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Striped bass fishing

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    Summer Ups and Downs

    Eels, pogies, bluefish, and giant tuna

    By

    Fishing remained good on the Outer Cape this past week, with August rolling in on a quiet note weatherwise. Striped-bass fishing was again solid from Race Point all the way to the Peaked Hill Bar. We saw a good number of small fish under the slot size — in the 25- to 27-inch range. This is frustrating for this summer’s anglers; it’s no fun when you have to tell a customer the fish is an inch short of being a keeper. But it’s a good sign for the future.

    Commercial bass fishermen did not get the extra open day for August as they’d hoped they would because 70 percent of the quota has been filled. They would have gotten the extra day if the remaining quota had been above 30 percent. So, two open days a week for commercial bass fishing will be the schedule until the quota is filled, which will more than likely happen during the month of August.

    Tomasz Sas, a Chicago police officer, shows off his pool-winning striped bass. (Photo by Mike Rathgeber)

    Bluefishing continues to be rather manic: one day is insanely good and the next day not one fish is found. We had a day when they came into the bay along Herring Cove shoal waters in big numbers, and everyone who was there caught a lot of them. The next day they were gone. In general, the bay has never been as much of a dead zone as it has been this season, and I continue to be concerned and curious as to the reasons why.

    A group of humpback whales has been stationed just off Peaked Hill Bar and has not moved more than a quarter mile from that one spot in over a week. These whales seem content to stay put and feed on the abundant sand eels and herring in that area. Add to that the arrival of huge, dense schools of pogies, and they really have no reason to go anywhere else.

    August is the month when giant bluefin tuna show up in Cape Cod Bay, and true to tradition they were seen crashing the surface chasing pogies a few miles off Wood End Light this week. A few were caught, so we hope this is the start of a good late summer to early fall bay run. Giants have also been taken around Peaked Hill and the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.

    I am hearing about more than the usual numbers of thresher sharks being caught by fishermen pursuing tuna. As sharks go, these don’t rate high on anyone’s good eats list, but the tail meat from a thresher shark is one of the better tasting fish I’ve ever eaten and many who have tried it would agree.

    Speaking of sharks, a hammerhead shark was spotted off Monomoy last week. What makes this an unusual sighting is that hammerheads generally prefer much warmer water than we typically have, so this is yet another example of how climate change and a warming ocean are pushing these fish farther and farther north. At this rate, it won’t be long before we see mahi and cobia arriving up here, while lobsters are departing. Lobster fishing is already an almost dead industry in Long Island Sound, but that’s a subject for another day.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    Summer Weather Brings On the Blues

    Pacific tuna are rebounding; here’s hoping that’s true in the Atlantic, too

    By

    Fishing around the Outer Cape is heating up with this summer weather, which has been ideal; we are getting a fraction of the heat they’ve been feeling on the mainland.

    Striped bass fishing has improved dramatically, with the bulk of catches still between Race Point and Peaked Hill Bar. Trolling umbrella rigs and Jig-n-Eels remain the clear favorites, catching the most fish. But the bass have finally begun to chase and bite swimming plugs and poppers, too.

    About 30 percent of the fish we’ve been catching have been in the tight slot size for keepers. That number has finally crept up this week, and we’re seeing more slot-sized fish coming in than we have at any other time this season.

    This week we saw something that I don’t recall ever seeing before. We have had a fairly good-sized pod of humpback whales very near where we’ve been fishing for striped bass lately, though out a little farther into deeper water. These humpbacks are feeding on an enormous number of sand eels and herring, but we are also catching striped bass under the whales — and under the bait they are eating.

    Levi Joseph Pullman, 4, of Buckeye, Ariz. was determined to catch his first big fish, and he did, landing this jumbo bluefish with a little help from CeeJay mate Tammy Rabbett. (Photo by Mike Rathgeber)

    It’s pretty common to see bluefin tuna mixed in with feeding whales, and we’ll even see bluefish mingling with them, too. But with the striped bass, it’s always been a different story. But there they were out in the deep water, feeding with the whales. There are also quite a few bluefin tuna mixed in, and some are being caught there and around the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.

    Bluefish made an appearance in the bay last week. It was quite a charge of fish from Wood End to Race Point until we got a wind shift from the southwest to the north, which brought in much colder water. Suddenly, the bluefish departed to parts unknown.

    I recorded a surface water temperature of 47° F one morning on the way out at Herring Cove. I’ll bet those beachgoers were surprised when they dipped their toes into the water that morning. It recovered slowly to the low 60s the next day, which still isn’t the optimal swimming temperature, though it’s way better than 47.

    NOAA reports that the Pacific bluefin tuna population is making a remarkable comeback. It looks like their endeavors, involving cooperative international action to end overfishing of Pacific bluefin, have resulted in new stock assessments that show that the species is increasing and that there are a good number of juvenile fish that should help accelerate the rebound. The new assessment was presented at a recent convention of the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-Like Species in the North Pacific Ocean.

    The assessments confirmed that the current stock exceeded the goals of the first rebuilding target set in 2019. By later this year the population is projected to increase beyond the second rebuilding target established by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

    Pacific tuna are not interconnected to Atlantic tuna, but NOAA is managing both species, so it stands to reason we should experience some success, too. Meanwhile many fishermen here — and I’m among them — question whether our East Coast numbers are all that low.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    Cooler Water Turns the Bass On, Big Time

    Bluefish and tuna have arrived; the fin whales didn’t stay

    By

    Striped bass fishing remains uncharacteristically hot as we head into July.

    Typically, what happens is that July comes with higher water temperatures, which slow down the bass’s metabolism. As the water warms, the fish feed less and often only at night. We had one day like that this week, where the fish were stacked up under the boat, but no one was getting much of a bite. The water temperatures were starting to hit the low 70s in most places on the bayside at that point.

    Following that, however, some cooler water came in around the Race and brought the water temperature down to 65 degrees. The bass turned on big time. From Hatches Harbor to the Rip and slightly beyond, a large number of fish were feeding aggressively. Needless to say, that turned the fishing around.

    Provincetown’s fishermen were celebrated at the 76th annual Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday, June 25. (Photo by Agata Storer)

    I am told there are lots of bass down the backside beaches as well — all the way to Longnook. But word is the vast majority of these fish are over the 31-inch upper end of the slot limit and therefore are too big to keep.

    I’m watching various groups advocate on the question of striped bass regulation. On one side, there are groups like Stripers Forever, who want to end the commercial fishery and are calling for recreational protections for the larger fish. On the other, there is Fish 4 Dinner and We the Fishermen, of which I am a founder, who are pointing out how they and consumers rely on a well-functioning commercial fishery for their dinners — in two ways: for their livelihoods and at their tables.

    My position is that it’s important for more people with offshore experience to be part of the conversation about regulation.

    More and more bluefish have arrived this week and they, too, have been in a feeding frenzy around the Race, especially. I have also seen bluefish in the harbor. You don’t need a fish finder to spot them. Just watch the surface of the water.

    Tuna fishing is also starting to improve substantially in our area, and last week the Peaked Hill area was the most productive, while Stellwagen Bank was quieter. The mackerel we had in the harbor are now thick on the southwest corner of Stellwagen.

    There is also currently a rather large group of humpback whales hanging out on the southwest corner of the bank. The fin whales that were in the Race last week and the week before did not stay long; they haven’t been seen for a few days now.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    When Not to Look Elsewhere

    Bass and more bass, the first bluefish, and a blessing

    By

    Striped bass fishing this season is bordering on epic. We are seeing almost everyone limiting out despite the tight slot-size window we have to deal with.

    My mentor, Capt. Francis Bogan, who taught me how to fish when I first started out in Brielle, N.J. and whose family fleet held the International Game Fish Association world record for both cod and pollack for decades, told me two things I’ll never forget. One was this: never leave the lady who loves you. The other was never, ever leave fish to go try to find more fish.

    Skye Rose Kulp of Pennsburg, Pa. caught this bass on the Cee-Jay. At 34 inches, the fish was too big to keep legally, and therefore we have to hope it lives to swim another day. (Photo by Mike Rathgeber)

    With his words in mind, I did something this week running the Cee-Jay that I haven’t done in a very long time. I fished exactly the same drift with exactly the same GPS starting point and ending point for six consecutive days. All day long. Each day, the boat limited out. That’s a heck of a lot harder to do with 33 passengers on board than it is to limit out on your typical six-pack boat.

    Those results are not only testimony to the good lessons I learned from Capt. Francis but to the fact that these fish are stacked up thick and not moving at all.

    There are all sorts of prey around for bass to feed on right now. Sand eels are very thick along the edge and in the flats from Wood End to the Race, herring are in the rips, and mackerel, although they’ve left the harbor, are still on the back side and up on the bank. Peanut bunker are starting to show in the harbor as well.

    More and more bluefish are beginning to show up, and it’s been good fishing around the Peaked Hill Bar as well as down around Billingsgate Shoals.

    You can always tell what’s going on in the water by what creatures suddenly appear or disappear. Looks like a plankton bloom is occurring, as we are suddenly seeing storm petrels showing up as well as mola molas (also known as ocean sunfish), both of which eat zooplankton and algae.

    Other signs of a plankton bloom: the water is taking on a familiar green hue, and there’s that slightly sweet melon aroma in the air. Even though the plankton blooms are what bring right whales to our area, this one won’t. The right whales are well north of us in the summer, in and around the Bay of Fundy, and that is where they will stay until it’s time for them to head south to the coast of Florida for calving and breeding.

    It was nice to see the tradition of the Blessing of the Fleet continue last Sunday — a chance to honor some of the hardest-working people in our country. Without our fishermen, we would have to rely on seafood from places in the world whose harvesting techniques are both gut wrenching and immoral. I, for one, am very thankful they are still here fighting the good fight to try to make a decent living and provide us with beautiful seafood.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    Limit Reached, Commercial Season for Stripers Closes

    The case for revising catch limits to decrease losses of ‘shorts’

    By

    Commercial striped bass fishing closed for the season on Aug. 3 and will not reopen until next June. The 735,240-pound quota was filled, and that’s all she wrote.

    It was a short season, lasting less than two months, but the battle between recreational bass fishermen and commercial ones will probably continue on into the winter, with each group accusing the other of being wasteful with their catches and contributing to high mortality of released shorts — that’s undersized fish, for those of you who only like to read about fishing.

    Using circle hooks, landing the fish quickly, handling it horizontally and over the water — these are ways to help small bass survive after release. (Photo courtesy Mass. DMF)

    We haven’t had a lot of commercial-size fish in our local waters for a few years now, so I am not as on top of that scene as I used to be when we had the commercial fleet here. But I have heard of days in other areas with massive numbers of shorts floating dead on the water on commercial days, and I’ve seen plenty of recreational shorts floating about around here when there are a lot of boats fishing. For commercial fishermen, a short is a fish under 34 inches; for recreational folks, it’s a fish under 28 inches.

    The number of private boats fishing recreationally around our waters is way down from what we typically see. Whether it’s the high price of marine gasoline contributing to this or something else is a question to be asked, but whatever the reason may be, most days are relatively light with fewer recreational fishermen out there this season.

    I have no dog in the recreational versus commercial bass fishing fight, as I do both. But from where I sit, the current regulations are counterproductive for both groups. A better limit for recreational bass fishing, in my view, would be one fish of any size — you get one, and you are done for the day. For commercial fishermen, I’d like to see a lower minimum size to stop the high number of shorts that are thrown back, because their mortality is high.

    The real head-scratcher for me is the National Marine Fisheries Service making treble hooks illegal for bait fishing recreationally, while three treble hooks are OK when casting a swimming plug. I need the logic of that explained to me. I have caught many shorts this year with a swimming plug, and these fish had zero chance of survival after being released.

    The large numbers of 24-to-27-inch fish we had last year came back this year as 28-to-32-inch keeper-size fish, which made for a highly successful striped bass season that continues for recreational fishermen as I write this.

    Bass have been around and biting, albeit in fewer areas. There are fewer fish, but it’s still pretty good for August. I believe the status of the stock is very healthy right now. All the New England states have been reporting robust catches all summer long. It’s time to look at the regulations and clean up the rules that mean too many shorts being thrown back — and, I would add, increase the commercial quota back to 800,000 pounds per season.

    A terrific show of both humpback and finback whales from Race Point to Peaked Hill remains on offer for both whale watch boats and people on the beach. All you need is a good pair of binoculars. The whales are here feeding on the enormous numbers of sand eels we currently have in our local waters.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    Big Stripers and Elusive Blues

    A look at the rules for cod fishing, squidding boats, and dogs

    By

    Striped bass fishing remains very good, with charter boats and party fishing boats all reporting excellent catches almost every day. The fish remain solidly camped from the twin hills behind Long Point all the way around the Race and down to the Race Point Station. The fish are getting bigger, too, with bass in the 30-inch to 40-inch bracket now dominating the catch totals.

    Tammy Rabbett, a traveling Covid nurse from Windsor, Conn. who took the summer off from nursing and is working on the CeeJay as a mate, caught this fantastic 35-inch bass last week. (Photo by Mike Rathgeber)

    My fear was that the full moon, which often stimulates bass to move on to other areas, would change things. But that didn’t happen.

    Bluefish, however, continue to be elusive in a here-today-gone-tomorrow mode. Still, the area south of the Pamet to Billingsgate Shoals seems to be holding bluefish consistently.

    For those who fish offshore for cod, a sudden and radical rule change has come from National Marine Fisheries. They are closing cod fishing south and east of Cape Cod entirely for two weeks. When fishing reopens, the minimum fish size will go from 21 to 22 inches and the bag limit will be reduced from 10 fish per day per angler to five. Time will tell where we’ll go from here.

    Things have cooled off for the small bluefin tuna that were around recently, but the giants are cooperating, and catches are good up in Stellwagen Bank these days.

    The fin whales have mostly disappeared from the Race, but with as much food as we currently have in the water, I have little doubt they will be back.

    And now a rant on two issues.

    The squidders from Boston are now here fishing every night. We have large numbers of squid in our harbor at this time, as we usually do, so these folks are here to harvest squid to bring back to Boston. The issue I have about this has to do with safety. I see four guys with a generator and a big light piled into a 14-foot boat with very little freeboard, and I wonder why the same Coast Guard boat that checks every pleasure craft during the day for safety protocols isn’t going out there at night to see if these boats are up to speed with safety equipment and load limits. It certainly doesn’t look like they are from what I can see, but a quick inspection would put that question to rest.

    We had negative full moon tides last week, and from my boat I saw people walking their dogs again on the clam grants in the West End. And it wasn’t just dogs: someone was actually riding a horse over the grant. It’s time to start putting pressure on our select board to at least post signs telling people to keep their pets away from these shellfish beds. These are areas where we are growing food for human consumption.

    Come on, people. Think about the effect your pets have on the clam grants before you walk them there or set them loose for a run.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    It’s Looking Like an Epic Summer

    The harbor returns to normalcy for a classic Fourth of July

    By

    The waterfront looked very much as it did in pre-pandemic days for Monday’s Fourth of July celebration, as both wharves were packed with cars and people waiting for the fireworks. Boats were jammed into the inner harbor as well, and charter boats were bringing customers out on fireworks sunset cruises. It was a sight for sore eyes, indeed. The fireworks show, I thought, wasn’t as robust as some in the past — but, hey, at this point, anything that resembles normalcy is very welcome.

    Provincetown in blue-sky, full-summer mode, which Capt. Mike Rathgeber says will last only three blinks of an eye. (Photo by Nancy Bloom)

    The striped-bass fishing remains white hot. This is shaping up to be a better-than-usual season, and if the bass don’t do their disappearing act or their not-wanting-to-bite thing, as they sometimes do in July, this summer could end up being epic.

    Large numbers of fish are camped from Wood End to the National Seashore ranger station at Race Point at depths from 20 to 150 feet. The ticket to catching them has been fresh bait — which has presented a challenge, because the mackerel that are typically found in the harbor and at Wood End have been out on Stellwagen Bank and haven’t budged. This means that if you want to bait fish you first have to make the run up there to get your bait. Five-dollar-a-gallon gasoline makes that task a bit hard on the checkbook and, for charter and party fishing boats, on the bottom line.

    Trolling has been less effective than using live bait, but the real disappointment has been an inability to catch bass consistently with swimming plugs or jigs. It’s been just one here or there.

    Bluefish have pretty much left the area for now, except for a few being caught down past the Pamet towards Billingsgate shoals. There is an abundance of small bluefin tuna around, however. These fish, in the 30-to-80-pound category, have been seen just north of the Race on up to Stellwagen Bank. We got into them one day on the CeeJay and hooked two but lost them both.

    National Marine Fisheries has now closed recreational bluefin tuna fishing for all fish over 73 inches for the remainder of the year. Those fish can now be taken only by those with commercial licenses.

    There are a lot of whales around, as of this writing. Fin whales have been seen feeding from off Herring Cove all the way to the Peaked Hill bar on the backside. One day we counted seven fin whales in that area — a nice bonus on a fishing trip. There are also a lot of humpback whales on the southern part of Stellwagen Bank, feeding on the enormous numbers of sand eels and mackerel there.

    I’ve always said summer goes by in three blinks of the eye: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. We have had two blinks, so now is the time to get out there and enjoy the great fishing and whale watching available to us before that third blink.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    How to Avoid Rookie Moves

    The first blues, some rules for boaters, and where not to walk your dog

    By

    Striped bass fishing was excellent this past week, falling steadily into our expected summer pattern. The fish have been spreading out along the bay side from Race Point to Wood End, and the Race Station on the backside yielded some big fish, as did Head of the Meadow.

    The fish have gotten bigger. We are seeing a better than 50-percent ratio of keepers to nonkeepers lately, and that is a significant improvement over two weeks ago. Bluefish have arrived, though not in big numbers. We caught our first bluefish on the exact same date this year as we did last year. There is a lot to be said for consistency — and for keeping a log to help you recognize the patterns.

    Casey Schnoor of Binghamton, N.Y. with this 33-inch beauty caught on a diamond jig. (Photo by Mike Rathgeber)

    Now that the summer season is in gear, it’s time to mention the mess that occurs when trolling boats, drifting boats, and anchored boats are all vying for the same fish in the same area. Many boaters seem to be unaware of what’s not OK to do out there. Much of it is just common sense. Here are a few dos and don’ts.

    Don’t stop directly in front of a trolling boat. Don’t cut behind a trolling boat close to the stern. Trolling boats need to give boats with casters a wide berth. If you are casting or bait fishing, don’t throw your anchor out in the middle of a fleet of boats that are drifting. Finally, don’t go roaring at high speed into an area where boats are actively fishing, and don’t depart from such areas at high speed either.

    Just last Sunday, a kayaker threw his anchor very close to me — right in front of the direction in which I was drifting. Then his anchor got stuck, so he couldn’t pull it to get out of my way, and as I was hard reversing to avoid hitting him, a half dozen of my customers’ jigs got caught in his anchor line. One jig ended up hooking the kayaker in his hand. All this drama could have been avoided with just a little knowledge and common sense.

    This past winter, the state’s Div. of Marine Fisheries wrote new rules and recommendations for aquaculture sites. Among them is Item #11, which says, “Due to the threat of food source contamination, pets/animals are not authorized on aquaculture licensed sites. Should growers on intertidal licensed sites witness or get a secondary witness account of product contamination with feces or urine from a land-based animal, the adulterated product must be segregated on the licensed site and resubmerged for ten days prior to harvest for human consumption.”

    It is absolutely mind-blowing to me how many people walk their dogs on our West End shellfish flats at dead low tide and allow them to relieve themselves in and around the shellfishing areas where food is being grown for human consumption. At least the state has recognized this as an issue of concern and has written a policy about it. Now we just need signs posted around our aquaculture sites alerting the public to this policy. I wonder if this may be something for the select board to address as well.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    The Bass Get Bigger, but the Bluefish Are Teasing Us

    Meanwhile, a new 3-fish bluefin tuna limit is a head-scratcher

    By

    Striped bass fishing took a serious turn for the better this week, as more bass starting showing up not only in the Race but all along the bayside to Wood End. There is a tremendous amount of bait around. Mackerel, sand eels, herring, and even some pogies (menhaden) have been showing up around the harbor. The striped bass are getting bigger, with many keepers of up to 35 inches being taken by all the charter boats.

    The fin whales that normally hang out between Herring Cove and the Race Point station have yet to discover the smorgasbord that is awaiting them right now.

    Flounder fishing remains very good in the south end of the bay, and many boats are reporting that they are catching the limit — five fish of at least 16.5 inches per person.

    A school of Atlantic mackerel. (Photo courtesy NOAA)

    Bluefish are still teasing us here. They are in the canal and along the backside down by Hyannis, but they have not shown up here yet. But that should change any day now, as long as the winds stay southerly to southwest and the water temperature keeps climbing. It was at 59 degrees over the weekend.

    The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, often comes up with rules that make you say, “Huh?” Here’s one that’s a real head-scratcher; they are now allowing the commercial guys to take three Atlantic bluefin tuna a day instead of one. This raises many questions, the first being why you would allow more fish to be caught when at the same time you are telling us it is a highly endangered species.

    Second, the market is already saturated with product, which has driven the price downward. This is due in part to the gross misrepresentation of tuna fishing portrayed by the very popular Wicked Tuna “reality” TV show. Because of the show, the number of guys trying to fish tuna commercially has gone up exponentially in the last few years.

    The new tuna rule also very much favors the harpoon guys, because it is much easier to land three fish harpooning than it is rod-and-reeling.

    It remains to be seen if Fisheries will adjust the daily catch limit after July 1, when the fish start to get fat and become more valuable.

    The wholesale price of lobster has taken a dive at an inopportune time, just as lobstermen are trying to cope with extremely high fuel and bait prices. The price of live pound-and-a-quarter hard-shell lobsters fell from $12.35 a pound on April 1 to $9.35 a pound on May 1. That’s not good when you consider what these guys and gals are up against in their day-to-day local markets with skyrocketing fixed costs. I hope they can find relief at some point during the summer.

    The Coast Guard will be increasing the number of safety checks they undertake on private boats this spring and summer both in and out of the harbor, so make sure you have the appropriate gear on board: life preservers, horn, working bilge pumps, firefighting equipment, signal flares, and a working radio.

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