Current Waters: Nantucket Fishing Report

The striped bass fishing has been great with these big, full-moon tides and cooler mornings. We’re having a lot of fun with them. We’ve had an occasional bonito mixed in with them. The bonito have also been found scattered all around the island popping up randomly in different places including the harbor.

False albacore continues to trickle in more and more I suspect it’ll be a great fall for albies and bonito.

We’ve had some fun this past week with recreational-sized tuna. We had some great charters that got to see some tuna action. I’m not sure what the best part is, catching them or eating them. Hopefully, these tuna stick around for a while. I am feeling optimistic about the fall.

There was a great run of white marlin fishing just south of the island this past week or two. It’s not just a big boat game. Smaller boats can reach them too, at times. We saw a couple but it wasn’t our objective when we were out for tuna. I hope to get the chance again soon.

We have bluefish around, but not what we’re used to, at least from my perspective.

Plenty of people are still working hard for their blues, though. There is just a little over a week left in the August Blues tournament. The leaderboard keeps changing and there is still plenty of time to get yourself on the board. Tedy Bruschi has a far lead in the beach bluefish totals at 101 inches (for the longest three fish). That’s a full 17.5 inches ahead of 2^nd place. For individual longest bluefish, there is a close four-way competition at 34” and 33”. It’s anyone’s ballgame. Plus, there are so many categories. Snapper blues, the competition for smallest bluefish, has been a fun competition to watch. It’s funny when the hottest competition is for the smallest. As of this writing, Joe Tormay is in the “lead” with a 7-incher by boat. Roy Rider snuck in with a 6.75” from the beach. But it’s still anyone’s prize to win.

Remember, fall is outstanding for fishing. The best is yet to come for the 2024 fishing season. Tuna, stripers, bonito, false albacore…if you’re thinking of going, make your plan now. And you never know what unexpected catch might come our way. Just last week a red drum was caught off the coast of Massachusetts in Cape Cod waters. This fish was caught on the boat Take a Chance Charters and is considered an “exotic” catch for the area. Red Drum, also known as redfish, is a game fish typically found farther south. I caught several with my family down in the Carolinas in the winter. They are delicious eating, but unexpected for us. Maybe this is another fishery we have to look forward to as waters warm.

As you may have heard, yesterday off the coast of England there was another blade failure at the Dogger Banks Wind Farm. Remember, this wind farm and Vineyard Wind are the only places in the world where the GE Haliade-X turbines have been installed. There are obviously more problems than we’re being told about. The Vineyard Wind debacle has certainly affected our community. For those who want to show their concerns about the wind farms and make a statement, there is a flotilla boat parade being organized for this Sunday. It’s going to be in the vicinity of Vineyard Wind farm. All boats are asked to use VHF Channel 72 to coordinate and get accurate location information. Starting at 11 a.m., this flotilla is organized as a peaceful protest against offshore wind. Both pleasure boats and commercial boats will muster at 11 a.m. in opposition to offshore wind and Vineyard Wind, in particular. For those of you with a boat, we hope to see you there. We plan to be there. We’re having this many problems and discussions around one farm. Imagine what’ll happen when we have six more farms southwest of Nantucket, as planned by the federal government.