The Tight Lines Fishing Report is brought to you by Corey and Cam Gammill via Bill Fisher Tackle and Bill Fisher Outfitters. Visit their website, their shop at 127 Orange Street, or give them a call at (508) 228-2261.
Dear Fisherman and Friends,
It’s a great time to own a boat, or better yet, know a friend with a boat! The fishing over the last week has been incredible. More and more fish keep flooding into our fishery. There is one image seared into my mind from last Friday when I looked out and saw thousands of bluefish milling on the surface. They were not feeding; they were simply cruising. An hour later, 3 miles away I saw the same phenomenon. I remembered quickly seeing the same thing on a charter last year and thought how cool to watch these fish enter our fishery. These fish were coming in from offshore and getting adjusted, hence why they were not yet the typical aggressive bluefish. I would take the visual any day over the strong bite.
While many loathe the entering of blues into our fishery as it means less bass on the line, I am the exact opposite. I love a fishery that is alive. A fishery that has bait and predators and birds and the whole gamut. Two weeks ago, the western edges, old man, and most of the other edges around Nantucket were teeming with bass and squid and images of the nature channel everywhere you look. Those fish are still in our fishery, they are just now settling into patterns. There are still tons of bass around. Now we just must fish a little more and look for signs of fish, but when we find the signs, the fish reward. On top of strong numbers, we are also seeing much bigger fish. The 2015 year-class, which is all the talk, is certainly in our waters as we have plenty of fish in the 30–35-inch range. We have been lucky as well to see many of the 2017/18 year-classes which are the 25-30 inch fish.
As for what these fish are eating, they are eating swimmers and soft plastics, but have been crushing pencil poppers like the Island X Hellfire and the Cotton Cordell. We way prefer the surface bite if we can as it is scream inspiring. I’ve seen cart-wheeling bass tens of thousands of times in my life, and I still get giddy like a schoolboy. Surface lures are just that much fun. If you are fishing in the open water and not on the edges, we’d recommend a small Cordell or a Jumping Minnow or if targeting blues, a simple deadly dick or ballistic missel.
While we are super focused on bass and it’s fun to see blues, it is worth noting that a bonito was caught today west of Muskeget by Zander Strange. We certainly don’t think this is an indication of more bonito, but we do think it’s awesome and good on Zander! Live the mantra of go fish and see what happens!
What’s also worth pointing out is that with the number of fish in the fishery, many have been throwing fly rods. We brought into the shop this year the new Sage R8 and it is without a doubt the best rod I have ever thrown. In fact, the reason we brought it in is I was sent a demo by our rep for a trip I took this Spring and melted once I threw it. We still have Thomas and Thomas, but if you are interested in Fly and are interested in a new rod, the R8 is an absolute must.
As for where to go, All the major edges around the island have fish. Old man is mostly bass still while Great point is a healthy mix. The western edges have both bass and blues, but they are mostly pocketed with like species. Monomoy has been producing incredible numbers of fish with size, but you’ll have to navigate the traffic over there, and the eastern edges are starting to turn on.
As good as the boat fishing has been, unfortunately the beach reports are a bit slim in the last week. This is not to say there are not fishing being caught from the beach, but with access limited in many places and mung weed still clinging to the south and east side, the shore anglers have struggled. This is a shame as there are lots of fish in our water. We are hoping that when the bait in the open waters start to dissipate the shore bite will turn back on.
We hope that this report encourages those who can get on the water to do so in the next two weeks while the bass are still here, and the bluefish are fresh. This is the best time of year to be on the water as the likelihood of bending a rod is great. If the beach is your only option, don’t give up hope, soon these fish will be tight to our shorelines again. Very soon!
Sincerely,
Captain Corey Gammill: 203-962-8867
Captain Cam Gammill: 508-332-9149
Captain Mike Ruby: 508-221-7144
Captain Nat Reeder