What an up-and-down week this was for fishing. For days, the water temperature climbed, making it back to the mid-70s, and fishing for the most part was good for striped bass and bluefish.
The caveat, however, was that the bluefish were only down the backside ocean beaches from the Race Point station to Head of the Meadow, and the striped bass were mostly in the Race with little movement away from it.
What made that situation more interesting was that charter boats from other ports — Rock Harbor, Sandwich, and even Plymouth — started showing up in the Race to fish. That meant absolutely nothing was going on in the rest of Cape Cod Bay.
The Race was crowded with boats all trying to catch the same fish, with some trolling and others drifting baits or vertical jigging. To say it was an omnishambles would be an understatement. Somehow, though, we all managed to coexist somewhat peacefully and catch fish.
The pressure on these fish was no doubt enormous. I hope some more fish show up in other parts of the bay to spread the wealth out a bit more and keep the other fleets fishing in their local waters.
Then on Saturday, a line of vicious thunderstorms came through in the night with a cold front and strong north winds. On Sunday, we found the front had brought water temperatures down significantly. It was 55 degrees at Herring Cove; just 24 hours earlier it had been as high as 74 degrees. Beachgoers heading for a swim were in for a big surprise.
The Race was equally cold on Sunday, and the fish simply disappeared. And with the high winds and rough seas, there were hardly any boats out. The few that were out were frantically searching for warmer water or fish (or both).
Our search on the Cee-Jay yielded nothing at all as we looked from the Race all the way to the Pamet. Capt. Russ on the Lisa Zee found some bluefish, but they were in very rough seas at the Race station. And that was about it. Southerly winds and warmer temperatures should bring the fish back into the usual places.
Tuna fishing remains hot and cold, with Peaked Hill being the most consistent area for smaller bluefin tuna. I am still not seeing a whole lot of giants coming into our port. A fin whale and a minke whale were spotted around Race Point this week, so beachgoers should keep an eye to the offshore horizon for their telltale spouts.
It’s too easy to forget that, in spite of the cooler water this week, we’re in a warming trend. A weather buoy in Long Island Sound recorded a surface temperature of 80 degrees last week, which is not entirely unprecedented but still a worry. Our ocean waters continue to warm to levels unsustainable for the type of marine life we have had here for centuries and which will continue to migrate north in search of a more hospitable environment.
