Before we get to our report…Great Point is Open! Get your permit and get out there. What a gift it is to have it open so early. Please take advantage of it and experience all the joys of a GP beach day/fishing trip/sunset. It is a memory your kids will Not forget.

 

If you talk with any captain, specifically in the west end, you will hear excitement and optimism in their voice about the fishing and what is to come. We spent much of June lamenting about the bait, well the bait is here, many of the fish we expect to be here are here and more are expected to come. The one piece of this fishery that isn’t “turned on” is great point. Usually this time of year you can catch 15-20 bluefish in a three-hour trip. This year it depends on the tide. Some tides (Mostly West) you can catch your fish, while on others its slow. What has been nice at GP is that when the blue-fishing slows down, your opportunity to catch a bass improves. Fish Swimmers or pencil poppers at the point for this purpose.

 

One of the reasons that GP has not exploded yet, is that the west end is loaded with bait. If you take a boat north of Tuckernuck and Muskeget you will see piles of birds all over as the blues are rounding up the sand eels and munching. The theory is these fish, just haven’t made it to the point yet to thicken up that fishery. The good news about this bait on the west end, is that it is keeping some of the smaller bass around that we have not seen in a few years and that the bonito bar is filling up with the sand eels, leading many to predict good things ahead. If you fish a lot of the small edges around the islands you are likely to see a few bass mixed in and we are all optimistic about the bonito fishing ahead.

 

For consistent blue-fishing off the beach and the boat, the South Shore has been incredible. From the beach, cisco has produced, as has Fishermen’s down to Madequecham. The same is true from the boat. Fish these same areas from a boat and you will have a day that NO ONE will forget. We even had one client ask us recently, if we could find a place where it was harder to catch fish. Our first reaction was really? But we understand his sentiment.

 

The east side, while not as consistent has also been producing. From Wauwinet to Sconset, piles of blues have been along the surface and can be caught on ballistics and metals. While the fishing has been better from the boat, the pile of east wind we have had, has pushed the bait and fish on the beach, helping the beach fishermen. The North Parking Lot at Great Point has also been a great spot, specifically on a west tide in the evening as well as in SW winds.

 

As eluded to above, we are lucky to still have a lot of small stripers still in our water. We have settled into July fishing and we never saw the mass of stripers we were hoping for, although many did have exceptional days. The water to the East is still cold, so those with boats and time and can push out and chase the bass, but be careful of the swell as that will take fishable water and make it dangerous. From the beach, bass are still being caught consistently on weighted soft plastics and metals in the evening and morning. GP as well as the south shore have been producing. Remember if targeting bass to fish the surfline.