Posts Tagged ‘ocean’
Bluefin Tuna Fishing on Cape Cod
The School Tuna Bite
Cape Cod’s school tuna bite has been phenomenal over the past few years. Fish of all sizes and shapes have infiltrated Cape Cod’s waters each season. Worldwide landings of tuna may be down, however Cape Cod landings remain consistently strong. Many commercial and recreational fishermen all say that the amount of tuna currently present around Cape Cod rivals the 1980′s “hey day” of tuna fishing.
Many anglers focus their tuna attention on Stellwagen Bank. The Bank is a marine sanctuary that is home to tuna, whales, and a variety of other fish and marine mammals. However there are many tuna haunts other than Stellwagen that produce plenty of school tuna. Fortunately for small boat tuna anglers, the trek to Stellwagen is not always necessary.
The area 3-10 miles off the Plymouth coastline has supported impressive tuna action the past couple seasons and there is reason to believe that it will happen again this year. When tuna are targeting half beaks, the bluefins will often propel themselves straight clear of the water. A 300 plus pound tuna coming clear of the water is an impressive sight to say the least. It is a nice surprise encountering tuna when in transit to and from Stellwagen Bank. Remaing vigilant, and scanning the horizon for surfacing bluefins can reallly pay off.
Some of the more popular methods for catching school tuna in our neck of the woods include jigging and popping using “beefed” up spinning gear. When the fish show on the surface, nothing beats the excitement generated from a slob tuna destroying a top water plug. On some trips the bluefins remain deep. Jigging metals will often prove to be the ticket to connecting when the fish are not showing on the surface. Beefing up your tackle is a necessity when spin fishing. Substandard hooks and split rings will quickly be exploited by a hard fighting bluefin.
Most important is developing a gameplan that works well with your budget, crew, and boat. Keep in mind that taking a tuna on spinning gear is very taxing on an angler’s body..
The Giant Tuna Bite at Cape Cod
For many fishermen, their ultimate dream is successfully landing a giant bluefin tuna. Giants around Cape Cod have been known to exceed the 1,000 pound mark. Many of these fish are taken on live bait. Mackerel, pogies and bluefish are all prime baits for Cape Cod’s giant bluefins..
Easily found outside many of the Cape’s harbors are Atlantic mackerel. Macks can be easily found early in the tuna fishing season, however they will prove more difficult to locate once July rolls around. Live lining mackerel under balloons as well as fishing the colorful speedsters under a kite is always popular amongst the fleet. Mackerel are not the most hardy of live baits. Transporting mackerel is a round bait tank is necessity, as the fish like to continuously swim in circles while in the bait tank.
Menhaden are another option for live lining a tuna. Menhaden can be cast and gill netted in many of the Cape’s back bays and estuaries. Finding and catching live pogies is not an easy task. Expect to invest a lot of time and effort in order to learn the trade. An easier option is paying for live bait. A few very talented Cape Cod locals sell live pogies throughout the tuna season. For a reasonable cost these guys will fill your livewell with menhaden-granted they are able to find the pogies in the first place.
Another option is to fish with live bluefish. The problem is that it always seems easy to catch bluefish when you do not want them, and extremely hard to catch them when you do need them for tuna bait. Transporting live bluefish from Cape Cod’s back bays to the tuna grounds is another challenge .
My crew and I have had success catching bluefish before a trip at Race Point in Provincetown and in Buzzards Bay. The problem with catching live blues on the morning of a tuna trip is that one always runs the risk of not being able to find bluefish. Fishing for bait when you should be targeting tuna is never a fun predicament.
Catching bluefish before a tuna trip and holding them in bait cages is a smart way to guarantee fresh bait the morning of a tuna trip. Getting the bluefish alive to the tuna grounds is another challenge entirely. Yet putting in the effort can pay off big time, and can be the difference in catching a giant or going home empty handed.
For more info about Fishing Cape Cod and targeting Cape Cod’s bluefin tuna just copy and past myfishingcapecod.com into your web browser.. This article, Bluefin Tuna Fishing on Cape Cod is available for free reprint.