The Trip
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
Last Saturday, the 15th of Aug., I took a few friends fishing for the day. Like a busman's holiday of sorts. I run a charter boat out of Rock Harbor so I ended up taking my mate Pete and his sister Sarah, Meghean, the daughter of a a regular customer, a friend of hers Nick, and Danielle. Danielle is the girlfriend of one of the other mates who work at the harbor. Matt had to work but Danielle came anyway, She doesn't get much of a chance to fish. Anyway, it was just going to be a low pressure trip, just hit some of the more active areas and see what mother nature would hand us. Remember these spots because for the most part they are good areas to check out if you're not sure where to start fishing.
The first area we hit was just off Henderson's Rock outside Great Island in Welfleet. I started in 15 feet of water and worked out to 20 feet. It was a dropping tide so I figured the fish would be coming out of the shallows. Soon as I hit 20 feet we started hooking up on good size bluefish. I stayed inside the pot line and zigzagged from 15 feet out to 25 feet catching fish well past the Path. Things slowed down just south of the Pamet but picked up as soon as I went past the river. Everyone landed at least 10 fish each. I used floating lures in the outriggers and hootchies on lead core with five colors out. I use a 30 leader so it's like have another color out of the real.
We cut across to Wood End to go bass fishing from there up towards the Bath House. I put up my outriggers because it can get tight there with all the boat traffic. I used the tube and worm system with six colors out. Red tubes seemed to work best this day. You have to stay in the 30 to 35 foot depth range and this can be very difficult with all the boats trying to do the same thing. If you have fished there you know what I mean. If you have not experience is your only guide. Anyway we got four nice bass in about one hour with a few undersize bass and a few bluefish. Our biggest bass, landed by Sarah, was a solid twenty five pounds and 42 inches in length.
After that we went back to the North Range, which is just north of the Path. There we set out the six pound test gear with small hootchies. After landing 5 or 6 fish we jogged home. The three young ladies, two on the bow and one in one of the chairs, fell asleep to the sound of the engine.
For those who want to try areas other then the ones I have mentioned so far, go check out these areas: The shallow water off the Eastham shore for bluefish. Out in the deep water off the north edge of Billingsgate Shoals out to 55 feet. At times there are both bass and bluefish on the west end of the shoals. Jigging works best in the area.
If you'd like to try one of the spots give me a call at: 508-240-8267 or 508-255-6211.
