Let’s make this as simple as possible: Besides bait availability, perhaps the most important factor when it comes to success with funny fish is the weather.
At the moment, according to Jim Young at Eastman’s Sport & Tackle on Main Street in Falmouth, the amount of bait from Waquoit Bay east to Woods Hole and down along the Elizabeths is still not super-abundant.
That situation typically results in sporadic, challenging fishing with the albies up-and-down, with fast reaction time critical to getting a cast off when the fish are feeding.
And whether you are in a boat or kayak, or even fishing from shore, the ability to load your rod quickly with what are generally light lures is paramount, followed by a seamless flip of the bail and instant contact with what you are throwing.
When it comes to fly fishing, minimizing false casts and concentrating on a straight-line presentation, with no slack in the line or leader, will help you get more bites.
But, as I emphasized at the start, weather conditions play a huge role no matter how well you cast.
For example, on Wednesday morning, September 9, I fished with Barney Keezell and his guest, Captain Tim Egenrieder, a charter captain who typically fishes the waters around Boston Harbor. We were off Osterville, and it was overcast early on, with some really big schools of albies around that were chewing good. I wouldn’t say the water was choppy, but there was definitely some current dumping out of the cut that ruffled the water, and Tim hooked up early on with 3/8-ounce Hogy Epoxy Jig in the glow color.
Even though yours truly managed to break the fish off as it circled next to the boat and made one last lunge that I ham-fisted, I was convinced that we would have plenty of other shots and hook-ups.
Well, not so fast; as the morning went on, the fog rolled in and the water slicked off and despite multiple changes of lures, we never got another bite on the lures, although along the way Barney and Tim managed some small crevalle jacks and barred rudderfish. In fact, there were so many of these semi-tropical fish around that they were producing some pretty impressive surface action of their own.
Tim eventually switched over to the fly rod, a very nice cooperative school of funny fish erupted close to the boat, and he laid a perfect cast into the fray and got the fly moving. After two short strikes, the third proved to be a charm, and the good captain, who hails from Pennsylvania and fished the long wand in sweetwater exclusively, got to see his backing—big time.
But there would be no love on the spin for either Barney or Tim.
On the run back to Falmouth Harbor, we saw some halfhearted breaks, but nothing that would get your blood pressure to rise.
Now compare that to Tuesday, September 8, when Rich Caruso, along with his older brother Joe and Joe’s son, Paul, visited Chatham for some angling in the Monomoy rips.
We tried Stonehorse and Little Round Shoals, but the few commercial and charter boats in the area were either jigging wire or fishing bait and despite some vertical jigging with weighted soft plastics. I knew it was time to check elsewhere, as a deep presentation wasn’t in the cards for us.
That “elsewhere” proved to be Bearse’s, which was socked in with the fog that had enveloped us at our previous location. In this case, however, I elected to drift the rips while tossing plugs, specifically the Hogy Charter Grade Popper in the clear amber coloration. Ultimately, this offering produced a super slam for the boat with a bonito, albie, bluefish and a legal bass. Joe also delivered a personal slam, with a solid striper, a big, nasty bluefish, and a good-sized bone.
Beyond the advantage of the rougher water in the rips, the heavy fog maintained overcast conditions, and the fish were clearly happy, including good numbers of bass that followed a white squid fly that Rich was tossing.
Last Sunday, September 6, Jon Kolb and I saw how rough water made for happy albies as a heavy southwest wind produced chop that had the funny fish disavowing their usually picky nature. They were blasting bait, but, alas, the wind that makes the fish happy also makes casting with a fly rod more difficult.
The next day, Matt Pruitt and I visited the same areas with high hopes, as there was a relatively stiff southeast breeze, but the morning again proved to be too nice as the wind died with the tide change and the fish had virtually disappeared.
Later in the day, thanks to some intel from Rich Caruso about cooperative albies off of Marion, Matt and I hightailed it that way and, with the wind starting to kick, the water was nice and rough, making the fish happy, happy. Tim is an excellent caster and had no problem dealing with the wind and eventually hooked up, although I failed big time as a guide when I elected to let Tim fish with an old leader he had on his reel, rather than go with a fresh setup, and a knot failure resulted, leaving us both heartbroken.
Although you couldn’t tell it by all of the boats and kayaks chasing funny fish, there are other fish to be caught, and for the most part they have been far less frustrating than bones and albies.
Rory Edwards from Falmouth Bait & Tackle in Teaticket said there are plenty of small bass in pretty much any of the southside backwaters. Rory also managed to hook up with an albie earlier this week as he was cruising by the Nobska area and saw busting fish; he pulled over, put on this flashers and grabbed his rod, unleashing a productive cast and some line melting off his reel. Alas, the albie managed to break off, but there are a multitude of shore locations that will provide shorebound anglers legitimate shots at funny fish.
Before his vacation came to a close yesterday, Barney Keezell enjoyed what he called the most impressive schoolie feed in the Waquoit entrance channel; they were small fish, but the noise and commotion was super-impressive as the small stripers pinned peanut bunker to the rocks.
It’s the same story around Phinney’s Harbor and other upper Buzzards Bay locales, with some bluefish in the mix as well. The one challenge has been when the fish are keyed in on small bait, making for frustration and empty hooks. Remember the old saw about the foolishness of trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results; switch up lures, using those that produce commotion in the upper part of the water column as well as some that are best at fishing deep. Go small and then try something larger because in the fall, when fish are stacking up to put on the feedbag, you just never know what will turn on a fish’s predatory instinct.
The word from A.J. Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay is that Labor Day saw an impressive surface bite shape up around Bell Road.
We’re talking about bass well over the slot limit exploding on surface plugs as well as Magic Swimmers. There have also been good numbers of small bass around, but the huge school of bonito that had Canal folks jazzed up big time a couple of weeks ago apparently was blown out of town during the most recent remnants of a hurricane/tropical storm that never really made it up to the Cape and islands with much fury.
Out in Cape Cod Bay, A.J. said boaters using Mojo rigs have been picking at some quality bass around the Fingers, while other trollers continue to drag the tube-and-worm with good results and umbrella rigs are a mainstay of some of the regulars who work from the entrance to Barnstable Harbor to the east entrance of the Canal.
The word from Elise Costa at The Powderhorn in Hyannis is bluefish have invaded the bay, with schoolie bass pretty much everywhere you look, including the Sandwich creeks and inside Barnstable, as well as the shallows in tight to Sandy Neck down to the flats west of the entrance to Rock Harbor.
On the bluefin front, the larger fish are more readily available around Stellwagen, while smaller tuna are making casters happy east of Chatham.
When it comes to the canyons, Christian Giardini, owner of Falmouth Bait & Tackle, suggested the waters to the east have been experiencing better fishing, including Welker, along with those offshore spots that harbor shallower water, although when you are talking about going downtown, the term “shallow” is a relative term.
As we get deeper into the fall, the evening freshwater bass bite should pick up, said A.J. Coots, and he recommended using topwater lures such as Hula Poppers and Jitterbugs.
Credit: Source link
