Capawock Charters

Despite the fact that we were off the water for a few days this week due to gale force winds, the bass fishing has remained stellar. Prior to the storm the same patterns of feeding that we ran across in the previous week continued and after the blow, there was little change. The big exception was the eastern end of Vineyard Sound and the rips of Middle Ground. Severe winds and seas caused the water to be very cloudy and feeding squidhounds seemed to want to wait it out until the water clarity improved. There were still bass in the rips but they were not as interested in our offerings as they were before the storm. To the west however, was an entirely different story. Bass around Gay Head and out towards Nomans were back on top and aggressively feeding on bait. We found these bass happily feeding on sand eels, squid, peanut bunker, juvenile herring, and just about every other bait fish you could think of. On two trips we made after the blow we had fantastic fishing with both fly and light spin. Doubles and triples were common and sore arms on the way in were a happy reminder of just how good the fishing is this season.

Since my last report I have had some exceptional anglers and some fantastic fishing. On the last two trips I had two sets of brothers; the Riser boys from Pennsylvania and the Giles brothers from Jersey. It was a great deal of fun for me to witness such close knit siblings who could all handle either a spinning rod or fly rod with such skill and concentration. The Riser boys were tripling up with regularity and the Giles brothers make doubles seem like a routine. Both groups had memory making days for which I was so grateful. One of the best parts of the job for me is seeing hardcore anglers with happy faces and sore arms.

The Riser Boys…

The Giles Brothers…

Larry’s Tackle Shop of Edgartown is having their Big Bass Blast through this coming Saturday. Winning fish in both shore and boat category will split a cash pot. All entry fees go into the pot so the winnings should be fairly decent. As it stands now the leading boat bass is Don McGillivray’s 39+ lb bass and Julian Pepper is leading the shore with a 40+ pounder. I’ll post the final results in my next report. Good luck guys!

On another note: The annual American Legion fluke tourney will be held the weekend of July 11^th and 12^th. It’s a great event and fun for all ages. If you happen to be around the island during that time and if you love to fluke fish as much as I do, you should consider signing up for the event. Check the MV Times and www.mvtimes.com for more details in Nelson Sigleman’s "Gone Fishing" column.

Tight Lines and Singing Drags,

Captain Phil Cronin

Cell: 617-448-2030

This past week has seen a continuation of excellent striper fishing from the boat. They remain on top during certain stages of the tide and are feasting on sand eels, herring and micro-bait. Although it’s hard to predict how much longer this will continue, one thing is for sure: the first three weeks in June have seen some of the best bass fishing I have ever experienced. On each trip this week we have been able to find tons of bass but with each day they have been getting more and more difficult to trick into taking a fly or lure. It’s like they are feeding on krill as they are keyed in on a certain bait and will not stray from that prey. The krill feed won’t happen until later in the season but the behavior is very similar.

Bass in the rips have been another story as they have become more and more cooperative and are feeding on large amounts of squid washing over the shoals. The best tide for fishing the rips on the North Shore has definitely been the incoming or rising tide. It seems that many of the bass we have been targeting in open water have now taken up residence on the shoals. The tremendous abundance of bait will probably hold them there for several weeks until the water warms up. Large squid flies and 6" weighted sluggos have been a great choice. Most of the squid hounds are in the 24 to 28 inch class but we always seem to catch a 30+ inch linesider in the mix. Yesterday our largest was 38".

The bass fishing is so good that even the Captain can catch one once and awhile. The bass pictured below was caught on Wednesday by me when we were taking a break and I dropped a 4 oz. leadhead jig to the bottom to see what was there.

Bluefish can be easily targeted when wanted. They are in the 5 to 9 lb class and are normally found blitzing under large flocks of terns and gulls out in the middle of Vineyard Sound.

A last note:

For the last couple of years I have been seizing the opportunity of being out on the ocean catching all kinds of fish to take some interesting macro photography. My "Fish Eyes of Martha’s Vineyard" exhibit located at http://www.capawock.com/fishingphotos.htm has received thousands of visitors and excellent reviews. This year I am trying to get even closer and shoot some of the parasitic hitchhikers located on various fish. The photo shown below is of a copepod of the genus Caligus. We commonly refer to them as fish lice but what I’m learning through more thorough research is that there exists 100’s of differing species and identifying them is difficult at best for a scientist and nearly impossible for a dope like me. As time goes by I will have many more interesting peaks at the miniature life held in the sea. I hope you find it interesting.

A reminder for all you Fluke fishermen…

Fluke season opens on July 1 for recreational anglers. We have some of the best fishing for these tasty bottom dwellers on the east coast. I love to take people out after them and have already booked several trips. If Fluke fishing is your thing, give me a call and get on the books for sometime in July.

Tight Lines and Singing Drags,

Captain Phil Cronin

Cell: 617-448-2030

After some great angling last week I really thought that it would be hard to beat the fantastic fishing we had in the first week of June. Well now I’m of the mind that this may well be the best June we have had in recent memory. Fishing from the boat is "off the freaking chart!" Acres of bass are on the rips and out in the open as they feast on squid, sand eels, and micro-bait. It is truly unbelievable. Every trip this week has been memorable and the term epic has been used several times by happy clients and friends. The anglers have been exceptional and the fish as cooperative as they can possibly get.

All of my fishing this week has been between West Chop and Noman’s Island and all up and down the North Shore we have run into schools of fish on the surface. For a charter captain, finding fish has been easy. Finding larger bass for anxious fly rodders and light spin tackle enthusiasts has been a little more difficult but nonetheless just a matter of traveling around and searching out the gulls. Most of the schools of bigger bass have been located in open water ranging in depth from 30 to 50 feet. Even though they are in open water, they are feeding on top as they push up all kinds of bait. Our fly of choice has been sparse clousers in various patterns for the open water bass and squid flies for the rips. When throwing spinning gear we have stuck with weighted sluggos in the 4 to 9 inch range depending whether we’re fishing the rips or open water. Squid hounds in the rips love the 9 inch sluggo while their cousins in open water love 4 inch ones. If you’re throwing a squid fly in the rips with mediocre luck, try tying in a rattle on the next one you make and I assure you a good result.

Pictures tell all so rather than expound on what went on this week I’ll let you be the judge by looking over these photos of happy anglers…

If you were ever thinking about getting over to the Vineyard to try some June fishing from a boat, this is the year to do it.

Oh and before I close a word about bluefish. While traveling back through Menemsha Bight today we came across a mile of blitzing blues. Already tired from catching bass all day we decided to see what size they were by fishing them for a bit. To our surprise they ranged in size from 5 to 9 pounds. If we wanted, we could have stayed around and caught bruiser blues until our arms fell off.

Tight Lines and Singing Drags,

Captain Phil Cronin

Cell: 617-448-2030

After some exceptional fishing last week, the first week of June started off rather slow. Winds were kicking in at 15 to 20 knots out of the southwest and the tidal stages were not optimum for morning trips. On Monday I trained on Captain Steve Purcell’s 30’ Angler CC with twin 250 yammies. Steve and I have teamed up through his shop, Larry’s Tackle Shop of Edgartown, so that I can handle some of his charters with either my boat or when required, his boat. Captain Purcell is one the islands most knowledgeable and skilled fishermen. His tackle shop is top notch with tons of inventory within a spacious and friendly layout. "Short Fuse" is a wonderful fishing platform and took some getting used to as I have not had a lot of experience handling twin engines. I ran the boat and Steve observed and served as mate for his two anglers we had on board. We fished the north shore from Gay Head down to Cedar Tree Neck with mediocre results. The west end of the island was not the bass feeding frenzy it had been days earlier but we did manage to haul out a couple of keepers for Ben and Tom. Since they wanted to bring some fish back for table fare, we not only took some bass but also threw in several bluefish.

On Tuesday the winds stiffened even more but didn’t keep us off the water. My anglers were Peter and John who were excellent fly fishermen anxious to tackle both bass and blues. We headed off to the shoals for bass but with a dropping tide had little luck. From the shoals we headed off to the south cape flats for bluefish and again were disappointed to find few fish where only days before there were thousands. Realizing that the fish gods were not smiling on us this day we decided to dodge the wind and fish inside a pond I frequent. After awhile we managed to pick up a bass and had several more follows. Things were not going our way. Back outside the pond the tide had started running so we decided to hunt down some blues only to find hit and miss action. It was a pleasure to take the guys out but as luck would have it we boated few fish. The real irony of the day was that after battling the wind and rain for 6 hours, when I dropped them off at the dock the wind died down to a whisper and the sun came out of hiding. I asked the guys if they had any bananas on them which would answer the riddle of why our luck that day was so bad. Oh well.

The week finished with one of those great trips that light tackle anglers dream about. The Rishell boys joined me for a day fishing Vineyard Sound from Gay Head to Tashmoo. Conditions were perfect for bass with light winds and an overcast sky that brought periodic drizzle. We beat a path up to the west end and found fish happily eating on the surface. We stayed on the bass for a several hours until the tide went slack. When the water started moving again we caught more bass and then decided to head down the sound to wrangle with bluefish. I had never seen as many bluefish in the sound as we found that day. It was incredible. Fishing with these guys was a real treat and they were hardcore anglers who could handle any given situation. They caught a pile of bass up to 20 pounds and countless blues in the 4 to 8 lb. class. What a freaking day! Seeing the joy brought on by the trip was heartwarming as three generations of the Rishell family saw steady action for nearly our entire full day trip. 

A word about releasing bass …

Often times when we bring bass to the boat after a longer than normal fight I like to get a photo of the angler and his or her catch. Since there can be a delay in getting the fish back into the water as time is needed to grab the camera and set up the shot, it is important to revive a fish gradually before letting it go. If you are like me and don’t want to cause undue harm to a released fish then be sure to slowly and patiently revive it by gently holding it in the current and thus giving it a chance to process some oxygen and calm down. Holding the fish as shown in the photo will allow it to survive and flourish. Perhaps the trophy fish you catch someday will be the one that was caught and handled correctly when it was smaller.

Tight Lines and Singing Drags,

Captain Phil Cronin

Cell: 617-448-2030

Fishing around the Vineyard from the boat is as good as it gets right now. The days we got out on the water this week have been fabulous. Although a weather front has been slow to pass on and the wind has been tough to deal with until now, the times we did sneak out earlier in the week were well worth it. All along the north shore of the island you can run in to schools of bluefish. Bass have settled in around all the rips I’ve visited during the week with squid being more plentiful then they were last week. To the west of the island we found very impressive schools of 10 to 20 pound stripers feasting on micro sandeels. In fact, over the last three days we came upon the mother load of fly fish bass. Tackling a 15 pound bass with fly fishing gear is a hoot, but doubling up with them over and over again is nirvana. How long these bass will remain locked on the micro bait is unknown but it should last throughout the weekend at least.

  In the beginning of the week we fished bluefish on the flats around the South Cape and bass in the shoals that we would come across while crossing over. The bass were not as plentiful as they were up island but they are present and playful on the fly rod. Fish up to 10 pounds were the norm in the rips unlike the 20 pounders to the west. When not throwing the fly we did well with soft plastics thrown with light spinning rods. A 12 pound linesider caught with a Loomis 8/17# spinning rod is a blast. You wonder how they make these rods to not break at such abuse.

Bluefish schools can be easily found when searching for them in either Vineyard Sound or Nantucket Sound. On a recent trip we decided to target bruiser blues on the flats with fly. These "blue tarpons" are such fun for fly anglers that I wonder why many anglers only want to target striped bass. Yes, the bass is the king of our waters and certainly a prized catch but wrestling with bruiser blues gives a battle that is hard to compare. Ideally we often can combine both bass and blues into one trip. Don’t pass up opportunities to target these 8 to 10 pound fish when they are in 3 to 5 feet of water. I guarantee you will have a blast.

Can’t find fish … don’t worry you have some help to count on. This is the time of year when schools of bass are ready to settle in on some areas but are still moving around. Look for the birds and in particular, the sea gulls. The gulls are a sure sign of bass and the terns normally signal the presence of bluefish. If you travel around and come across a scene like the one depicted in this photo, you found your quarry.

This weekend was the 18^th Annual MV Rod & Gun Club Catch and Release Fly Rod Tournament. A shore based competition that draws hundreds of fly fishermen from all over the country, this years event was another great success. Although the fishing was not as good as some past years, the fly anglers that participate get to see and fish some of the most scenic and productive waters of Martha’s Vineyard. If you have a chance to fish the "Catch & Release" in the future, do it. You’ll meet some great anglers who love the sport as much as you.

Tight Lines and Singing Drags,

Captain Phil Cronin

The 2009 fishing season on Martha’s Vineyard is starting off strong with keeper bass and bruiser blues in all the usual spots. Stripers are being caught with regularity in the rips and shoals with large schools also feasting on small sandeels all along the north shore in reach of beach bound surfcasters and boaters. Although squid is not as plentiful as we would like to see in the rips, the occasional frantic squid can be seen jumping out of the water in an attempt to elude the hungry squid hounds. Bluefish have infested Vineyard Sound; especially between Paul’s Point and Menemsha Bite. Huge flocks of terns signal the frenzy but beware … the blues are not holding in one area and the bait and birds have become extremely boat shy. The best way to get on a school of bruiser blues is to position upwind and gradually and patiently, drift down on your target. It works as we found out on a recent trip. The west side of the island is fishing well with jigs dropped in bass holding holes. On the east side there have been reports of fish in the shoals but I have not gotten out there yet. There have also been reports of large gatherings of seals which as we saw last year, may hamper the bass fishing again this year out around Wasque shoals.

During the 2008 season I developed a productive and fun routine for fly and light spin fishing bass and blues. We would stop for the bass in the shoals to the northeast of the island and then hit the blues in a wide expanse of flats further on. During a recent trip to those areas, we found the same situation as last year: lots of squid hounds and tons of bruiser blues. It looks like the same pattern has emerged and we’ll be fishing this pattern for the next several weeks as long as the wind and weather permits. Large squid and slider patterns work in the rips for the bass and hard foam poppers are doing the trick for the blues. It’s a blast for the light tackle enthusiasts and world class for the fly fishermen. We call the bass squid hounds and the bluefish were nicked named "blue tarpon" because of their hard runs and leaping antics.

June fishing around the Vineyard is as good as it gets. Don’t pass up the opportunity to participate in this world class fishery whether you are a shore angler or fish from a boat. They’re here and they’re near so get down to the water and dunk a fly or lure ASAP!

Tight Lines and Singing Drags,

Captain Phil Cronin

Cell: 617-448-2030