Just in time for the Memorial Day weekend, fishing for striped bass, bluefish, scup and sea bass has broken wide open.

Bass can be found — and caught — throughout the local waters.  There are large concentrations of 20 to 30-inch fishing chasing bait in Buzzards Bay off the Falmouth beaches.  Just look for the birds if you’re in a boat.  Hit the beaches at dawn or in the evening.

Bigger bass are holding along both sides of the Elizabeth Islands, although not many anglers have ventured down that way yet.  Woods Hole Passage has bass of up to 30 pounds.  And when the tide is right and the weeds are down, rips from Middle Ground to the shoals off Cotuit are holding good numbers of sizable bass.  For boat anglers, jigging has been the most productive method.

Light tackle anglers working the salt ponds and river mouths can catch all the schoolies they want.  If lucky, they’ll also be there when a worm hatch occurs and draws in some very large bass.  A worm fly pattern or small, redish soft plastic is a must.

Bluefish up to eight pounds have invaded South Cape Beach, the flats off Popponnesset and Oregon Beach in Cotuit.  They’ll soon be joined by the smaller blues and both should hang around for the next month.

Scup season opened Saturday (May 24) and early reports indicated a strong of fish just about everywhere.  The sea bass spawning season is drawing to a close so the big “purple heads” are dispersing and a bit harder to find.  But your favorite wreck or rock pile should hold sea bass for the next several weeks.

For the freshwater crowd, it’s bass, bass and more bass.  Largemouth bass have moved onto the spawning beds and can be found just about any time of day in the shallows.  Smallmouth bass are holding deeper in the ponds but are still very active and aggressive.  Trout fishing is slowing down as the pond waters warm.  The best tactic now is to fish deep and early in the morning or late evening.