July 3rd Cape Cod fishing report

Happy 4th of July! It is hot! The only place to be in heat like this is out on the water.

On the Southside of the Cape folks looking for Stripers are hedging their bets on the Monomoy rips or by the Vineyard rips. More often than not Monomoy has been the winning choice. Stripers and a few blues have been feeding on lots of squid in the rips. Slot and larger bass have been taking top water plugs.

The fluke fishing is picking up. The anglers who are heading out to the Nantucket Shoals are doing well with some doormats. Middleground over by the Vineyard has produced some keeper fluke as well if running all the way to Nantucket is too far. Several shore anglers have been having luck catching fluke from some of the beaches in the Mid-Cape area on Nantucket Sound. A bucktail jig with some gulp has been the go-to lure fished off the bottom.

Black sea bass doesn't seem to be concentrated in any one particular spot and lots of people going to different spots have been find keeper sized fish. We have heard anywhere from 20-60' of water...so look for some structure and/or quickly changing water depth on your chart. A rig and squid and/or gulp will find a black sea bass at the end of your line. Here's Beckett with a nice catch!

A few days ago, we had reports of larger bluefish that moved through the rips at the Southeast corner of Martha's Vineyard and also on the front side at Hedge Fence. I haven't heard of more reports since, so those bigger blues are on the move. If I were going to try and find them, I would try my luck at Horseshoe shoal trolling deep divers.

Brown sharking on the south side has been picking up. The Ward brothers had a great night on one of the Southside beaches the other night. All of their fish were successfully and safely released back into the water. 

There has been rumors of bonito in the Sound...Let me know if you are one of the lucky ones to have caught one!

The striped bass bit from the boat anglers on the Cape Cod Bay side has been pretty epic. Everyone has been using the Rapala x-rap deep divers, but more recently lots of folks are reporting not having to fish as deep. Live lining or chunking mackerel is always an effective way to target the striped bass on the Northside of the Cape. Here's Dave Elworthy with one of the bass that he caught with his son and grandson.

Stay cool and be safe on this holiday weekend!

Tight lines.