June 28, 2019
Dear Fishermen and Friends,
It is with a heavy heart that I write this fishing report as one of our fishing community is still on the high seas fishing. I will not recap what happened, but the entire fishing community and island has been saddened all week with the disappearance of Vital Filiutovich. As with all moments of sadness, there are many ways we can handle it and we hope that rather than hide and be scared of the “what ifs”, that the Nantucket community will pick up their rod, grab their kids and get out and go fishing.
It is the end of June and all of us who live here are exhausted from making this island perfect for ourselves and those who call Nantucket home in the summer. Those coming to visit us are exhausted from the stresses and toil of the real world, school and all of life’s stresses. It is a perfect moment for the ENTIRE Nantucket community to count their blessings for how fortunate we are and to forget about the to do lists and to find time for what matters most…. family, friends and…fishing.
As you have read in the reports all season long we are having the best striper season in memory. This is largely because of the large amount of bait in the water. Now one might ask, we have been hearing about bait being overfished for years, why is it now so solid? The big reason is the squid laid their mops early and many of eggs were able to hatch before the squid boats got to them and thus our water now has immature and mature squid in it, which is a striped basses dream. Our water also has some herring, as well as mature and the first signs of immature sand eels. An early Spring helped our baitfish and both fishermen and stripers are benefiting.
Our fishery is also starting to fill in with Bluefish, Fluke and SeaBass. I would not say these fish are thick yet, but they are coming and the fluke in particular are getting more and more abundant by the day and are definitely worth fishing for. And we have also had the craziness of June, where in the last few weeks two different bonito have been caught and one tarpon has been casted to…Yup. Craziness, but fun. So if you are wondering if you should go fish, go fish!
From the beach, the southeast side has a lot of fish, but also a lot of weed. Most of the fishing right now is focused on the south shore from Tom Nevers to Cisco. Throughout the whole stretch fish any spot that looks fishy. What does that mean, well, wherever there is a shallow spot or white water, fish on the down-tide side of that shallow spot. If this doesn’t make sense, come in and ask…. But there are lots of fish and they are still aggressive. These fish are attacking bombers as well as soft plastics.
From the boat, the western edges are still producing as are the southeastern edges. Both have a ton of fish and are loaded with life. As discussed with a friend this week, there is “an explosion of life” out there. There have even been a few whales spotted on the south side. Great Point has been producing as well, which is exciting. It has not been hot and heavy, but it is producing. bluefish and bass. Sankaty has also been good to fishermen who are fsihing down deep. Those looking to push to cape cod, there are also bass up at hankerchief shoal.
As you go fish this coming week, please make sure to stay safe. We hope everyone takes this week to relax, celebrate and be thankful for what they have and where we live and please donate some positive thoughts to our fellow fisherman Vitaly.
Go wet a line and have some fun.