Cape Cod Fishing News and Reports

April Update - 2008

The first schoolie stripers have arrived in R.I. right on schedule and the local herring runs have shown good returns with a few shad as well. Our good friend Capt. Hap Farrell stopped off last Thursday afternoon, the 17th of April,at River Road in Orleans on Cape Cod and cast a lure out into The river coming from Little Pleasant Bay up into Meeting House Pond. The first two or three casts did not produce any action. On his next cast a hit, reeling a little further another hit and the fish was on. There are fish at River Road now. Hap had heard that fish had been taken but had not actually seen it. His first fish of the
season.

March Update - 2008

We have been busy with seminars and trade shows but the offshore fishing season is right around the corner. The Maverick will begin charters at Marthas Vineyard during the third week of May hoping that the water temperatures have reached the magic number of 50 degrees. A rising temperature change of one or two degrees can turn on the migrating stripers. The tuna arrived last year during the second week in June. If this year is anything like last we should have a banner season.

We will be participating in the RISAA Saltwater Fishing Show on April 4, 5, and 6 at the Rhode Island Convention Center with great bargains on custom squid bars, tuna jigs, green machine "Tuna Trains" and an assortment of striped bass lures. Please visit the Offshore Pursuits booth to say hello, receive great discounts and talk fishing.

September Update - 2007

The school bluefin tuna bite has been very good. We have been fishing the warm water side of a temperature break northeast of the Regal Sword. Our anglers are averaging 3-4 fish for a mornings effort. The striper fishing can be great for a few days then cool off with an invasion of bluefish on the shoals. However we have managed to find some real nice fish on the rips east of Pollack Rip Channel.

 A few of the seven school tuna up to 60" (approx. 90#) landed and released by the Falkenham family by 11:00 AM on 9/23.

 And on 9/21 the Doyle family boated five school bluefin tuna up to 50", two stripers to 40", two green bonito and two huge bluefish.

August Update - 2007

The striper bite slowed in mid Aug. with water temp fluctuations but has been very good since the 21st on the shoals at Monomoy. We also picked up three green bonito on a trip this week. Excellent eating. School bluefin is still great south of the "BC" buoy and at the Regal Sword. This fishery should last right through October.

Our friends from Worcester, Massachusetts with school bluefin tuna and striped bass from a great combo trip on 8/31.

Dad and daughter with a nice pair of bluefin on 9/2.

A trio of bluefin tuna landed by 8:00 AM on 9/7. Great anglers.

The Leary family with their striper limit from Stonehorse Shoal on 9/5. Many more were caught and released.

The Chatham Hat Trick, Bluefish, Bonito, Striper.

For those who don't think you can catch nice stripers (striped bass) within the three mile limit and legal waters in August 2007 please view these fish.

July Update -  2007

School bluefin tuna on Crab Ledge, at the BC Buoy and Regal Sword with a few fish over 73" at all locations. With the amount of bait around it could be the best fishing season in a long time.

New Bluefin Tuna Quota's for 2007

The new quota's are less than last year. No category tonnage came close to being filled in 2006.

General Category - 643.6 mt

Harpoon Category - 53.3 mt

Purse Seine - 254.1 mt

Angling - 269.2 mt

Longline - 200 mt

Reserve - 207.6 mt
 

As reported on Foster's Online, Dover New Hampshire

"Monday, March 19, 2007"

"Cape fishermen hit by diminishing catches of prized bluefin tuna"

"HYANNIS, Mass. (AP) _ Cape fishermen are pulling in diminishing numbers of the prized Atlantic bluefin tuna, exposing their families to financial hardships and concern over the future of the industry in the region.

Bluefin tuna's dark red meat produces some of the most expensive fish dishes in the world. The species is one of the largest bony fishes and can reach lengths of up to 9.8 feet. Adult weights range from 300-1,500 pounds.

More than 5,000 commercial fishermen along the Atlantic coastline pursue them each year as they migrate north in the summer and south in the fall. They are typically seen in New England waters from June to November.

The past two years, however, have seen historic low landings for bluefin. Last year alone, fishermen caught less than 14 percent of their quota _ one of the worst harvest in more than five decades of record keeping, biologist Brad Chase of the state Division of Marine Fisheries said.

The decline is reflected elsewhere in the world. Globally two years ago, Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have dropped by 80 percent over the past 30 years. The global tuna export market in 2002 was $5 billion, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

Andy Baler, owner of Nantucket Fish Co. in Chathan and Dennis, is one of those hit by the trend.

''Last year's tuna season never happened,'' Baler told The Cape Cod Times.

Baler said he used to process 800 tuna caught in Cape waters for shipment to the Japanese sushi market. Last year, he handled just 60.

''Tuna really helps the commercial guys. When you catch five or six giants, that puts $20,000 in the house,'' he said.

Bluefin tuna feeds on smaller fishes such as herring, mackerel, whiting, flying fish, and mullet.

Baler believes that the prized tuna are bypassing near-shore waters and heading to Canada because the inshore stocks of herring have all been caught by large vessels towing huge nets.

Canada does not allow such vessels to fish inshore areas.

Peter Baker of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association, hopes that recently passed regulations that ban the bigger herring boats from fishing inshore waters along the Gulf of Maine will leave enough fish to attract Bluefin to coastal waters this summer.

''Tuna (season) was a huge part of the year for our fleet,'' Baker said. ''With the collapse of cod, the shutdown on dogfish and with no tuna, it's the perfect trifecta.''

Efforts to step up protection of the threatened species are underway.

Last month, the European Union's top fisheries official pressed for stronger protections for the overfished bluefin tuna.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said he wants to extend the fishing offseason, reduce tuna sold on the black market, and impose new worldwide cuts in catch quotas as quickly as possible.

The proposal would reduce catch quotas this year for bluefin tuna caught in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean to 29,500 tons from 32,000. The EU's 27 member states were expected to approve the measure within weeks, officials said.

In Japan last month, worldwide regulators adopted a plan aimed at slowing the decline in global tuna stocks by reining in illegal fishing, controlling the growth of fleets and sharing data on stock assessments.

Illegal fishing has been a curse for the species. In EU waters, it is estimated that one in three catches goes undeclared onto the black market, or an additional 18,000 tons."

___

Information from: The Cape Cod Times, http://www.capecodonline.com

3/1/07 - Despite the snow and ice in the northeast the offshore striper and bluefish migration is in full swing with bluefin tuna right behind. The first schoolies will show up in Rhode Island waters around the first or second week in April dependent on tides and water temperatures. The Maverick will begin the charter season on Memorial Day weekend at Tom Shoal on Martha's Vineyard and follow the migration in June to Sankaty Light on Nantucket.

This early season bonanza provides great light tackle action while we wait for the bass to reach Monomoy which I believe is the most consistent producer in the East throughout the season. They usually arrive on the shoals at the end of June. When Cape Cod Bay and the inside flats warm up and slow down the rips around Pollack Rip Channel continue to yield impressive striper numbers. And during the day. It may appear like night at times with the Chatham Sunshine (fog) but if you don't have radar and know how to use it in close quarters you shouldn't be there.

We will also look for the arrival of school bluefin tuna around mid-June on Crab Ledge just east of Chatham. There could be a few giants mixed in as well.

We wish you the best for the coming season and I will try to keep you up to date in this column as to who is catching, on what and where.

Regards,

Capt. Jack