Memorial Day Fishing Stories
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
All spring long we have been dealing with cloudy days, below average temperatures, and northeast winds. That all has changed and it was very apparent on the long Memorial Day Weekend. With the exception of the wind on Monday every day was picture perfect. The was some wind on Sunday afternoon.
Over the last few days, which have been different from the rest of this spring, schools of bass and bluefish have moved into different areas of the Bay. It seems that the bunch of bass that went through the Cape Cod Canal ended up off Barnstable Harbor for a while then moved east to off the Brewster Flats. Another group must have come around P-town and now reside in the deep water off the north edge of Billingsgate Shoals. In either area the fishing is outstanding. We've taken fish in excess of 40 inches. The one area that has not shown any big increase in activity is up towards Welfleet Harbor but I'm sure that will change by this weekend. Some bluefish have been landed in this area which is early.
During the last few years one of the major bait fish that would show up this time of the season was squid. There is some squid in the area but the main bait seems to be both sand eels and small mackerel, not to be confused with tinker mackerel. These fish are a little less than a foot long, smaller than the mackerel we used to see in the spring and bigger that the tinker mackerel we see during the summer in the deep water. With the bluefish about to enter the Bay in mass the mackerel will be leaving shortly. Hopefully the squid will show up so the poor sand eels won't have to bear the brunt of being the only food in the area. We want to keep the dinner plate full to keep the fish here.
The lure or method of choice right now is the umbrella rig trolled with wire. Around 150 ft to 200 feet of wire is more than enough. Troll this rig at about 3.5 to 4 knots in the area you see the fish and you should do very well. You will either see the fish on the surface or on your fish finder. Birds working on a small area is also a good bet for finding fish. You can also try a swimming plug on mono trolled a little faster, around 4.5 knots may prove productive. Especially if you are all by yourself. The more boat traffic there is the deeper the fish will go. Then you'll have to go the wire and the umbrella rig. For those who like to cast on fish again look for the fish on the surface or working birds. Just move in to the area slowly so you don't spook the fish. You may find that the schools are moving fast anyway so it will make it hard to keep up with them.
The areas to look at for the next week or so. As more and more fish move in, including the bluefish, areas like the top of Billingsgate Shoals, in off the Path on the Welfleet/Truro line, in Barnstable Harbor itself, and even up by P-town will get really active especially in the shallow water areas. The bait may scatter or be consumed so the fish will go into the shallow water looking for other source of food. After this some of the bass will move on, some stay and in time more fish will arrive. However it works out it looks as if we will have one of the best early season we've seen in a long time.
One group know first hand how good it is. Sally Stern booked a trip with me this last Sunday. The have fished in other areas of the world but seemed to think fishing on Cape Cod to be one of the better ones. The landed one striper that was all of twenty pounds.
If you'd like to try your hand at this good fishing give me a call at the boat (508-240-8267) or at home (508-255-6211) and I'll get you out. www.capecodbaycharters.com
