The Fish Spread Out...
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
In the spring, the start of the season, the striped bass usually first show up in just a few places. As the water warms up they start to move around. Some of these fish continue on north in their migration paths. Some stay in the Bay and more show up. Then the bluefish show up. Just a few at first, then as the water warms even more, other schools of fish work into the Bay. Finally, we find fish in most of the traditional spots in the Bay like, Billingsgate Shoals, the north edge and out in the deep water, off the Path, from Race Point to Wood End around to Long Point, Days Cottages and a number of other areas. There are fish in all these spots now.
As you can probably tell, weather and water temperature play a big factor on how well the season goes. The warmer the weather the quicker the fish become active. With this surge in warmer weather the bluefish should start showing up in most places in the Bay and mixing in with the bass. I'm hoping the hootchie will start working as our go-to lure. The hootchie, a squid like lure, is one of the most commonly used and best performing lure used in Cape Cod Bay other than the jigged eel. It has caught more bass and especially bluefish than most any other lure.
This last week we have found large schools of bass west of the old Target Ship and on the south edge. Some fish on the shoals and north edge. This coming week I hope that we will find some bluefish moving into the Stony Bar area and off the Eastham shore. Also, the shallow water off Great Island and the Path may show some bluefish activity. The Square, the deep water off Great Island and the Path, should hold some good size schools of bass with some bluefish mixed in. P-town should also be a place to go, anywhere from Race Point all the way around and over to Days Cottages. We should start having some excellent fishing in all the traditional areas.
I was talking to a young girl a week or so ago. She mates on her fathers boat and also has her charter license so she has run the vessel also. At that point Marty Costa ran the "Columbia" and this young girl did too. It was a pleasure to fish with her. Now her father owns the "Liberty" out of Rock Harbor and it seems Capt. Kirstyn Costa will be on the wheel of the "Liberty" a lot this season. I'm sure she will operate this vessel with the same professionalism she did when she ran the Columbia.
This last Monday I had Pete and Ellen Berek from the western part of the state out fishing. They were hoping to take a fish home to share a dinner with friends. Things started slow but it did pick up. By the end of the trip we were throwing back 36 inch stripers. Ellen Berek, who caught the most fish indicated they had heard the fishing was good but this was ridiculous
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