The season is almost over. Most of the boats will come out just after the Columbus Day weekend. There will still be fish in the bay, just not many people looking to go and try and catch them. So, even the fish will no it's time to head to warmer water. For now they are here and we're doing a good job of finding them and catching them.
I've only got maybe two more reports after this so I'm going to make this short and sweet. And sweet it is. Lately the big bass have been either on the north edge of the shoals or right up on top. We've even found some of the larger fish on the south edge of Billingsgate Shoals. Jigging has been what has worked best with a few fish taken on the tube and worm. I'd stick with the jigged eel on wire though, it works the best by far.
The shoals isn't the only place you can find the stripers. There are some fish on the edge of the Brewster Flats or up on the flats during the flood tide. There are also small bass on the rips by the #3 can on Stony Bar on the way up to Welfleet Harbor. From what I hear there are small bass with some keepers in the channel in Barnstable Harbor also. Most of these fish can be hooked up by using an umbrella rig on a short wire (150 ft.). Use a small spoon for a trailer for best results.
There are plenty of bluefish on the shoals too. We take as many of them as we do the stripers and at times many more than the bass. They range from 5 pound fish up to 10 to 12 ponder bluefish. For those looking for tuna bait use a small umbrella rig with all bugs and troll it at around 4 knots on either mono in the real shallow water (under 15 feet) or a short wire rig (150 feet) in water over 15 feet. The north edge of the shoals should be a good place to look first or most anywhere up on top on the east section of the shoals.
This last Monday I had Jay Maleynsky and two of his cronies out for a half day of good fall bass fishing. After a slight bit of coaching Jay was able to land a very nice 27 pound bass just shy of 45 inches. Once he had landed that fish he let his friends get their share and they did quite well. By the end of the trip all had become expert jiggers and are going to take this method back to Connecticut with them.
