August Fishing Gets Good...
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
The summer may be close to coming to an end but the fishing isn't. It has really picked up from last week. After the big tides have gone by the bass and bluefish have moved up on to Billingsgate Shoals and out in the deep water off the shoals. There are a good number of the smaller bluefish in off the Eastham shore and in by the #3 and #5 cans. You may have to look a little for them but they are there. There is a good charge of bluefish in by the Path inside the pot line and some of these bluefish are in excess of 15 pounds. All in all, the fishing is great...
Now that the commercial bass season is over we should start seeing some big stripers show up in the Bay. It's like deer season. Just before you see deer everywhere. The minute the season opens you couldn't find one anywhere. When the season ends they are feeding in your front yard. The last few times I was fishing up off the Bath House up by P-town there was not a whole lot of fish. Now I heard some big fish have moved in especially by the Wood End area. There is also a rumor going around they have moved in by the Cottages. This is a good thing if it is true. Jigging is the best method up in these areas, but I imagine an umbrella rig would work too.
Down near our area, those fishing out Rock Harbor, Billingsgate Shoals is the best place to start. As I said there are some small bluefish off the Eastham shore during the flood tide but the bigger bluefish are up by the Path from 15 feet out to 30 feet of water. If you want a real battle with these bass and bluefish head out to deep water off Great Island and north of the shoals. Put an umbrella rig out on 200 feet of wire and start trolling around. Once you find the fish, hang on. You will find there both bass and bluefish in the schools of fish you may run across. There may even be birds working on these schools so it might be easier to find them.
On Tuesday, the 16th, the Rock Harbor Charter Service (508-255-9757) hosted the Mid Cape Home Center's annual fishing tournament. Mid Cape Center treats the contractors and other customers to a day of fishing out of Rock Harbor. Without fail it is always a good time and it's a good thing to see a local business show its appreciation like this. I don't know how big the winning fish was but I heard there were a number of fish that were landed by the Rock Harbor fleet that were near the 40 inch length.
This last week I had a booth trip, a trip I got from our Rock Harbor booking agent, for a half day of fishing. We landed a number of bass and bluefish but what was unusual was one of the bluefish was unusually large. In excess of 15 pounds. It was landed by a young angler named Matt Doran from Hopewell Junction, N.J. His father, Bob, helped him a bit but this 11 year old angler did most of it himself. Anyone who has tangled with a big bluefish knows it's not a walk in the park. Kudos to young Matt.
If you want to get in on this good fishing call me at: 508-240-8267 or 508-255-6211.
