South Coast & Buzzards Bay
By Captain Casey Allen
Concentrate on Finicky Albies
Time could also be working quick, however the 2025 season nonetheless has a lot to ship for light-tackle and fly anglers. As our waters flood with quite a lot of small baitfish, predators like bass, blues, bonito, and albies will likely be in scorching pursuit, offering loads of pleasure to maintain us when the motion lastly wraps up. To not be missed, tautog will as soon as extra develop into a viable goal in September, however issues will solely enhance as we transition to October. For anglers looking for a change of tempo, the freshwater scene must also be on hearth for these focusing on bass, pickerel, or trout. The autumn trout-stocking program often will get underway throughout late September or early October, however even lakes that don’t obtain a fall supply can have loads of holdover fish keen to eat.
Although they’re not the one recreation on the town, it’s arduous to not concentrate on false albacore whereas they’re accessible to us. Buzzards Bay hasn’t featured the best runs the previous couple of seasons, however yearly is completely different, and maybe we’re in for a superb one this time round. In 2023, albies confirmed in drive within the bay throughout early September, as normal, and issues regarded promising, however their numbers abruptly dropped off, and those that could possibly be discovered had been choosy at finest. After a disappointing lull, they made an enormous resurgence throughout October. The issue throughout that point was not of their numbers, however the truth that they had been practically inconceivable to hook, no matter which choices had been thrown. The bait was glitter-sized, making the albies oblivious to something however the real article. Even foul-weather days did nothing to enhance their cooperation, which was uncommon.
One October day, I used to be anchored up tautog fishing as albies had been casually sipping throughout me so far as the attention may see. I attempted a number of completely different choices—lures huge and small, flies lifelike and flashy—however didn’t even get a glance. It didn’t take lengthy to appreciate I wanted to surrender, but it surely took lots to pay them no thoughts. I got here throughout big however delicate feeds in the identical location for a number of days in a row, and regardless of their sturdy presence, hooking them proved irritatingly futile. It’s not remarkable to seek out albies on this temper every now and then, however this was one thing else. At that time, I needed they’d simply transfer on and cease torturing me.
Conversations with different anglers confirmed they had been experiencing the identical factor, so my confidence was restored as we commiserated. If we’re fortunate, peanut bunker or silversides will present in abundance quite than the tiny bay anchovies and “snot bait” we’ve seen the previous couple of years. When the 2 former baits are current, albies are typically at their most cooperative, so hold your fingers crossed.
When false albacore are in a troublesome temper, there’s no silver bullet that may earn a chunk, however having quite a lot of lures or flies in several configurations and dimensions could assist tip the chances in your favor. As a result of they’re hardest on small baits, spinning anglers ought to have some flies readily available to mimic minute forage that may be tied to a casting egg or different lure with a brief size of sunshine mono or fluorocarbon. My customary chief for spin or fly is 20-pound Ande mono, however in calm or vivid circumstances, I drop right down to a fluorocarbon chief as mild as 12 kilos. I’ve discovered that something lighter succumbs to the albies’ small however abrasive enamel. That is most typical when utilizing flies as a result of the fish are typically hooked contained in the mouth, ensuing within the chief taking the injury.
Experiment with retrieve pace, since quick and livid isn’t at all times the way in which to get the job executed. That stated, generally burning the lure or fly (a Crease Fly or popper works nicely for this) alongside the floor will generate a response strike, particularly when blind-casting. Talking of blind-casting, in case you’re placing out whereas casting into breaking feeds, you could as nicely try it since non-feeding fish could also be much less discriminating if a possible meals merchandise crosses their path.
One other element to contemplate on robust outings is the kind of bait the albies are feeding on, and whether or not quite a lot of baits are current within the space. I’ve had days the place peanut bunker and bay anchovy faculties had been in the identical common location, and the albies feeding on the previous had been aggressive, whereas these on the latter weren’t. I’ve additionally seen the identical sort of bait in several sizes from one faculty to a different, with the bigger bait contributing to extra hookups. With a superb pair of polarized sun shades, you’ll be able to simply distinguish peanut bunker from anchovies by the shade of the varsity under the floor. Peanuts nearly at all times seem as a gray mass, whereas anchovies are often pink or brown. Faculties of silversides could also be much less simple to differentiate, however they’re often darker than anchovies. When unsure, hold your eyes peeled for baitfish leaping from the water throughout blitzes. If it’s the scale of a fingernail, anticipate to have your work reduce out for you. Take some photographs, in fact, however be looking out for different bait faculties to work if issues don’t pan out.
It’s arduous to imagine we’re already approaching the top of the 2025 season, however I hope everybody was in a position to benefit from the time we had, quick because it appeared. The subsequent couple of months ought to characteristic loads of motion, so I hope you’ll benefit from it and get your repair earlier than winter.
Captain Casey Allen is an avid fly tier, fly fisherman, and a month-to-month columnist at On The Water Journal. You may observe him on Instagram @captaincasey09.
Higher Cape Cod
By Captain Dave Peros
The Elizabeth Islands Aren’t Only for Albies
The state of affairs I’m about to explain may be a dream for a lot of anglers however, for me, it’s a recurring nightmare that will get worse with every passing season. I can’t think about it getting any worse than final 12 months, however I do know it is going to this fall, and I’m powerless to flee it because the horror takes place in actuality and never in some nook of my thoughts.
You’ll need to excuse my dive into hyperbole, however in case you fished the Elizabeth Islands in September and October not that way back, you won’t imagine what the autumn brings alongside our native archipelago. So, earlier than I get into what at the moment disturbs me, let me provide you with an instance of what I by no means (naively, I admit) thought would finish.
I want I may provide the precise 12 months, however whereas the journey stands out as a result of measurement and variety of the fish we caught, we by no means imagined not encountering 40-plus-inch bass in quite a few spots from Naushon to Cuttyhunk.
A part of the magic of the event was that we had each proper to imagine we would find yourself on the quick finish of the stick for one primary cause: menhaden, a.ok.a. pogies. However in case you’ll bear with me, I’ll get to that after one among my typical digressions.
Even after only a few journeys with Gene Bourque in his tin boat, it turned clear that casting reside eels would work anytime we hankered for some huge stripers within the rocks, particularly within the fall. The one stretch of the islands we would have liked to fish was the shoreline of Naushon as a result of there have been so many high quality huge bass round.
Ultimately, we branched out to the Buzzards Bay facet of the island, and it proved to be even higher, permitting us to flee what we thought had been crowded waters. And, as a result of my tendency for looking for new areas even when the previous ones had been fishing simply superb, I expanded my horizons all the way in which to the top of the island chain, fishing tight to the rocks each day and night time. I definitely needed to study the place the boulder fields had been in order that I may arrange a drift simply outdoors one, but it surely was much more important that I familiarize myself with the rogues, the massive boulders that lurked just under the floor in any respect phases of the tide.
Through the years of scribbling fishing columns and stories, I’ve usually spoken of the necessity to acknowledge patterns and commit them to reminiscence. Alternatively, it’s equally necessary to not set so set in your ways in which you obdurately stick to what as soon as labored even because the proof clearly exhibits {that a} change may be so as.
That’s the way in which I approached studying in regards to the Elizabeths, taking as a warning the story of a constitution captain out of Falmouth Harbor who was cruising by way of an space the place he had no enterprise working. It makes for a greater story to say that simply as he cockily instructed these on board that he was acquainted with each rock in Lackey’s Bay, he slammed right into a rock, tearing out the underside of his vessel. Apparently, he had a crew on board as a part of a fishing-show manufacturing and the cameraman was knocked out chilly.
Certain, I did my finest to memorize the locations the place additional vigilance was crucial, and even at present I nonetheless pull again on the throttle nicely out from the place the remoted lower-unit munchers hang around. It’s necessary to gauge the pace of the present and wind path, in addition to turning into attuned to the obscure feeling that generally counsel that regardless of how a lot I need to fish an space, a twinge that convinces me to not push my luck.
I by no means need my identify related to the rock that the aforementioned captain struck; the truth is, I usually joke with of us on my boat after we are fishing close to a mountain of what I prefer to assume is granite. It carries the identify of one other mariner, though I’ve to confess that the precise nature of his error, together with the geology of the islands, are issues I made a decision to not find out about. What I can let you know is they’re fairly arduous and don’t play properly with props and skegs, even in case you simply stumble upon them whereas drifting.
In not less than one case, there’s a rock main into Tarpaulin Cove that carries the appellation Blue Rock, apparently as a result of a couple of unwitting (or smug) skipper left some backside paint on it.
So, let’s join my psychological wanderings and get again to bass on that one fateful day. Gene had his typical provide of snakes, whereas I supposed to be my opposite self and sling flies in addition to a number of metal-lip plugs. We had a really particular stretch of Pasque shoreline in thoughts, however though we arrived earlier than false daybreak, one other boat was already there and on the hook.
A method of accelerating your odds of avoiding hassle is to anchor up, whether or not you set your self at simply the bow or each bow and stern. On this case, the 2 anglers had been fishing pogies, so establishing on anchor made excellent sense. As we slowly handed nicely outdoors their location, we may see they had been bailing fish as quick as their baits hit the water. They had been shallow, so odds are that they had been utilizing livies.
If I encounter of us fishing pogies, I journey as far-off as potential, even when I’ve the best assortment of Anguilla rostrata possible. The late, nice fly-fishing legend Lefty Kreh had a beautiful expression when speaking about how trout behave after they feed on a sure bug: “Placing a fly in there may be like rolling a bottle of wine right into a jail cell.”
It’s the identical with pogies, and when a striper will get a style of those oily, protein-rich fish, it’s throughout.
The kicker on this story, nonetheless, is that we moved to a different of our favourite areas, caught huge fish for a number of hours ourselves, and by no means noticed one other boat.
Years have handed since that day, and the bass fishery across the islands is a mere shadow of itself. The theories to clarify what has occurred are many, however in my thoughts, probably the most primary cause for the dying of sure holes and drifts is the prevalence of chumming and chunking with these evil pogies by constitution, business, and leisure anglers. Water temperature, air pollution, the shortage of lobsters and different crustaceans that stripers love, together with elements that no one has but uncovered additionally need to be thought-about.
Little question there are nonetheless diehards who simply can’t get the magic fishing for stripers in these waters out of their blood. Eels nonetheless work, and if you will get your arms on some menhaden, find some fish, and feed them their “crack,” you’ll be able to have a superb day within the fall. Two years in the past, there have been faculties of pogies down the Elizabeths, and I can nonetheless recall them stacked up in Tarpaulin as they had been herded and charged by huge bluefish, with nary a bass to be discovered.
So, in any case that, you may be questioning the place the roots of my nightmare are discovered, but it surely’s fairly easy.
I nonetheless prefer to fish the Elizabeths for bass within the fall and I’ll by no means cease, even when I expertise a string of days like I did final October, after we forged spooks, swimmers, mushy plastics, and jigs, and by no means caught a striper, schoolie or in any other case.
In the meantime, over my shoulder I may see boats racing forwards and backwards, up and down, from Woods Gap to Cuttyhunk, trying to find albies. I may solely shake my head as I handed Lackey’s or Tarpaulin and witnessed boats piled on prime of one another, so shut that their strains may simply hit one other boat as they surrounded a single faculty of fish.
At some point, I watched a flyrodder who loves to hold outdoors the madding crowd by himself, blindcasting present seams and edges the place he has caught fish through the years. He was clearly having fun with himself simply casting and hoping for an eat, however quickly boats started to stream west after beating Surf Drive, Nobska, and the Gap to a froth. One after the other, they fashioned a circle round his boat, with a number of casting however most easily watching. In a few instances, they bought so shut {that a} 50-foot forged would have reached the water on the opposite facet of his boat.
Individuals who fish for albies and perceive their habits know they’re extremely adept at working contours and pinning bait, at which level they go in for the kill. The Elizabeths harbor good funny-fish motion as a result of there may be a lot shoreline to arrange their assaults, together with rip strains and robust currents.
Sadly, when fishing my favourite shorelines for bass, whether or not they’re boulder fields, combined weed patches and sand backside, or small bowls with distinct factors at every finish, my boat should have an indication on it that lures the funny-fish fools in. In any case, if I’m casting, there have to be one thing happening, proper?
I’m left with a sinking feeling that so many newcomers know the Elizabeths as albie or bonito waters, having by no means fished there for bass.
Two years in the past, due to Bob Lewis, I had the chance to fish with Captain Scott Hamilton, who plies the water between Palm Seashore and Jupiter, Florida. For a lot of years, Bob traveled in June to that space of southeast Florida to fly fish for albies, blackfin tuna, mahi, jacks, and different species with Scott. Each time he returned from one among these holidays and instructed me in regards to the expertise, I may nearly really feel how good it had been.
Scott is the nicest man possible and an actual straightshooter. He made it clear that he needed to fish for striped bass, not albies. In early July, we had an extended cellphone dialog and he flat-out stated that albies are an ideal gamefish and he by no means grows uninterested in them; nonetheless, that day, he needed to strive his hand at chucking flies at bass.
As an apart, whereas setting us as much as fish a nook round Robinson’s, I spied some fish breaking behind me and, certain sufficient, they had been albies. Suffice it to say that Scott casually modified gears from casting flies for bass and summarily hooked and landed albies on his first 5 casts. He used a floating line with a 6mm foam creation of his personal that imitates a wounded pilchard (however on this case mimicked a peanut bunker simply superb).
I’ve made suits and begins placing collectively an article on that journey, although I’ve the right title, Humble Pie, since I realized a lot from fishing with Scott that day, an important being that I actually didn’t know as a lot as I assumed.
Now, earlier than anybody begins spouting that the Florida albie fishery is completely completely different than ours since they chum the fish up and get them in a lather earlier than casting a fly into the motion, Scott admitted that that is true, at occasions. However, he additionally has journeys the place the fish are as fussy as ours, and he actually appreciated how cooperative the little tunny had been earlier than we turned our consideration to an awesome day of bass fishing.
It was the very best day of fall striper fishing I’ve loved in years, and I needed to chortle when he echoed what I had stated, half in jest, per week or so earlier when responding to a query from Jimmy Charge for an article he was writing.
To wit, “What do you do when confronted with finicky albies?”
“Go fishing for one thing else,” I stated … like stripers, the fish that made the Elizabeths well-known within the first place.
Captain Dave Peros is a pioneer of light-tackle and fly fishing down the Elizabeth Islands, and a longtime contributing writer and columnist at On The Water Journal.
Outer Cape Cod
By Captain Mike Rathgeber
The Greatest A part of the Season!
As the times get shorter, the nice and cozy summer time southwest winds shift to extra chilly and dry north and northwest winds. Summer time is fading into the rearview mirror and fall is ushering in some fairly unbelievable fishing right here on the Outer Cape. So, what’s so nice about fall fishing on the Outer Cape?
Reply: Many, many issues. We nonetheless have summer-like climate however no summer time crowds. Water temperatures are often at or close to peak. Lodging will get cheaper too, so a fishing journey is simpler on the finances. The constitution and social gathering boats are all nonetheless working, too.
Bluefish are right here huge time, and with the upper water temperatures holding their metabolisms excessive, they’re feeding across the clock. We see extra bluefish blitzes alongside our seashores within the fall, so surfcasting from Race Level right down to Lengthy Nook Seashore may be very productive. Anglers who work swimming plugs, poppers, and metallic lures do nicely when the blitz occurs. For finest outcomes, forged previous the blitz and rip the lure by way of it as quick as you’ll be able to. The lure must resemble a small, panicked fish attempting to get away from the frenzy as quick as it might.
Striped bass start their migration south again to the Chesapeake Bay and Hudson River to hunker down for the winter and spawn within the spring earlier than they migrate north once more. The primary actual chilly snap, particularly if it happens on a full moon, will get bass heading our approach, fattened up from a summer time’s value of feeding on pogies, sand eels, mackerel, and herring. Fall bass are often very heavy for his or her size, however hold fish solely between 28 and 31 inches. Any fish that isn’t within the slot needs to be launched as rapidly and gently as potential.
Bass use quite a lot of routes of their southern migration. Some hug the shoreline from Boston to the Canal, whereas others take an offshore route and present up at Seashore Level within the bay in addition to the stretch of water from Wooden Finish Mild to Race Level. From there, you’ll be able to go alongside the oceanside seashores from the Ranger Station to Head of the Meadow seaside and catch them from the seaside in addition to from boats. The identical deal with that works for bluefish works for bass; usually, they’re combined collectively throughout a feeding frenzy. Drifting reside baits of mackerel, pogies, or herring can be very efficient within the fall months.
Probably the most thrilling factor about fall fishing on the Outer Cape is when big tuna transfer into the bay in September and supply fishermen the chance to catch one very near house. Their location adjustments by the day. They are often wherever from the Fishing Ledge in the midst of the bay to Pamet or Wooden Finish Mild; at occasions, there’s even good fishing in Provincetown Harbor and off Seashore Level. Fishing with reside mackerel, herring, pogies, whiting, or small bluefish is definitely the easiest way to catch an enormous tuna within the bay. For those who don’t have the specialised gear it takes to combat and land an enormous tuna, it’s finest to constitution a ship and let the consultants deal with all the main points.
Fall brings a brief window of alternative to focus on bonito in our waters, and they’re often caught alongside wherever bluefish and striped bass are feeding. You’ll know when you may have hooked one because the combat is considerably extra sturdy than a striped bass and even a bluefish. A member of the tuna household, these fish are good consuming if bled out and iced down instantly after touchdown.
Backside fishing for flounder and tautog additionally will get higher as water temperatures come off their summertime heat peaks and start to chill simply in time to get these cold-water fish shifting and feeding. Search for rocky bottoms and produce clams or inexperienced crabs for tautog.
The breakwater jetty at Provincetown’s interior harbor is a good place to attempt to catch tautog and flounder. Sadly, the out-of-control cormorant inhabitants within the harbor has all however decimated the flounder inhabitants across the breakwater. Transferring away from that space and fishing channel edges or mussel beds off Pamet is a better option.
As you’ll be able to see, the autumn season affords many alternatives to catch quite a lot of species whereas nonetheless serving up respectable climate, together with no summer time crowds, and decreased lodging bills. What extra may you have to come out and see what you may have been lacking?
Mike Rathgeber is captain of Cee Jay Fishing Charters, a celebration boat out of Provincetown, MA, and a month-to-month columnist at On The Water Journal.
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