Rock Harbor Fishing Report
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
20 June 2007
The Summer Season Starts
Schools are letting out, the summer rentals are starting to fill up and finally the weather is warming up. The booth at Rock Harbor is open and starting to book summer anglers who will do their best to land a big bass and bluefish. I'd like to say all is well in the world but I'd be lying. At least all is well here on Cape Cod and in Rock Harbor on Cape Cod Bay.
It also seems that the bass and bluefish are settling down to their summer habits. The larger schools of stripers have moved out of the Stoney Bar area and spread out between the New Grounds, west of the old Target Ship and up on the north edge of Billingsgate Shoals
The bluefish, our old standby, is found just about everywhere we have found the stripers. However, they have not shown themselves in large numbers yet. It could be that we, as charter captains, have not really gone looking for them in the usual areas. I have trolled in towards the Sunken Meadow area and hooked up one or two bluefish, but nowhere near the amount of hook ups we have found in the past. The last bunch of northeast winds could have impeded their activity. Only time will tell. They are out in the deep water in fairly substantial numbers but not overly so.
This last Monday I had a booth trip on the 1/2 day part of the tide. The four guys had not done much fishing and were eager to try anything. No one had jigged on Top of Billingsgate Shoals much and those who had did not fish there for long. I told them this and said we should give this area a good look see. It's a good thing we did. It was not hot and heavy but the fishing was a little better than decent. We did land one striper that had to go twenty pounds. One of the other charter boats, the Osprey, came up on top also and Captain Viprino was able to land some of these big bass for his party too. You had to put in the time, but both the bass and the bluefish kept us pretty busy.
Another area that is staying fairly active is along the drop off of the Brewster Flats. Jigging is the best method but the umbrella rig and single swimming plugs will also work. Look for working birds for the real give-a-way. Or, just jig along the edge until you find them, and then work the area.
As the summer starts into its full swing I'd like to welcome two new captains to the Rock Harbor Fleet. Joe Higgins and his boat the Amber Lee has taken over the slot held by Capt. Dick Woodland who has retired and sold Joe the boat. Capt. Woodland shoes will be very hard to fill with his better than 50 years experience. Capt. Higgins has his work cut out for him. The other is Kirstyn Costa who's waiting for the ink to dry on her license so she will be at the helm of the Columbia sharing it with her brother. She is going to be brought into a long line of charter captains with the last name of Costa. She is the granddaughter of the of the late Elmer Costa and I'm sure she will do him proud.
The season has started and we are keeping the bluefish and bass on their toes. Come down to Rock Harbor and see what the boats bring in. If you're so inclined go talk to Roxanne at the booth and sign up to go catch your own fish.
If you'd like give me a call at 508-255-6211 or 508-240-8267 and I'll try and get you out for a day of fishing.
e-mail - stunmai@copper.net
www.capecodbaycharters.com