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| Cape Ann Report |
This was a better week for tuna chasing. Got out on Friday, to the Tillies area and found several good sized schools of fish. We managed to hook two fish, but both fish spit the hook after a short fight. We had another fish up, that missed the hook three times before leaving. Also, I had a tuna miss my popper fairly close to the boat. Despite not landing any fish, we had a fun, exciting day, with good action all day. On Sunday I got out again with my father, and soon found fish much closer to home. We saw large schools of spike mackerel that were being hammered by the tuna. We managed only one strike, but the fish again missed the hook. With all the bait in the area, the fish should stick around for some time, barring hurricanes or a major northeaster. On the striper front, I had a charter on Monday. We had decent action in the rocks, with about twenty bass released, for two keepers. All caught on bait. This was pretty good considering we didn't leave the dock till 9:30 am. After that, my clients decided they wanted to try for bluefish. We trolled around Salvages, with no action, till I spotted some turns working just off of the Flatground. We soon had bluefish breaking all around us as they munched on peanut-bunker. We caught five blues, all on popper, before calling it a day. On Saturday I returned to this area in the afternoon, to scout for tuna. As I worked a little farther offshore I soon found blues fining on the surface. Despite seeing lots of small mackerel schools in the area, the bluefish readily ate a well placed popper. I think I landed about seven fish before heading in. Having seen lots of bait both inshore and offshore this week, I am very optimistic for a fantastic fall. In all honesty, I wait all summer for the fall run. In a few more weeks this should begin, and by all signs it s going to be a great year.
The striper fishing this past week has been predictably in mid-summer pattern; lots of fish, tough to catch! Early in the week I found an acre of mixed sized stripers ¾ of a mile southwest of Milk Island feeding on small peanut bunker. The fish were on top feasting on the horde. One would think they would be easy to hook-up, not so! After many casts and fly pattern changes, I managed 7 fish in two hours, the largest 29”. The good news here is seeing this many stripers and the abundant baitfish. This condition is sure to set-up fantastic beginnings to the late summer and early fall fishing. On Wednesday, I had the good fortune to have aboard three super anglers who were up at their family summer place in Rockport. The three “Jeff’s” spent the day fly and light tackle angling for stripers. We managed to find and hook several stripers. These guys worked harder than most for their fish. I look forward to fishing with them in the future.
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