Current Waters: Nantucket Fishing Report
Capt. Carl Bois •
It’s the end of June, and it certainly has felt like the beginning of true summer. At least during a few of the days over the past week. The weather has been the point of conversation lately. Let’s use the power of collective positive thinking to put all the crap weather behind us and continue the summer with warm temps and calm seas. Make it so.
We’re catching stripers of all sizes. We’ve been getting a good amount in the high 30” to 40” range, which is pretty awesome. We’re also getting what we need in the keeper range, which is the size for those who want to keep something for dinner. The presentations that are working seem to vary depending on the timing of the tide and weather for the day. We’re still finding lots of topwater action. We’re catching some of the big ones on topwater, too.
We’re still hearing about people catching the early elusive bonita. They aren’t predictable, and they are few and far between. We’re waiting for our surprise bonita.
From the beach, Great Point is still the best. It’s carrying its weight for beach fishing right now. If anyone else has had any luck in another location, they’re keeping it quiet for now. It’s not the “easy button,” but fish are being caught from the south shore. You have to work at it, but that’s part of the fun.
We’re getting into some fluke and seabass when the timing is right. Depending on the day, tide, and weather, they sometimes come into play while we’re fishing for stripers.
On our charters lately, we’ve had some interesting sights on the water. We’ve seen a couple of mola molas (Ocean sunfish), which usually means jellyfish. With that in mind, Albacore charters had a video of a leatherback sea turtle feeding on jellyfish from earlier this week. Leatherback sea turtles are the largest turtle species in the world and are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. On that same trip, they had eyes on a small white shark as well. An exciting day, for sure!
This past week a few recreational boats had a cool show when the bump of dolphins were seen cruising by the outside of the Jetties. It goes to show, you never know what kind of life you’ll see out on the water. You just need to get out there.
Looking back at previous seasons, this is when we usually start to talk tuna. The tuna report now is that not many people are putting effort in, given the regulation changes. The new regulations go into effect July 1st when we will likely see more activity in that fishery. Those who have gone out have found a lot of bait and a lot of life. So when the weather and everything settles behind this new moon we just had, and effort increases after July 1, it should come together. By then, the tuna fishing should be pretty good. We’ll let you know next week.
This weekend it’s the 2nd Annual Jamie Topham Scholarship Fund Fishing Tournament. The registration meeting is today (Friday), 5-7 p.m. at Faregrounds Restaurant. Hosted by the Maddequet Admiralty Association, the tournament runs from Friday, June 27th at 8 p.m. to Sunday, June 29th at noon. The tournament is made up of two-person teams with points per inch given for fluke, bluefish, scup, tautog, sea robin, bonita, false albacore, striped bass, and black seabass. The tournament celebrates the life of Jamie Topham by doing something he loved: fishing! The weekend ends with a cookout at the Maddequet Admiralty Association for participants. Don’t miss your chance to win a custom fishing rod built by Nantucket’s own Bill Tornovish, which comes with a Penn Slammer IV thanks to Nantucket Tackle Center, and prizes from Bill Fisher Tackle, Arrowhead Nursery, Black Earl lobsters, Bartlett’s Farm, and more. Good luck to all the anglers!
Until next tide…