helping folks enjoy the outdoors for over 65 years...
Well guys, the Stripers are here! The boat is in the water and we are ready to go! I will be offering a early spring discount that runs from now until May 21st! I am offering $100 off any charter until then. There are plenty of fish around and we do not have to travel far at all! Stay tuned as we will be giving up the minute fishing reports from here on out.
Tight lines!
Thanks!
Brett Wilson
Hindsightsportfishing.com
Yesterday, Sunday, we got out for our first charter of the season for stripers. We got off the dock at 9am along with Capt . Dave for a two boat trip. We headed "West" since the reports for the ‘East" was that not much was going on….We got to the area of the Bell Can and tossed out the umbrella rigs…red and black with spoons as trailers. Lots of people were looking for macks and were going to live line.
The reports at that time were that not many guys were hooking up live lining…so I set my pattern to cover as much ground as possible to find the schools of fish t. We worked all around the Bell can, then headed towards the "Parking Lot" in 40 feet of water. After dragging the rigs..we finally hit for doubles…after working the fish we put a nice 31 incher in the box and tossed back a 25 incher….back out went the gear and again we started to cover ground…we continued to fish the rigs and hit for a few more shorts..and also found a few macks on the end of the rigs….as the day was ending…I heard that the live lining was not really working for the guys …so I was glad we stayed with plan…
It was a great day.. a little cold to start..but warmed up as the day went….all in all..I was very happy …great people, great day…dinner in the box….and we did not pitch a shut out…If you are looking for some great fishing give me a call…we will make it happen….stay safe, Capt. Mark www.shannonsea.com
Many are saying everything is early this year, because of the unusually warm weather patterns we had in April. There seems to be fish and bait everywhere as of the last week’s reports. I expect the rains we are currently experiencing will keep folks off the waters for the next few days, but the weekend forecast is good and with the last full moon a surge of new fish should be charging into the area.
Mackerel are in good numbers in Cape Cod bay and some Nantucket Sound locations. The squid and menhaden are in Nantucket Sound in good numbers as well. I have been freezing up some to use for baits for bass and tuna for later on. Cape Cod Bay would be the spot to fish if you were targeting striped bass. Any estuaries and marshy embayments will be full of voracious school sized stripers if you figure the tides right. These fish are migrating and feeding heavily. A trout rod and a small jig head and curly tail grub is all you need for some light tackle fun.
> My “Marilyn S” is almost ready to splash with couple of minor cosmetics left to do. I added some high tech LED through hull lighting in the stern and corners to aid in seeing the bluefin to harpoon them at night. I also expect they will draw baitfish and squid to the boat at night when chumming as well. I have booked several Giant tuna charters already this year for the better tide days coming up this fall, as a result of the increased interest in “Wicked Tuna”. I hope to do lots more of them in the future. There is absolutely nothing in the fishing world, compared to the run and power of a big Atlantic Bluefin Tuna ! If you want to catch one you have to be committed, prepared, lucky and good. I am considering writing a little bit about what it takes preparation wise to land one of these magnificent tuna or if you prefer, to release one safely, in the future. These fish are powerful and can hurt you if you are not prepared. Stay tuned for more later.
> The bluefin we encounter this year will be in the 70” to 78” size class, making most of them commercially salable. The laws on recreational and commercial are complicated. Make sure you familiarize yourself with them before you go and be prepared enough to handle them without hurting yourself or the fish. With these fish now of “trophy” class size, the laws are very specific about what you can keep, both daily and annually. Make sure you know what the rules are. Here is a link to the latest: https://hmspermits.noaa.gov/News.asp#news231
> Bookings are increasing every week, and for those of you that fish with me every year, you have learned some days have better tides and amounts of effort on the waters than others. If you know you want to come to the waters of Cape Cod again this summer for some good fishing, try to reserve your day in the next month or so, before the better dates are taken. Good Fishing to you all, > Captain Bruce & “Marilyn S”
Despite yesterdays bumby seas, Capt. Mike reports great jumbo scup fishing yesterday in Natucket Sound yesterday 5/7 /12
Capt Greg reports decent fishing at the mouth of Barnstable Harbor....he weighed in 2 nice keepers on 4/25/12. Fished with Garrett Lascola on 5/3/12...over a dozen keepers in Cape Cod Bay. www.monomoyfishingcharters.com
Remember that I said if we got some sun and it warmed a bit the Bay might explode... Well. it did. The party that booked the Osprey on the full day trip was fortunate to witness fishing that is rarely seen. Pods of good size stripers everywhere you looked. There were so many fish that they had to stop using the umbrella rig because they’d get three to five keepers on each rig. They went to single plugs to keep things at a dull roar. Now that’s good fishing. The half day trip was nowhere near as active but still very productive. There were fish on the South Edge of the Shoals and about a half mile off the Brewster Flats about half way between Rock Harbor and Sesuit Harbor.
As the weather improves and warms so will the activity of the stripers. The body of fish that was off Barnstable Harbor will slowly move to the east and wind up in an area called the New Grounds. This area is about three miles west of where the old Target Ship was. They should stay in this area for a week or so and then move north. The North Edge of the Billingsgate Shoals will become very active at that point, I hope. Also the deep water off the shoals should start producing some good sized stripers. At this point we should start to see a fair amount of bluefish show up. One bluefish was landed last weekend in the bay so they are just starting to arrive.What is the best lure system to use? To find where the most concentration of fish is the umbrella rig is the best system to use. Put it on your 150 foot wire set up or 200 foot set up depending on the water depth. If you are fishing west of the ship, the south edge in the deeper water or the north edge of Billingsgate Shoals, use the 200t foot wire rod. If you are fishing along the Brewster Flats, inside Barnstable Harbor, or up by the three and five cans heading into Welfleet, use your 150 foot rod because the water there can get as shallow as 15 feet. The other lure that has worked well for me is the green mackeral swimming plug or the pearl colored bomber. Some of the plastic lures will work also, like the pink or while Ronzi. If you find fish on the surface most popping plugs work well.I have not heard much from the Provincetown area other than there is a lot of small mackeral in the harbor itself. From what I’ve been told most of the fishermen from up that way are heading for the Path out around 50 feet of water and down towards Billingsgate Shoals. I’m sure this will change quickly as the water warms up.This last week I had my mate Mark and a friend of his Pete out for the half day and we did well off the Brewster Flats down by the Church Spire Ground. We easily got our limit of six fish. The next day I had Tom Goodrou from the Goose Hummock out to get him a fish. He got two with one of the stripers being almost 36 inches. The fish are here,If you’d like to get in on some of this fishing call me at 508-240-8267 and we’ll try and get you out.Cape Cod's best, most resepected charter boat captains report on their fishing here...check back often for updated reports!
