Scientists from the Center for Coastal Studies were doing an aerial survey that day when they saw two juvenile males, one off Plymouth and one just seven miles off Wellfleet. These whales are typically seen in the bay between January and May. I have a mixed report on this past season of fishing. Striped bass came to our area a little later than they had the previous year.
Most of the fish were near the slot size β that was 28 to 31 inches β as well as just under and just over it. Our bass never really settled into the bay, but at least we consistently found them on the backside from Race Point to the Peaked Hill Bar.
The striped bass commercial fishery pretty much fell apart here, as there were not nearly enough legal-size fish around to make the effort sustainable.
From what I hear, the larger bass were north of us, off southern Maine. Now the rumor mill is turning on what this will mean for the recreational bass fishery in One rumor is that it means the striped bass will become a total catch-and-release fishery. Another is that we will only be able to fish for bass on declared open days like the commercial guys have to do. And then there is always the rumor of a complete closure. That would have a catastrophic effect on our charter and party boat fleet.
Bluefishing was not very good this year. There were none on the bay side of the Outer Cape, although they were at times found at the southern end of the bay from the Brewster Flats to Barnstable. What we did have were very big bluefish β from what I understand, much bigger than most of the fish found to our south. I worry about the fact that these fish continue to show no desire to be in the bay along the Outer Cape for any length of time β never beyond a day or two. Both species have stayed on the ocean side, even though there is plenty of food in the bay to keep them there, as has been the case for decades.
