Nauset Bay Fishing Spot

• County: Barnstable - Orleans MA
• Public Fishing: Yes
• Website: http://www.capecodoutdoors.com/fishing.html
• Last Modified By: vinny60 on 08/19/09 06:15 PM
• Ask about Nauset Bay in our Fishing Forums

The first Stripers start arriving on the Islands around mid-April. Schoolies have been over-wintering in shallow backwater bays and coves all through the colder winter months. Bluefish follow by early May along the Vineyard and on south beaches like Loop Beach in Cotuit. Then east along the coast past Hyannis, past Bass River, past Red River Beach and on to Monomoy by the end of May. Water temperature can speed this migration up or slow it down by weeks. Bluefish arrive hungry and hit topwaters well and big spoons too. In May, Keeper size Stripers (28") are being caught along the Vineyard and South coast. Then it just keeps gettin' better 'til they migrate South for the winter in November. Early fish are a mixture of sizes and have varying tastes in lures and baits. Some early fishers swear by a deep slow fly, while others drift bait at night off beaches in pursuit of the first keeper of the year. Spin fishermen use mostly spoons and smaller plugs off jetties and at river mouths and channels. (Check my article on fishing Pleasant Bay Stripers in the June '98, On The Water.) All summer the Stripers hang around as long as there is food to eat. If the herring are in short supply they may move along the coast or out to where they are plentiful. Keep an ear out for where the herring are running. Native forage is a consistent producer: black eels, sand eels and sea worms. The end of the season fishing, as the Maine Coast fish pass by, offers some of the biggest cows of the season and sometimes huge schools of smaller fish. Blues last 'til November too if the water stays warm. Stripers a few weeks longer usually. Flounder are rare nowadays but good Fluke fishing starts in May and June. Try at the mouth of rivers and coves on the tide. '98 was a banner year for fluke. Scup and Tautog are taken near shore off the wrecks and rocks in April and May. Tautog lasts through the early summer in the Canal. Tuna (both Bluefin and Yellowfin), Bonito and false Albacore are being caught by the end of June. Usually offshore but a few lucky souls get lined each year standing on jetties or at the mouth of the canal. '98 was the best year in a long time for tuna. Big schools of albacore were still actively feeding in mid-september. Everyone who went for bluefin got one. The Bonito were a little thinner than '97 but the yellow fin made up for it. Even the white marlin fishing was the best ever.