Blues, cod, pollack(big ones), but no giant tuna!
Capt. Rich Antonino
August 6, 2008
Stellwagen Bank - Saltwater Fishing Report
Friday, August 1
Some good cod action today as we had cod coming over the rails to 22 pounds. Very nice fish. We fished a bunch of different spots, starting the day fishing for tuna in the morning, then heading east to hit some cod and haddock. We used our light tackle and spinning gear again, having a blast--even catching a nice wolf fish on a jig and spinning rod in 260' of water.
The days are filling in quickly and the tuna bite has been more predictable from all reports. Much of our effort has been piecemeal--the tuna are there, you just have to put in a good effort to do well. With more and more tuna on the surface, dedicating a full day to casting and jigging to them will really pay dividends and give you a memory forever!
See you all out there! Rich Antonino, 508-269-1882 Black Rose Fishing Charters
Saturday, August 2
The word for today is POLLACK. We fished the deeper water today and really put some meat in the cooler. We fished still with our light tackle baitcasting rods and spinning gear. Why not? It puts fish on the boat and the tackle won't cost you any fish. Plus, it's so so so much fun. Fishing the bow with two people and with two people in back, the boat felt enormous! There was so much room for everyone and Matt was busy filleting the whole time.
It's time to start thinking sharks in the waters east of Stellwagen Bank. Blue sharks are there, makos are getting the waters famous, and a nice porbeagle was landed by another boat the other day--on cod gear!! If I can make a suggestion---plan on cod fishing AND shark fishing the same day and make it a longer day. The fun of seeing sharks around the boat is amazing. Plus, if you haven't done it before--you'll have a chance to catch the largest fish of your life.
The first fish of the day was a very nice cod, but after that it was all pollack until we filled the cooler with fillets. What a great time. And the whales on the ride out....with zero visability fog, we marked them on the radar as they surfaced! We crawled across the Southwest corner of Stellwagen until we passed the feeding whales, having some whales breaching all around us for a while! Impressive.
Sunday, August 3
Well, if yesterday's word was Pollack, today's word was BLUEFISH. We hammered the blues at first light while trying for stripers. It was tough getting a line in the water without catching a blue for a while. It was fun on light tackle, but reports of tuna on the surface at Stellwagen got us thinking...Bring out the big spinning tackle and chase down some breaking tuna. We made the 9 mile run there, finding feeding whales everywhere and some nice schools of tuna amongst them. Of course, going from catching a fish on every cast to the prospect of not catching a fish for the rest of the day was a tough one---even though they were big tuna, there was more action to be had back around Provincetown, so back we went. Our tuna fishing was limited to an hour. With more time, we would have hit them for sure!
Back at Provincetown, inside the Bay, we found a school of monster blues---12 to 16 pounders!! Doing this on light tackle--freshwater spinning gear---was a blast. The battles were epic, though they were "just blues". Lots of fun! See you out there, Capt. Rich Antonino, Black Rose Fishing Charters, 508-269-1882 [email protected]
Target Species:
tuna, cod, wolf fish, haddock, stripers, blues
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