July 29th - Heat Wave Doldrums

Stripers and Blues- Sheesh…what a heat wave! Striper and blue fishing has been tough unless you go at night. With the heat wave recently the bigger fish have packed up their bags and moved to cooler, deeper waters during the day. They are accessible if you have the wherewithall to get your boat positioned well in a deep rip and hold tight. The night bite, however, has been truly awesome. Head out around sunset and don’t come back til dawn! You’ll likely have yourself a good time, and it’ll be worth the sleep deprivation. You can try drifting eels or throwing large soft-plastics, and the bigger fish may just indulge. At lo-light hours, topwater is still pulling up the occasional fish around reefs and point rips. Try the 247 Mully, Tsunami Talkin’ Popper, or any of your preferred topwater lures and you may find yourself hooked up. The hope is that temperatures will even out more and the bigger fish will become more accessible.

Billy from Seven Stripes Fishing reports that the live pogie bite is on in Massachusetts. Big fish are being caught (like the one above) and anglers are all in on this bite. Bluefin are also blitzing north of the cape, and bonito have been caught around the islands. A week from now- gear up!

Seabass and Porgies- Porgies continue to make themselves accessible on pretty much any reef or rock pile. Try squid on a double-bottom rig or drift and jig a small metal such as a Tsunami Forktail Candy. Seabass have been prevalent around deeper humps and bumps, but can turn on and off depending on the tide’s movements. Try drifting over different sections of the same hump, as they make stack up in certain places depending on what’s going on down at their level. Diawa DK Jigs continue to be the seabass lure of the summer. Try pink or blue-pink and use long, vertical lifts of your rod tip to lift the jig, followed by a lowering of your rod tip so that the jig can flutter down. Make sure you aren’t scoping out and have a properly weighted jig for tide and depth, or you may be down a bit of tackle!

Fluke- Fluke remains hit or miss, as it has been all summer. Spots heat up, then they cool down, then new ones heat up. It’s a bit of whack-a-mole out there if you’re looking for keepers, but there are plenty of shorts to be found to provide some fun action. Keep an eye on the water clarity. In clean water conditions, more natural colors work well, but when water murks up, try switching to something more eye-catching to get the fluke’s attention. This week’s winner of the Fluke Fest Weekly Challenge was Tom Maffuid with a 7.98 pounder!

Tog/Blackfish- With the lack of green crabs plaguing anglers, spear-fishermen have shown their stuff recently, getting a few monster tog. We know they’re nearby, but without easy access to proper bait the fall season looks like it will be the prime time as is typical.

Crabbing- Plenty of good crabs abound and we are ripping through crabbing gear at the shop. Seems like everyone knows the deal! Go out and find em!

Freshwater- Freshwater fishing has been tough as well due to heat, but there are plenty of solid bass around in the mornings and evenings and if you go deep during the day. Another tip is to find moving water in bodies of water without otherwise noteworthy structure. Bass congregate around these oxygenated parts of their homes, happy to feel a bit cooler.