We finally got a week with somewhat normal summer weather, and fishing has been what it should be in midsummer. The bay seems very quiet right now; the cottages at Beach Point, the harbor, and the stretch of water between Long Point and Herring Cove have not seen much action lately. The waters off the Pamet, which usually have a lot of bluefish, have also been very quiet this summer.
Conversely, the area from Race Point all the way down to Cahoon Hollow Beach in Wellfleet has seen good action for both striped bass and bluefish, and the tuna are attracting a whole new crowd.
The Provincetown fleet of charter boats has concentrated on the Race Rips and down towards the Race Station, with much success last week. Mackerel have finally come back into the bay and were caught in the Race as well as off Wood End and Long Point. This is great news for those of us who drift bait for bass and blues. On the Cee-Jay, we had to resort to driving to Chatham or New Bedford to get mackerel for bait for the last couple of weeks.
Trollers using umbrella rigs did very well with bass and bluefish all last week. Fortunately, the brief north winds we got did not lower the water temperature too much, and it is actually perfect now. At 64 to 68 degrees, the water is neither too warm nor too cold, but just right for the fish that are currently here.
Tuna fishing has dramatically improved, with the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank being the current hot spot. The fighting and screaming on the marine VHF radio between the tuna boats is as bad as or even worse than ever. The cable TV show Wicked Tuna has created a new crop of fishermen who believe all you need to do is get a boat and a commercial license and you, too, can be a tuna fisherman and make a ton of money.
Unfortunately, it might work in theory but not in real life. The fleet at Stellwagen has been enormous, and a lot of the new guys do not know what’s appropriate in giving space to other boats when anchoring up, or how much space you need to give a boat fighting a fish. This is infuriating the guys who have been doing this for a long time and know the protocols. Hence, the screaming and cursing at one another over the radio.
The fin whales are still cruising and feeding in the waters between Race Point and the Ranger Station, so keep looking offshore if you are on the beach over there.
Great white sharks, which have been keeping a fairly low profile around here to date, are suddenly pinging the shark buoys and being spotted more and more by lifeguards and spotter planes. From what I hear, they spent a lot of time this summer in and around the waters off Long Island but are now filtering into our waters looking for seals. Stay tuned.
The waterfront still looks very subdued, as the Covid outbreak has meant a significant reduction in the number of tourists in town and on the wharf. For a second consecutive season, local businesses are trying to make lemonade out of lemons.
