My lobster fisherman buddies tell me that the larger stripers are starting to show up (and being caught) in and around the entrance to Granite Pier and the Sandy Bay ledge area. These large stripers will prefer herring chunks or live macks or pollock.
It appears that the fall fishing pattern is setting up a bit earlier than I would have expected and if that is the case then I hope it lasts as long as last years fall run. Last season was one of the best Cape Ann fall runs ever. Steve P. and his regular fishing buddies scored many very large stripers fishing various shore line locations around the Cape.
The offshore football tuna run is not materializing as it did last season. Most of the tuna are remaining to the south at Stellwagon. The huge numbers of “sand lance” are holding the tuna (and whales) in that area of Mass Bay. I have been offshore three times in the past week or so and have seen just a few pods of footballs. I have not had any real good casting opportunities since the pods contain few fish and are not staying on the surface for even one minute. With the large numbers peanut bunker in our area, I remain optimistic that we will have more footballs in our waters over the next few weeks (fingers crossed!).
