And by chickens, I mean feeding, dive bombing, screeching birds. Thousands of them! This week, the bait fuse was lit across Buzzards Bay, the Southside, and Cape Cod Bay. And of course, waves of migratory bass followed.

We really have two major size classes all the way from Buzzards Bay to Boston right now– 22″ to 24″ and the dinks. Waves of these mid-sized schoolies continue to push through. For a few days last week, huge feeds could be found around any point, inlet, and rip in Buzzards Bay and on the Southside. This trend has largely continued, mostly due to the swarms of silversides present.

The Report

Them boys headed out to a Cape spot yesterday to try and find some fish on the fly. With the perfect outgoing tide happening around dusk, we were hopeful. After some searching around, we found some micros and a few up to 24″ on a sandy point surrounded by a dropoff. These were some feisty fish! While we were hoping for some of the first “slot-sized” fish of the year, we were happy with a few bent rods and some pulls of drag.

We’ve yet to see the push of keeper-sized fish–which is a little bit strange–but it could be quite literally be any tide. I’d expect the bigger fish to show up around the rivers and estuaries first to feed on the herring and pogies.

Fish have been somewhat finicky while they slurp on the schools of silversides. Rays and synthetic baitfish flies have produced the best bites on the fly. Unweighted soft plastics, jigheads with paddle tails, and swim shads have done work on the spin. Jumpin’ Minnow will produce when the fish are a little less finicky.

From shore, we’ve still been focusing on the rivers with these big tides. Both tides are producing well as long as the water is moving. But don’t discount beaches along Buzzards Bay, the South Side, and the South Shore. The Three Bays has been going off the past few days, as well.

With the wind in the forecast for the next few days, it looks like we’ll have to wait until next week to target our striped friends.