 |
 |  |
| Cape Ann Report |
Here today, gone tomorrow! That best describes the tuna fishing this week. I got out Tuesday, and saw loads of fish breaking off of Gloucester. The very first school we came too, I pitched a 4" herring into the melee and hooked up with a 90lb'er on my spinning rod. After fifty minutes, we finally landed the fish. The rest of the day we had fish all around us, but did not hook up again. On Wednesday, we saw fewer fish, and they were more sporadic, not staying up as long as the day before. Friday, we fished again, and covered a lot of ground, but did not see any tuna all day. What does all this mean? Not much, as this is pretty typical bluefin behavior. They move around a lot, covering large distances, and sometimes feed deep, so you don't see them. The fish should be off Cape Ann, well into October and later. As the saying goes they may be "here today, and gone tomorrow", but they may also be "gone today and here again tomorrow". Fishing the rocks. Well the summer pattern has set in, in full strength. The bass are really lazy. To the point of not traveling an ten extra feet to eat a herring chunk, but put it right in front of them, and they will eat it every time. Had a charter this week with a couple of New York boyz! Actually, they were one of the funfest charters I have ever had. The way they busted on each other kept me in stitches all day long. We had pretty good action, considering the warm water temps, with a ratio of one keeper per ten schoolies. We ended up with about forty plus fish, in six hours, and five keepers. Though it will be a couple of weeks before the fall migration begins, it is not long till what I consider to be the best action of the year. It may be slow now, but the best is soon to come.
There continues to be good numbers of stripers along the Cape Ann coastline, but as we mentioned last week, the fish are skittish and wary of most artificial offerings. Captain Dave Beshara fished the southern coast of Maine on Thursday and reported the striper fishing as good, hooking up several nice fish in the 20-30" range. I fully expect the striper fishing to heat up as we get deeper into August. We should see an increasing number of bluefish closer into shore. The offshore anglers report seeing large schools of baitfish; this will add up to some great late summer and early fall fishing.
|