As the Labor Day weekend approaches, the fishing doldrums of August continue.  Beach fishing, except at night, is practically non-existent.  Even the boat crowd is having to work very hard and very deep to catch legal-sized bass.  It looks like 2008 is going to go down as one of those years when the traditional fishing patterns never materialized.

Striped Bass

That the commercial striped bass season will still be open in September says a lot about how difficult it is to find, hook and boat keeper bass. The best technique — the one being employed by the commercial crowd — is to fish deep holes, set up a chum slick of fresh pogy bits and then send down a fresh chunk.  The holes that are hold the biggest concentrations of bass are from Gay Head down to Squibnocket.  If chunking isn’t your cup of tea, then try pitching an eel along the Elizabeth Islands, either during the night or at dawn or dusk.

Bluefish

There are good numbers of bluefish throughout Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds but they keep moving around.  This past week the biggest schools were holding on and just off the Hedge Fence Shoal.  Buzzards Bay has been holding more but smaller fish with consistent action from Woods Hole up to the west end of the Canal.

Funny Fish

Bonito have been around for more than a month but the fishing has been very sporadic.  It was only in the last week of August that the bonito have been consistently showing up around the Vineyard.  However, the first false albacore also arrived during the week and they might quickly crowd out the bonito.  To date, there have been no sightings of funny fish on the Cape side of the sound or in Buzzards Bay.

Bottom Fish

With fluke season closed, scup and sea bass are the only games in town.  Scup can be found around most jetties and buoys and can provide fun fishing for anglers of all ages.  Sea bass can be found around wrecks and rock piles.  The best sea bass fishing by far is in the Buzzards Bay where charter captains and recreational anglers report steady catches of sea bass up to 5 pounds.