Rock Harbor Fishing Report
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
15 May 2007
The Season Starts
Back again... The winter has passed, the leaves are coming out on the trees, and all is well with the Cape. Oh yes... The fish are here too. I mean they are really here in force.
Before I get into what is happening in Cape Cod Bay I first must mention the passing of a legend. Capt. Elmer Costa, own of the Columbia in Rock Harbor, passed away this last November. I was privileged to have known and fished with this gentleman. Like most men of his ilk, he was unique, a man who took on life with both hands, shook it, and got the best it had to offer from it. He will be sorely missed but his soul will live on in all who knew him. I, personally, can still see his smiling face after telling one of his many stories.
The Bay has come alive. By mid April more and more bait, sand eels, squid, and small bait fish moved into the Bay. By early May, as the water warmed up, there were the first signs of the striped bass. Some small fish were seen in Barnstable Harbor, then off Sesuit Harbor, after that Rock Harbor and up by Welfleet. Pollock, haddock, and finally the small striped bass showed up around P-town. The Bay filled up with life. We even had a pod of whales off Dennis feeding on the bounty of bait. By these signs it seems we're going to have some great spring bass "fishing"...
A week ago my wife and I took a short ride over to the Brewster Flats. Just about a mile west of Rock Harbor. Annie noticed some working birds so we stopped and set out an umbrella rig on my 150 ft. wire rod. Within seconds she was on. The first fish of the season. It was a good sight even though the fish was undersized and had to go back. Dinner will have to wait for another day and a larger fish. It will be well worth the wait. Annie hooked up 4 to 5 more times with more than one fish on the rig each time. Within an hour we we back in the harbor and her arms needed a rest. Saturday afternoon, Eric Stewart, on the Hook Up, had his brother and his friends out for a full day trip landing both a good number of flounder and a few legal sized stripers. He was fishing over by the # 3 and # 5 cans near Billingsgate Island. This part of Cape Cod Bay is truly active.
If the weather doesn't go completely wacky and the Bay freezes over, the stripers should stay in the area off the Brewster Flat and around the Stoney Bar area for the next week to two weeks. Then they may move west of the old Target Ship, on the south edge of Billingsgate Shoals. or even on top of the shoals. The warmer and sunnier the weather the quicker the fish will move. Barnstable Harbor should come alive with stripers also as well as up by P-town.
This last Sunday, the 13th, I had Andy La Mothe and some of his friends out for my first half day trip of the season. We left early in the morning and is was a bit cool out. In the low forties. It didn't take long to heat things up with the first fish. It was a small bass taken on the umbrella rig. Shortly after that we hooked up again. This was on a combo, a hootchie followed by a swimming plug, in the outrigger. This fish stayed in the box, 33 inches. By the end of the trip they had four keepers, dinner for everyone. On Monday I took Garret La Scolo, from the Goose Hummock, and Tyler Payne, from the Pleasant Bay General Store, out for some fun with some really light gear. They were using 6 and 8 pound test line on light trolling rods. We didn't get anything to keep, but the fishing was fantastic.
If you'd like to get in on some of this early spring fishing give me a call at 508-240-8267 (Boat) or 508-255-6211 (Home).
