The bass are here, and the right whales are not. The whales left a week ago, and the latest aerial survey found no right whales in the area, so NOAA lifted the speed regulations and trap fishing closure a week early and now we can all get back to normal, making a living on the water without worry.
The right whales will continue their trek toward the Bay of Fundy for the summer. In the fall, they will begin migrating south to the warmer waters off of Florida and Georgia to reproduce and give birth. They don’t come through our area much in their southbound migration like they do coming north.
Capt. Rich Wood of the Beth Ann had his first fishing charter this past weekend and tried a little flounder fishing around the Pamet with no luck. Then he headed south toward Billingsgate Shoals to look for stripers and managed to catch two fish over the slot limit: they were 35 and 37 inches. He was trolling SP Minnows. He reports not marking much, but catching two fish is proof that the bass have arrived, even if they’re not here in big numbers yet.
I am hearing the same types of reports from Long Island Sound as well as the Jersey Shore. People are catching big fish — over the slot size — but there aren’t a lot of fish in any of the usual spots. The guys and gals fishing the canal and the south shore of the Cape and Buzzards Bay are starting to catch bass, too, and the word is black and sand eel-colored Ronzis are the ticket along with mackerel-colored SP Minnows.
Speaking of mackerel, they are thick in the harbor up in Horseshoe Cove and along the edge from Wood End to the Race.
Water temperatures are still rather cold for May, staying in the high 40s and not getting above 50 degrees at all. The Cape has been locked in a much colder weather pattern than mainland Massachusetts and the rest of southern New England is experiencing.
Tautog are beginning to bite and, as usual, tight to the rocks of the breakwater by the inner harbor is the place to be. Crabs and clams or mussels are the baits to use. Anglers may keep three fish per day of at least 16 inches in length, and only one fish may be over 21 inches. The season closes on May 31 and reopens on July 1.
Flounder will start to bite as water temperatures rise a bit, but the area behind the breakwater that used to be consistently productive is no longer so. From what I can see, the cormorants there have pretty much wiped the flounder out. The waters off the Pamet, however, at 20 to 30 feet depths, do have flounder.
In all, things are finally starting to percolate around our waterfront. If we ever get a nice stretch of warm weather that lasts for more than a day or two, things will escalate rapidly and the fishing season will get into a productive mode for us all.
