Rock Harbor Fishing Report
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
21 Aug. 2007
Good August Fishing
The month of August is usually a good month fish wise in Cape Cod Bay. When the month first started it seemed things had changed and we'd be looking at a slow time of the season. Fortunately things changed for the better. A fair amount of larger bass have moved up onto Billingsgate Shoals and made themselves available to us, the charter fleet. The last of the three Rock Harbor Tournaments is being held on Thurs. the 30th of August. It begins at 10:45 am. so if you're not already booked on one of our boats, give it a shot and sign up with Roxanne at the booth.
We had the first heavy northwest wind of the season. It did just what we wanted it to do. The next day, Sunday the 19th, the large stripers had moved up onto the shoals. They were on the north edge and in the grass patches. There's not a whole lot of fish but a good amount that can be worked. Jigging and the tube and worm will both work. Jigging is your best bet. Sunday the fish were moving around so you would find them in many different areas as they moved. At times they can allude you for a while. With a little patience you'd find them. Some of these bass were near the 40 pound range.
The bluefish are still really active from Henderson's Rock up to the Path. The most activity is up near the Path out in 20 feet of water. Single hootchies and swimming plugs trolled at around 5 knots will work well. Plugging for them can also provide you with a good number of bluefish. The Sunken Meadow area is quiet right now, however there are some fish up by the #12 can leading into Welfleet Harbor. The bass that are on the shoals now will not stay there forever. In a few days they most likely will move off the shoals and back into the deep water. This wind we had pushed most of the bait elsewhere and it will take time for the bait to work its way back to the shoals. Then we're back to the same hunt we had before until the next northwest wind. This time of the season we should get a few more big winds that will push the fish into the shallow water of Billingsgate Shoals. One reason August is a good month to fish Cape Cod Bay.
This last week I had a young lady and her father on the full day trip. Usually Chris brings some of his friends plus his daughter Emily. This was Chris's last rip of the season and it was just him and Emily. They both like to use my lighter tackle so that's all we used. The day started off slow. They landed a couple of small keepers and good number of bluefish and a few undersize bass. Near the end of the trip one of the other charter boats found some larger bass in one of the grass patches on Billingsgate Shoals. We put out the light lead core rods, 18 pound test lead core, with the tube and worm and we started fishing the area. Among the larger bass they landed was Emily's personal best since she's been fishing with me. It was a 38 pound striper. Not bad for a thirteen year old young girl. On the next trip I had Jay Hayne, Nauset Answering Service, and his party. We didn't get a fish quite as big. Theirs was around 34 pounds. They also landed a number of bass that were in the 20 to 25 pound range. A good day on the shoals for everyone.
If you'd like to try and land one of those big bass that could be swimming around on the shoals give me a call at: 508-255-6211 or 508-240-8267.
E-mail - stunami@copper.net
Web Site - www.capecodbaycharters.com
