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Cape Cod Fishing Reports with Seaduced Charters - 2008

The 2008 charter fishing season started off slow with almost no squid in Nantucket Sound. Schoolie stripers started arriving and feeding in the rivers at the end of April and were in full swing by the middle of May despite the cold weather. By Memorial Day the bigger striped bass and bluefish had moved in and their numbers grew steadily. My spring spots in Nantucket Sound were slower than usual because of the cold weather, but we did catch fish up to 25 lbs., mostly on surface lures. Days with 20 plus fish were not common but we did have a few.

Cape Cod Bay proved to be more productive during the middle of June with most of the fish falling to RonZ lures on leadhead jigs. The end of June brought the stripers to Handkerchief Shoal off the end of Monomoy Island. We had our usually great fishing till the middle of July. During this time we landed many stripers over 20 lbs. with our biggest being 33lbs. This is some of the best fishing of my year and most of the fish fall to surface plugs. If your goal is to catch stripers on fly fishing gear, this time of year will be your best opportunity.

After the middle of July the fishing slowed down till the bigger tides of the third week when squid moved back into the rips for a few days. Bluefish started to show in greater numbers around this time and provided some fast action at times and proving elusive at others. The fishing during August was spotty at best with good action one day and a complete absence of fish the next. I had a few good days but over all it was not as good as usual.

September brought falling water temps and some better action on the water. Cape Cod Bay began to pick up and I got on a really good bite on Scorton Ledge. My usual casting with light spinning gear was replaced with trolling with tube and worm rigs on 18 lb. test lead core on medium casting rods. Leaving from Barnstable Harbor or Sesuit Harbor we often ran into large schools of feeding bluefish up to 14 lbs. with a few stripers mixed in. These were great sport on 12 and 15lb. test and mostly caught on avis jigs dropped to the bottom and retrieved upward. The middle to the end of September also saw some spotty action at the end of Monomoy for the always elusive false albacore. There were days of fast action followed by days of frustration, a solid pattern never did establish itself for these speedsters.

In October action slowed and we had lots of wind. But I kept wishing I could go out one more time. I made my last trip on October 24 and was the only trip of the year that we got skunked. I saw no bait or fish but have heard of lots of big stripers way offshore out of reach. A video has been playing showing approximately 3 miles of dead stripers thrown overboard as bycatch by a dragger. This makes me sick and in talking to a fisheries manager was told there is little if anything they can do!! I couldn’t believe what I was told!! These fish should be counted towards the commercial quota or the offending boats fined for fishing over stripers. These were commercial draggers fishing for herring and I feel they know the stripers are there and do this every year. This year they were caught on video by  tuna fisherman on their way in. I certainly hope this can be stopped as I sure it impacts our inshore fishing next year by removing so many large fish. See the video on the Stripers Forever site.

The fishing season is over for another year and it’s time to think of other things….such as hunting. It’s off to Maine for two weeks the 4th of November and then some deer hunting on the Cape till the end of the year. Maybe we’ll get some ice this year or I’ll have to wet a line in the fresh for trout and salmon till the stripers and blues show up again next spring. Look for me at the Cabela’s in Hamburg Pa. for their captain’s weekend in March and the great Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association show the first of April in Providence.   

 
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Light Tackle Sportfishing Charter Boat -  Seaduced

 Cape Cod, Massachusetts

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Capt. Robbie Briggs

A Cape Cod native with an intimate knowledge of the waters around Nantucket Sound, Cape Cod Bay and Vineyard Sound. Robbie has been catching stripers and bluefish for over forty years and looks forward to sharing his knowledge with you.