Fishing the Vineyard Report 7/31

Fishing on the Vineyard is strong at the current juncture. As it stands now, there are bass, bluefish and bonito available to fly and spin fishers alike. Bass fishing right now is subject to a great deal of pressure as a result of the commercial season. The constant presence of the local and out of town fleet employing every method under the sun for killing bass make it a wee bit difficult to target them via fly and light spin. The best bet for anglers that fish like we do at this point is on the flats, along certain stretches of shallow shoreline, and over rocky shallow reefs. All of these locations fish well for us at this time of year because they are away from the commercial fleet.

Blues are thick throughout both Vineyard and Nantucket sounds. They're are great numbers of them on the shoals and outside of the inlets and harbors under the birds. The ones inshore are smallish, typical of this time in the summer. The ones on the shoal water are larger with fish to 10 pounds a occurring regularly this season. No one should poo-poo bluefish, they save the day often at this time of year.

Bonito are now available in target able amounts. They are not jumping along the beach fronts too much at the moment but certain shoals and rips are holding good numbers of bones now and if you know how to get there you may or may not be rewarded with green gold. I don't think it will be long before they fill in to their usual inshore haunts and begin to leap gleefully.

There are some tuna south of the Vineyard. I haven't been myself, but I'm getting mixed reviews from those who have. Some are reporting bent rods and bloody decks, others hours on hours of endless searching with nothing to show for it. Robby talked to one dude who caught a cod and a mahi in the same spot. That's a pretty cool mixed bag if you ask me

7.22.08: Bones and Blues

The water surrounding the Rock is smokin' hot these days. East side water temps up to 78 degrees have forced us to change gears in the last couple weeks. Topwater bluefishing has been a blast with tons of fish up to 10-pounds on both tides. 1-2" squid have begun flushing through various rips in Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds. If you find the right edge it's non-stop bent rods. My client this morning put the first 2 bonito of the year on the deck of my boat - a matching pair of fat 7-pounders. It was a great start to what will hopefully be an action-packed late summer season...

Capt. Tom Rapone
http://www.highlymigratoryfishing.com

Fishing the Vineyard Report 7/10/08

Fishing on the island hasn’t changed much in the past week or so. There are still plenty of bass around, although the summer pattern is certainly beginning to emerge. The east side shoal water is still productive, but many of the bass populating these rips in past weeks have been replaced by hungry blues. Early missions and persistence have been the keys to scoring bass on fly and spin down island.

The west end continues to hold a lot of fish in the 28-34 inch range, with most of the usual spots holding. Bigger fish are in the mix up island as they always are. A few in the 20 – 30 pound range on fly have been put on the board by Fishing the Vineyard’s clients in the past week.

On the flats scene north and west end flats are filled in quite nicely with summer resident stripes. Limited visibility and novice/instructional trips kept me off the push pole for much of the week, but I did manage to get a decent busman’s holiday in with Tom Rapone on Tuesday. Despite 25 knot afternoon winds we managed to eek out a couple up in the skinny, all over light bottom which is nice. The biggest over the rail that day was in the mid 30 inch range, weighing in the mid teens; a nice flats fish no doubt. We threw at a few that were considerably bigger but couldn’t entice a bite. Hot fly was the purple lady crab.

Not much news on the tuna front. In the face of $5 fuel it seems that less and less people are taking a poke south to find out what’s happening. Reports continue to filter in from the east, but no one on team FTV has ventured out that way in recent weeks. Prime days are still available, so if you’re headed to the island in the coming weeks/months give us a call! Also, be sure to check out Boyle’s new website, www.boylermaker.com , he did an outstanding job on it!

Capt. W. Brice Contessa

www.fishingthevineyard.com

"Doc" gets his 30!

I just wanted to congratulate Dick Weiss on his 32 pound fly rod striped bass.
Capt. Jaime Boyle
boylermaker.com

Another Pic

Late June/Early July Report

Summer's here on the Vineyard! This year it's brought tourists, families and mopeds as it always does. It has also brought sustained southwest winds, fog and consistent, strong bass fishing.

The east side shoals have been producing well since my last report; lots of bass from sub keeper all the way up to the mid 30 pound range have been posted by the Fishing The Vineyard squad on fly and light spin in recent days. Primary down-island forage is still squid, with sandeels in the mix as well.

Shoal water and open water on the north and west sides has remained productive as well. The fish up here seem to be much more spread out, with many spots fishing well where as on the east end much of the activity has been very, very concentrated. These fish are also somewhat smaller (mostly 24"-36") than what's been the norm down island, but they're are definitely a lot of them, and fish that size are a blessing to have around in such numbers this late into the season.

The sight fishing on the MV flats has been fantastic on the days that we've had adequate visibility to target them in a traditional sight fishing manor. Fortunately, even though the light has been less than desirable, the mid day negative low tides combined with the fact that lots of fish are over light colored bottom by this point in the season have allowed for some relatively impressive catches up in the skinny stuff. Hot flies on the flats have been green crab imitations and Dave's experimental sand shrimp.

On the beach, west and north side spots have been the ticket. The fish on the west end at the moment are on small herring, so fly selection has been a bit different than is traditional for this time of year. Try a sparse blue and white Deciver or a small gray or blue over pearl Mushmouth. Lots of the best action on the beach has been before dark, so plan to start earlier than you normally might.

Rumors of tuna south of the Vineyard are spreading like wildfire. I can't confirm or deny these reports, all I can say is they're out there, you'll get um. Prime dates still available, come see us if you're in town! Everyone have a nice holiday weekend, be safe, and god bless our troops.