to tell me that bluefin tuna were in Cape Cod Bay fairly close to shore and that he had in fact hooked one and brought it in- about a fifty pounder. I couldn't imagine anything more exciting than albie fishing but decided to go for the experience. Woww! What a blast. We headed north from the east side of the canal towards Provincetown in about 130'-160' when all Hell broke loose. Pods of Bluefin tuna in feeding frenzies busting baits and balling them up, birds going crazy and fishermen in stupors. We had at least a hundred shots at fish landing 2, getting broken with the third as it got caught around a lobster pot and having 3 others on. It took me an hour to land my fish on 20# test spinning line, 750 Penn spinning reel and Hopkins Smoothies.
So until this tuna fishing dies out, Captain Bob and I have vowed to fish as often as we can for these fish. It is unusual for them to come in this close so we are taking advantage of every opportunity. My next goal is to take one on the fly so stay tuned for further reports.
Well as expected the Tuna bite subsided fairly quickly in Cape Cod Bay although we tried 3 more times without even seeing a fish. Word had it that these fish were heavy further north around Marshfield and areas even to the North. One report that I heard was that a fellow caught a 100 pounder from shore near Marshfield on spinning gear and fought the fish for well over an hour before landing it. He kept the fish for tuna filets. Since he didn't have a permit he received a warning from the fishery department. That was a good warning for others who were not aware of that law. Hopefully these Bluefins will return to the Bay before the season ends. So the end of September brought on tons of peanut bunker with the expected frenzies occurring all along the Canal as well as inside many of the harbors. Blues, stripers and the occasional albie was caught by the 2 charters I had the end of the month. Winds and weather decreased the frequency of trips but when we got out many schoolies with the 30+" striper mixed in was common. OCTOBER Great expectations for a terrific fall migration are felt from everyone in the fishing community secondary to the amount of bait and the size of the bait. When the winds are down, feeding fish are seen busting throughout Buzzards Bay and in many of her harbors especially around the high tides both incoming and outgoing. Every morning I do my typical drive checking out the hot spots where I have seen large concentrations of bunker and predators chasing them. The west end of the canal was a good spot for Joe Ziberski who fly fished alone bagging many schoolies to 29" and a host of blues around the rips near Mashnee flats and Hog Island. Many of the fish were not surface feeding but rather were taken subsurface as the current flushed the baits into the Bay. We were also surprised to hook and land an albie below the surface blindcasting a peanut bunker pattern. great fun. Surface activity and baby bunker highlighted this month with bass and blues all over making shorefishing and back bays great spots to hook up. Many schoolies as well as the occasional keeper were taken by our sports. Winds kept us inshore however and many trips canceled due to this. I did keep a rod hooked up in the truck at all times and frequently cast to eruptions of fish at Chappy beach and West Falmouth harbor. The last few charters were with Capt. Bob Belekiewicz fishing successfully for Tautog oftentimes casting to feeding frenzies of bass and blues heading to and from Cleveland Light. A very interesting thing happened late October and that was a host of big Stripers were feeding at the entrance to Quahog Pond from Sippiwissett marsh. This I noted during one of my daily walks and quicly grabbed my rod hooking up on fish from 28"-39" during a two week span. This was experienced also by Rob Jessup from The Sporting Life and Capt. Bob who just so happened to be doing some carpentry work at my home. So we frequently took fishing breaks when the incoming tide boiled through. I videotaped these big fish rolling in the inflow sometimes 4 at a time in an area only about 4' wide and probably 2' deep. Frequently, there backs were out of water their mouths opened sucking down herring as they poured into the pond. What a sight! These fish were barely a cast from shore and flyfishing was difficult as they would spook with casting. I was able to hook up twice with a rill cast and a large herring fly, the first fish a 32" fattie while the second fish bolted towards the middle of the pond breaking the hook at the bend. Now that is a fish story Our season ended with a blackfishing trip with the wedding party of Mike Slattery who married my sister-in-law Amy Scranton on November 2. We didn't do well with the tautog due to heavy winds and a storm brewing up that made us head in after a short time out there, however, we all know that Mike got a keeper with Amy. Congratulations you guys. So I will sign off until next season. Thank you all for the best season I can ever remember. To recap the highlights, many stripers from May to October with some big blues mixed in. There were loads of Albies for a good month with 30+ fish landed and released. The biggest thrill for me was the Bluefin Tuna in Cape Cod Bay hooking up and landing some wonderful fish. Happy Holidays and best wishes until next season.
Thanks for a great season. See you in 2003 Jolly Roger
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