Cape Bass on Squid

[Wild Bill]

Terry and I spent the past week at the Cape slamming the bass. I fish fairly often and this was the best trip I can remember for the number and size of bass on flies. We did good last year but this year was better. Boat handling is 80% of catching fish in the rips and we are learning how to put the boat in the right spot and hold it there.

The weather turned out to be much better than predicted. It did not blow over ten kts all week. One thing you have to learn to deal with is the fog. It is prevalent every single day and may last the entire day long. We had Chuck and Bobby with us again this year in their 23 Parker with radar for much of the week. I am considering getting a small unit for next year.

We only used two flies and two fly lines. A large orange squid fly was hot. It is a fly that I put together from a number of features I had seen on various squid flies. The stripers just loved it. It uses a wide gap Gammy 6/0 hook which helps with the hook up ratio. This was fished on a 10 wt with a custom tip express line. The other fly was a large white slider fished on a 10 wt floating line.

The water is very clear and you can often see the fish with their mouths wide open cruising behind your fly in the curl of the rip. Seeing them take the fly is a big part of the thrill.

Terry did yeomen's work taking all the fish off because I did not want to grab them with my recovering hand. We landed nearly 400 fish for the six days from 10 to 30 pounds. About 10% of those were bluefish. All hooks were barbless and all fish released to swim another day. When the fog became thick, we stopped fly fishing and caught them on needle fish plugs, so we could be more attentive for what might be near us. We fished areas not populated with the commercial hook and line bass fishermen. Their aggressive behavior makes fly fishing difficult at times. Plenty of room up there to find your own fish. A great place to spend a week in July.


Terry with a Sqiud Eating Bass


Another Squid Eater


This Bass Took a Big White Slider on Top


Chuck and Bobby's Radar Boat

[JMadert]

Damn, Bill .... damn !! Nuttin' but boiling hot water and clumps of jellyfish down here.

As good as the Fall, but in July !! Very nice work.

[TimeFlies]

Very nice fish. Someday. I hope to have 1/4 of the time you spend on the water. With my honey-dos, kids events and working way too much, my time on the water has been limited. Thanks for the posts - I enjoy living vicariously through your trips!!!

[Wild Bill]

Hey J-

For numbers of fish on the fly and average size of fish, I never had a trip at the CBBT this good. The fish are in 4-8 feet of water at the edge of the rips. The only reason it takes a fairly heavy sinking line for the squid flies is to keep them under the surface in the heavy current. We fished surface sliders as much as possible but at times they did not want to come up for them and the squid flies slightly under would take them. When a ten pound fish is a small one, you know it is dang fine fishing.

[Flying Fish]

Nice report, WB, and I'm envious. By the way, the back side of Race Point was full of nice bluefish last weekend, and Stellwagen and app[arently other parts of Cape Cod Bay were full of BFT although we got only one, about 60#, obviously not on a fly rod. They too are eating squid and silversides.

FF

[The Old Man]

For releasing every single one of those fish!!

[Wild Bill]

Hey Doug-

It is hard to watch those commercial H & L guys pulling in those big fish on electric reels and 100 pound test line. MA has strange rules that allow anyone to get a H & L license and sell fish. The fish are concentrated in the rips and very vulnerable.

[JMadert]

George Washington, concerning the people of MA:

"know they've gone and done it ... started a war with the most formidable army in the
world".

[Wild Bill]

J-

George had infinite wisdom. With the exception of the few states that have no commercial sale of striped bass, it seems that each state wants to promote a money grab at the expense of the resource. MA seems the most egregious with their commercial H & L license. The guys are out there in pleasure boats. I doubt that one of them is truly a commercial waterman. It is hard to describe but most plow through the rip at speed and give no consideration to other fishermen. It also seems to take them a long time to catch their five big fish.

Fortunately we have found other places to fish where most of those guys do not want to run. Many times we had our spots all to ourselves.

[TLT III]

Bill,
I am up here now.Were you north or south of Monomoy or in the Bay? Thanks.