Well, those big stripers in Cape Cod Bay I talked about in my last report are going to have to wait, because we’re taking Team Seven Stripes on the road (or sea) this weekend. Tomorrow, we’ll be taking Mal de Mer over to the Vineyard.
I got some really great intel from Capt. Nick Kathmann over at flyguyfishguide.com about the intricacies of fishing around the islands, which I’ll talk a little about here. We’re going to have Capt. Nick on the podcast very soon to talk light tackle fishing around the islands, which I’m pumped about.
That brings me to the subject of podcasts. I know, I know, I’m slacking. I promise moving forward we’re going to stick to the twice a month episode release. The fishing has been too good! But we have some sweet guests coming up, so make sure you subscribe on iTunes and Spotify. And if you aren’t caught up, we’ve got a bunch of episodes in the archives, so get to listenin’.
The Plan
If you’re fishing around the Bay, you need to find those nervous pogie schools. It’s going to be very inconsistent fishing and the bass don’t seem to be following any type of pattern. The best bites around the schools have sometimes come right around slack tide. But when that bite turns on, it turns on. So don’t miss it. Hop around and try to find the most nervous pogie school in the area. Pogies being pushed out of the water will be a sure indicator of lurking stripers.
Pogie schools can be found from Manomet all the way up the coast to areas north of Boston. There have been big pogie schools around the Golf Ball and all over the backside. Tuna have been hanging around these schools.
The East End down to Sandy Neck has had some bigger fish. This could be a great opportunity to get on the night bite. This is the time of year for it. Race Point is finally on schedule with decent bass and lots of big bluefish. This is a relatively common pattern for this time of year, but the blues had been mysteriously missing the past two or three years. Hopefully they stick around. Anglers have been getting them trolling 9ers, drifting live mackerel, and chasing the birds on the flats.
The full moon should get a decent bite going around the Three Bays, but the tide is going to be relatively weak. We’re going to have to wait a few weeks for the new moon for those big tides again. I’ve got August 3rd and 4th marked on my calendar with tides close to 14′. We could have some massive surface feeds around the flats that weekend.
Target the incoming tide this weekend around the Three Bays is you want smaller fish on top. Blues are going to show up at the Power Plant any day now. When this happens, you can probably say bye bye to the pogie schools. Trolling a deep diver or throwing big loud poppers along the security line usually gets the first blue of the season to bite.
Island Time
The original plan was to target the nearshore areas for yellowfin and mahi, but it seems that bite hasn’t materialized at all. Instead, we’re going to focus around The Hooter and the shoals surrounding it for bonito. We’ll be trolling deep divers (Crystal Minnows and Rapala Magnums) and shallow divers (SPs and Redfins).
I’m hearing the blues are in thick so I’d love to cast to some YEDs or stripers around the flats, on the spin or fly. We’re loaded with spook plugs so we should be able to get a few bites. We’ll be fishing squid flies around the rips, too. There’s lots of pressure for fish for the table Saturday night, so we may hit some of the deeper sandy spots for jumbo seabass and fluke. If not, we’ll be eating sea robin.
Make sure to follow along on Instagram and Facebook @sevenstripesfishing. See you out there. Shoot us a DM if you have any hot tips for fishing the Vineyard.
