Fall Fishing Can Be Fun...
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
Fall fishing can be really good in Cape Cod Bay in September. Usually, the bass and bluefish congregate on Billingsgate Shoals before they start migrating south. This season there seems to be a lot of bluefish on the shoals but not that many striped bass. The stripers are down near Barnstable Harbor or up by P-town.
On the 23rd of September I had a group who wanted some bluefish and stripers. We headed to the shoals and started jigging. Jigging has been the most productive method for hooking up on these bass. All we hooked up on were bluefish. Some were small, around 4 to 6 pounds, and others ran well over 10 pounds. We kept 3 for the group.
I moved over to another area that sometimes holds stripers and started trolling single hootchies on lead core line with 5 colors out. We were in by Stony Bar by the #3 can working the rock piles. We hooked up on an occasional bluefish. The group even tried doing a jig called the "Bass Bosanova" to see if we might find a striper. No such luck... But, they had a blast catching the bluefish we found. In between the laughter, they did manage to land a good amount of fish, most of which we released. It was a good trip. The folks were Phil and Janet Hodges, Warren and Beth Spicka, Jack Keapey, and Robin Bissell. They will be back next summer to try and get that striped bass.
